School Settling in Period

[LouieLou2013]

Is six bloody weeks. How the fuck am I supposed to manage that!.

I get that they need to settle in and was expecting two weeks, six.

What the actual fuck am I supposed to do. Work are very flexible and accommodating but this will tip them over the edge.

AIBUR to say six weeks is to long?

Teacher coming to your house is so the child meets them on their own home turf.

Personally I would refuse the home visit. Do you really want a 'professional' trained in child protection, and who knows how the 'system' works coming round to your house? Especially when you're going to be getting off on the wrong foot with the school (it doesn't matter how nice you are about the settling in period, the school will take exception to anything you don't do their way).

Nah I've got nothing to hide. Got books and everything

Our house was a total pit when the teacher visited - bare floor, no curtains, books in storage, pre-re plastering etc. Non issue.

I really don't think the home visit is sinister! The teacher just wants to get to know your child in their home environment, one on one without other children to watch over/talk to at the same time. I think it's a good idea.

Our school changed it's policy after being approached by working parents quite a few years ago.
All children start full time from the first day now instead of having a staggered start.

The home visit is for the teacher to meet your child in his home environment, so he's not overwhelmed by being somewhere new.
It gives a truer picture of their personality and stage of development.

The half day thing is so antiquated! It may well have been fine when traditionally mothers stayed at home and fathers went out to work, but times have moved on! Expecting working parents to facilitate a few hours here and a few there is a joke, as well as sending the wrong message to reception aged children. It's a step backwards to go half a day here and then a lunchtime there if you've spent most of your life at nursery 8-6.

And yet they would be down on me like a tonne of bricks if I took him on a six week holiday.

Yes, but you've got 13 weeks a year to go on holiday!

In which case, why get homework for the holidays? There's 39 weeks a year in which to do school work!

How much time off from teaching do these teachers get for home visits? They can't do more than half a dozen a day, so it must take a week to do a class of 30 or so. Then catching all those parents who work so aren't available during normal school hours, so teachers will have to have time off in lieu to do evening / weekend visits.

Write to them explaining your ds is quite used to being away from you in a childcare setting and will not be needing the 6 week settling in period. He will be starting full days from the start.

Also, you can turn down the home visit. I did and agreed to visit the teacher at school. I didnt want the teachers views of my child to be in any way influenced by the physical home he grows up in. I feel quite strongly about this.

YANBU 6 weeks is utterly ridiculous. We had two and a half and that was bad enough. Really unsettling for both of my children. I solved the childcare with my parents who live locally and a childminder (this was a long term booking though as after school club finishes at 5.00 so no accessible to us).

No one at the school could explain what the settling in period was for. No home visits from teachers so not that. I was told that I was the first parent to ever have a problem with it, but DD couldn't stay for lunch so I could do half days because 'all the other parents would want to'.

We don't have home visits from teachers which is odd since most of you seem to expect it.

The teacher is going to visit Dd at her nursery.

We then have 3 different settling in sessions at the end of June, beginning of July, followed by a teddy bears picnic

I was told that I was the first parent to ever have a problem with it
Bit like at school we were the 'worst class' that the teacher had ever taught. I wasn't cheeky enough at that age to answer 'I bet you say that to every class'.

No one at the school could explain what the settling in period was for.

It's to settle the school staff in gently after their six weeks off.

Teachers visits are done in the first week of Sept. the catchment area is about 500m so they don't have far to go.

We are in England and ours was two weeks for children born up to end of December and 4 weeks for children born after December in the school year.

Legally they cannot do this as each child is entitled to a full-time primary school place straight away if they are 4 by 31st August. A school around here used to have a term of half-days for summer born children. Last year a parent contacted the LEA who told the school they weren't allowed to do this and school allowed all the children to start at the beginning of term. I'm a primary teacher, and for anything more than 2 weeks staggered starts I would be making a fuss at the school, and with the LEA if they didn't listen.

I would play dumb and ask LA for clarification!

Email them

Dear La,

Could you clarify the law for children starting school.

I was under the impression they had to be accepted FT from the beginning of term but the school dc is attending has arranged a settling in period of 6 weeks of different daily times.

I need to know what the law is to arrange childcare.

I will e-mail once of calmed down. On the other side of the coin though I don't want him being the only one full time, although there must be others in the same boat.

Do you know any other parents of new starters? There will undoubtedly be others in the same boat and you could approach the school together.

Our school does part time for all children for 4 weeks and then longer for those children who needed it. My ds2 and 2 others in his class were part time until Easter. Then there is all the plays, workshops, sports days and awards assemblies. I'm a sahm at the moment so it's OK but next year my youngest starts school and the government will want me off tax credits and back at work (I have a dh who works but he doesn't earn much). I'm already worried about how to juggle it all.

I agree that school are not childcare providers but they need to appreciate that those who are childcare providers cannot work around these crazily long settling-in periods - be they parents, CMs, nurseries or whatever. For children who have been used to nursery - and also those who have attended pre-school for a few hours a day in a set pattern of days - weeks of fannying about at school with short mornings, longer mornings, afternoons, days without lunch, days with lunch, not attending on some days etc is far more disruptive to children staring school. Six weeks of chopping and changing is an awfully long time in the life of a four year old!

ellie Unfortunately you have to accept that as a working parent you can't attend things at school. I'm a teacher so I can never get time off to go to anything. My DC have been fine with it.