AIBU reception class start date

[Fortybingowings]

Our council website gives the start of term as Monday 4th September. DD starts reception this autumn having been in the school's nursery for afternoons since Sept 2016. Approx 3/4 of her reception year have also been in the nursery so they're familiar with the school.
We're told today that reception doesn't start until Wed 6th Sept, and even then, a third of the class start on Wed 6th, another third on Thurs 7th and the final third on Friday 8th. DD is one of the Friday starters. So now we need to sort child care for Monday- Thursday that week as both me and DH are working.
AIBU to be irritated (a lot) or is this sort of phased start the norm?

talkin- Private schools tend not to - they are less likely to need to.

Why is that?

DS1 is starting in Sept and it's crazy. The school are doing phased entry 2 pupils per day. So some wont start till last week in Sept. And it's half day till October. My ds1 is going to be so bored and pissed off as he's used to full days at preschool and even asks if he can go on weekends!

Surprisingly, they prioritise children's welfare and offering them the optimum start to their education over providing child care. Who'd have thought?

Disagree. If that were true, ALL schools would do it exactly the same way. They don't.

It's crackers and, yes, indicative of the fact that schools just have not got on board with the notion that many, many families have only full time workers as parents, whether that be one or two.

For those families, the children will have been in full day settings since babyhood. Faffing about with short days, split settings, part days with a parent when none of that is their norm isn't in their interests at all.

I've personally seen four kids go from completely comfortable away from mum, to not settling at all because all the buggering about with half days and part days and part weeks did was let them just about get used to mum being with them for a part day, to then take it away again.

Schools aren't childcare and they shouldn't be, but in so many ways, it's time they acknowledged families have changed and started working with that.

Fortunately, DD has a head who agreed. Her class went straight in full time on day one, and then they individually adjusted timetables for those children who did need longer. There weren't many, and it was better for them, too, because they got what they needed rather than an arbitrary mess.

Normal but actually op it doesn't sound too bad for you!

My son isn't starting full days til 14th September. He has two half days before that so I need to sort temporary childcare for the first two weeks of September. It's a pain but I was expecting it after reading mn and I bought some extra leave from work to cover it.

Thanks to those of you who have given the replies which are non judgemental. It's good to hear your own experiences with reception starts. It looks as if ours is fairly 'par for the course' I take your point about Mon and Tues being likely inset days. I'll ask if mine can start whole days on the Wednesday if possible.

Our school starts reception children off on the 11th September with a half day (half the class does mornings, half afternoons). Then full days from day 2.
We both work full time and can facilitate our son NOT having to do after-school club for a week (I will work half days from 10-2 for the first week). After that, it will be school day and then after school club. No other choice.
And to be honest, given that he was used to full-time nursery from 9 months, I do think that the whole half day faff would be disruptive rather than helping him settle in.

Glad I got the place at the less local school where there are lots of working parents... local school is SAHM central where nobody would have raised an eye lid about half days till half term...

caillie
Private schools tend not to have kids arriving in nappies who have never been properly socialised, have never eaten a meal with a knife and fork, whose parents drop them off late still wearing pyjamas.
State schools have to deal with those that the private schools choose not to admit.

ginny
schools just have not got on board with the notion that many, many families have only full time workers as parents, whether that be one or two.
as a proportion, the number of children under 5 with only full time working parents is utterly trivial

the vast bulk of families have one or more part time workers - hence why the median wage in the UK is under £19,000

Count yourself lucky. A primary school near me doesn't do full time until after Christmas.

The first two days will be training days (Monday, Tuesday). Some form of staggered start is completely normal.

Where I work, 44 out of 50 children going into Reception are coming from the onsite nursery. They are all being offered the option of going full time from day one, but are welcome to start part time if parents think it's in their child's best interest.

normal.

My sons school didn't stagger though, they felt children who struggle, struggle whatever and it was better to try starting everyone (they did do two half days) then working with any individual children (they had an extra teacher for the first term as she was going on maternity after) who needed different

It worked really well for my summer born son, he knew straight away pretty much what was happening, a friend of mine had two weeks of half weeks and it was harder to become routine

Both my DS and I are summer-borns, and both quite anxious about new environments etc. We both attend(ed) the same school and both absolutely needed the phased start (and indeed a later, post-Christmas start also) in order to settle gradually and not cause our anxiety around newness/change to spiral us into the stratosphere and trigger school phobia.

I'm a working parent myself, and my DS was very used to nursery/preschool from being 10mo, BUT...that doesn't mean he would've been fine being plunged straight into full-time school aged just-turned-four.

I'm dismayed at all those PPs whose focus seems to be entirely on their own convenience. This isn't about childcare- this is about introducing your child to the world of education, and safeguarding their mental and emotional health around that huge transition.

Totally normal. With respect, I wouldn't be asking for her to go in full time. You'll immediately be singled out as the annoying parent who thinks that whatever the school has decided is wrong!

Why don't you take some annual leave and actually enjoy this time with your child? Take them into school on their first morning. Take them out for lunch one day. It's a big thing for you child even if they have been in 40+ hrs of nursery since day 1. It's big school!

Last year DS's reception teachers did 2 weeks of home visits, and then a week of half days (half the class in the morning and half in the afternoon) before going full time. It really helped him settle - not because he needed to get used to being there all day, but because it was easier for the teachers to give the children more individual attention, and help them get into the new routine, with fewer children in the classroom.

caillie
Private schools tend not to have kids arriving in nappies who have never been properly socialised, have never eaten a meal with a knife and fork, whose parents drop them off late still wearing pyjamas.
State schools have to deal with those that the private schools choose not to admit.

I see your point now. Very few children starting state school are toilet trained, I thought pyjamas were de rigour when dropping off kids at school? Our state school insists on it in fact.
Our children don't need to learn how to use cutlery at such a young age, a packed lunch of a bag of crisps and a fruit shoot can easily be eaten with fingers.

62. The Code at paragraph 2.16 requires schools to make provision to admit children full-time from 1 September after their fourth birthday. Those children born between 1 September and 31 December reach compulsory school age of 5 years old at the beginning of the term after 1 January and for those born between 1 January and 31 March this is the beginning of the term after 1 April. Until a child reaches compulsory school age parents may choose to delay the admission oftheir child and/or their child can attend part-time. Paragraph 2.16 makes clear that it is for the parents to decide whether their child attends school prior to reaching compulsory school age and if so, whether attendance is full or part-time. Schools
must make full-time provision available from the beginning of the autumn term of the school year in which the child reaches compulsory school age, the September following the child’s fourth birthday. The OSA has again had queries from parents about their child’s right to a full-time place. Some schools provide an induction
period such that it appears schools dictate the sessions for which children can and cannot attend school, including setting requirements that contravene a parent’s right to full part-time or deferred schooling contrary to the requirements of the Code.

This is from the Office of the Adjudicator. LInk: webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160808140848/www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/484942/Office-of-the-Schools-Adjudicator-annual-report-September-2014-to-August-2015.pdf

Basically, as noted on previous Mumsnet threads:

It is illegal for a school to insist on a staggered start. Any parent who requests a full time place from the 1st day of term must be given one. The office of the schools adjudicator has ruled on it many times and has included it in the annual summary

If you want full time from day 1 and you are in England then tell the head that is what you want. If they refuse then direct them towards the office of the schools adjudicator ruling that I linked to earlier.

If they still refuse. Contact the LA admissions if they are the admissions authority. If they are not the admissions authority and it is an academy then contact the EFA.

If needed follow up with a formal complaint to school with threat of school adjudicator (but it won't get that far)

The school don't have the option not to be accommodating. The law says that if a parent requests a full-time start, they should get it.

The school wouldn't be doing the parent a favour, they'd be doing what they are mandated to do by law.

fairly normal, at my school we do half days for the first week and have already had the children in for a few afternoons

Private schools tend not to - they are less likely to need to. Why is that?
Judging by DD's school, because the preschool is actually part of the school, have lunch and playtime together etc so they have already been at the school for a year so it's not really any different to moving up a year, plus there were only 12 children in DD's year, with a teacher and 2 TA's, which is a lot less overwhelming than the 60 we have with 2 teachers and 2 TA's

Our child started full time from day one and even went to after school club. Just about to finish year 6 and it didn't harm him at all. Why do they have to do this nambypamby half day business.

It is the norm, however yanbu. My DD has been in the school nursery for the last year full time doing the same hours as the 2 reception classes (having previously been in private nursery FT since 10 months old) and will start reception on the 13th Sept, a week after her older sibling in the same school. There are no holiday clubs running after the beginning of Sept and we have no family nearby so will need to cover this ourselves having taken 2 weeks leave already for a family holiday in August. So she will be off for 7.5 weeks this summer! The only saving grace is that ours start on staggered dates but with full days from the off.

I would like to see the evidence that long drawn out inductions do benefit the child.

I know for DS it would have simply made him more confused and made the whole thing much harder. He needed to get into routine as soon as possible.

I'm with Sirzy on this. Fortunately DS1's school did full days straight away.
DS1 has ASD and thrives best on consistent routines. Having to mess about with half days or short days and then changing to full days later would have been unsettling for him and made it harder for him to adjust to being at school.

Children are entitled to a full time education from the start of the autumn term after they turn 4.

You can insist on this.

Look at it this way OP - your dd will start school exactly once. Is it worth getting stressed about a few days that will never happen again?

This all seems crazy! Our school start them full days from day 1.

tehersend you are right! I've even posted the link to a ruling on this ... but oddly, people would rather gripe about the staggered starts they don't have to accept!

Part time doesn't mean school hours friendly, and doesn't mean that they can accommodate a schedule which chops and changes for weeks on end.

Low income families are less likely to be able to afford ad-hoc short term childcare, too.

The low median income isn't just caused by lots of people in nice jobs working part time. Full time minimum wage is a long way shy of £19,000, and there a lot more of those.

We're nw England, and not the lovely Cheshire bits. DD school isn't full of lawyers/doctors/managers kids with parents panicking about meetings and deadlines. It's predominantly shift workers terrified that asking for half a term of less hours would mean they never got those hours back.

My family is one of only five in her class with either a sahm/part time parent or one in a professional role. That's going to get worse as we continue to switch to UC. We are lucky; I earn well working in an office and we've managed to swing DH only working 8-2 since DD started reception.

Before that, she was in full time childcare.

60% of her year came from the school nursery, which did a full school day. A good number of others came from other childcare. Vanishingly few had never left a parent.

Im not denying that staggered starts will be better for some children, but they're also detrimental to others. If an individual child needs a staggered start, they should have it, just as late born children should be able to delay starting at all.

But as a default norm, it's unfair to as many kids as it suits and hellish for families just trying to keep their heads above water. What's wrong with the approach taken by DD head?