To wonder how the heck schools expect working parents to cope with this?

[Worriedaboutdog]

Apologies this may be a rant. DS1 is due to start school in September. We have therefore put childcare plans in place based on him starting school on the first day of term in September. School have just announced that:

a) reception start a week later
And
b) as a summer birthday, DS actually will do half days for another week after that, and ‘must be picked up at 1.30pm’.

No mention of either of these things was made when we looked round the school. We have already juggled the time off we have available to look after him over the summer. As it happens it’s probably easier for us than most parents as DH is a shift worker so can cover some days, but we were relying on him going to school at the beginning of September, and being in after-school club on days DH isn’t at home until I can get there to pick him up. Wtf are parents who both work Monday-Friday meant to do about two extra weeks?! This was all announced today in a meeting (I couldn’t go, because it was at 3.30pm, but DH did), and when he asked the class teacher if they had to go home at lunchtime or could stay and then go to after school club, she said they had to go home and we’d have to get ‘a grandparent or someone’ to pick them up. So we’ll just magic up a grandparent physically fit and willing enough to do a whole week of half days childcare, who is actually able to drive to the school, then.

He can possibly go back to his current nursery for the week he isn’t in school at all, but the half days are stumping me. I think I probably am being unreasonable to be cross - I realise school is not designed to be childcare, and therefore not run for the convenience of the parents, BUT they must know that parents make assumptions (based on the information on their website!) about the dates of terms and the length of the school day, and make arrangements accordingly. And that this just isn’t feasible for everyone, and if they don’t bloody tell you about it until June then plans (and budgets) for September childcare are already in place! Argh.

They would NOT be able to cope with the extra children, I mean.

It's not an argument. It's how early years education works.

"during" their only time in school.

The teacher and TA need to visit children in their own home to start to get to know their personalities, abilities and interests. This is vitally important for planning for their learning in early years

this is vitally important for having a good nose around and seeing which kids come from naice middle class families with books on the shelves - and which, well, don't.

My son's school did not do this, thank goodness. So intrusive. I don't know if other schools locally did, or do it now.

You need to take responsibility for your own life style choices

I'm amazed how many MNers have a private income and don't need to work.

Having books around at home or not does make sense difference to children's attainment in early years. That's not the reason for a home visit, though. Teaching year R is a tricky business and teachers like to know as much as they can about their class before they start.
Nobody is nosing or judging about your home.

My DC’s went full time from day one - about 60% of the other parents did the same with their DC’s. Neither of mine had any problems with the move from a nursery to reception class. They were use to a routine (they also went to the school breakfast and after school clubs), sitting down when told etc.

I wasn’t prepared to waste my holiday entitlement for a staggered start when I didn’t consider it necessary. Grandparents don’t live in the same country.

I can’t remember if their were home visits by the teacher but then we would have been at work so not in anyway.

This is what has always happened when they start school. It’s two weeks out of years and years of education

IT IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT HAS HAPPENED!

And different schools have different policies.

And change them year to year.

Some summer born kids don't get into school full time until the summer holidays.

I didn't realise there was a legal requirement to let them go full time from the beginning of term though, I thought it was only from their 5th birthday.

Well that's because the new intake of preschool children will be starting that week. They would be able to cope with the children who are just about to start school as well- their ratios are too strict!

I said the school blocked it i.e. it wasn't the preschools choice. They told me that the disagreed with the decision so presumably, they felt that they could have looked after the children.

Nobody is nosing or judging about your home

Oh come on. Teachers are human like everyone else.

Some summer born kids don't get into school full time until the summer holidays

I meant the summer TERM ie the Easter holidays.

You need to take responsibility for your own life style choices

I didn't realise that eating and having a roof over my head was a lifestyle choice.

Rainbowfudgee
The teacher and TA need to visit children in their own home to start to get to know their personalities, abilities and interests. This is vitally important for planning for their learning in early years.

I'm terribly sorry but what a crock! DS's old school did the old home visit palaver, that's a day's annual leave for me and hanging round the house waiting for them to come in for less than 10 minutes. Zero benefit in terms of getting to know anything about his personalities, abilities or interests and I fail to how it informed planning for his learning, all it gained was a tick in the box for Ofsted.

When he moved school there was no visit from the new school and, how strange, he is doing much better at the new school. The new school (in Scotland) does neither home visits nor staggered starts and, what do you know! it is full of happy children with excellent attainment.

Rainbowfudgee - how do you work in home visits where the parents work?

DS starts reception in September. They've just had 2 unaccompanied settling in mornings with 1/2 the intake staying to lunch each day (parents were invited to lunch). The teachers have been on visits to the nurseries to see the children there and the nursery staff have also been in to school.

Reception start 15mins late the first day and the school have requested that if at all possible a parent drops them off the first morning in case the school have any additional questions/missing paperwork for you or if you need to hand inhalers etc in to staff. For the first term they go in to lunch 15mins early & a member of reception staff stays in the lunch hall till the last one has finished eating but that's the only tweak to their day.

The head of EYFS says they have found the children settle better in full days because they have less uncertainty about what's happening that day/week than in a period of part days and (her words) patched together childcare. It's about 50 children to a year group so hardly a tiny school but not enormous either

I'm in the "what a load of crap" camp. Thankfully, both schools my dds have attended did the normal start.

I want to know what the reception teacher is doing with all the extra PPA time? Bloody hell, every afternoon no pupils for 2 weeks? Sounds like a dream.

And yes, I am a teacher. This is not a teacher bashing comment.

We all need to get a handle on our new students every year. To suss them out. I think that excuse is extremely flimsy.

I suppose if you had a very anxious DC who was worked up about starting school and maybe hadn't attended preschool etc etc, there could be a phase in for the pupil. But in my experience, it seems unnecessary.

I'm not sure what I would have done, tbh. No family. Single parent and a work full time as a teacher. I think I'd have kicked up a stink.

Hope you manage to sort something.

Just remembered another stunt DD's primary pulled on us (nearly 20 year ago now).

Before school she was full time in a private day nursery. We were very happy with it and they had an excellent pre-school class. However, when we confirmed her place at primary the head mistress strongly recommended that she attend the pre-school attached to their school. She assured us that most of the children who would join DD in reception would also be at this pre-school so if our DD did not attend she would be at a serious disadvantage when she went in to reception as all the other children would know each other.

Of course, unlike the day nursery which she was attending, the school pre-school was only 3 hours a day. Not only that but its time varied throughout the week - 2 days it was in the morning and 3 days in the afternoon. Obviously it didn't run at all in the school holidays. For a while DH and I were totally flummoxed as to how we could possible cope with transferring her between pre-school and nursery every day and both work. In the end we decided to compromise and keep her at her nursery for two days a week and send her to the school's pre-shool on just three days a week - for two of those days we got a child minder to provide wrap-around care and who would drop-off and pick-up during term time and the other day was my day off so that was fine.

It was a busy year and took DD a bit of time to adjust to since she had been familiar with nursery since she was a baby but suddenly had to adjust to a new pre-school and child minder all at the same time and would get confused as to where she would be on each day.

Oh and after all that the HM's message turned out to be a complete nonsense since less than half of the children in her reception class had actually been at the school's pre-school. We might as well have left her four days a week at her very good nursery and just popped her in the school pre-school one day a week on my day off.

When my daughter started reception it was phased over a few weeks according to age. Thankfully she was one of the older children. I still had to send her to my Mum's in another city to me for a couple of days as I am a teacher so couldn't take any leave etc. Was relieved they did full days once they started.

The teacher and TA need to visit children in their own home to start to get to know their personalities, abilities and interests. This is vitally important for planning for their learning in early years.

Obviously not so vital or all school would do them.

It really is how this has worked for the last 35 years at least, my first two weeks of my school life were staggered and so were all of my dcs (same school) I mean that is decades!

You have my sympathy OP

My son starts secondary this year too, we discovered 2wks ago that they have brought school finish time to a earlier 2:40pm!!

Just like that!! WTF!!!

My partner currently works PT and there is no way she can reduce her hours further, I work FT

Just another fucking example of public sector areas deciding what works best for them!! They must live in cuckoo land. Do they not realise that out here in the REAL world we have to do as our employer says.

Cynical me suspects schools know this and by ending school earlier forces parents to pay for after club which no doubt tops up the coffers nicely.

Honestly, what a shit fucking country when the public sector dictates how the private sector functions yet still expects us to show them sympathy with their pension problem...ha ha welcome to our world...ENJOY!!

@BlueSapp it wasn't like that when I started school 31 years ago or when my nephew started the same school 7 years ago.

Just because the one school you have experience of staggers the start doesn't mean they all do.

Secondary school children should have the option of a bus home, has your son not got this option @mrcharlie?

Cynical me suspects schools know this and by ending school earlier forces parents to pay for after club which no doubt tops up the coffers nicely.

Do they have an after school club? That would be unusual for a secondary school I think. Most children look after themselves after school.

Welcome to being a working parent with a school aged child.

My son goes to school this time but his only do 6 days of half days and then it's full time for all.

I do think a staggered start is valuable for reception children even if they have done full time in nursery/preschool because there are so many new things e.g. the system for choosing lunch, assembly, getting changed for PE etc. Which can be exhausting for young children.

I do understand it can be difficult to arrange (I teach secondary so can't use leave to cover) and I am thankful my DH is self employed and very flexible.

I have heard people using nurseries/child minders around half days.