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.

Do I get to be arrogant and abnormal if my DCs school does phased starts but mine didn't over 25 years ago?

My dd is starting school in September. We have a staggered start the first week and a home visit. I work in a primary school and they do home visits if there are hardly any new starters so basically children coming from elsewhere and not the school nursery. This year there is a high number of new starters so they can't accommodate them this year. I've had to ask my school if I can bring my daughter on the days that she isn't at school. My head said that the staggered starts seem stupid. Just get them in and get on with it. I totally agree. I think get them in for the full hours but maybe offer staggered starts for those children who have not been to nursery etc.

Funnily enough, the year after I insisted dc attend full time from day one, followed by over half the class, the next year the school decided to change the arrangements to help the children “settle quicker” into full time school.

That's why schools recommend you have the gradual start- so that half the class are in for the morning and half for the afternoon. The ratios are then 1:7 or 1:8. It makes a huge difference to how quickly children settle in. The first week is for home visits. 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.

That’s if that is actually the model your school uses. Ours doesn’t do the half class for the afternoon and half for the morning, so that can’t actually be vital. And other schools don’t do home visits, so that can’t be vital either.

For DD2, they really don’t need to visit us. They know us already through DD1, will have visited her at nursery a number of times, had her for multiple visits to school this term. They will receive a write up from her nursery too. I could tell them in 1 minute that she’s basically just like DD1, but a bit less compliant.

There might be a small number of DC who would benefit from a home visit - perhaps those who have never gone to a nursery/preschool or those with additional needs/suspected additional needs. It could be an opt in system + information from nursery/preschool to do targeted home visits.

Blimey, home visits, two terms of half days? Mine are teens now and started a couple of days after the rest of the school, so on the wednesday. Half the class was in for the morning, half the class in the afternoon on the Wednesday and Thursday, full class in for half a day on the Friday, then full days the following week. I think.

I don’t think it does any of the kids any good to go from probably longer hours at nursery, to a half day routine that is weeks and weeks long. Any longer than a few days and the half day at school becomes entrenched in their minds and they then become shocked at the idea that school is a full day long!

Oh no, just remembered it - when the whole class was together for the first time, they did a couple of days of just mornings then home before the lunch hour then a couple of days or morning plus lunch THEN into full day.

We had a month of it with both of ours. Parental leave helped as did the after school club running an additional afternoon session and pick up. It is a nightmare though and I have known parents insist that they stay till school finish time as well.

DD and the rest of her class will start reception ft from day 1 in September. About 2/3 of them including DD have been ft at the school nursery, where they did a staggered start. Booked loads of leave to cover it, and then she (and everyone else) settled in v quickly and they asked for her to come in FT from about day 3

This annoys me. They are your children. School is not childcare.

Several schools near where I live would do this when my children were at school. It’s quite common

To whoever’s secondary school has changed their finish time to 2.40: what is the reason the school gave for this?’

You can bet that it is not for the benefit of the kids, but the teachers, for whom it means they can get off in time to pick kids up from schools that finish af 3.15!!

I think secondary kids would do better with a slightly later start and later finish. When I was at school it was 4.30 finish then got reduced to 4pm. 2.40 is far far too early. We are not a Mediterranean country so there is no need for kids to be off out of school so early.

Unreasonable not to tell you at the time you put your child's name down for the school. The comment about a grandparent or someone else (assumed of retirement age) is objectionable- in the area I live in as in many others there are many people whose grandparents do not live locally or even in the country. This should be pointed out to the school so they do not make such comments again.

Hangerson: “This annoys me. They are your children. School is not childcare.”

To which I woukd reply: they are your pupils. Teach them.

Hangers, that's exactly what we are all saying.

Idiotic systems invented by schools make it very difficult for working parents to organise childcare.

You can't organise childcare around an ever changing half day here, and different half day there. It just doesn't work..

Be as annoyed as you like.

They are your children. School is not childcare.

No one is saying school is 'childcare'. Everyone will deal with it, if they have to take unpaid leave, find other people to support, pay for childcare (although I don't think I could find paid childcare for this purpose where I live).

It's fine for parents to say that it's difficult to facilitate this for their children because they have to work and have limited annual leave.

Do some posters on this thread really think that people only go to work as some kind of hobby? Earning money is quite an important thing to do if you want to feed your children and have a roof over their head. Imagine if everyone just stopped working if they had children and relied on the state?

Sorry for confusion, I meant important in my opinion. I don't teach year R but I would be doing home visits if I were. As a parent I found the home visit my eldest child had really useful and so did she.

My child found it useful I mean! I'm not sure how the teacher felt about it.

There does not need to be a home visit especially if they’re only 15 mins long. You could get the same result by a one-to-one appointment with the teacher on school premises.

There are no home visits at secondary school unless there are things like social services involvement Or other outside agencies.

Regardless of the policy, I think the issue is that they've only just let you know. We are "lucky" as our school do two half days then into full days... Tbh I can see that a gradual settling process might be helpful for some children, but I've also seen schools with half day / few hours / lunch one day etc and I think having something slightly different every day must be quite confusing and unsettling. I quite like the two half days then you're off... And although reception is a change of routine and that's what can be tiring, it isn't a massively long day really, especially not for children used to nursery from 8-6. It isn't childcare, no, but at the same time if parents have childcare in place till school starts and then wraparound childcare in place when it does, it isn't really a huge stretch of the imagination to realise that a week or two of half days is going to be quite tricky for working parents to accommodate. Hence why as much notice as possible would be appreciated!

Wow curly. Do you have any evidence for this baseless assumption-

You can bet that it is not for the benefit of the kids, but the teachers, for whom it means they can get off in time to pick kids up from schools that finish af 3.15!!

Because I can assure you that most staff are in early and late to get the ever increasing range of task done to professionally educate your children.

Can I ask when you did your teacher training and how many years of teaching experience in schools you have?

No teacher training as am support staff in a secondary school. Day was made shorter for a trial period and then staff, parents and kids were consulted. Kids obviously all chose to finish earlier (who’d have thought that would have been their choice? ) Parent view was mixed I think. Most of the staff wanted the early finish and told me they prefer it as they don’t have to put their primary age kids in Afterschool club or can get straight off for dental appointments/away for the weekend etc if they want to.

The times I have got fed up of trying to arrange a meeting after school because a teacher has got straight off to pick child up from school rather than pay for after school club. While I, on a lot less pay, am therr till 4.30, have had to pay for my kids’ childcare.

Obviously this doesn’t apply to all staff. But I haven’t been impressed with some of them.

Primary sector seems to be quite different with most primary teachers working at school much later.

The whole thing is ridiculous. When mine started a few years ago they did 2 weeks of mornings, 2 weeks of afternoons, 2 weeks of mornings with lunch, 1 week of half term then full time. It was a nightmare and I don't mean for me I was a SAHM at the time...I mean for the children who had no idea if they were coming or going. Who thought this was a good idea I'll never know.

A bit later and a different head has realised that this was too much. Now they do 3 weeks part time...however they "recognise this is a challenge for working parents" so breakfast club and after school club open for extra hours to help.

I work in Early Years and I am taking out transitions such as snack time and changing to go outside...but in school in is apparently fine to have your 4 year old in (potentially) 3 different settings in one day in the name of 'settling in'. WTF?

curly

You are being very unfair on school staff who are also working parents. The problem is the system of childcare that is so expensive.

You know full well (or should) that any after school activity, club or meeting is entirely unpaid and done on goodwill and professionalism. But it also eats into planning and marking time, most of which is done at home by teachers with children.

I’ve just quit teaching because it is impossible to do with a family. I won’t be the only one to do so this year by a country mile.

So stop making out that teachers are trying to gyp parents. We aren’t.

2 weeks ..you are lucky.. we had 6 weeks of half days! It is a one off and its important to get a good start. We saved our holiday and pulled in favours for our. 1st. For our 2nd, nursery we're happy to take him for the afternoon so lots of working from hone