School start time ?

[MrsMattWillis]

My children go to an academy primary school but the school is split into two separate buildings that are a ten minute walk through a residential area from each other .

So nursery to year 2 is one one site and year 3 to year 6 is at the other one . The school has only one headteacher . Just to be clear , it's not two separate schools , it's one school that was spread across two buildings when it got turned into an academy .

My issue is this - my nursery child starts at 830 at the first site , my year 3 child starts at 830 at the second site and then my year 2 child starts at 845 at the first site . I obviously can't be at both sites at the same time so each day one of my kids have been late , sometimes my year 2 child is also late if the other year groups are late going in as I don't have enough time to get between campuses ! This means they're getting marked as late on the register and will get a detention in school after so many times . I'm unable to ask anyone else to help out with the school run and they aren't allowed to walk to school alone till year 5 . I'm on a very tight budget and wouldn't be able to afford breakfast club .

Would I be unreasonable to tell the school they will not be participating in detentions due to lateness because even if I could be in two places at once at 830, sometimes the classes don't even go in on time meaning that the child who starts at 845 is also sometimes late ? Happy to be told IABU

A ten minute walk between buildings is madness!

Sorey posted too soon. Drop y3 at 8.30 then y2 and nursery at 8.45 and tell nursery to suck it up.

Can you email the school and explain the timings, asking them for a solution

You can’t be the only person struggling. Why does year 2 start later than nursery on the same site? That sounds ridiculous. Is there another mum you could work with to get all kids in on time ?

I have called and spoken to the attendance officer this week and she said she would get back to me but so far hasn't . There isn't anyone else I can ask to help with this , I don't know any of the nursery parents as he's only just started and the elder children don't have many friends - they've both been bullied because of physical disabilities they have and find it difficult to make friends . The few friends they do have don't have parents that are interested in encouraging socialising outside of school so seem unlikely to help me out .
I'm sure I can't be the only one in this situation though , lots of people only have one parent available to do the school run ! I think it doesn't help that I don't drive .

@Auntpetunia2015 the daft thing is that the nursery has a different start time to the rest of the first site so that there's time for parents to get from nursery to the main playground . But that doesn't make sense when nursery starts at the same time as the second site .

I too would - as a temporary measure take the Yr 3 child for the 8.30 start and then the 2 younger ones across for 8.45.
However, I would contact the school and point out what should be bloomin obvious to them anyway - that clearly you can't physically be in 2 places at once. This must be the same for quite a few families.
Ask around at Nursery pick up time and persuade others to contact the school too.
If you can't get anywhere through friendly, sensible conversation, then write to the Governing body.

I think the school is on pretty thin ice with giving a Y3 detention for being late tbh. Most Y3s are taken to school. And YANBU - talk to the school.

Yanbu, they must have a huge proportion of parents in the same boat. What are they all doing? Seems bonkers.

Personally I’d be making an appointment with the Head and asking her for a solution.

@arethereanyleftatall there is usually quite a few people queuing up in the office to sign the late book , I'm guessing at least some of them are late for the same reason as us .

Thanks for the advice , I think i might try taking the year 3 in first then nursery at 845 with year 2 !

Yep, drop yr 3 at 8.30 then back over to drop yr 2 and nursery at 8.45. They can't give the nursery child detention (and shouldn't be giving any of them, that's a shit policy)

I work at a school with the same set up - nursery to yr4 on one site; yr5-6 on another (10 Non walk between/ one head, but not academy). Times are set at 10 mins diff for each site for parents to collect. E.g site 1 starts at 8:50, site 2 at 9:00.

I believe before the current started this wasn't the case and there was chaos.

I suggest emails, governors, parent forum, contact academy trust.

What do you mean by nursery? I wouldn't expect a nursery to have a start time or be something that you could be marked late for.

I agree that the obvious solution is to drop the younger 2 off together at the same time.

@PattiStanger nursery as in his first year at school , not as in baby daycare , he's 4 . I'm going to try that next week , the only problem I can see with that is they lock the nursery gate once they've let them in at 830 but there's a buzzer so it shouldn't be that much of a problem for someone to come out and unlock it .

Primary school children should not be given detentions for lateness, it is literally out of their control and worth speaking to ofsted about

MrsMattWillis, are you in the UK? Your child's school sounds quite unlike any primary school I've ever come across, and the first year of primary is called reception, not nursery.

@colditz yes in the uk , nursery is the year before reception ?

Nursery isn't full time though , he finishes at 1130

When did he turn 4?

Drop the year 3 child off at 8.20am at the second site. They are old enough to wait 10 minutes on their own in the playground. I can't imagine you'd be the only parent to drop and run. Often schools will have a teacher on the playground for 10 minutes before school anyway, or they'll be lots of other adults around.

Walk over and drop of the nursery child at 8.30 and wait in the playground with the year 2 child.

In England reception is the first year in school, nursery ime isn't used to describe any kind of school setting, obviously may be different in other parts of the UK.

And yes, I'd be telling the nursery to suck my balls

Reception is the first year at school (clue is in the name). Even then full-time education isn't compulsory until age 5, so they can't give your 4 year old a detention.

I imagine he has just turned 4, or would already be in reception. I’d go with yr3 first and then yr2 as the 4yr old can be 15 mins “late” without any issues. I would get to know other parents in the same predicament though as even if children aren’t friends parents can share the walk.