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

He was 4 this month . He could have started after his 3rd birthday but I didn't think he was ready . I think 'nursery' may be regional - I'm up north , elsewhere might call it preschool

@colditz I wish I had the nerve to say that to them 😆

Thanks for all the advice , I will definitely try dropping the oldest one off first and see how that works out !

Can't they be early? Drop year 3 child off at 8.20 at second site, go to first site to take nursery child there on time, and year 2 child is 15 minutes early.

Although where I am breakfast club is free, and I've never seen an age/year restriction on walking alone before. Breakfast club starts at 8.15 (ending 8.40) and school starts at 9am so kids can appear at any time between those and they just stay in the playground until the bell.

If he was 4 this month he hasn't started school yet so I wouldn't worry at all about him getting there after 8.30.

I think your terminology is slightly confusing but I think I understand what you mean now.

Detaining primary school aged children for the actions of their parents is not acceptable behaviour management policy. Ask for a meeting

@Bubbaduck I filled in a form giving permission for names adults to collect them
from school and it said on there that only year 5 students or above could walk to and from school alone . Not entirely sure how they would police that mind , but either way my year 3 child is not responsible enough for that .

*named

Not confusing at all.
LEA nursery on school premises we have one too.
OP sounds a bit of a nightmare. Can Year 3 be left? On another thread they expected children to be handed over to a teacher. Ours can be left on playground from 8:40am. We expect nursery children and Reception children to be handed over. Prefer children not to go to and fro from Year Five but when looked into when a parent wanted a Yr 3 to go to and fro independently there was nothing we could do except as parent to write and sign request.

It’s my understanding that nursery is not a statutory requirement? So get the two older kids into school so neither is late, the one in nursery can be a bit late. If they get bored of letting you in the gate then they should look at their timings. Surely you can’t be the only one who’s affected. They need to do some joined up thinking.

I wouldn't expect a nursery to have a start time or be something that you could be marked late for
Nursery has a start time otherwise it would just be a procession of parents coming to the gate all morning and teachers having to come out to let them in.
DS started alschool nursery at 2 and their end of year report notes absences and late!

But yes.
Eldest on aground for 8.20. Can they be trusted? If not at least you're absolutely ready to drop and run.
Next kids to school and deposit middle child then round to nursery.

If nursery raise a comment ask for their suggestions on getting youngest there on time

DS school has a similar set up except it’s a good 10 min drive between sites as 2 x village lower schools merged to become a primary school.

It works well how they do it. Playground opens on site 1 (yrs 3 -6) at 8.30 kids can be dropped as this is supervised. Bell goes at 8.45. This site finishes at 3.25. Playground is supervised until 3.35.

Site 2 (yrs R - 2) playground opens at 8.45, bell goes at 9. This site finishes at 3.15.

They also have a mini bus that runs between the 2 sites at drop off and pick up too assist parents who have kids on both sites and spaces are prioritised for parents who don’t drive.

Hope it gets sorted for you. Sorry if I have rambled just thought I’d share as it seems to work for our school.

Nursery really isn't that uncommon, it's non compulsory, the year before reception. Lots of schools round here are called "X School and Nursery" it's honestly not something the OP has made up!

It does sound really shit though OP, utterly nonsensical to have it split like that!

My (teenage) son had to leave 10 mins before bell every day to catch a last train and his school accepted that- perhaps they will be flexible.