To contact the school

[sqirrelfriends]

Moan alert.

We live behind a big secondary school, there's no road access to the school but a lot of the kids (and parents) take advantage of a shortcut through a ramblers route. This is fine and it's not usually a problem but ever since the kids have gone back to school they have been an absolute nuisance.

Just today as they came past they were screaming and woke up DS. They shout, swear, drop sweets and rubbish and at the moment there is a boy laying across the neighbours drive. This nonsense goes on for about 30 minutes as they filter out.

The other issue I have is with the parents, they've caught on to this shortcut and are parking their cars across drives, on junctions and an in the middle of the road waiting for kids. One parent tailgated me through the estate and when I went to pull in to my drive she zipped past me and made it impossible for me to get far out enough to pull in. She was in the middle of the road! I had to ash her to pull forward so I could park and she just looked at me and eventually moved a bit. I've also not been able to leave in the mornings as there is someone over the drive. When I asked her (politely) to move I got a very curt "I'm just letting my kids out, I'm sure you understand" fine, but why does it take more than five minutes to let some teenagers out the car, and why can't you park legally a little bit further away to do so?

I know it doesn't seem too bad written down but it's every weekday and it's becoming a pain.

Would I be unreasonable to complain to the school. Could they even do anything?

Was it like this last year?
Is it a case of readjusting after the relative peace and quiet of the holidays, or is this sonething new?
I do think that, living near a school, this is kind of inevitable and you will be fighting a losing battle, but if it's new, then perhaps a timely word to the school or the council might help.

Just to check.

You are planning on contacting the school because children walking down a public right of way are noisy?

Will you also be contacting the parks department because bears are shitting in the woods?

I completely get that it's annoying and the parents are doubly annoying but large groups of children are noisy. Walk through town when the kids are getting out of school and you wonder if they're all deaf and only communicate through screams. But it was like that when I was a child and will carry on being like that.

You also said it's 30 minutes. That may be twice a day but it's hardly like you've suddenly found yourself under the flight path of Heathrow.

It isn't new but it's so much worse, I got a bit of a shock when I went on mat leave but quickly got used to it.

They seem so much worse this year, very very loud, showing off to their friends etc. Just after school started a boy saw my car coming while he was crossing the road and just stopped walking and stood in the road so I couldn't get past. It's like it was a game to him and he was very amused.

The parking issue is new, even on my working days I have issues with parents and their parking, never was before and I left at the same time.

@IWouldPreferNotTo no, not planning to. I just wanted to get the opinion of people that might have been in a similar situation on what might be appropriate. My neighbour is also thinking of contacting the school but neither of us know if there is any point.

It's not that their being noisy, I expect that to a degree but they literally scream and shout, it's very loud. They also lie in the street, run around on peoples drives, ride bikes in front of cars and generally make the school look bad. When I was in school there probably would have been an assembly about it but then I went to a strict all girls and it was quite a while ago

I would ask the school. In my DC school they send out a email asking parents not to park across drives, leave quietly ect. Saying they have had complaints. It's worth a try

Do contact the school. Secondaries near me (and DS’s secondary) had senior staff go out to monitor potential trouble spots at the end of the day.
A pupil threw a stone that chipped my car a few years ago and the school took it very seriously indeed.
They can ask the police to attend to monitor dangerous parking and driving too. More likely to be a PCSO ime, but unless the people who live around the school complain they aren’t going to know the scale of the problem.
As for the public right of way and noise, that’s irritating, but they probably won’t do anything about that. The antisocial and dangerous behaviour should be taken seriously though.

When I was at secondary school I remember we got spoken to about our behaviour when entering and leaving the school because some local residents had complained. The school took it seriously because in their opinion as long as you are wearing uniform you are representing the school and any bad behaviour reflects negatively on them. Depends on the school of course though, some might not care about what goes on outside of school hours. Regarding parents stopping in dangerous places and blocking drives I would also speak to the local police to see if they can do anything. Just having an officer patrol the area around drop off time for a few days telling parents not to stop in inappropriate places may deter the majority. Obviously if pupils are trespassing on private property (the kid lying down on someone's drive) also worth mentioning to the police and school. When talking to the school don't just say that they're bothering you but mention anti social behaviour and trespassing, those kind of words normally solicit a response.

Definitely speak to the school about the parking. The school across the road from me has given up the polite reminders about not parking across driveways (particularly now they have double yellow lines ). They have taken to publishing the number plates to try to get parents from disrupting the residents around the school. I totally understand the annoyance of those two half hour periods a day. It is always ‘it is just for a few minutes!’

What people don’t get is that that parent leaves and another thinks, ‘that is a good spot.’ One day it took me telling 4 cars that I was actually trying to leave my drive before I got sufficient break to drive out. And more than half of them tell me I should ‘get a life’.

I definitely remember my entire school getting a very stern talking-to from our headteacher when they got complaints about anti-social behaviour from pupils who walked home past their houses, so yes, I do think it would be worth you contacting the school. If they are just being noisy and exuberant, I wouldn't, but if they are being anti-social (lying across drives, chucking rubbish, standing in front of people's cars to piss them off) yes, fair enough to drop them a line.

Re parking over driveways, maybe call the local council ? Could they send a parking warden a few days? Re the pupils behaviour, if it’s as bad as you think could you ask the school to send a staff member to the road to show them how bad it is?

It really does depend on the school.
The school two of my children went to took complaints from residents very seriously. The school the other one went to, not so much.
We have a problem with parents parking right to the corners at junctions, making it very dangerous to leave our cul de sac, as inevitably other parents are driving along the main road looking for parking spaces.
My neighbour works at our local school and said it would take quite a few complaints for any action to be taken.
If you can get several neighbours to make complaints you are more likely to be heard.

Yes, I would contact the school re the stupid 'lying in the road' type behaviour (and mention the litter at same time). Most schools like their pupils to represent the school well on their journey to and from school and many schools will reiterate that to their pupils and also sometimes come out at the end of the day and 'have a presence' for a while.

The parents, there is less you can do about.
I don't think you can say much about noise or your LO waking up either. That comes with living near a school.

Our secondary school takes complaints very seriously. I complained about littering by kids and could describe the worst lad, they made him come and apologise. He is always very polite to me now and apologised again recently (he's finished high school now 😆). Have also complained about some children shouting obscenities from one of the buses, they had a teacher ride with them for a few weeks.

It is antisocial behaviour and if parents aren't doing anything, go to the organisation they're in, in this case the school.