in thinking that most children will not need 11 weeks of half days when they start school?

[OrmIrian]

Because 6 weeks of half days with DD and DS#1 was hard enough to deal with whilst trying to hold down a job. But now I've just noticed that DS#2 will have to do 11 weeks of half days before finally being allowed to go full time - serves me right for not reading all the stuff we were given last term. It used to go on until half term - now it's half way though the second half as well. Why? Really, why? If any child isn't settled after 6 weeks surely that child can be handled differently - not the whole class... And DS is doing afternoons the whole time. They used to alternate the kids between mornings and afternoon.

Oh sh*t!!! I think my company's "family friendliness" may be tested to the limit by this one..

S'OK. I know I ABU. But I am so fed up....

honoria, I think that's a separate issue. I think kids in England start too young. They're 4.5-5.5 in Scotland so you can get 'em in quick.

You English should sort out your start age.

I think the age is hugely relevant tbh.
younger children are going to need longer to settle in, phased days are one way of dealing with that.

It's just not the best system at all. It's often a nightmare for working parents.

No Pointy. It's ALWAYS a nightmare for working parents.

Mollymawk, you may find you can keep him part-time if you want to. We kept ds1 p/t for the whole of the 1st term, we were the only ones that did it and I think his teacher was bemused, to say the least, but he was only just 4 and it seemed right to us.

well, when dd2 started school I had a very good childminder and the staggered start for the first week was not a problem. If it had been more than one week, it wouldn't have been a problem either.

At the school where DS will go, they can start going the term after they are 4, for mornings only. They do that for two terms then start full time the term they are 5.

The LEA has a policy of one entry per year, but the school likes to have them spread over the year.

I'm seeing it as a continuation of pre-school and as I knew about it from when DS was two, have managed to arrange a childminder, so there isn't a problem with him just doing mornings. DS will be 4 in November, so will start in January.

The system they have means that especially the younger ones in the year aren't thrown in at the deep end with ft school at 4, and the older ones don't have to wait until they're 5.

Sorry haven't read the whole thread as I'm knackered and about to hit my pit. BUT one local school around here makes them go the WHOLE FIRST YEAR mornings only. (Not the one my DS is about to start thank God!) He's only JUST 4 and he'll be part time from the 24th Sept, for one week and then full imte thereafter! They are staggering the class in in three age bands. I guess he is going to be a tired little boy!

our school has the reception class part time until Easter.
very good idea imo as this means I can defer dd1 until after Christmas and still start p/t.
so you see you can't please all the people &c&c

Same with my daughter.

All over the place. It is my second child I will have waved off to school but she is a completely different character to my son and it could go either way. DH is coming too so there should be safety in numbers!!

dd had to do 2 bloody terms of part time when she started school (arrrghhhh) because she was summer born. Did my head in.

Only doing one term of full time school before yr1 (when they suddenly seem to stop playing and start doing more reading/writing) meant her transition from yrR to yr1 was really fraught and she didn't enjoy that year at all.

My dd2 starts this wednesday, she will have 4 days of 9-12 then its full time for the entire 07 intake. DD1 is going into yr2, when she started it was 3 weeks at half a day then full time.

Heavens above 11wks is ridiculous!

We just had a week of half days. Was plenty.

Friend's DD starts this week and has three days of half days, then to full time next week.

11 weeks is madness and impossible for working parents!

Blimey 11 weeks, that is silly.

Ds will do 3 days where it is mornings only and then full time.

I just don't see the point in delaying the inevitable.

Sorry I haven't read whole thread but I had this one with my dds at nursery (not reception), in that dd1 did not start going for the whole session (only 2 hrs 20) on her own till week 3 of the term when she started and I thought it was ridiculous, as she had been doing longer than that at pre-school the term before. So I phoned the head, who was totally unrepentant about it, and then I wrote to the governors. They replied telling me I was in the wrong, but curiously enough, the "induction period" was much reduced by the time dd2 started, less than 2 years later.

Moral of the story: write to the governors - put them on the spot and make them have to justify themselves. They'll hate it.

Unfortunately, schools do this because they can. Legally, they have the right to do this.

When ds1 started school 2 years ago he did 3 weeks of half days which I thought was too much. Last year dd did 7 days which was OK. 11 weeks is just totally unnecessary imo and especially unfair on the parents who have to go to work as well.

I quite agree with whoever said it was too early to start school. I'd be delighted if DS#2 wasn't going to start school until 5 or 6 TBH - but as that law says he has to do so now, I wish they'd just get on with it.

As for childcare - I only used a nursery 2 days a week before and they couldn't offer me more. Plus they weren't able to ferry him to school - I don't get a lunch hour as such so it would be have been tricky to do that myself. No of course school isn't childcare - it's about education - but they need parents on board do they not? It's not the greatest start to the school year is it?

At my kids school, all the Reception children start in September but those born from 1st March onwards do half-days only for the first term. (Most of the other schools in the area do two intakes, Sept and Jan).

I have actually found this a good system - the whole class learns their phonics, etc in that first term so the younger ones are not forever a term behind the older ones - and they get to relax at home in the afternoon.

I can see that it would be difficult if you are working though, most people in that situation have to get a childminder for the afternoon or come home from work at lunchtime to take their child to a day nursery.

When my youngest starts school next year he will be full-time from the start which suits me as I hope to go back to work then!

Meant to add that I think the school would possibly allow a child to start the following January if it proved really impossible for the parent to manage the half days - but don't know of anyone who has actually done this tbh