Schools only allowing immediate family to drop and collect

[Snailsetssail]

Schools have absolutely no power to enforce this rule. It’s completely ridiculous for working parents and as a family with 2 key workers there is no way it can be done.

How many other schools have come up with this crazy rule?

Bonkers. Not ours thanks god. My DD will be picked up by her afterschool club along with a load of others.

Are the school offering wraparound care?

Not even childminders?

That’s ridiculous. We’ve been releasing plenty of children to childminders as usual.

It's idealistic rather than realistic. Some schools do seem to kid themselves that it's still the olden days when most families have a SAHP

Personally I’d ignore the rule if I was working and send my mother/sister/childminder. If the school Refuse to handover and want to keep my dc until I finish work at 9pm they can crack on.

ours has a no bags rule which is great except my son has sen takes his ear defenders etc in a bag daily its bad enough he now has to wear a shirt and tie and its worse they haven't sorted his echp and he is year three now this im unconvinced he is going to cope with school anymore

I had to go to the local mp about this very issue. My daughter is year one but could not attend school like her friends have been doing this last month as I use a childminder for work and the local authority had said no mixing of settings. I then spoke to the school and they agreed it was ridiculous as essentially it’s asking between choosing being able to pay your bills and keeping the roof over your head or your child’s education. Fortunately my school agreed this can not continue in September and my childminder can drop off and pick up as the local authority have left it to the discretion of the school. I even asked as my child’s class were back two days a week if I could bring her in on my days off, local authority advised I couldn’t use the childminder and send daughter to school in the same week.

I was frustrated but understood for this term, hard to see all year groups being able to go back for a few days to say bye and my daughter not, simply because I don’t have a job that fits school hours.

I couldn’t even take time off as we have been so busy ( work with children) due to COVID-19.

It’s a school my friends children attend and yes they had said no childminders and no wrap around care. Has to be an adult living in the same household.

It’s completely unworkable.

Yeah I'd ignore it too.

@JacobReesMogadishu

Personally I’d ignore the rule if I was working and send my mother/sister/childminder. If the school Refuse to handover and want to keep my dc until I finish work at 9pm they can crack on.

I like this response. Normally if a child isn’t collected, and a parent is uncontactable/refusing to collect, we would phone social services. Can you imagine the call?! ‘Hello, I’ve got a child who hasn’t been collected and can’t be until 9pm. Yes, I’ve got hold of the parent and their aunt is actually here waiting for them but I don’t want to let them go with them.’ 😂

Our school has this rule. We are 2 key workers and it is proving to be a bit of a nightmare to sort out! There is an after school club but not sure about whether breakfast club will run.

No, luckily mine will release to out of school club. At which point all the year group bubbles will mix and it is rendered completely pointless but I’m so glad they’re doing it!

It's crazy, our school certainly isn't doing it. It is illogical, and surely borderline illegal?

@slipperywhensparticus

ours has a no bags rule which is great except my son has sen takes his ear defenders etc in a bag daily its bad enough he now has to wear a shirt and tie and its worse they haven't sorted his echp and he is year three now this im unconvinced he is going to cope with school anymore

Contact SOS SEN. You can apply for an EHCP yourself and force the local authority to keep to the statutory time limits. Also point out to them that refusing to let your son take ear defenders is discrimination and it would be such a shame if you had to sort this out through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Discrimination Tribunal.

Schools are very bossy!

It's like rules about what age DC can be released to go home alone.

If you can't pick up, you could try saying you wish your DC to go home alone, and have them meet their childminder/afterschool nanny/local teen who just walks them to the afterschool club/whoever at an suitable spot outside the school.

Schools can (and should) limit who goes on to their premises. So fanning out the pick ups is sensible. And I think if push came to shove, and school rang you to say DC had not been picked up, and you said 'cannot leave work, please use your emergency contact (eg the CM) who is waiting just outside the school' they'd have to release child to them.

After a couple of days of doing this, a more elegant solution might be found. But it will depend on the school's layout and how they normally arrange pick ups, and how vulnerable the staff. They might have resigned themselves to sharing the risk of all the households in their class, but might not be open to then sharing with up to 30 other adults

But if the handover's in a nice large front playground, and pickers uppers have to queue outside so it's never crowded and it's on a one way system, it might be more possible to have all and sundry

Mine is enforcing the rule and offering no breakfast or after school clubs either. They are saying for the first term and then “see how it goes.”

I was expecting it, so had prepared myself for it. DH and I will have to take turns in WFH but it’s going to be an absolute body blow to so many working parents.

I agree with just ignoring the rule (I am a teacher).

Presumably they will only keep your child until you can collect at 9pm the once!

Doesn't even make sense to me as both our school and nursery are pretty much pushing kids out of the door - no parents have to enter the building.

They have no power to enforce it: ignore.

It's ridiculous!

DS has been back at school for the last few weeks and I've been picking up his friend when his mum works and dropping him back to his WFH dad. I'm not the only parent doing this either

Our school are doing staggered starts and ends by age group, some parents have over an hour wait between their first child and last one at both ends of the day - but they don't want you to hang around in the playground or bring your car.

I can't see why they didn't do start and end times alphabetically by surname so all of the children of the household go in at the same time (yes some children in a household have different surnames but they could all go in on the first one) save people standing around in the playground

It's unworkable for many. As a childcarer I may need to pretend to be Granddad if the school I am due to collect from in September does not allow childcarers to collect but would allow a grandparent. Fortunately so far I have not read anything from school about restrictions on who does drop off/collection.

I agree it’s ridiculous and I’m getting a bit fed up of schools acting like parents don’t have jobs with all their changes. Mine have emailed to say from September my sons class will be starting half an hour later than they used too and finishing 15 mins earlier which is a pain in the ass as my working hours are based around school. Seems like an unnecessary arrangement that’s going to cause stress as I know lots of parents shoot straight off to work.

Our school has said just one designated adult can collect and have staggered the start and finish times. No option to drop/collect siblings together so our school run is going to take me two hours a day. Work are going to be delighted with me