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?

My friends school said only people in their list can collect (already the case for infants but now being enforced for juniors) maximum of 3 people which must include parents (so essentially one other can collect if 2 parents have pr)

@Howaboutanewname

If a child isn’t picked up from school within a certain time frame and contact can’t be made with the parents, Social Services will be contacted. People can’t just abandon their children to school and expect them to be there when they are ready to pick them up. Not how it works. Of course school wouldn’t call SS if the parent phoned and made it clear they’re sat still on a motorway behind an accident (and these days, a quick google would should whether that was the truth or not) but teachers have lives and families and responsibilities and won’t look after your child till 9pm.

But the grandparent would be there at the gate ready and willing to take them. 🤷‍♀️ So none of what you say is relevant. The kid hasn’t been abandoned.

I’m 😂😂😂 at the idea of social services coming to collect a child while their loving grandparent who the parent is happy for them to go with is standing there willing to take them. It just wouldn’t happen! Social services have got too much on their plate to be collecting children whose parents are working and have sent a family member to collect.

I get that its difficult, may even appear impossible, but have you considered why schools are staggering starts and finishes and trying to restrict who (not just how many) comes on the premises? It’s trying to reduce contacts on school premises and protect their staff and pupils. The government have rushed to ‘all back full time’ without creating workable guidance - largely because it isn’t workable and they do t want to face it. They are passing the buck to school management who will get blamed either way.
It’ll be their fault if parents have work issues.
It’ll be their fault if they help with that but then teachers and pupils become ill.
It stinks. But I’d t blame the schools, that’s what they want you to do.

This seems to me to be a terrible rule and discriminates against working parents
Mind you it does fit in with the common perception of schools that this is the 1950s and every pupil has a stay at home parent ( mum) ready to jump to their every demand

obviously your cm lives with you as does all of the other dc who she works for - (or provide cm with wigs to change appearance)
yep stupid comment almost as stupid as this idea

No, the school said, you must also provide details of a 4th adult and they must be able to pick a child up within 30 mins

And when you said this wasn't possible what did they say - oh your child can't come then? Oh dear, sorry I didn't plan for 20 years of convenient childcare with nobody dying, getting sick or moving away when I conceived my child!

As for the people saying parents aren't using their critical thinking skills -what does the childminder do when the school refuses to let the child into her care? It's easy for anyone to drop off, not so easy to fight the school on pick up. However, I like the idea of saying "fine, mum will be along at 9pm then, toodlepip" and see if the policy survives more than another 2 minutes.

You would be picking up your child from Social Services care so what?

People can’t just abandon their children to school and expect them to be there when they are ready to pick them up they're not, there's a childminder/grandparent/other adult to collect them. Read the thread.

but would think it reasonable for a school to know if childminders, grandparents or someone else with the agreement of the parent is collecting a child my son's school had a book where you wrote who was going to collect the child if it was a one-off and planned, but they knew who the designated childminder was.

I think sometimes schools are so used to dealing with 5 year olds they forget they're talking to grown ups Sometimes?

have you considered why schools are staggering starts and finishes and trying to restrict who (not just how many) comes on the premises? It’s trying to reduce contacts on school premises and protect their staff and pupils

But parents don't need to go onto school premises. At my ds' school the teacher stood at the classroom door, kid said "there's my [responsible adult]" and teacher said "oh yes" and let child go. This was only infants, at juniors they were allowed straight into the playground so anyone could collect. I realise it may depend on the layout of the school but I can't imagine schools generally have 30 adults per class crowding into classrooms to collect at the best of items, surely it's usually from a playground?

Gosh, I wouldn't be able to provide the details of 4 adults who could collect my children within 30min. I am often at home now, but frequently the other end of the county and wouldn't be able to get back even in that timescale, even if I left what I was doing immediately which I wouldn't always be able to. DH is the same - the vast majority of the time he works 10min away - but occasionally we would both be an hour away, because that is our jobs.

No grandparents within 30min and most of our friends work as well.

Can they refuse to take a child if you can't collect to that timescale?

My children's school have this rule but after me asking if they were going to pay my rent and feed my children they soon agreed to my child minder picking them up.

They also have a no one under 18 can pick up rule which means I have to have a child minder instead of my 15yr old being able to pick up my 10yr old and watching him for the 20mins it takes me to get home.

Are schools still open in the UK? Here in Ireland they've been shut since March 12th!! And they are still dithering about how to get them back safely last week in August or first week in September. And we have a new Minister for Education which doesn't help! My 16 year old is supposed to be going back on 31st August!

No, but a lot of them are now setting out arrangements for how to open in September

@talkingkrustydoll

They also have a no one under 18 can pick up rule which means I have to have a child minder instead of my 15yr old being able to pick up my 10yr old and watching him for the 20mins it takes me to get home.

Is that a new rule or one that’s always been in place? If it’s always been in place it’s a bit strange (after all it is feasible a 17 year old could have a school age child...would they refuse to release the child to their own mother?!) If it’s a new Covid one it’s beyond ridiculous.

I posted on another thread that my DDs school are not allowing anyone who doesn't live with the child except NRPs to pick the children up, no external wraparound, no childminders, no grandparents. The school wrap around is running but not taking any children not already signed up. I sent my mum this term to pick DD up and they refused to release DD to her, they held onto her in the school playground supervised from 2m away by the HT and DHT until 5pm when I could get there, thankfully it was a dry day.

I have spoken to the HT about it as I am a single parent, I work 4 days a week, use a mixture of my mum and an extrernal ASC to pick DD up so she can do her after school activities and she said she will not be releasing DD to anyone other than me or my ExH but as she doesn't know ExH and is currently unable to verify his identity not to him either (he doesn't usually pick up from school due to living 2 hours away and returning to the area EOW for contact at his parents house).

I have written to the chair of governors via email who basically replied sympathising but backing the HT.

I've had to quit my job, I'm 99% certain by October we'll have lost our house. To make matters even worse my DD has a medical condition which means that she needs weekly physio which is restarting in August, I have been told if she misses her slot to enter the school building in the morning she will not be permitted to enter until her slot the next day and I will not be allowed to pick her up early unless it's an emergency. So she's either got to miss her much needed weekly physio, miss a day a week of school or I pull her and struggle to homeschool until this sorts itself out.

School day is also shorter by 1 hour on 4 days and we have a day of 3 hours. So 7 hours a week or a whole day a week missed. And of course DDs half day isn't the day she has physio! Each year group has a different half day as well. And you're not allowed to hang around between staggered pick ups and drop offs you're supposed to go away and come back again with the next child, feel so sorry for those with multiple children.

Should add DDs after school activities are prescribed by her physio and really help her medical condition, the knock on affect for her doing these is not only to her condition but it has improved her school attainment, she's behind but not as far as she was before she started these.

Ours have said one parent or carer on the yard only. Luckily I just walk her to the gate and she goes in. However they have a different year group every 10 mins both in and out if school, and no wrap around care for the first week.
I don't know how they're going to enforce one parent as my ds teacher hadn't met me until the lockdown in March when I collected her as she does wrap around every day.

@CherryTreesandSeaswimming
Your situation is just horrible. I don't know what to say. How can the school claim they have acted in the best interest of the children in this case.

@CherryTreesandSeaswimming

I posted on another thread that my DDs school are not allowing anyone who doesn't live with the child except NRPs to pick the children up, no external wraparound, no childminders, no grandparents. The school wrap around is running but not taking any children not already signed up. I sent my mum this term to pick DD up and they refused to release DD to her, they held onto her in the school playground supervised from 2m away by the HT and DHT until 5pm when I could get there, thankfully it was a dry day.

I have spoken to the HT about it as I am a single parent, I work 4 days a week, use a mixture of my mum and an extrernal ASC to pick DD up so she can do her after school activities and she said she will not be releasing DD to anyone other than me or my ExH but as she doesn't know ExH and is currently unable to verify his identity not to him either (he doesn't usually pick up from school due to living 2 hours away and returning to the area EOW for contact at his parents house).

I have written to the chair of governors via email who basically replied sympathising but backing the HT.

I've had to quit my job, I'm 99% certain by October we'll have lost our house. To make matters even worse my DD has a medical condition which means that she needs weekly physio which is restarting in August, I have been told if she misses her slot to enter the school building in the morning she will not be permitted to enter until her slot the next day and I will not be allowed to pick her up early unless it's an emergency. So she's either got to miss her much needed weekly physio, miss a day a week of school or I pull her and struggle to homeschool until this sorts itself out.

School day is also shorter by 1 hour on 4 days and we have a day of 3 hours. So 7 hours a week or a whole day a week missed. And of course DDs half day isn't the day she has physio! Each year group has a different half day as well. And you're not allowed to hang around between staggered pick ups and drop offs you're supposed to go away and come back again with the next child, feel so sorry for those with multiple children.

So the HT and DHT would rather supervise a child in the playground than hand her over to her grandmother? Absolute madness. I’d have carried on doing this every day - sending my mum, making them go through the hassle of phoning me, then waiting with her til 5pm. Send some fun puzzle books or something for your daughter while they wait.

This whole situation is absolutely unworkable and completely crazy.

My DD's school has this rule, and also a one way system that will make me late for work. I'm really considering ignoring it and saving myself the stress.

@TheyCalledherPatience

My children's school have said the same. I teach in another school 20 minutes away so can't possibly drop off or pick up at school times. I am not really sure what options I am left with.

This is the situation I am going to be in too. I've either got to ignore the school rules or have serious problems at work.

It is unworkable yes

I mean, very rarely do parents of primary school children get to stay at home now.

I finish work at 7/8am so I can do this, but most parents can’t!

The government have rushed to ‘all back full time’ without creating workable guidance - largely because it isn’t workable and they do t want to face it. They are passing the buck to school management who will get blamed either way.
It’ll be their fault if parents have work issues.
It’ll be their fault if they help with that but then teachers and pupils become ill.
It stinks. But I’d t blame the schools, that’s what they want you to do.
You're right.
Sadly it's working. During the bulk of lockdown there were millions of threads where schools were terrible, whatever they did.
Some of us even said on the threads that there were logistical challenges of staggered pick ups and drop offs. Unfortunately we were apparently just lazy teachers who didn't want to open schools.

Of course, now schools are open and dealing with many of the challenges that people predicted, schools are also the worst and know nothing about working parents.

I've seen one thread where posters are complaining at how useless schools are for waiting until the end of the summer to publish their plan... But the GOVERNMENT isn't releasing guidance to schools until mid August.

If Mumsnet is anything to go by, the government have done a bloody brilliant job of having a terrible handling of this situation and successfully passing the buck.

I doubt all the people doing the rounds on how awful schools and teachers are will be contacting their MP to hold the government to account somehow.

Tell the school you bubbled up and the person or people who will pick your child up are currently living on your sofa because of this rule. Let them prove otherwise.

Yy Jacob, in that scenario the school will either be going through all the faff of contacting SS, who will no doubt be delighted, and remaining responsible for the child until then, or giving them to the relative present. One of those choices is much more of a pain in the clunge than the other. It would be a very bloody minded head who took Option A.

Actually, would SS even take responsibility in those circumstances when there's a suitable adult available and willing? They might rock up and give the kid to the auntie!