They are shutting the road to the school

[CheckMate2]

My DC school has just announced that the road to the school will be shut at drop off and pick up times to make it safer for social distancing.

This is a huge problem for me as I have 3 to drop off at different schools, they are asking us to park far away and walk.

I think it's down to the residents complaining about the parking but to close it completely seems so ott for the working parents and the parents who have to drive.

What do you think?

We are waiting for this outside the school I work in. We had a major accident outside our school with children and parents hit. We can't wait for it to be in place.

@FudgeDrudge sure yes double parking range rovers on residential streets is “parenting”. Far be it from me to judge that behaviour as anything else!

I try and teach my kid about looking after the community and the environment. Of course I’d die for her but I do respect the local community!

FudgeDrudge sure yes double parking range rovers on residential streets is “parenting”

Your bias is showing.

@FudgeDrudge I’m totally comfortable being anti-range rovers. There is absolutely no need for them in cities.

[quote Sohardtochooseausername]@FudgeDrudge I’m totally comfortable being anti-range rovers. There is absolutely no need for them in cities.[/quote]
Yeah my Land Rover does look a bit out of place on the town centre streets... Doesn't look as out of place when its parked by the river unloading the canoe, or up on the campsite, or dealing with the snow and ice on the road we live on a mere two miles away in the countryside... Or should we buy a second car just for taking the children to school?

I live in NE London and they've just announced school streets for our school which is basically this scheme, as others have said. It's different here, as pretty much everyone gets first choice at primary, and it's usually within a mile walk, but for people that then move further away, they can still drive, just park outside of the school streets zone and walk the 5 mins in. is that an option for you?
For me, I'm delighted, as means my son can cycle safely on the streets round the school, and our walk will be less polluted and less dangerous. Honestly, some parents drive fast, straight up to the gates, and I'm amazed there hasn't been a serious incident.

I’m totally comfortable being anti-range rovers. There is absolutely no need for them in cities

So anyone not in a range rover can park anywhere they like then. Good to know

I see this thread has brought out all the 'but we simply can't help having to park 2cm away from the school gates' parents.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves @FudgeDrudge where I live no one is using them for anything but taxi-ing their little darlings within a 5 km radius, wrecking the roads, scraping other people’s cars and generally being a menace.

I’ve noticed lately that Teslas are now the car to have and drive badly on the school run. They are slightly smaller and silent. Pretty deadly.

Can you tell that I live within 10 minutes walk of two private schools and that my street is generally used as a car park by all these horrible people who for some reason won’t use the buses the school puts on?

Where I live, there is no breakfast club. No on site after school club. A tiny one has just started for after school, it only has space for less than 10% of the children in the school.

There are literally only 4 CMs who cover the school. People fight for spaces with them. Everyone else has to juggle getting to work etc. We arent in a city so most people work further away and because you can't drop children at the gate any earlier, lots of people are driving to get to work on time.

The single thing that would make the difference is kids being allowed to go into playground from 8.30 onwards, as we did when I was a child. I don't see why this is any harder to coordinate than a school streets scheme and it would be much easier.

The single thing that would make the difference is kids being allowed to go into playground from 8.30 onwards, as we did when I was a child. I don't see why this is any harder to coordinate than a school streets scheme and it would be much easier
Staffing would be the main thing I would imagine. Who is being directed to provide before school childcare and where does the money come from?

Schools aren't up for having lots of unsupervised children in the playgrounds these days.

Staffing would be the main thing I would imagine. Who is being directed to provide before school childcare and where does the money come from?

Who ever pushes for school street schemes (council?) need to also ensure there are sufficient breakfast club places provided at the school if necessary. You can't put in a scheme that will make every single working parent late for work every day without ensuring there is childcare available. When I was a child, that slot just before school was just like break time & teachers were rota'd for playground duty. Thats still the case now at break times, so what's changed?

I can't believe this isn't possible in lots of places.

As others have said, OP, you can blame those parents who drive and park like entitled dickheads. My DCs school has a tiny catchment. Some parents feel the need to drive half a mile each day instead of a less than ten minute walk. Some move away from the catchment area once their kids get a place and drive back each day instead of changing to their new local school. And of those that do this, many park like fuckwits.
I can't wait for our school street to start

Who ever pushes for school street schemes (council?) need to also ensure there are sufficient breakfast club places provided at the school if necessary. You can't put in a scheme that will make every single working parent late for work every day without ensuring there is childcare available. When I was a child, that slot just before school was just like break time & teachers were rota'd for playground duty. Thats still the case now at break times, so what's changed?

Teacher break duties are part of their working day and contracted hours. Any morning duty is usually for 10/15 minutes as the children arrive. Providing wraparound childcare is not their job, nor is it the job of Teaching Assistants (who are usually paid for the school hour time only, plus any meetings they need to attend).

Breakfast clubs and other wraparound provision are not ran by local authorities. Many are private companies or third sector providers. Some schools might run their own and charge for this to cover costs.

What you seem to expect is that schools provide free childcare in a way that is convenient for working parents.

Some parents feel the need to drive half a mile each day instead of a less than ten minute walk

School gate opens 8.45 am. Work starts 9.30 and is a 40 min drive away. Literally not enough time to get home to the car & get there on time. No space at any childminders locally. No breakfast club at school. School refuse to allow child to be dropped off early. Other mum friends all work too. No family close by to help.

Answers on a postcard please?
Or should we just ditch the job & be a sahp so we can dedicate ourselves properly to the school run?

You can't put in a scheme that will make every single working parent late for work every day without ensuring there is childcare available.

For most parents it would just mean adding ten minutes into the morning routine.

When I was a child, that slot just before school was just like break time & teachers were rota'd for playground duty.

I started teaching in the 70s and morning duty was only ever 10 minutes before school started. That hasn't changed.

I think councils need to provide this if they are going to put in measures that will make working parents late every day. As I said upthread, this isn't a "few" this is many, many parents.

for most parents it would just mean adding ten minutes into the morning routine

Aaaargh but clearly not all?! What part of the school will not let you drop off your child any earlier does not make sense to you?

In the south east childcare shortages are a major problem. Low UK wages mean bbeing a childcare worker does not earn you enough to afford to live in the south east, so not many people are queuing up to provide this.

Why is this the parents fault? What should we do? You cannot force someone to accept money to care for your child.

Where I live the better off families with spare bedrooms solve this by getting an au pair. Not an option for most.

@CheckMate2

This DC is the last to be dropped off, only 5 so going on his own isn't an option I'm afraid.

I don't understand. If this DC is the last, then you only have to walk him along the road to the school. Why can't you do this?

Aaaargh but clearly not all?! What part of the school will not let you drop off your child any earlier does not make sense to you?

The 10 minutes I spoke of it for the walk from a more convenient parking place. What part of that doesn't make sense? Set off 10 minutes earlier.

You seem to think the school has an obligation to fit in with your working hours, it doesn't.

This is how it is going to be for more and more schools.

Losing your rag at me isn't going to help.

You seem to think the school has an obligation to fit in with your working hours, it doesn't

Do you work?

Ok let's everyone not bother with jobs, shall we? I mean we can manage if the nurses and doctors dont get to work on time, cant we. We dont need teachers on time either, come to think of it. And you don't care if your bus/train is late because the driver was late?

This is a systemic problem. You can't fix it by simply making it impossible for people to get to work on time, there has to be a change elsewhere to facilitate it. Either shorter working hours, government intervention to create more childcare places etc.

Any of which is going to cost money, who do you think is going to pay for it? Working taxpaying parents. So don't shit on us unless you want the money we contribute to the economy to disappear.

LastGoldenDaysOfSummer
I knew what you meant.

The thing that gets me is that these sorts of threads are always full of people arguing that there is no possible alternative in their life to parking within inches of the school gate, often with little regard for anyone else.

Wraparound care is a business. Supply and demand means they could change their prices accordingly because surely if most of the parents scrambling to sit outside school in their cars all had very important places to be then there would be huge demand for wraparound because there's money to be made.

The primary school I pass on the way to work (small admissions area, all walkable) seems to have very different numbers of cars when it gets chilly vs in the summer. Maybe those very important jobs and super tight schedules are affected by the seasons and the weather.

This is a systemic problem. You can't fix it by simply making it impossible for people to get to work on time, there has to be a change elsewhere to facilitate it. Either shorter working hours, government intervention to create more childcare places etc.

Any of which is going to cost money, who do you think is going to pay for it? Working taxpaying parents. So don't shit on us unless you want the money we contribute to the economy to disappear

Or parents can pay for childcare for the children they chose to have, with some financial assistance for those who need it.

It's not the role of schools to think of every possible working pattern and provide free, convenient childcare.

My personal experience is that parking further away and walking sounds so much more stressful but in reality it is far less stressful. By all parking further away parking becomes so much easier and it’s a far LESS stressful start to the day.

(Space increases in the same way a circle of people can make space by all moving away from the centre making the circle bigger).

Tbh i wish theyd throw the book at cf parents and give schools greater powers to police cf parking.

Then none of this would be necessary.

DS's school occasionally ran a walking bus for the kids from a safe drop off point. I think that would be helpful too. But of course it needs parents to volunteer and its the lazy fuckers who 'never have time' (cant be arsed).