Parents standing on my front lawn

[Twizbe]

Trying to decide if I say something to the Head so thought I'd ask here first.

I live next to a 2 form entry junior school. Our house is the last of 3 down a single track private dead end road. The end of the road is a gate for the school. Our property boundaries the school.

When we moved in this gate was just emergency access / gardener access for the school. No kids used this entrance.

After covid the school use this gate for year 6. Since the schools went back after Xmas we have 60 kids using this gate morning and evening.

A few times now I've seen parents stood on our lawn or in sunny weather sat on it.

Today I came home and this bloke was stood almost at our front door playing with the leaves on a young tree in the lawn (it's about waist height)

He just gave me a dirty look at I turned my car into my drive.

AIBU to ask the school to remind parents that this is private property and not a place to sit / stand.

@Changechangychange - no no, you can't leave the story there! What happened? Did the CF boaters get all arsey about it?

As for the poster telling the OP to "just leave it" and not "get into a confrontation with the school" - calling the school to ask them to notify parents that they're standing on private property is hardly "confronting" and is absolutely a reasonable course of action, as equally it is totally reasonable to NOT want these parents just wandering around her front garden. God, there are some doormat types on MN!

I should have really. I had my 4 year old with me though and didn't want to make a scene.

You don't have to make a scene, you can just say politely "I'm sure you didn't know this was private land, please could you leave?". But in your shoes I'd just put a notice up in term time.

I live in a small block of flats near a school, with its own private car park, and parents from the school have started parking in it at pick-up time. I feel your pain!

Private property...keep off
Sprinkler

Yanbu but I would suggest putting up a fence first - without one it's more understandable that people are waiting on your land (wrong but guessing there's nowhere else to sit)

@ArcheryAnnie

Companies who do humane fox treatments (ie scare them away, don't kill them) make excellent little motion-activated sprinklers. You don't know they are there then BAM, it looks like you have wet your trousers.

Highly recommend.

[Derails thread]

Oo, do they work on squirrels? We've got one wreaking havoc amongst our bedding plants.

I can’t believe some posters are suggesting that the OP should just let this go! Obviously they are those entitled parents who think producing offspring entitles to them to do as they please with no concern for others 🙄

Honestly why is it that so many parents think they are special and normal rules don’t apply to them? I live near a large primary school and some of the parking has to be seen to be believed, I wouldn’t mind but most parents live within easy walking distance so don’t even need to drive their precious darlings there and back. The head teacher has begged and pleaded with parents over the years, trying to get them to respect residents living nearby and they don’t take an ounce of noutice.

@SpringTides5

Frankly OP I think you need to ask yourself whether it is worth getting so worked up over this. You seem to be getting yourself into a right lather with the standing at your window watching etc

Personally I would back away from the whole issue. Are the parents actually causing any issue by standing on ground that is technically your garden for a few minutes each day?

It's certainly not worth getting into confrontations with the school and parents imo.

Why should the op suck it up? It’s her property there’s no “technically” about it....it’s private land and the parents have no business loitering on her lawn or by her front door. Would you be saying the same if op had a fence and a gate or if the parents were accessing the enclosed back garden?

Just because it’s an open fronted garden doesn’t mean it’s a free for all.

Speaking to the school or even the parents for that matter is not confrontational it’s making them aware of the situation and letting them know it’s not acceptable.

I suspect the school will also tell you to suck it up if you mention it to them. It's just so trivial and they have far more important things to deal with.

In my experience, schools see the sense in being on good terms with their neighbours. It's the work of a few minutes to shove a note in the school's newsletter or email/text the Year 6 parents.

OP, given that the whole road belongs to the school, I wonder if they couldn't tell parents that they can no longer come up to the gate but must meet their children at the end of the road?

I can’t believe some posters are suggesting that the OP should just let this go!

No, it was just @SpringTides5 with the most excellent idea that OP should lay out the red carpet to people wandering all over her private land.

@SpringTides5 sounds like the sort of person who’d let their kid wander over someone else’s garden without permission.

I suspect the school will also tell you to suck it up if you mention it to them. It's just so trivial and they have far more important things to deal with

Totally missed this little gem!

IME, The schools won’t want any conflict with the local residents and will most definitely not see it as trivial.
We live very close to a primary school, parking has been a problem for years.
Twice I’ve had a near miss with young children darting out into the road because they can’t see oncoming traffic due to bad parking. I once saw a parent parked “on” the zebra crossing (which was directly in front of the main entrance of the school) and a poor lad trying to cross had to step into the road trying to dodge oncoming traffic to get past!

Notes were put out weekly to ask parents to stop being twatish!
It was ignored continually. Volunteer Parking Marshall’s were put in place twice a day to try to manage the problem. Still continued, the situation only improved when the police (and threat of being fined) took place of the parking Marshall’s.

I’ve yet to come across a school who would dismiss residents complaints and concerns as “trivial”

9 pages and no diagram yet. I feel cheated. I love a good diagram.

Our road is near a school and it's generally a free-for-all at going home time. Permit parking came into force early last year but the message didn't really seem to get through, possibly because of the interruptions caused by lockdowns. However, when I happened to go out a few days ago at 3.15ish I noticed a traffic warden having several spirited discussions as she handed out penalty notices, I was glad to see that she was standing her ground. Things have improved quite radically since then.

Take photos and inform the head. Ask him to communicate with parents that it isn't acceptable. Whilst signs won't deter everyone it might deter some.

Get a supersoaker and stand at an upstairs window, like a sniper. If they protest just say "I'm watering my garden!"
Bonus points if you can pop up to soak them and hide out of sight every time.

@Timestablesaretables

Get a supersoaker and stand at an upstairs window, like a sniper. If they protest just say "I'm watering my garden!" Bonus points if you can pop up to soak them and hide out of sight every time.

I love this. It's like a kind of reverse Whack-a-mole, hey.

School will say it's nothing to do with them...they can't really control parents and who could blame them.
However I would put some signs out stating it's 'private property, no entry' and would buy one or two (depending on yard size) motion-sensor sprinklers which could be turned on and ready to go before anyone arrived. These are readily available on eBay and maybe Gumtree, if the local garden centre or hardware store don't have them in stock.

Make sure you arm yourself with a video camera (phone will do) and hope you can muffle the laughs as they get soaked!! Now, that should work.....and don't forget we want to see the video, please post it on YouTube and put a link in this thread. LOL

Just push this kind of thing into the edge of the lawn

www.tekplas.co.uk/product/pvc-fencing/outdoor-fencing/picket-fencing/

It acts as a visual as much as a literal barrier.

There's a rule round our way against hedges, fences etc at the front. So people use these to stop others cutting across their lawn. 100% success rate from my 10 years here. (We tarmaced ours so no need for us!)

Just Google push in picket fencing.

I'd put chicken wire (wrapped around wooden sticks) up for now until you have it fenced off. Sometimes people need reminding that a piece of green area is actually someone's property! I've seen it happen at our local school, some parents standing on peoples drives.

I will lend you my dog for a while OP, he is a BIG dog, but very very friendly. When they sit on your lawn just walk up to them with DDog who will be very happy to see new people, he will lick their faces and slobber - oh the slobber, buckets of it, and if they stand up he likes nothing more than standing up too by resting his front paws on your shoulders and kissing the life out of you whilst covering you in slobber.

They will never darken your door (or lawn) again.

He is a lovely soft boy but just likes covering people in slobber, after a greeting with him i look like i fell asleep in a snail farm, covered in silvery slobber lines.

@WindyRose

School will say it's nothing to do with them...they can't really control parents and who could blame them. However I would put some signs out stating it's 'private property, no entry' and would buy one or two (depending on yard size) motion-sensor sprinklers which could be turned on and ready to go before anyone arrived. These are readily available on eBay and maybe Gumtree, if the local garden centre or hardware store don't have them in stock.

Make sure you arm yourself with a video camera (phone will do) and hope you can muffle the laughs as they get soaked!! Now, that should work.....and don't forget we want to see the video, please post it on YouTube and put a link in this thread. LOL

When my DC were at primary school this certainly wasnt the case at all. They took complaints from the neightbours quite seriously and sent letters out in stern tones telling parents about wrongdoings.

Your school may not care about the wider community but that's not universal by any means. That's got to be the first thing to try.

@TaraR2020

He gave you a dirty look?!

He needs to F right off!

Get some sprinklers op, turn them on at drop off and pick up times.

And maybe borrow a rottweiler.

A Rottweiler won't do any good, our 17week old puppy attracts kids like bees to pollen because she's cute as hell and loves to be fussed

Put a sign up saying “if you’re a paedophile please stand on this lawn”