Primary school settling in for 3 weeks?!

[Smarshian]

My eldest is due to start school in September. We have just been sent a letter about her settling in. Reception will not be in the first week (1st-3rd September), they will then do mornings (9-11.30) for one week and afternoons (1.15-3.30) for one week, before starting full time from 20th September.
Is this normal?! What are working parents supposed to do for those weeks? She goes to nursery full time at the moment and I will obviously ask them if they can do any wrap around either side, but it just seems a ridiculous amount of settling in and we can’t work around 3 weeks of 2.5hrs or less of school.

It’s absolutely exhausting for them in the first few weeks - very different from preschool. I think it helps them settle in better, so makes sense from the child’s point of view. In the scheme of things it’s only a few weeks and then they’re full-time til they’re 18! But those few weeks can make a big difference to them, especially if they’re young in their year.

Our school did the same, a couple of hours first week, then a few half days for another week etc, hit full time eventually just before half term!. Some parents complained but they just said that’s the policy. It is like they expect one parent to be at home still! And as mine started last Sept in Covid times we couldn’t use another care provider so we had to take a fair bit of annual leave. It was all very irritating, my daughter is July born too but would have been fine starting full days.

I was so glad mine started part time, he'd only been at preschool in the mornings and found the full day incredibly long. He fell asleep a few times he was so exhausted once they did start full days. It's not convenient for working parents but it's much better for the kids that haven't spent full days at nursery. It was stopped a couple years after my ds's year and I noticed there was a lot more crying every morning when the kids went straight into full days rather than slowly settling them in.

Do you think it might also be another way to cut costs?! It’s just they don’t do it at all at private schools.. all children are in, full time from day 1. No settling in problems, lots of fun getting to know you activities and lots of free play time so no one is too tired and unsettled.
I agree it’s totally bizarre and I don’t think it’s beneficial to anyone really. Maybe teachers like it? Parents don’t like it and glisten just adapt to whatever they are being made to do - so I can’t think of an explanation for it tbh

Three weeks is very excessive. It's encouraged to be arranged in one week.

Most reception classes in 2020 managed to really pare this down to one day, none at all in some cases.

Is the school experiencing staffing problems? Are they expecting to be picking up train I g for new staff then?

I appreciate all your views on this. It would be great if anyone has seen any evidence basis for the settling in period? I’ve had a look online but can’t see anything of use. I’d love to be able to have a proper look at it before speaking to the school, as if it is really proven that it is better for the kids then we will work around it, if not, I will request that she does at least a shortened settling in period.

@NailsNeedDoing

It’s normal, and it usually works well for the children, especially when you consider that some of them will only just have turned four.

Yes, it worked really well for ours. I'm surprised that something which is clearly done to ease the children into something new is considered annoying or unnecessary. Many children adjust better by having a slow introduction to school. Yes, it will take some sorting to organise childcare, but it's being done with the best intentions

I understand a staggered start is useful. Orientation of kids within a school is a big job - particularly for for big school. So school term starting on a Monday and them not wanting the new starters in till say Thursday I don't see a problem with. Nursery kids I assume can continue to go to nursery. If this is standard for the schools then the nurseries will be used to picking up the staggered start.
The insisting on part days however I think needs to be stopped. Offering to have them picked up early if parents want/can fine - but insisting I think is wrong!

Yes normal, they may have half the children in each session to monitor and ease them in.

Yes it worries lots of mums and it did dd when this happened some years ago. I was able to help out but it is not so easy for everyone. It’s all about the thinking that the school day should be gradually extended to make the transition to school that much easier for the children. That includes school meals which in the school I worked in was added to the morning attendance who were usually the older children in the class, the afternoons for the youngest.

I didn't apply to schools that did this. Ours is a fantastic school and gets reception in all day from the start. I think they start one day before the rest of the school return so they can have a quiet look around, just reception.

It's so hard to rock the boat in your first interaction with school too. We were lucky - neither of my kids' first schools did this. But friends in the next city over were messing around until October half term! There IS no evidence. I wouldn't waste time looking. You just have to decide if this is worth pushing back on. I think it is, but it's not my relationship with the school that's on the line!

We chose to do this with our two. Took a half term to build up, which worked very well for them. It wasn’t the norm then - though schools were more than happy to oblige - but I think it’s quite usual practice now.

This is one of the few things that I feel our school has nailed completely. They take about a week for setting in with the kids doing half day (morning or afternoon) for two days in separate groups, then all together for a half day for two days (I think one day without lunch and one day with lunch or something similar) and then they are all in for the full day. So they get a few days to settle in and get used to the classroom in a slightly less stressful way, but they don't drag it out.

A friend who had one of the ridiculous 3-4 week processes said the worst part was that her daughter got so used to the short days after having been at full day nursery, that when they FINALLY got to the full day at school, she really struggled.

@Badabingbadabum

I didn't apply to schools that did this. Ours is a fantastic school and gets reception in all day from the start. I think they start one day before the rest of the school return so they can have a quiet look around, just reception.

I've often suspected that parents are put off applying to our school due to the staggered starts. The other schools in the area are in from day 1. So no messing around with trying to find childcare, taking additional time off work, remebering if this week is mornings or afternoons, if they're having lunch or not.

Ours does this too, I assumed it was a covid related thing but it appears its usual (mine started this past September).

Mornings first week with half the class, afternoons the following week, then full time from week 3. Didn't bother me at all because I'm a sahm but I can see how it'd be an absolute ballache for working parents.

It was better for my child, even though she'd been in preschool for 3 days a week previously. But she has ASD and wasn't expected to be full time until the half term, so I was actually delighted when she settled so well from the half days that she went full time from week 3

Every child is different but a school day is shorter than a nursery day although mine also did breakfast and after school club from day one as well.
For many children who are use to a nursery routine, a mixture of a few hours at school and other hours in different places can be unsettling. Also many nurseries won’t have any availability for part time hours as they will fill their spaces with new children. There is also the issue of getting them to and from nursery to school.
The system started in the days when many children didn’t go to childcare and school was their first experience of formal time outside their home and family. Schools also use to use the time to do home visits at the start of term but these rarely take place now as many families have two working parents so wouldn’t be at home for a visit.

The settling in period seems to be normal now in the UK, but settling in for more than 1 week seems unusual for my area. When my son started, he went in the morning for the first 3 days, then until after lunch on Thursday, then all day on Friday, then the following week it was normal (full) school days every day.

I don't know why schools do this. It's a total PITA for parents and most kids have been in nursery for at least a year before they start school, so they're used to long days away from home anyway.

I think it actually drags out the settling in process for most children. Having maybe a day or 2 of half days makes sense but the sooner they get into the full school day routine the better. When my son started it was straight into full days for most children. A few exceptions did half days for a week which I think was good. Then when my daughter started they did 2 weeks of half days. It was just annoying, she’d have settled in better doing full days from the start.

A friend who had one of the ridiculous 3-4 week processes said the worst part was that her daughter got so used to the short days after having been at full day nursery, that when they FINALLY got to the full day at school, she really struggled.

This is what I found anecdotally as a teacher. The years I taught in a school with this set up I had a lot more unsettled children and I genuinely believe it is because they had got used to one routine only for it to all change 3 weeks later. The years I taught in a school with no staggered start by week 3 the children were very accustomed to the routine of doing full days and were consequently a lot more settled.

Our school did this, except it was 2 hours the first two days, then "half days" 9.30-11.45" for a week, then the next week some days staying for lunch. It was so difficult to manage!

A school day is shorter than a nursery day though so I don't understand why they need to do half days for so long if a 10+ hour stint at a nursery is seen as ok

100% agree with Phineyj

It is a relic of the past and schools are slow to change

What is the settling for? I get a couple of half days to show them around, get used to lunch but multiple weeks is just ridiculous especially in a context where parents get fined if they take their DC on holiday but the school can run part time for months

The head at my daughter's school stood at the front telling everyone how it is such a long day for the children and they struggle being away from mum. Then said to any parents that will struggle with this around work they could pay for wrap around at the school that would bridge the gap to the end of the school day. So is it because they can't cope or not?

DS is starting school this September and I too was quite surprised at the settling in period. I was saying to DH that it is so lucky that I am on mat leave. We'd have to use ao much A/L otherwise.