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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Primary school settling in for 3 weeks?!

298 replies

Smarshian · 27/05/2021 07:42

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.

OP posts:

Original poster

Smarshian · 27/05/2021 16:18

@SnackSizeRaisin

You could keep your child in nursery for those 3 weeks and start school afterwards, full time. Or take unpaid parental leave?

I mean I could, but neither of those are great options. I either lose 3 weeks wages, and you know, bills. Or my DD misses out on those first weeks meeting her new classmates/ teacher and being kept at nursery while all her friends move up.

OP posts:

Justmeandtwokids · 27/05/2021 16:18

My kids school does one of the shortest staggers round here. Day 1 - autumn borns in full time, day 2 add Spring borns, day 3 add summer borns. If you want to spread it over longer you can.

I have friends that were faffing about with an hour here and there until half term. Talk about confusing for the child (and parents)

Echobelly · 27/05/2021 16:21

You're lucky it's just 3 weeks - some kids at my kids' primary had to do up to 6 weeks like that, it was a nightmare!

colourchanginglipstick · 27/05/2021 16:48

Luckily our school didn't do this but all the other local ones did - I think our private nursery would take kids in the afternoon for those weeks if the parents were stuck. Not sure how people would have managed otherwise.

Mistressiggi · 27/05/2021 16:54

@Merryhobnobs

It is random as the OP says as in Scotland we don't do it!

My dc both did it, in Scotland, so must vary even within a country

JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn · 27/05/2021 22:28

It's normal but really outdated. I was working full time as a single mum so my DD had been used to going to nursery from 7.30-6pm so couldn't get her head around why school was so short! She wasn't in the slightest but tired at the end of the day. We'd been warned how exhausted the kids would be. Nope. She was fine.

Pinkylemons · 27/05/2021 22:45

They did this at our school but it was different depending on when their birthdays fell. Summer born children did a week of mornings and a week of afternoons. I think the older ones were in full days from the beginning.

It was helpful for my kids as neither had been to pre school or nursery.

TheLonelyCup · 27/05/2021 22:58

Our primary do this. It used to be optional but this year (as in 2020 starters) and next year (2021 starters) it’s not and everyone’s party time until Christmas as the reception teachers are needed to cover ppa due to covid or something. Doesn’t affect me but does affect some of the parents of DDs friends.

The schools solution is bringing the wrap around care lady in early and having the parents pay for care at £9 an hour!

lollipopsandrainbows · 27/05/2021 23:05

Just refuse. My daughter had been in full time nursery from the age of 10 months, there was no way I was unsettling her with staggered days/times. And I was "THE PARENT" who chose to go against the grain, so DD was the only one there for the first few days full time. But then other parents cottoned on and by the middle of the second week, I'd say the class was 70% full.

Whinge · 28/05/2021 06:30

everyone’s party time until Christmas as the reception teachers are needed to cover ppa due to covid or something

That's ridiculous. Those children are missing a huge amount of their first year of school. Not to mention the headache around routine / settling in and the outrageous price they're charging for childcare. I really hope the majority of parents compain as the school are acting disgracefully.

Parker231 · 28/05/2021 06:46

The school can suggest a staggered start but can’t enforce it if parents decide to send their DC’s full time from the start of the school term.

itsgettingwierd · 28/05/2021 06:52

Yes it's normal.

Yes schools still try it on.

No - they cannot refuse to take the child FT.

The slow start (for my ds half a term as a summer born) was far more disruptive to him than if he'd started with his peers born the first term at the beginning.

He had to stay at his nursery for first 10 days they didn't attend.
Then go to a CM every day at 12noon - they one who was providing wrap around care once he started FT.

He couldn't understand why some children stayed all day and some got to stay for lunch. He thought he'd done something wrong and they didn't like him.

He'd been to nursery FT so full days were the norm for him.

Barbie222 · 28/05/2021 07:01

@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.

I found this very frustrating and was glad when my school changed it. I believe it's not now legal.

Barbie222 · 28/05/2021 07:03

It is a bit like going at the pace of the slowest man. If children need help settling they can of course take the extra time. When I was a reception teacher, the only children I felt needed any help were the ones who hadn't had lunch at a pre school or nursery setting before, and those with significant sen who had a bespoke plan anyway.

lavenderandwisteria · 28/05/2021 07:46

I’m fairly sure that INSET days need to be announced in advance legally jump

And I can’t believe you think people shouldn’t have children because they might struggle a bit to find childcare for three weeks seriously?

TheLonelyCup · 28/05/2021 07:54

@Whinge

everyone’s party time until Christmas as the reception teachers are needed to cover ppa due to covid or something

It is but the letter on school website says "As it worked so well last year" and "as children don't need to be in school full time until the term after they turn 5 even those who're 5 in september/october don't have to be in until January" so they're not actually breaking any rules by the look of it.

meditrina · 28/05/2021 07:56

You know that there will be no more than 5 inset days over the year, so can 'budget' your annual leave for that.

Long staggered starts - when every DC who wants a full time place from the off is meant to have one - is a totally different thing, and forces parents into temporary and potentially unsettling additional,childcare, just at the worst possible time of transition, when DC shouid be moving to their new school and long-term wrap round with as few unnecessary additions as possible.

Parker231 · 28/05/2021 08:07

@TheLonelyCup - here’s the legal stuff. There are cases of families taking the education department to court over refusing day one schooling.

You have the right to start your child at school on a full time basis from the September following their fourth birthday, providing they have been allocated a school place. While schools are free to suggest a preferred induction process, parents retain the right to formally request that the school provide a full term schedule for their child from the beginning of the school year.

You also have the right to delay your child's start date (known as deferred entry), until later in the school year, but not beyond the beginning of the term after they turn 5 and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year in April. Your child may also start part time later in the school year, but not beyond the beginning of the term after they turn 5.”

Plumbear2 · 28/05/2021 08:11

@Smarshian

The UK has one of the lowest percentages of working mothers of children under 6 because of poor provisions like this.

It's not poor provision, it's school. They are there to educate. You need to organise your childcare around their timetable, not the other way round.

Parker231 · 28/05/2021 08:16

@Plumbear2 - school is there to educate which legally includes full time schooling from the first day of the school term.

It’s not asking for different arrangements just the legal ones.

lavenderandwisteria · 28/05/2021 08:18

plum are you trying to be obtuse?

Maray1967 · 28/05/2021 08:18

DS1 had this for 2 weeks, fortunately nursery let him go for morning and lunch and I picked him up, got him into school uniform at nursery and took him to school. I could do that in lunch as nursery was at my work place. Fortunately DS2 school only did it for one week so we covered it between us. 3 weeks is ridiculous in my opinion.

Plumbear2 · 28/05/2021 08:22

@lavenderandwisteria

plum are you trying to be obtuse?

No. It's just annoying that people still think school equals childcare. It's not,,it's an education establishment . Children are ultimately the parents responsibility, not schools. This attitude is the reason lots of kids start school not Toilet trained or able to use a fork (excluding special needs) some parents expect school to do everything for them

Parker231 · 28/05/2021 08:25

No one on this thread has said they expect schools to provide childcare.

PegPeople · 28/05/2021 08:26

No. It's just annoying that people still think school equals childcare. It's not,,it's an education establishment

I don't believe anyone has said it is childcare. It is not unreasonable to want your child to attend school full time and it is not in any way comparable to the poor parenting that leads to children not being able to use a fork or the toilet.

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