Staggered start is illegal exclusion

[HapptobeTHATparent]

DD turns 5 on 2nd September. Just received her school starter paperwork and it's a staggered start, so won't actually start full time until 16th September. No home visits so no need for staggered start. 26 children already attend the school nursery full time.

AIBU to accuse the school of illegal exclusion by not allowing DD and the 25 others already attending school (nursery) full time (plus any new starters who wish to start full time straight away), to return to school on the 1st September like the rest of the school.

State maintained school (not academy).

Slightly tounge in cheek, but also hoping for some links to documents I can quote at the school.

Oh fgs. I'm a head teacher, hopefully this will clear it up a bit.

Right, they stagger the starts because it's a whole new cohort of 4 and 5 year olds who are mixing. They may have been at nursery full time but it's new adults, a new part of the school and a set of new peers. Children need time to adjust and the staff need time to spend 1-1 with all the children so they can help the transition and get a really good feel for the group e.g. SEND, behaviour, getting to know families, trauma, social involvement etc etc.

Essentially, the school's first priority isn't being your free childcare. I really hate this sort of post that seems to have the tone of 'lazy schools shirking once again', teachers really love your children, especially reception teachers, it's not an easy job.

YABVU.

🫡

Exactly, it's for your child's benefit. Well all the children's benefit. It's also logistics. I actually can't believe how dumb some people are on this thread 😐 It's a whole different system to get used to ffs and would be overwhelming for any child.

I seriously think a trained reception team could cope. No staggered starts for my DC. Children toilet trained and very few accidents. Most reception classrooms have very accessible toilets and there were frequent mass trips, plus anyone could pop to the toilet as and when. They couldn’t run away.

And teachers will have learned names from photographs if there have been no visits. Nice bright name stickers on jumpers/t shirts..

That is a long staggered start period! Ours is 3 days (1 hour first day (with parents), one morning the next (parent optional) then normal hours (without parents) after that.

Staggered starts are hated by parents, appreciated by staff and make the process calmer and more pleasant for the children.

I didn't. My son starts FT school in Sept. No mention of staggered starts. My sisters 2 kids have been, or are in primary. No mention of staggered starts.
Until this thread I had never heard of staggered starts. I'd be pissed about it as well - I work FT and my son is in nursery FT. It would be a right PITA.

I used to find the staggered start bizarre/ annoying and used the same logic as you. That most of these kids have been in nursery gull time or the school's pre school.

Then I did a placement in reception term 1. Wow. I totally changed my mind. It is hugely beneficial for the children and I really am pro staggered starts now. The children have to learn so much. New environment, new toilets, picking lunch choice (which honestly took about 30 mins!) new rules, new routines. It is honestly massive and it's unbelievably tiring for their little brains! I'm sorry it is difficult for you as a teacher to accommodate, I do get it's hard. But being a parent can sometimes mean having to find / pay for childcare..

Challenge the staggered start, observe it is reduced hours, would be good for your DC to be full time from the beginning of term. I don't think the phrase 'illegal exclusion' should be used.

Worth separately raising the issue perhaps with your local MP, which may not have any impact this year, but could benefit others.

My Twins will have been in nursery two years when Reception started. If they suggested a staggered start (they don't) I'd be saying to the Headteacher at pick up, look I know it'll be hard for some kids, but the twins have been here since they were 3, iim now working full time, part time Reception is going to cripple us financially, I want them to start full time, how do I make that happen?

I wouldn't start with an email saying if you don't, you're acting illegally.

Do you not have much of a relationship with her school? I can see it might be harder if you're full time so no drop offs or pick ups. In which I'd be calling to have a chat.

@SSleepingStandingUp

I have no intention of doing that, I've said repeatedly I've used an inflammatory thread title to get responses. That dummy letter was just to address the point that anything controversial must mean all guns blazing, screaming and shouting at staff. Not at all! Perfectly possible to be a polite twat too!

When my older DC started school in the Channel Islands, the whole class started the same day and stayed all day from the start after two taster sessions - one where parents stayed, one where they didn't. No school nurseries at states schools there, those who hadn't needed childcare had had mostly done 2-3 mornings or afternoons at playschool as free hours weren't a thing yet and there was a low-cost playschool you could get referred to by HV which didn't do full days.

It was fine.

My understanding was the school can't insist that your child starts later. I feel a quick email/call to the school would be enough to get an early September start.
I'm not sure how they decide start dates. I wonder if they feel an older/more mature child (yours) will adjust more easily joining an established group and a younger child (almost a year younger) might benefit from starting with a small group and gradually growing the group.
In your situation, for the sake of 2 weeks I'd probably take advantage of the last cheap/out of season holiday you'll get in a while.

Great way to start your relationship with school.

Start the way you mean to go on
I believe in an open,mutually respectful relationship with the school,not an unduly deferential one (which oddly lots of people seem to cultivate)

My county has sent out a " no staggered starts" notice to ALL primary schools.

Same where I am (Lothian). But then we only ever had a couple of days of half days and then everyone was in full time so it’s not a big change. These long staggered starts seem to be more of a thing in England.

I’d agree with this.

Just tell them politely that your child will be attending full time from day 1.

There is zero evidence that staggered starts are beneficial. My DD2 actively suffered from hers (this was before you were allowed to enforce full time from day 1) - she had to do an entire term of half days, being a spring born child. She was grumpy, disruptive, angry, tearful every school day for a full 3 months because she'd attended full time nursery for years and was so ready for school.

When she started full time in January, I got my sunny, happy, well behaved DD back.

If you want a staggered start, you can defer. Schools can't force you to have one and that is as it should be.

Bear in mind that if you are successful and DD doesn't do a staggered start she may have quite a lonely time in the break between AM & PM sessions. If she's the only Reception child there she will likely eat alone or with year 1 children who will be bigger and noisier than her. Then left to play in the classroom alone while the teacher / TA take turns to get on with work (they both still need a lunchbreak and it wouldn't be a great idea to have her out on the playground amongst the older children).

Hundreds probably do. But almost all of them don't. The vast, vast majority hold staggered starts. For the many reasons that have been explained to you. They do what is best for the children and ensures the best start to 14 years of school life. I don't agree with prolonged staggered starts, but surely you can understand the benefit of a week or two with a lower ratio of tiny children to adults.

Anyway, your child could be being taught by a teacher who has never taught in EYFS before, with no TA in the room. It could be an ECT, or the teacher who was in Year 3 last year, or a supply teacher as recruitment has been a nightmare this year. So the idea that the adult in charge of the 30 children has some kind of magic power is at best misguided.

Ask for your child to be considered to be in the first group, or at least an early group. The school will definitely understand why you need it, given they have exactly the same constraints on their time that you do. But listen to them and don't be so disrespectful as posts like this suggest.

You can't compare to secondary transition because:
A) Those kids have been in school for 7 years and are 11, not 4.
B) The June/July transition is made possible by Y11/13 leaving. This gives gained time to staff. It also frees up classrooms. On our reception transition mornings (we usually have 5 for 2 hours each), one year group of 150 children is taught on the field or in the hall, usually by TAs from other year groups because their teachers are in with the new starters. It's hugely disruptive to routine and learning.

But who is meant to pick your child up and drop them off for these staggered starts ? I feel it doesn't appreciate that parents go out to work.

Right, they stagger the starts because it's a whole new cohort of 4 and 5 year olds who are mixing. They may have been at nursery full time but it's new adults, a new part of the school and a set of new peers. Children need time to adjust and the staff need time to spend 1-1 with all the children so they can help the transition and get a really good feel for the group e.g. SEND, behaviour, getting to know families, trauma, social involvement etc etc.
A staggered start over a couple of days would be understandable. Over several weeks is being reads like the education for most of the cohort is being delayed so staff can deal with the social and family issues that comes from over stretched services elsewhere.

Essentially, the school's first priority isn't being your free childcare. I really hate this sort of post that seems to have the tone of 'lazy schools shirking once again', teachers really love your children, especially reception teachers, it's not an easy job.
This isn't about free childcare. Children are entitled to a full time education, with parents having the option for part time.

Reading how some schools stagger their starts on here sounds awful for many children. Random days here and there, parents having to have their children in different places on different days, mornings here, afternoons there, maybe you're in for lunch some days. It sounds very unsettling for a lot of children who thrive on routine.

It's not accusing staff of being lazy for parents to want their children to access the education their children are legally entitled to.