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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Staged/part time starting of school is unfair?

282 replies

FurierTransform · 08/09/2023 14:36

My DD has just started reception.
The school she's attending have this system where the children don't all start on the Monday full time, but have 4 x 2-3 hour sessions, spread across 2 weeks, to 'ease into it' before attending full hours.

AIBU to think this is totally ridiculous?

I'm sure many people have had to take 2 weeks holiday from their work to bridge this gap between their children finishing nursery, and actually starting school full time, so potentially now will have to forgo a summer holiday, or work over Christmas etc!
Luckily we have flexible jobs so have just about coped.

Seems so ill thought out and inconsiderate to families with 2 working parents.

OP posts:
LolaSmiles · 08/09/2023 19:27

Just in case it is useful for anyone jumping to the end of the thread.

This is what the School Admissions Code Says:

Admission authorities must provide for the admission of all children in the September following their fourth birthday. The authority must make it clear in their arrangements that where they have offered a child a place at a school:

that child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth birthday;
b) the child’s parents can defer the date their child is admitted to the school until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for which it was made; and

where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

From the school admissions code
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-code--2

Iwasafool · 08/09/2023 19:32

beecrazy · 08/09/2023 18:58

Just think yourselves lucky!
Back in the 80's when my son started reception, as he was summer born, the first term he was afternoons only, second term mornings only and it was only after Easter did he go full time. So in addition to being disadvantaged by being so much younger he only got half the schooling the older ones got. Lucky I was a sahm but that was a bit more usual back then

When mine started school in the 70s our local schools did September intake for children 5 by the 31st December, January start for those born before 31st March, after Easter start for the rest of them. So maybe 7 extra months of paid childcare. Yes lots of us worked.

One of mine missed the deadline by 8hrs 45 mins, born on the first of the month but they had to wait for the next term.

kjv1234 · 08/09/2023 19:39

People seem to think that schools are a babysitting service. Children starting a new setting find it difficult. A staggered start makes it more manageable for them.

Patiencezero · 08/09/2023 19:44

Teachers have it cushy !? I assume that's a joke 😕

rockpoolingtogether · 08/09/2023 19:45

Don't see the point. Most children have been attending nursery. Let those who want to come in gradually do that (full time attendance isn't compulsory until the term they turn 5) and get the rest in straight away.

IDontDrinkTea · 08/09/2023 19:46

My child’s school offered a staggered start. But so many parents requested their child started full time that they cancelled the staggered start, and all the children are just in full time from the beginning. Much better for my child personally. She’d have hated all the coming and going of a staggered start

MojoDojoCasaHouse · 08/09/2023 19:47

I never had a problem with paying for childcare care. It’s the temporary nature of part time starts that cause the problems as childcare options are difficult or non existent. Plus the upset to young children being messed about and out of routine.

randomsabreuse · 08/09/2023 20:04

Depending on parents' work situation it is negative for settling in - it's easier to get into a routine if there is one, get up at predictable time, school, lunch, school, usual activities, home, dinner bed rather than bit of school, random play dates, random fraught parent juggling work with return play date, some nursery and never knowing who is going to pick them up.

My DS started P1 3 weeks ago at 4 and 3/4s, 1st day was slightly shorter (9.30 to 2.30) then full time for the rest of the week (2 days) then full time. He does breakfast club 4 days and is out doing activities (or waiting for big sis) every evening. First full week was BAD for overtired craziness but he's in the routine already.

I'd reduce the activities if he was oldest or an only but he's been impatiently watching big sis at sports clubs for 2 years and is keen to get stuck in!

CaptainJackSparrow85 · 08/09/2023 20:17

I don’t see a problem with staggered starts as a concept - my son’s school did a week of mornings only, which was relatively easy to work around, and also I could see the benefit to the kids of doing it that way. But what’s the point of 4 sessions over a two week period? It doesn’t help with forming a routine and it’s just confusing for them.

namechanger563 · 08/09/2023 20:37

This caused me to lose my job. There were a lot of things going on/wrong but the settling in to Reception sessions was the trigger to my line manager going full steam ahead to manage me out. I was gone 2 weeks later. I was absolutely unfair btw and I took a settlement in the end with 2 year's salary as compensation. He didn't know I was in a union. Fuck you Kevin.

Abbimae · 08/09/2023 20:54

bridgetreilly · 08/09/2023 17:43

School is not childcare and is not for the convenience of parents. It is for education and the benefit of children.

HTH

This 1000x

Abbimae · 08/09/2023 20:55

Patiencezero · 08/09/2023 19:44

Teachers have it cushy !? I assume that's a joke 😕

Edited

You forget mumsnet is the home of the teacher trolls….

longestlurkerever · 08/09/2023 21:24

Iwasafool · 08/09/2023 17:07

For the benefit of the children. Schools are there for the children teachers have got enough to do without having to be personal assistants to the parents.

Show quote history

This suggests the final arbiter if what's best for the child is the school, rather than a proper conversation between both about the reality of the situation, which is likely to differ for each child. I can tell you categorically that the arrangements I had to make for my child as a result of the policy were unsettling. Many parents have told me the same and I have passed it on to the school. Many years later they've changed things, I don't know the full reasons why, but as much as there is teacher bashing on this thread there are a lot of arsey ",if you loved your child you'd make it work" posts too which I object to. There's surely a valor conversation to be had about how to balance everyone's pov.

Phineyj · 08/09/2023 21:30

There was a massive thread on this in August. To summarise:

  1. Lots of schools do this, although fewer than before, which is because...
  2. Parents have a legal right to send their children full time from day 1 if they wish.
Sunnydays41 · 08/09/2023 22:12

Our school has recently cut down from a two-week settling in period to a one-week one. I think that's a good compromise - half the kids go in mornings and half in afternoons for three days, then they all go in mornings plus lunch for the final two days.

I think it is good that only half the class is in at a time for a few days - less overwhelming for the children and easier for the teachers to get to know them.

underneaththeash · 08/09/2023 22:22

It hapeends for a few reasons, often so the teachers can get to know the kids in a smaller group and work out if they have any "special needs"
surely they made this clear several months ago and you could have worked something out. They did for all of my three children and I took parental leave for the first, was SE for the second (wasn't working for third).

It's what's best for the children rather than you

melj1213 · 08/09/2023 22:49

I'm so glad DD did her reception year in Spain - there was no faffing with staggered starts, all kids start on day 1.

The only similarity is that in September and June school is 9-2 (classes 9-1 and then school lunch but you're welcome to collect your child at 1pm if you don't want them to stay for lunch) and that applies to all children from reception to sixth form - until October 1st, at which point everyone does full 9-5 days Oct 1st -May 31st.

This is not a "settling in" decision but purely a practical one - in June/September it is just too hot for kids to be in full time until it cools down (and June tends to be all the fun wind down stuff like plays/trips/fairs etc rather than proper teaching). Additionally because this is pretty much standard across the board parents can put provision in place and extra curriculars/wraparound care is structured to account for this - they have provision from 2pm Sept/June and then from October they move to standard after school hours of 5pm onwards.

I was lucky in that I taught at the school my DD was at so when she finished at 1pm she would go to lunch with her friends, I had the hour between 1pm-2pm to do any admin etc and then I'd pick her up and we'd go home/to the park/to a museum etc ... on days I had to stay at school for meetings/training etc then DD would go to an extra curricular and I'd collect her when I finished at 5pm.

NIparty · 09/09/2023 00:09

My youngest has just started nursery (in Northern Ireland so equivalent to reception) and they've timetabled the settling in as far as November and he still isn't in full time. Normal hours are 8.45-1.30. He only started this Tuesday from 8.45-9.45. For the rest of September he's in 10.15-12. October and up to the middle of November is 10.15-1. It ridiculous. My middle started the same nursery in 2020 during covid and her settling in was one week because they didn't want parents constantly coming into the building, so they could speed it up when it suited them!

BookwormDadUK · 09/09/2023 06:09

namechanger563 · 08/09/2023 20:37

This caused me to lose my job. There were a lot of things going on/wrong but the settling in to Reception sessions was the trigger to my line manager going full steam ahead to manage me out. I was gone 2 weeks later. I was absolutely unfair btw and I took a settlement in the end with 2 year's salary as compensation. He didn't know I was in a union. Fuck you Kevin.

If it was "absolutely unfair" and you won a tribunal, then it's not true that the policy of the school caused you to lose your job. Kevin did.

BookwormDadUK · 09/09/2023 06:22

Amethystanddiamonds · 08/09/2023 18:37

All the school is not childcare thing is slightly ridiculous though. By law children have to have an education and the default is school. Parents using reliable childcare have no choice but to pull children out of private nurseries that suit their needs much better to then suddenly cope with the lunacy of a school and holiday system that was put in place a century ago to accommodate the harvest.

It was definitely not better for my child to go to school for 2.5 hours in the morning for me to then race to school and take him back to nursery for the afternoon in my lunch break. He was confused, especially as all his nursery friends had fully left nursery.

You're confusing two things. Staggered starts aren't so toddlers can nip home at lunch to collect some barley. If an afternoon nursery session is confusing and unhelpful, it's not state-imposed.

jotunn · 09/09/2023 06:46

The school term system with a long summer holiday is a relic of times when children were needed at home to deal with harvesting etc and isn't relevant now. It isn't the same as staggered starts, but another way in which schools are not aligned with current working patterns.

School isn't childcare, but it can be much more difficult to manage childcare when a child is in school than before and schools do need to take this into account as far as they can.

Full days in reception might be much better for a child than a few weeks of a couple of hours followed by a random ad hoc childcare arrangement from someone the child doesn't know very well because the parents can't do anything else.

PuttingDownRoots · 09/09/2023 07:02

When DD started school it was...
Day1/Day 2... 8.30- 11.45
Day 3... 8.30- 1.15 (so they stayed for lunch)
Day 4... 8.30- 3.00 (full day).

They had found that to be the best balance between tiredness and confusion for the kids. They were all in, but the teacher and TAs had a group each.

LolaSmiles · 09/09/2023 07:24

Full days in reception might be much better for a child than a few weeks of a couple of hours followed by a random ad hoc childcare arrangement from someone the child doesn't know very well because the parents can't do anything else.
I agree with this. Consistency goes a long way.

Having the class phased in in the first couple of days makes sense. Having a week or more on part time timetables and not telling parents the legal position isn't right in my opinion.

On the other thread people were saying the part time timetables are needed because reception isn't like nursery and it's hard for children to get used to it. The obvious solution, given Reception and nursery are both EYFS, would be to not jump straight into very school-style learning for the first week or two. If the move to reception is so big that most children cannot cope with accessing their legal entitlement, maybe something in the classroom needs to change.

LlynTegid · 09/09/2023 07:28

Schools are meant not just to be about academic achievement but to use a common phrase, lessons for life. Jobs don't have staggered starts, holidays don't, many hobbies don't. Maybe the first day, but not otherwise.

Reugny · 09/09/2023 07:31

ThreeImaginaryBoys · 08/09/2023 18:42

I'm a Reception teacher (Inner London state school). We do a staggered start, taking 5 children a day for the first week (all half days), so all children are in by Friday. Then the whole class does full days from the following week.

I appreciate that it may seem inconvenient, but there are many, many good reasons for doing this.

Not all children have been in nursery. They may have a complete meltdown when left alone for the first time.

Roughly 40% of my class speak little or no English (as do their parents). They will need lots of additional support to settle in and understand even the most basic routines.

About 45% will have some kind of additional need. I say 'will have' because I've not met all of them yet. There are usually at least two children every year with substantial needs that we were unaware of. They will also need a lot of support. Imagine, for example, that five children in the class soil themselves regularly, or are sent to school in nappies, or have no sense of danger and cause harm to themselves or others. This is potentially manageable with a staggered start, but would be chaotic and potentially dangerous without.

School lunchtime can be incredibly stressful for new Reception children. Even sitting in the hall with lots of noisy older children is daunting. With five children every day, the TA and I can sit with them and make them feel more relaxed. (Bear in mind that some of them are still being fed by their parents, or might not be familiar with using cutlery).

If all children were neurotypical, I would still recommend a staggered start. It's a really big deal for them to start school and they should be supported to be comfortable and happy.

I can't answer the slightly sarcastic question about how it impacts learning outcomes per se, but can say confidently that none of my students were inhibited from reaching their Early Learning Goal because of this approach.

I hope that adds some useful perspective. Your own child might cope, which is great, but a significant number cannot.

My DD is going to such a school and she is going full-time from Monday.

Incidentally they did offer on Tuesday to have her in Thursday morning and Friday afternoon but we said "no'. This because on the half day she spent seeing the school in June she was very confused as to why she couldn't stay all day and upset she had to go back to nursery.

We know all the schools in the borough she is in start them full-time on Monday, and only if an individual child has specific needs can their hours/days be reduced.