School doesn’t zip kids coats

[Zok]

Hi has anyone noticed from pics that schools share of nursery and reception kids 3-4 year olds doing outdoor activities that staff don’t zip up the kids even in the freezing weather what is the point of the coats then and how to raise the issue with school
there are around 20 kids in nursery but winter is winter was -3 last week

@Frederica145 that's simply not the case in many schools. The average class size in infants is now 26.7, and in densely populated areas most schools will be operating at 30. In my LA every school has been at PAN in reception for the last few years (though birthrate is declining now) Few schools can now afford a full time TA for each reception class either.

I think the expectation would be the children can manage to zip their own coat up, or ask for help if they're struggling. I would encourage your child to be able to dress herself and, in the meantime, if she has a health condition or you're particularly worried about her in cold weather, speak to her teacher and ask if she can have a bit of help.

My son’s school has 2 classes in reception with 38 children each. There is one teacher for each class, and 2-3 TA’s shared between the classes. So even with 2 adults in the class that’s not enough to be helping them individually, and as part of this they no longer get changed for PE.

Of course 3 and 4 year old should be able to rely on the adults looking after them to ensure they are adequately dressed for the weather. If it takes ten minutes then it takes ten minutes children of that age should be spending several hours of the day engaged in outdoor play.

meant to say 28!

You don't raise it with school - you make sure your child has a coat with an easy zip and knows how to zip it up

@MirrorBack totally agree. Had to spend a fortune (£40) on a decent lunch box for my son that keeps food fresh and separate without the need for contents to be in packaging

I would zip coats up for anyone who asked (and a few who didn't but just always looked perished) and definitely all reception and yr1s. Would take a while but i was happy to see them all leave class zipped up...

😇

... and then 10 mins later you'd look out and there'd be three quarters of them either unzipped with it hanging off their shoulders or completely coatless ! Said coats were flung east and west in the playground 🙄

I'd still stand again and zip everyone up the next day though ....

That's why we all used to have duffle coats with toggles we could do up ourselves.

toggles!
omg i'd forgotten my toggle coat!

I taught 21 of 28 to put on their own coat. 28 of 28 to turn their sleeves the right way and 25 to do their own zip. All in the first 3 weeks of term. If they don't have fine motor skills issues, or really silly coats, I expect them to all put on and do up their coats, should they wish to. My main issue is locating all the ones that have been dumped outside at play time... I suspect most schools are the same.

I'm a midday supervisor. I zip up coats if they can't do it themselves. Some coats/zips can be quite tricky!

This, in our school there are 24 children one teacher one sna who is with a child who needs constant attention. It isn't possible, every communication has been clear from day 1 don't send them in anything they can't handle themselves.

Assistance is sorted if they have a diagnosis and support plan.

This.

I'd also like to add food packaging that children can't seem to open either.

Get a duffle coat if it's an issue

What an utter waste of your time. Why aren't parents doing this?

Tbh I used to find it bizarre how many parents sent their kids in with bottles they couldn’t open, boots they couldn’t tie, coats with zips adult staff struggled with, bags with clasps that required huge finger strength or packed lunch boxes that practically needed a screwdriver to pop open (let alone the sealed contents).I mean what is the thought process when choosing these items?

Same here but a friend who teaches in EYFS said it was interesting to see how many of the children with things they couldn't manage were also the children who weren't very independent in many ways (eg book bag regularly dumped on the carpet, coats chucked on the floor and not on their peg, couldn't take a jumper off or get dressed after PE). The parents who do everything for their children won't be thinking about what coats/shoes/bottles/snack bags their child can manage because they don't expect their child to do anything independently.

I work in year 1 - half the kids can't do up a zip because their parents don't bother to teach them- ditto: laces, buttons, tights, etc. A few can't even take a jumper or t-shirt off themselves. We have 10 year olds that can't tie a shoe-lace!

It takes a very long time to encourage a lot of them to even put on a coat at all. Never mind the additional time it would take to zip up 25-30 coats only for the majority of them to take them off, often before they have even got as far as the playground!
If a child asks for help of course we will zip up their cost or if we spot them struggling or looking like they are really cold and uncomfortable outside but it just isn't realistic to do them all up every single time multiple times a day especially in settings which encourage free flow to the outdoor garden, we would spend the entire day doing up zips in that case!

I agree!

My dd couldn’t and her nursery always wrapped her up warm zipped coat etc etc

My DC had a real issue with zipping his coat in nursery, it turned out he had fine motor control issues so is still unable to zip it himself. Our nursery always ensured the coats were zipped up though, and that gloves and hats were on.

My 13 year old can't tie her shoe laces she is hyper mobile. Thankfully the adults in her life are supportive unlike yourself with your unkind horror.

We always help children to zip up coats before going outside when it is really cold as it was last week. Many will unzip again as soon as they get outside. Some even want coats off altogether. Keeping an open coat on is preferable to them completely removing them! At nursery most of the kids are running and active with friends and do warm up more they do when walking with a parent.down the street.

Most of our class do their own zips. Those that need help usually ask. And as PPs have said, most kids try and get their coats off as soon as they go outside!

Please send kids to school in clothing that they can manage themselves. There is a special place in hell for parents that send 4 year-olds into school with laced shoes, for instance ...