To think SOMEONE should be contactable in the school office over summer?

[Lmnop22]

I am moving house this week to a new area and local authority. my DS is due to start reception this September.

I was unable to apply for a reception place in the new area until I had a date to exchange contracts in order to prove I was in the very small catchment area for the school I wanted.

I didn’t exchange contracts until mid July when the summer holidays had already started. I immediately made the application for the Reception place and the council offered me the place a couple of weeks later. I accepted.

Then nothing. I have had no response to my email accepting the place. I have called the council and they say their part is over now and I’ll “hear from the school” but the school is closed over summer and there are no staff. When I told the council this, they said “oh yeah there won’t be anyone in until September now”.

So do I have the place? Do the school have my DS on the register for September? What uniform etc do I buy? How do I organise breakfast/after school club provisions?

Am I being unreasonable to think a member of staff ought to monitor emails and/or voicemails over the summer and communicate with parents in my position?

Have a look on the website, there should be a page about uniform.

There's also often a "class pages" section - find the page for reception and there might be a PowerPoint explaining all you need to know/buy.

There will also be contact details - send an email? Either to the office or the headteacher?

If you live very close, keep an eye out as you're passing as teachers often pop in starting about now to get things ready. If the gate is open you could pop in and see if anyone is in the office - if they're not, pop a note through the door?

God there's some shitty people on here!

I too would be panicking about this. I had a mini meltdown yesterday as my DS hadn't received any info from his new Uni even though his place had only been confirmed by UCAS on Thursday 😂

Best of luck OP. You sound amazing

Should be a website somewhere for the school and a school app which would give info. Mine also has WhatsApp for each year. If you have facebook join the residents group for your new area as may be some parents on it. Great you got the place x

It sounds like you've had a really hard time. If you can extend your maternity leave for a month. I had a tiny baby and a school starter (and a partner to help). It was much harder than I thought it was going to be to juggle logistics. A bit of breathing space might take the pressure off. I know it might not be possible.

And I second joining the school Facebook page to find out stuff.

Surely their pay is split over 12 months so not being paid any extra. DD's pay is split over 12 months. I worked in a private school on reception and my pay was split over 12 months and yes I had to go in over the summer holidays cover split between me and the heads PA

Edited to correct job description

I get paid for 39 weeks of work per year. That pay is spread over 12 pay days. If I work during the holidays then I will need extra pay as I that would mean me working more than 39 weeks.

School staff's pay is split over 12 months, but they are only paid for 5 weeks holiday like most other people, not the 13 weeks that the children get- the 6 week holiday is unpaid for staff on term-time contracts. During the working weeks staff are getting less pay than the hours they worked to allow for the split into 12 equal amounts.

Surely their pay is split over 12 months so not being paid any extra

So, do you think school office staff should be paid the same whether they work 8-4 all through the summer holiday or not working at all?

Have read your posts. Just wanted to say as someone who also works in a school, this will all get sorted in the first few days once the staff are back so don't worry although I totally understand everything you have said.

Sounds like you have had an incredibly busy and stressful six months all alongside a new baby, I take my hat off to you! You have done the right thing in moving back to your family for support. I think you have done amazingly well so far to have moved house etc and sorted all that you have already in a short time. I wish you all the very best in the coming weeks and months. As you are self employed, if you can afford it, I would have some to me to yourself once the kids are settled at school and nursery, you need it and definitely deserve it. Thank goodness your little ones have a great mum in their life. All the best. X

Congrats on your move etc @Lmnop22

A few things (we once moved right before the start of school too)

• Someone is usually in the office a couple/few before schools return in our school. They will be inundated so be prepared to ring a few times.
• Wrap around is usually a separate company and may have waitlists. Ours has a 2 year waitlist minimum. There is no hope to get a reception spot as they also only take so many DC that are reception age.
• Join the schools FB page ask about wrap around care waitlists/process, start/finish times, reception days if staggered start (though you won't know which days yours is to attend you will get a feel for the schedule). You could also ask about childminders for wrap around.
• If it were me I'd delay return to work for another couple weeks or so now due to massive change for your little one and many schools have reception staggered entry plus the possibility you can't get wrap around.

Good luck! Hope it goes well for all of you!

p.s. You are doing remarkably well in extra ordinary circumstances

Think of it like someone working on an oil rig with eg 2 weeks ‘on’, followed by a week ‘not on’ rota.

The worker gets paid 12 monthly pay packets, regardless of whether they have 1 or 2 ‘not on’ weeks that month.

However, if they were required to work an additional week ‘on rota’, that would be overtime and extra pay would be required.

Sane for school staff. Working 39 weeks over 52 is paid in 12 instalments of x. Working a more ‘normal’ pattern of eg 47 weeks over 52 with 25 days’ holiday would be paid in 12 instalments of x + one twelfth of 8 weeks’ pay.

When I said 'to me' to yourself, I meant 'time' to yourself!!

Apologies for the slow reply to purplebunnie, cross posted with much more succinct responses!

I suppose I never saw it like that. I had to go in over the summer holidays, not the full time we had two weeks off but we had to be there. Some of the teachers used to come in and clear their classrooms, take the artwork down, replace the backing paper etc but otherwise I was there on my own. It was a bit unsettling

I think you’re getting some harsh responses here, OP.

Some schools have office staff in over the summer, some don’t; but they’ll all definitely be in a few days before the kids start back.
First thing we usually do in sept is to pick up the emails for new starters who have been enrolled during the summer, so hopefully your child’s school will do this.

Lots of people here have talked about “all” schools doing a staggered start. My DC starts reception in September and there’s no staggered start at all, full days from the get go. The DC are also “dropped off” at the gate to the yard.

Hopefully the extra few weeks of mat leave will give you time to get a routine in place. You sound extremely efficient and like you’ve really got everything together after a hard time - I don’t think I’d be half as “on it” as you are if my husband had left me with a 5 day old baby! Hope you enjoy your new home and DC enjoys reception!

My dc's primary has a 5 year waiting list for after school care, so you wouldn't be getting anywhere with that anyway. I'd start looking at alternative childcare, don't rely on wraparound having space for your DC.

If you had to be there, then you had a different contract - a 47 week type one. Current school admin staff usually have a 39 week contract, and TAs usually have the same.

DH works in education with a full time contract with 25 days holiday. As a teacher, I have a standard 1295 hours directed time contract. DS has a role in education that is hourly paid, term time only, paid in 12 instalments. Different establishments work in different ways.

Honestly it's not uncommon for things to change entirely during the two days in-service. One year our school ended up with one extra unexpected child joining last minute which meant three classes needed to be rearranged because they were one pupil over the limit. My child was just starting school and had met their teacher, knew who was in their class etc then suddenly that class was split into two, one of which was composite, and they were with a different teacher. It was all fine after initial confusion. There's always some parents looking lost on the first day back!

However I think the bigger issues will be childcare. I would love to work full time but as a single mum it just wasn't achievable. Primary age with all the constant holidays, inservice days, strike days etc is far harder to juggle than nursery. I don't think most kids would cope with 8am-6pm wraparound every day. They are much tireder after a day of school than nursery.

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Don't worry about uniform the school will have spare uniform you can borrow if you had to
Not all schools do settling in. Ours don't as 99% of the kids come through from the pre school and already do 9-3 and mix with reception from day 1. Id imagine you'll hear from someone next week. Our admin staff do work through summer, suppliers still need to be paid, maintenance still happens etc I just don't think emails are looked at as much as they do the odd hour here or there.

Worst case if you don't hear by the first day just take him along to the school reception and explain the situation. Not ideal but you'll know either way then.

I’m in this exact position. We exchanged yesterday with DC going into year 1. We had a very very iffy buyer so we didn’t want to move schools in case the sale fell through (which they did threaten to do!).

Sorry but it always been the situation that Primary school offices closed over the Summer, usually someone would be there the week before school starts, not a political football at all.

I had to go in over the summer holidays, not the full time we had two weeks off but we had to be there.

So, you worked the days you were contracted to do. That’s what everyone else will be doing. Our office staff aren’t contracted to work in the summer holidays, so won’t be in. If teachers are in sorting their classrooms-that’s their choice.

I remember when my children started reception we didn't have to accept the place but we did receive a welcome pack which included a staggered start.

If the school your child is going to attend do staggered starts it's unlikely that they will start on the term dates in their website.

Not sure if it has been mentioned before but our local schools have Facebook groups for parents, you could join the group and post on there. Someone maybe able to help in terms of if staggered starts are a thing at the school.

I understand about the uniform situation, can you buy plain colours without the school logo until you have confirmed with the school your childs place.

Hope you do manage to speak to someone at the school before the term starts.

Do you know for sure the school has wrap around care? Some schools don’t. If they do contact the care as likely also running school holiday clubs etc.

Admin/receptionists are counted as support staff and therfore are in the same pay brackets as Teaching assistants. They don't get paid beyond their weekly contracted term time hours.