To think primary transition days aren’t much help if you work?

[Transitiondays]

Arghh. Three primary transition days, two with pick ups at midday and one full day but obviously finishing around three. I’m guessing this is standard but very difficult to manage!

I have one of those jobs. But as the OP said transition days I assumed nursery was done.

I hate the bossy ‘teacher here.’ I can only hope my child isn’t taught by one so pompous and unhelpful.

I probably WILL be in for a shock when it comes to school holidays - but not in the way expected!

I'm a teacher and understand your predicament. My dds had to miss all their settling in visits the summer before they started reception because I was not allowed time off and had no one to take them. Ironically, I was a reception teacher at the time! I was made to feel awful by their school for not being able to attend.

It worried me at the time but they were fine and settled quickly, making friends. Ultimately it didn't matter much.

The 2 weeks of half days in September were a joke too. They'd both been at day nursery 7.30am-6pm since they were 6 months! The school's insistence on half days (even though they both turned 5 before the 2 weeks were up) just meant I had to ask our child minder for extra hours. Luckily, she was very accommodating as lots of parents have the same issue. The school condescendingly commented it was a pity my girls weren't getting to go hone and relax after their half day!

There are a lot of people on here who don't appreciate how inflexible working in a school is. You can't take annual leave and teachers miss a lot, if not all, of their child's school events.

I wish I'd left sooner. Teaching meant I missed so much when they were younger. You do get the holidays with them but ultimately I regret staying in teaching as long as I did, being expected to prioritize other children over my own.

Do they have to go to the transition days, though. We've got one (half) day when the new Reception kids come in to meet their new teacher, their classmates and see their classroom. All our other primary year groups also "move up" for half a day and the oldest ones spend the time rehearsing for their leavers' assembly in the hall.
However, we've always got extra children joining over the summer or others are leaving and going to a different school. It's not the end of the world if they haven't attended the transition day.

(I do think your school should be more flexible, though. Happy staff mean happy children, which means happy parents who don't annoy SLT...)

I am a part time teacher too. In this case, if my husband couldn't help, I would ask to swap days, owe a day or swap my time out of class. My HT has usually been ok with this.

As you will know yourself it's going to be an issue all the way through school with sports days, nativities etc. One of my kids is going to high school this year and there are quite a few things towards the end of the year to attend too.

when mine started school they weren’t in full time for a month, a friends children it was almost 6 weeks…Completely unnecessary- the vast majority are used to being in nursery or similar from 8-6, a month’s worth of part time school days was not needed at all, and I have no idea how FT working parents managed it

Have you asked the nursery about it at all? When we were in this position a few years ago there were about 6 kids from nursery who would be going to the same primary school as us and obviously a few parents in the same position. Because it was in walking distance of the school, and the nursery workers would be down the 7 kids for the morning or afternoon (or in 1 case an hour long reading session…) the nursery agreed to walk the kids there and pick them back up at the end of the session.
It was something the nursery hadn’t offered or had anyone ask them about before, but because I did they asked around and just made everyone’s lives a bit easier. It’s definitely worth asking if your nursery is not far from school.

After different children doing different transition days? It could be that, as you are completely free on some days, the new primary school are willing to switch your child's groups to make it work?

Mine had already been doing full days at the linked pre school (linked by an internal door).

We were offered 3 weeks of half day transition which I felt would have taken things backwards so asked to keep DC on full days which they agreed.

my ds school is going to be 3 weeks transition period 🤦‍♀️

Ahhh sorry I just read your updates.

I actually don't think these are a good idea. The children will have a huge gap until they actually start and these days should be at the beginning of the year.

Id also be querying whatd happening with the current reception children while all these transition days are happening. They should still be being taught.

Op I am also a teacher and one with 4 dcs and zero family support. I honestly think some people really can’t understand what that’s like when they have support themselves.
A lot of these posters are enjoying themselves berating you and that in itself is very grim. All the “it isn’t childcare”, no it isn’t, but a lot of parents do work during the time their kids are in school coincidentally 🤷‍♀️

No, the cohort is going in on particular days. So one is thursday 12th June; there aren’t any on Wednesday 11th or Friday 13th, which is what I think you mean.

@Transitiondays I also think there’s prob some teachers on here berating you and it’s so so cringe how transparent it is. They may have support , older kids, no kids. One pp said they were “stunned” that people could consider it childcare , it isn’t but it does mean while they are in school I can work as having no helpful family it would be very tricky to actually work and keep a roof over our heads if I didn’t work the hours they are in school….

The smugness with which people go on about “school isn’t childcare” stuns me. People like you are the reason we are all choosing to have kids later or not at all, and there won’t be anyone to pay your pensions.

Primary school absolutely is childcare. Yes, it's not the main thing but anyone who claims otherwise is talking nonsense.

I think they’re pointless and awful for working parents who don’t have grandma on the doorstep to help out! Most kids go to nursery these days, and for longer days than they will be in reception!

My kids school just went straight to full days, including wrap around hours if you needed it. All transition activities were on the weekend except for a family activity the day before school started. It is private but I was still surprised that they used the weekends.

Both my kids were fine going straight to full days and they didn’t even go to nursery full time, only a couple of days a week.

Personally I think they are pointless. Most children in my son’s year had been at nursery or pre school for at least two years before reception. I say better to just get on with it and get the children used to it.

I don't think you need to worry about the bonding part. Most children of that age will still play with a child they've not met before.
I don't know how useful these taster days are. My son either cried or stood by the door for his entire settle sessions (he does have severe SEN). He also screamed on his first two days and it took 3 staff members to get him in to school. After that he was fine. So basically the taster days were zero help to him.
So really if your child can't do them, he can't do them. I'm pretty sure he won't be the only one.

Knowing you wouldn't be able to manage the transition days why didn't your husband make sure he was free?

On this post - yes, as a working parent, it is massively complicated although many schools do indeed have much more difficult arrangements (like the two weeks of half days). I don’t think it gets easier for a while though.

In the school my dcs went to there was also a different finish time between junior cycle students and senior cycle for TWO years and limited afterschool places , yup….
My kids are older and we don’t need any afterschool childcare really. I equate this attitude (I saw this a lot as a teacher ) with the Covid attitude of keep schools closed for a long as possible and it’s the same types shouting this out who go on about how schools aren’t childcare.
I know plenty of my friends who have smaller kids who for years after Covid had to constantly pick up children from nursery for the slightest sniffle , honestly making life very difficult for working parents (nightmare for one with no support or willing family to help) has been the theme over the past few years .. it’s an absolute miracle my dh and I still have our jobs…

We only found out which school DS was definitely going to in April. We found out about the transition days on Friday. DHs work trip has been arranged since 2023. Some things are like that.

I am sure he will be absolutely fine, but it did make me realise that if one of the days hadn’t fallen on a day I didn’t work (ie if I’d been full time) we’d really have struggled.

It sounds like they’re doing quite a few transition days, so I would just take him to the ones you can do and not worry too much about the other ones. I’d be surprised if all the parents can make all of the dates, there’s bound to be some that can’t due to work commitments, holidays, kids being ill etc.

Are they doing the entire class on each transition day? Ours are split into groups of 10 and on different days. If that’s the same for you then you could ask to switch? If not, just do the days you can do.