Reception staggered starts are overkill?! UPDATE

[SMLSML]

I posted recently about how people manage staggered starts for reception... A lot of people said legally that schools have to take them full time if asked. For context my little one starts in September and will do 3 weeks of 2 hour sessions...

She currently goes to preschool full time and after-school club until 5pm. Childcare aside I honestly do think she will find it very disruptive and think we'll spend more time taking her to and from school. 4 other parents agree with me, however this is the response I've had from the headteacher... Is it even worth challenging? I totally get the gradual approach but 3 weeks feels overkill...

Just unsure of what to do and no idea how I'll manage 😩 I honestly don't believe it'll be beneficial for my little one either. Any advice appreciated!

We had this and it massively affected my child who had loved nursery full time and was v excited for school - this was confusing and disruptive and she took a while to settle. I have triplets so In the end I had to tske unpaid family leave from work. Couldn’t really afford it, but no other way. I worked the three hours a day thry were there and we did lovely things every afternoon. It was actually a very happy time, but it wasn’t a good way for kids used to nursery to start school. Xx

I just went through this with my twins starting in reception this year although not as bad as 3 blood weeks OP! It was only a week. I complained - not like they can withdraw their place 😂 - mine go to the pre school on site in the classroom next door - I said what exactly do they need to settle in for when the whole bloody 25 kids in pre school will move into the same class together 5 yards away! They did back down in the end

That’s what our local school is like. An attached pre school that they make a big deal of being included in the school eg the pre schoolers attend some assemblies with the rest of the school, they go to the same wrap around care, they wear the uniform. But come September of reception suddenly they can’t possibly be expected to cope with the “change” and it’s better to have them in for random bits of time throughout the first few weeks.
There’s also an attached nursery, which is a bit more separate from the rest of the school. So almost all the reception children attend the pre school, and a decent chunk also attend the nursery.