to think that a pre-school should answer their phone....

[Chivers]

My son has been at his current pre school for 2 years and I have only just discovered that it is their policy not to answer their phone and to only check their messages twice a day (at 11am and 2.30/3pm). I've left a few messages in the past but as they've not been about anything important I hadn't dwelled on the matter. I thought I'd just been unlucky that noone had picked up before.
This week I dropped my son at 9am as usual but a little later then urgently needed to contact the school. Living 8 miles away, I phoned, left two messages, and phoned several times more until finally driving back their and asking what was going on, why weren't they answering their phone and why hadn't they called me back. The pre-school owners then informed me that it wasn't their policy to answer the phone or indeed to check messages until 11am. They don't agree with me that this is an issue and claim it's not a problem to other parents, although I've explained that I don't think they know.

I am incensed that a pre school setting could intentionally put parents out of contact with their children for any period of time. These are children as young as 2.5 which my son was when he started there. I have ended up losing my temper with them which I'm ashamed about and really need to know if I am being unreasonable which they say I am. I think they're using the fact that I lost my temper to excuse them from having to think about my issue.

I can see why it might be annoying but if someone has to keep going off to answer the phone then ultimately it's the children who will suffer. It might even be dangerous if the room is understaffed because someone's elsewhere on the phone.

In my DDs preschool they would often leave the phone to pick up messages, rather than put answering the phone above the immediate needs of a child. OK, so they might 'just' be reading a story, but I was pleased the children so obviously came first, as even small interactions are important and should not be unneccessarily interupted.
I'm afraid I think YABU.

Did you explain in your first message how important it was to contact you?

I can't believe they don't listen to messages until 11.00. I would have thought they would pick up when they had the chance, presuming they can hear the phone ringing in the first place.

I meant pick up messages when they had the chance not pick up the phone

I agree with you both Copperop and Rachmumof two and this was why I'd never minded when they've never picked up the phone before. But I had assumed that messages were being checked more regularly. I'm annoyed about this more than anything. It's really useful to hear your views - thanks.

DD first preschool has the same situation. All calls went through to an answer phone which they listened twice a day.

As it was on a school site I assume that if I really had an urgent call that I could phone the primary school and someone would have walked over to the preschool site.

Her current nursery (again part of a school) answers straight away, and I have often phoned the school with a query to be then put through to talk to the nursery teacher directly during nursery hours.

I don't think you're being unreasonable at all. I agree the staff should first and foremost be with the children, but it seems odd that they really can't check messages more than twice a day.

Certainly at our playgroup it would be very rare that one member of staff really couldn't make it to the phone. We have a cordless phone so it's not even as if it has to affect staffing levels within the room.

Surely a member of staff could answer the phone and then make the decision as to whether the call is important and whether they were able spend a few minutes talking to a caller or instead politely explain it isn't a good time and could they leave their name and number and someone would ring back at x time. It's hardly rocket science.

We have had several cases where parents really DID need to talk to someone at once, and leaving a message that might not be answered for hours is just not acceptable.

Ofsted are always interested in how a pre-school communicates with its parents, I would think this comes under that umbrella.

Maybe you should suggest that they rview their policy in case of a real emergency, say to check the answer machine hourly (when they are checking the loos for floods would be a good time). That way they could respond to an emergency call and still leave anything else until a more convenient time.

Gosh, in this day and age, we have mobiles which you can carry around. Institutions make my blardy blood boil.

They just can't think outside the box.

YABU - it's the pre-school that needs to be able to contact you in an emergency, not the other way round. And as for shouting at the staff - I take it he's leaving anyway soon to go to school. It's safe for you to verbally abuse the staff now he's leaving. Were the children around while you were shouting at the wretched girl?

Can you tell us what was so terribly urgent. I might be a bit more sympathetic towards you then.

Why cant she contact the pre school? This world is going insane. I dispair. I don't need to know why she wanted to contact the school. It's only a blardy phone call, not as if she wanted to borrow a grand is it?

At DD1's pre-school if the principal is out of her office one of the cooks answers the phone.

She can contact the pre-school - and leave a message on the answer phone which will then be picked up.

TBH is sounded to me as if the OP was angry about the fact that she was inconvenienced and had to drive 8 miles to tell them something she really probably should have said when she dropped her son off.

Next thing you know, people will be sending their dcs to school, demanding that the teacher carriers a mobile with them at all times in case the parents wishes to inform them of something.

I'm trying to think of an emergency though.

If it's along the lines of not being able to pick up on time etc then the 11.00 check on messages will suffice.

I can't possibly think of anything that couldn't wait till 11 either.

how about a problem that happened the day before which the mother forgot to tell the staff about ie her child being hit by another child or maybe child a bit cranky because of lack of sleep whatever. A quick phone call could put the mothers mind at rest and inform the staff. When children are older, they can articulate if theres a problem.

I can think of worse crimes than trying to contact a pre-school. Hey and I would be bloomin mad If I had to drive 8 miles when all they had to do was answer the phone!

At the preschool DS1 went to, they answered the phone if it rang at a good moment, if not it went to answerphone and they picked up the message as soon as they could.
In each newsletter (I was secretary) I had to put "please don't call the pre-school during the session unless it is an emergency"
this meant that the majority of calls happened before the session started or at the end of the session.

Having set times to listen to messages in IMO crap.

I'm assuming that they check the phone before picking up time.. I mean what would happen if you were stuck in traffic and were going to be late picking your child up, and you couldn't phone before 11?

You don't really have to inform pre-school if you're gonna be late. If a parent doesnt show up they'll ring them.

"you don't really have to inform pre-school if your gonna be late. If a parent doesnt show up they'll ring them".
isn't it good manners to let someone know your going to be late! what about the staff having to set up/pack away for the next session, what about the child being distressed that their parent haven't arrived and they are the last ones left?

also if the parent can't be contacted social services are called after 20 minutes! (ok that is a bit extreem but I'm sure thats what was in our policy!)

ds's nursery doesn't have an answer phone and they often don't answer during session times

the phone is in another room to the children and there isn't a member of staff permanently in there, so it seems obvious they need to be attending to the children rather than answering the phone

I think a lot depends on the size of pre school. Where my son went to pre school there were 60 kids and the pre school had a manager in the office to deal with deliveries and phonecalls seperate from the staff. Even so there were times like morning drop offs and lunch times where it could be hard to contact someone.

I think that the children at the pre school have to come first. It it is really desperate you should drive down to the pre school. Prehaps distance is something you need to consider when choosing a nursery.

I wasn't asking for sympathy I was asking for an opinion on the issue so that I could understand whether I was being unreasonable. Thanks to those who helped me with this. I also ended up getting a few opinions on me instead but then I guess that's Mumsnet!!

No I didn't shout in front of the children and said in the OP that I am ashamed, in fact deeply ashamed of this fact.

I am very interested that it is assumed that I shouted at a 'wretched girl'.

The owners in question are two 40+ ladies who are anything but wretched. The pre-school in question is private (state/community places being few and far between where I am). They are both quite arrogant and haughty and I pay them an awful lot of money in excess of the state funding.

My DD 's Preschool have a mobile phone number which is always answered by the Supervisor.

Often Parents are late or delayed,as she is the supervisor she can be free to answer the telephone.

In this day and age I think it is unreasonable to not be able to contact someone at a Preschool.

I can appreciate how angry you must of been,I would have been too.

It is very important to be able to contact them in an Emergency as well as Vice Versa.

If the preschool is well organised and run properly it is always possible and safe to attend to other things,other than the children.