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.