To complain to school

[Polishmamaa]

For those that have children/or work in specialist schools:

I know that in mainstream class doors open and children go straight into class. I also know that the same system would not work in a specialist setting as many children need to be escorted.

However, at my child’s special school there is a large crowd of parents and children waiting outside the office each morning, in a small paved area next to a busy car park.

We can be waiting upwards of 15 minutes for children to be taken in every morning. There is no shelter, so children are often left standing in the rain, and only a small barrier separates the area from the car park, meaning parents have to cling onto their children for dear life the whole time.

There is no queue or priority system (ie first come first serve) so someone can arrive after you’ve already been waiting 10 minutes and take their child straight to the front to be taken in first.

Most of the children become increasingly upset and frustrated while waiting resulting in meltdowns, particularly those who struggle to understand why they cannot go inside, which must also make things more difficult for staff.

It has been bugging me for a while but I have never said anything to school as I appreciate it must be hard for them but this morning I witnessed an incident where a child was having a meltdown on the floor (on the path) and a vehicle wanting to exit the car park was still manoeuvring their vehicle literally centimetres away from this child’s head.

I am going to raise the incident with school incase the parent hasn’t but I’m just wondering if this system is considered normal practice for a special school, or whether i should try and raise my other concerns with school?

It’s always reasonable to raise safeguarding concerns. Just write what you witnessed in a clear account, why you were concerned and that you have previously been consented/ are for the future.

It sounds very dangerous and looks like it needs an overhaul. My kids go to mainstream but they don’t go straight into the classroom like you are suggesting, we wait in the playground until the bell goes, then the kids line up in the playground and are taken into class by their class teacher.

Thank you I completely agree, I only have one other school to compare it to which my other child attends. At their school they open the class door at the start time and allow the children to make their way in, I really don’t know how this could work better in a specialist school but there surely has to be something safer that they can put in place.

You should definitely complain as that sounds so dangerous.

I'm not sure you should complain that there's no shelter from the rain, as very few schools have this.

I would let them know about the car incident but for parents pushing in, you should address that at the time.

Complain as that's dangerous.

The system needs changing.

Also, you can ask for a reasonable adjustment in that your child should be taken in straight away.

I think you can reasonably raise it as a road safety issue rather than making it a 'you guys are taking ages to get all the kids in' issue.

Are you waiting 15 minutes past the official start of the school day to be let in, or are people having to wait because they are arriving early to get a parking space? I've got one that melts down if we have to wait to go into school (mainstream in our case) so I think I'd probably keep DC in the car until I could see there wasn't much of queue tbh.

Does your child not get transport?
My son goes to a special school and the vast majority of kids arrive on minibuses
Its like a military operation getting all the kids off transport and safely into class
There are a couple of kids who come in via their parents but its rare.

My son attends a special school. I would not be happy with this situation at all. It sounds dangerous and bad for the children’s wellbeing. They are starting the day already stressed. My son now travels independently but when i used to take him in the are where we waited was inside the school gates and away from traffic. Definitely i think you need to complain about this.

Yeah it is definitely more about the safety issue but I feel like the risk is increased the longer they are waiting ie they’re more likely to bolt when distressed etc. I don’t park on the car park as it’s always full and this happens every day after the starting time (i wouldn’t be expecting the school to let children in before the school day starts)

Could you recommend a staggered start? Eg Two starts 15 mins apart. For now I would turn up 10 mins later. Agree about raising concerns about the car incident and general safety.

Most of the children here go by transport too but I drive my child there as we don’t live too far away. I know it must be difficult for the school to manage getting children off the bus and into school safely aswell as the children that are brought by parents but the system they have in place just seems so inefficient

We often arrive around 5-10 mins after the starting time as I have another child who attends mainstream in another area (the special school agreed this would be okay before they started) and parents who got there at the actual start time are still waiting to be let in, it just makes things so difficult for the children which also must impact the staff who then have a job of calming them down

Mainstream school here. They can't go straight in - wait in a playground with an open gate in lines til the teacher comes to collect. Parents wait around them. But what you have described does not sound safe. Hopefully school can provide an alternative and safe waiting area which is what I would be asking for.

I guess the priority has to be the kids arriving on transport as their is no parent to look after them, snd tje vagaries of traffic means they cannot predict exactly when they will arrive. That said, a safer waiting arrangement sounds like a good idea

Yes definitely agree

That sounds very dangerous and is hardly conducive to a calm start to the day for the children. We have a SEND unit and children are brought in as soon as they arrive after the gates open at 8.40am until 8.50am, so it's staggered over 10 minutes. People that don't want to stand and wait, arrive after the gate opens.

Do the classrooms have external doors by any chance? Even if they are fire doors?

DD isn't at a specialist school, but a small mainstream primary, and they do drop off really well.

All the classrooms have external doors. Drop off isn't to a main entrance door, there's a 15 minute window and each child goes to the relevant door (with parents) and goes directly into their classroom, so there isn't a scrum of everyone in the school trying to get through one door.

It might be something you could suggest if it would be possible for your school? Even if it's only for some classrooms, it could reduce the people needing to queue at the main door.

It's a much better system than when I was at school which was everyone standing in the rain for 15 minutes queuing up in the playground!

I’ve not read the whole thread sorry if this has already been said
At my daughter special School all the children go from their parents into the hall (most can walk to the hall independently but some don’t ) where there an lots of staff waiting to receive the kids. The teachers and tas from each class take them as a group from the hall to the classrooms once most or all of the children from that class have arrived (only 8 to 10 in a class)

I used to work in a special school. Most kids brought in by escorts in taxis and some by parents. Each class staff would go in hi vis vests to the car park and collect their children and take them in. Sometimes late comers would’ve brought by a parent or escort to the office but the other children went to their classes with their staff as and when they arrived. Although school has a particular start time they would arrive on drips and drabs. Some in individual taxis and some in mini buses. It was a high needs school though so many of the kids have 1:1 and therefore enough staff but some would make several trips whilst other stayed in the classrooms to look after those that had arrived.

Mainstream experience is different. Pre covid pit kids lined up on the hard and when the bell went their teacher would come and take them in line by by line from the yard. Post Covid the school started a soft start approach where there was a 15 minute window for them to arrive and each class had a door that lead out to the yard or if not the office door was open and they just went on that way - often with a TA on the door. Worked better for parking as well.

I guess is can depend on the layout of the school and staffing.

Work in a special school,

We have bus and parent drop off.

Bus drop off at 8.45am and parent drop off at 9am.

When we go out, just before 8.45am, there are often parents standing in reception waiting with their children- which can make it more difficult due to the children wanting to go in straight away.

But we have to ensure all the children on the buses are off first, as often most of these children have been on the bus for nearly an hour. Plus the buses have other jobs to go too.

As soon as the class team are free, they will collect the pupils waiting in reception. If other staff are free, then they will help take the pupils to class too.

We do have a good size reception that parents can wait in, or once buses go, parents can drive on site and drop their children to school.

Are parents getting to your child’s school too early? Are there not other support staff that can take the children waiting on the path down to class? E.g. music, PE, swimming staff etc?

At my school there is always at least one member of SLT/management at drop of time, to ensure safety of all pupils/families.

Definitely speak to the school, as it does not sound safe at all!

So do you mean that children and parents are waiting 15 minutes after start time? In a dangerous area.
If so you should definitely raise it.
Parents bring their children out of the car and to the door at the correct starting time, there should be a system to take them in at that time, especially as there is no safe place to wait. It is unsafe.

I work in a school but in the Education support base. All our kids come in their own entrance and an are met by staff who then take them in to their classrooms.
Out area is in the main building but is separate from the mainstream school.

you school is definitely not the norm an I would raise this as a concern.