Reception start

[Blueysmum2026]

Little one starts primary this year. They don’t start full days until 14th September!

This week of 7th consists of:
Monday - 10 minute meeting with teacher, Tuesday - only 2 hour session in the morning
wednesday - not in
Thursday - half day
Friday - half day

They also have 2 weeks for October half term. They don’t seem to make up these dates throughout the rest of the academic year? Can they get away with this? I thought they had a minimum number of days they had to be in school?

I have a relative who is in SLT at a different school and even she has said they are taking advantage and teachers are being a bit lazy!

If the extra transition time is needed for vulnerable kids then why not offer them a welcome week and everyone else starts a week later? That's what some secondaries do: a summer school essentially.

I don’t think it’s normal or standard None of the schools in our area do this.

I’m a SAHM but I would have been insisting on a full time start from day one because I think a phased start is unnecessary and unsettling.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dont-prolong-staggered-starts-for-reception-pupils-schools-told/?fbclid=IwdGRzaAUKPOFwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHnAGuFjUlnr0s7rDFqxNk93cuGBwo5Rhqs-v4Jc71UWc6POAAwNAtxbD3keS_aem_kQKXinKk7pcluJpXdOxj4g DfES doesn't approve

And here's the relevant part of the School Admissions Code.

I have a relative who is in SLT at a different school and even she has said they are taking advantage and teachers are being a bit lazy!

If your friend works in a school she would know that this decision will not have been made at teacher level so that's an odd thing for her to say.

Unnecessary teacher-bashing aside, I don't disagree that protracted settling-in arrangements are a nightmare for working parents. At our school, they are in full-time from day one. It's very calm, kids settle into the new routines very quickly and it works really well. If any children need a phased start due to additional needs this is accommodated.

I'd love to offer this but there's no way we could afford to pay staff a weeks overtime.

I totally agree!!
I used to teach rec with y1 and some times y2. We had approx 6-10 kids per yr group. It was quite easy to help them settle, learn the routines etc.
My DH currently has 60 kids coming into reception. Can uou imagine trying to get them all in school, learn the routine and to get 60 kids, toileted and hand washed begore heading to the hall for lunch while ensuring theres still time for the other 400 kids to get through after them.
I fully understand it's frustrating esp if your child has been in full time.nursery etc but the logistics are a nightmare if bigger numbers!!

I meant instead of the first week of term. If schools are allowed to offer randomly reduced hours to reception as long as the school's open, why not consolidate into a week? The ones who've been using childcare can then continue it up to the end of that week and/or as pp suggested, take a cheap holiday!

But the majority of schools do somehow manage this?

We do two half days and then in full time which works well as it means during those half sessions we can spend extra time getting to know the children but it’s not too drawn out so hopefully not too much of a childcare issues for parents.

I cant believe another teacher would call teachers lazy. Lots of schools have 2 week half terms in October. That time will be made up elsewhere.
What is your problem? Lazy teachers? Not enough hours for teaching? You are cross cos you cant offload your little one fully until 14th September?

Our school abandoned this practice as it actually meant the children took longer to settle. And most of the kids had been in school nursery (or another nearby) anyway and were used to full days.

They will almost certainly have split they class in half so half the children are in in the morning and half in the afternoon. Reception classes of 30 are ridiculous - the EU average is more like 20 - so I can understand it for settling them in, even if it's a bit of an old-fashioned approach. My child's school had a staggered start that I thought was OTT but has been phenomenal every since. I really, really wouldn't write the teachers off as lazy before you've even started.

It's a fairly common way of starting reception. I've been a teacher 20 years, and have started off many a reception class, in a number of different schools. Some do like yours is doing, and others are everyone in, all day, from the very start.

Yours is more of the extreme. I'm seeing more schools now doing a pattern of 1 morning plus lunch, lunch plus 1 afternoon, full day. Everyone in, full time, on day 3.

That is also the DfES's recommendation. So hopefully normal practice in most schools.

I can understand there might be demographics where children are less school ready but that would maybe best be addressed between April and July the previous year.

YABU and really getting off on the wrong foot by starting at the school already accusing the teachers of laziness.
It’s only a week, some schools do part time for a fortnight!
School is for education, not childcare. If you need to work and the school hours don’t suit you that is on you to arrange childcare for, not complain to the school about!

Ahhh so you want child care. Got it

This is irrelevant. Inset days come out of teachers’ holidays, or can be done as “twilight” or extended afterschool sessions. They have absolutely no impact on how many days holiday the children get- they have a statutory entitlement to 190 days in school per year (in state).

My dd is in Y11 now but her reception ran half days for the first term and actually it worked well for the children, they get so tired when they start school. Mine went back to napping in the afternoons!

I honestly don’t know how other working parents managed it; I was self employed then as a tutor so I managed my hours around my daughter’s, but it wasn’t a surprise, they explained the arrangements early on in the summer term.

Staggered starts go against the admission code and DfE guidance.

They are also very difficult to justify under the DfE attendance guidance as part time attendance requires parental agreement.

I am surprised schools still do this, having put in other arrangements at least 10 years ago.

Parents can insist on a full time start and in schools where a staggered start is in place, often do.

I think you speak from a place of privilege. The school holiday clubs do not run this week at all so there is no childcare option? Luckily I am in a position to schedule my day, but it is really unfair in a day and age when most households have 2 working families. School may not be childcare officially but it does act as childcare in reality in the real world.

Please tell me what the option is for working parents when I only get 30 days holiday a year and school holidays are over 12 weeks away year + another week at the beginning of September?

please do tell me as I’d love to know the solution…

It hasn't always been like that everywhere as it's absolutely NOT how it's done in every school

Why are you saying this like you’re the only person it’s ever affected? Thousands of working parents deal with this every day, every year. The solution is to arrange suitable childcare for your child. That won’t look the same for everyone. But it is your responsibility as their parent. And it’s not exactly a surprise - did you seriously have a baby 4 years ago and it’s only just occurred to you now that school hours are different to the average working hours?!

Blimey, my dd1 was 5 when she started full time in reception on about the 7 October! Before that she had half days only of school from about 10 September, and from memory no school at all on Fridays. I had to put her back in nursery for the first week of Sept. She'd been in nursery/preschool for over a year and coped with full days & some learning so for her to go back to half days was ridiculous

Yes but there is no wraparound this week! Yes we will mange but we shouldnt have to manage. Schools need to get with the modern age. Most people do not have a SAH parent these days.