To think that queueing outside the school gates is weird

[winterwonder1]

I may be totally out of kilter here (I only have experience of dropping off at one primary school), but is it normal to have to queue outside school for 15 minutes every morning?
We were allocated a different primary for youngest (a PITA in itself, but hey ho) and the new school has a system where parents have to queue outside the gates, which then open at 8.45am.
Everyone then walks their kids through narrow walkways to their building inside the site (a fair walk to reception block) for an 8.50am start. It's a big school and a bunfight of parents, kids and scooters all trying to get in to the site at once, in a really small window of time.
If you're not in the queue by 8.30am (so one of the first ones on site) it's a real scramble to get to the classrooms on time.
In elder kids' school, gates open at 8.30am, giving 20 minutes to get everyone where they need to be and meaning there's not so many people jostling to get in at once.
AIBU to think this could be done a lot better? Or were we just lucky with the other school and this is normal?

Our gate opens at 8.40am and registration starts at 8.40am. I have two kids to drop off, in opposite directions on site, and two bikes to park. Try figuring that one out.

Sounds like it's mainly due to the layout of this particular school? I guess as people have cottoned on to this, it has become a vicious cycle of people queueing and others ending up being late and therefore also queueing.

I'm new to the school - would it be really bad to ask if there's an option to open the gate five minutes earlier? I appreciate there might be an early staff meeting or maybe they're shaving five minutes off the wage bill this way?

I would try to time it so that I arrived at the back of the queue just as it was getting through the gate. The first 10 minutes of the day is just admin anyway. You are not responsible for their shitty system.

Ours is similar, we dont queue, we just get there later once the queue is moving/nearly gone.

I don’t know about mornings because I do a drive by dump and run but when collecting the school opens at 3 for a 3:15 collect but parents just stand in the playground.
There are always parents standing queuing for the gate to open way before 3, I often wonder why they would want to be there for so long, I know it takes me 10 minutes to walk so I leave home at 5 past and get there as they are about to come out but I think some parents love to get there early and stand around chatting.

Just arrive after queue is gone and go straight on in? If child is a bit late its not your fault.

It you're queuing outside the school for 15 minutes not moving everyday then go 15 minutes later

That sounds ridiculous. Our large primary school has a 15 minutes drop off time, slightly staggered between KS1 and KS2 and it really reduces any queueing on crowding around gates.

I just come at 8.45 when they open gate and put her in her class queue and walk away - they bring them
in at 8.50 🤷‍♀️
the gate to the area for bike parking is open much earlier from 8 as it’s the entrance to breakfast club so easy to drop off the bikes before the gate opens at 8.45

DC is only 4 so not the quickest walker across the site, which may be making it worse, but it's just a horrible, stressful start to the day, where before it was a nice stroll in.
I appreciate that 5 minutes x however many staff might be an increase in pay too far, but it's a real pain.

If it was just me, I would, but DC is little and I'm trying to make mornings stress-free for them as it's a new school etc.

To get a decent parking space at DS’s school you have to be there at 230! I am not that extreme but I do get there around three so that I can park reasonably close to the school.

Uh no that would do my head in. Ours have a soft start, they open the gate 8.40-8.55

I just come at 8.45 when they open gate and put her in her class queue and walk away - they bring them

They're older now, but this is what we did. Arrive, kids go in, form their own queues, parents have already left.

Seriously? You think they’d open 5 minutes earlier because you asked them to.

This all feels really weird to me as at our school the grounds are open and you can just go in when you like and the kids all play near their classroom till the bell goes. It's well set up for this with play equipment near the gate into the classroom. The teachers don't supervise as parents are still there to hand over their children when the classroom door is opened, so there's no extra staff time involved. Children are also allowed to hang around and play on the school grounds after school, they're just not allowed back inside the building. This is in Scotland though.

Our school have certainly listened to and sometimes responded to parents requests.

I think you'll find that school staff aren't paid by the hour. I'd also arrive a bit later when the queue has gone. If there's anything said about lateness you can explain why.

I had children in primary 20+ years ago our school did this nobody was allowed into the playground until 8.45, previously to that parents were dropping kids off as early as 7.45 ! The school can't be responsible for children that early.

I agree, OP. Sounds like a daft system and makes everyone feel like cattle at the same time. Hope they will change it.

They queue outside ours for ages too. The gates open at 8:45-8:55 so I used to go at 8:50 to miss the queue and the barrage of parents. Same at closing.

Where we live different years start and finish at different times, all 3 schools are in 1 larger school, it works really well here and they only get 3 holidays a year, Christmas 2 weeks, easter 1 week and the summer 12 weeks.

Surely you can't be considered late if you join the back of the queue just as it gets to the gate.

That sounds hell in winter when it's raining.

I'd get there for gate opening and get DC to class at a reasonable speed, if anything is said I'd ask them for their suggestion on how to speed it up that doesn't involve you waiting in sub zero temperatures for 15 minutes or picking Dd up rugby style and legging it across the field knocking everyone else out of the way.

Honestly, you'd be doing dd a favour teaching her that she has a choice to act reasonably and explain why, your time and comfort are important too.

Sounds hellish. At our school we have a 10 minute window to arrive (8:40-8:50) so everyone just trickles in. Works fine.