Tanzie - I agree that it seems unfair if the teachers aren't supervising their own children - and even worse if they aren't even teachers in the school. Maybe the teachers have some sort of reciprocal agreement between them? (And yes, it could open some teachers up to the risk of being put-upon by other teachers). However, on the two or three times a week when I have my daughter with me, she is with me, in my classroom, and not being supervised by anyone else. I bring her in with me when my husband can't work from home in the morning, and unfortunately I can't predict when that will be during the week, so I can't plan my own work around it. Therefore, I take my daughter in with me so that I can get my lessons prepared, photocopying etc done, while she gets on with sharpening pencils for me, mounting work onto backing paper etc, all in my room, supervised by me. I even take her with me when I need to go to the loo! I think it's better than going in at the last minute, probably unprepared and unable to get through the school run traffic.
The problem with bringing forward the drop-off time for everyone is that although it will make some people's lives easier, it will bring other parents into the margins of needing/not needing before-school childcare and so they will be needing to drop off their children just a few minutes early as well - so the time gets brought forward and the same problem reccurs. Furthermore, most schools try to stagger their opening/closing times so that they differ from other schools so that there is less congestion during the school run and people can deliver/collect children from other schools. Also, if all the children can get in a bit earlier, then when do the staff get their lesson prep done? Impossible in a class of 30-odd children.
I'm sorry that I come across as being harsh, but I'm not a childminder, I'm a teacher. I have been involved in so many trips, residentials, school concerts, discos etc, all in my own time, when you could count on one finger the number of parents or children who have said thank you. On just about every occasion I have been delayed at school because parents haven't arrived to collect their children on time, and I can't remember ever having more than four or five apologies in my entire teaching career. Every morning, we have children who arrive early in school and hang around on the school playground for up to thirty minutes sometimes. When asked where their parents are, we invariably get the response that their parents are at work. The same children are dropped off first thing in the morning, even when it's tipping down, often with no coat, and so we have to take the decision of whether to leave them outside like drowned rats or allow them into school uninsured. Phoning the parents is useless, often leading to torrents of abuse, and the Educational Welfare Officer seems powerless to act in these cases. This is in a leafy middle-class suburb - supposed one of the "good" areas. I'm not for one moment suggesting that any of the contributors to this board are like that, but it is disheartening and sours what is in fact a fabulous job.
Maybe if you approach the Deputy Head, you could also discuss whether or not someone could set up a breakfast club at the school on a commercial basis - that would resolve all the problems you face, and would be welcomed by many parents, I'm sure. Last year some of the local childminders set up a great after-school club in the school hall, which is fabulous, and there's talk of them extending it to the mornings too. But the fact remains that parents, not the school, are responsible for arranging suitable childcare until the school's supervisory responsibility kicks in.