What should I do about new school wanting ds to start term a week late?

[bran]

DS is starting at a Montessori pre-school in January. The school re-opens on 30th Dec and term starts on 2nd Jan. I assumed he would be starting on the first day of term, if not the 30th Dec (I'm paying for year-round, 8am-6pm). I arranged our Christmas visit to the in-laws so that we would get back in time to get over the jet-lag before school, and dh arranged to do short days at work for the first week of Jan so that ds could do some short settling-in days.

A couple of weeks ago the school sent an info pack and invoice. On the covering letter it said that ds would be starting on Tuesday 8th Jan at 10am, this was the first that I'd heard of a late start for newbies. This means I have no child care for several days.

In your opinion what is the best thing to do?
a) Insist that the school let him start at the beginning of term.
b) Put ds into emergency childcare for a few days and then start straight into full days at school (without settling in).

If I go for b) would I be within my rights to ask the school to repay a week's worth of fees so that I'm not paying twice for childcare?

Blimey, that went off the bottom of active conversations a bit quickly!

It's standard practice IME for schools to have new starters a week or so after all the other children have settled back in to the new term.

I don't think it would be worth insisting school take him early, as he would be on his own, wouldn't he?

So I think you have to do b, but I don't fancy your chances of a rebate.

Mine have both had staggered starts too - one hour the first day, till lunchtime the second, till the end of lunch the third, until by the end of a week they're up to a full day. That would be worth checking too.

He wouldn't be on his own, there are lots of kids in that class and he knows a few of them already as they used to go to the same nursery.

I'm a bit as this is not the sort of thing that you would know with your first child, so they must have this problem with other parents a lot. If they had given me more notice it would have been better, perhaps when I first applied for the place.

Ah yes, welcome to the world of school!

The stealth late start for younger children is just the first of a long line of things that will remind you (should you have forgotten) that while nurseries exist for the convenience of parents, schools most definitely do not.

Waiting in the wings to drive this point home are:

The secret INSET day, which you will find out about at 3.30pm on Friday for the following Monday.

The nursery assembly, which will happen at some inconvenient mid-morning time, like 10.30 on a Wednesday. You won't hear about it till 3.30pm on the Monday.

The undercover dressing-up occasion, in the guise of World Book Day/Assembly (see above)/ or nursery Nativity/Christmas play. You will get a maximum of 48 hours notice that your child will require a costume involving either 15 hours at a sewing machine and/or some incredibly obscure, out of season garment, such as green tights, or a purple poloneck that will have you posting desperate, panicky pleas on Mumsnet.

The school outing requiring a packed lunch and (usually) financial contribution, which they will inform you of via note sent home in your child's bookbag. You will find this note at 7.30pm the night before the day in question, squashed under a tetrapak of out-of-date milk and a couple of uncompleted homework sheets.

The school fair, requiring you to (usually) bake cakes, though other contributions will also be required. You will get approximately 24 hours less notice than you need to procure/make requested items without having to stay up till 1.30am or make late-night trips to Costcutter.

Ah yes, so many happy days to come.

Perhaps I should have left him in nursery.

There will be no costume making - I don't want to and they can't make me. (I have a bit of a problem with authority figures. )

Inset days will be covered by non-teaching staff for the year-round pupils.

I don't know what a nursery assembly is, so won't be going.

He has to have packed lunch anyway, there wasn't any mention of outings in the info pack so perhaps they don't do that until year 1.

There will be no baking (see "I don't want to and they can't make me" above).

They're really going to hate me, aren't they? As far as I'm concerned I pay them and they provide a service, am I supposed to be silent and grateful?

Frogs.
Oh yes the staggered start, our school did this too.

PMSL at Frogs - spot on.
My boys' school (primary) is pretty good at keeping parents informed, but my school (secondary) is hopeless. Many parents/carers do not work, but even so the place seems to exist on the principle that you can drop everything and re-arrange all your plans on a moment's notice when school deign to inform you of x, y, or z!

I don't remember it being like that when I was at school (admittedly a very long time ago, and in Dublin). I went to private primary and my brother went to the local parish school, and I don't think my Mum had to do all that much for either of them. And I know that everyone started together on the first day of term, which was a half-day.

I don't remember my Mum bitching much about our schools at all, whereas ds hasn't even started yet and I'm annoyed about several things, not just the surprise late start. I'm seriously wondering if I've made a bad choice, although I've heard great things about the quality of the teaching. I have to give a term's notice though, and it would be a bit defeatist to give a terms notice on his first day, wouldn't it?