What is soft start?

[PappaSmuff]

My son is in yr 1 and I was told this year it was a 'a soft start' 850am to 9am with registration at 9am. Until then I had never heard of a soft start and thought it was just to stagger kids coming in because of covid so I was dropping off 858am. Now at parents eve my partner was told he is coming in late and as he is not there at 850am is missing out on teaching. What's a soft start then in school context it looks like I miss understood?

Thanks

They've started doing this at our school, basically it means instead of playing out before 9 they go straight into their classrooms and get on with something a little bit structured like reading or drawing. It was explained as a device to get them "ready to learn" faster as Ofsted apparently said there was too much time wasted with faffing after 9. We have been told that they can come anytime as long as they're in by 9 though, as it was pointed out they've effectively extended the school day by 15 mins otherwise.

as it was pointed out they've effectively extended the school day by 15 mins otherwise

I hope it was the teachers pointing out the extra unpaid time they were expected to be available for.

Mine went to a primary that did soft start at that age.
The school day officially started at 8.50 but the kids could go into the classroom from 8.40 and from then until 9am they had a choice of activities they could do.
They could move around the classroom and chat to friends.
They didn't have to instantly sit down and be ready for more structured learning the minute they arrived.

But a bit like you, our school didn't explain about it. It just came up in conversation and we had to ask what it was!