Unsupervised time at school

[Outdoorsymum89]

Just feeling like I need a little bit of clarity on a situation here!
I have 2 primary age children who are 7 and 5.
Basically, when my children get the school bus, they are dropped off at school 20 mins before school officially begins. In this 20 mins they are unsupervised on the playground! I have brought it up with the transport company and they said it’s the School’s responsibility to care for the children when they reach School. School say it’s not their responsibility because they don’t open until 9 but reassure me that if there’s an issue, the older children are great at telling them and they’re willing to deal with incidents.

I found this very concerning and for the time being, have stopped sending them on the bus.

When I brought this up with the other parents, I basically raised my concern and said I wanted the parent council to do something about this. However I am absolutely disgusted with how the parent forum have reacted! They all seem to think it’s not a massive problem and that we should be thankful our children are in a safe community where they can do this!
I had people basically say I was acting entitled and if I don’t like it I should go and look after them myself! Other parents said it was just like the kids playing in the garden while they’re cooking tea!
They don’t want me pushing the situation because they feel the staff are great and I should be happy to let them have time preparing their lessons rather than stand on the playground!

I am horrified with the situation, because now I am questioning the community values of the community in which I live! As far as I am concerned leaving children in a school setting, unsupervised for 20 mins at the start of every day is a huge safeguarding and child protection concern! I am now considering changing schools because I feel like I have upset everyone so much for bringing this up!

Am I being over sensitive here?

Who runs the school bus?

Our school recently sent an email complaining about junior aged children being unsupervised outside the school gates before school starts, can't imagine they would accept unsupervised 5 year olds on the playground.

It is a small rural school in Scotland.
The bus is a council bus which many of the students get because we live a certain distance away!
They have gates either side of the playground but they aren’t locked or anything, and although the road is a fairly quiet road through the village, cars do drive quicker than they should!

I moved up from England about 20 months ago!
I think the trigger for me, is that i’m fairly sure this would be a massive no no in England (I was a teacher in England and none of the schools I worked in would have been accepting of leaving children unattended). I suppose I just expected that because the transport is provided, because of the distance we live, there would be safety measures in place!

School said they are available from 8:40 to deal with issues and I just assumed that ment they were also supervising! I suppose you should never make assumptions!

I'm a fairly relaxed parent but I would not be happy about 5 year olds being unsupervised for 20 minutes.

If the council are providing transport then I'd say it's their responsibility to hand young children over to another adult. I'd take it up with them rather than the school.

It’s not the responsibility of the school, if the school doesn’t open until 9:00 why are kids being dropped off at 8:40 by the bus company? It sounds like the transport needs to pick the kids up 15 minutes later and wait with the kids on the bus until school is open. I’m a teacher and we have kids who come by taxi/ bus, if they arrive early they have to sit and wait in the vehicle until we open. I would complain to the transport company and push for a later pick up or for the driver and escorts to wait and supervise until school starts. Presumably if young kids with parents arrive at 8:40 they can’t just leave their kids and wait with them until 9:00, why should it be different for the bus company?

I agree with you. You can say the older ones are looking after the younger ones, but what if the older ones aren't, and what would happen in the case of bullying etc.

My kids go to school in England and we have had multiple emails reminding parents they absolutely cannot drop their kids off and go to work before the classroom doors open in the morning as the kids are not supervised.

our supervision in school doesnt start until 8.45, the school locks the gates before then and has told parents not to leave kids unattended as they are not supervised. They had to lock the gates are parents were ignoring that supervision doesn't start and ditching the kids and leaving.

I think you need to contact the bus company, they are responsible for the kids until they transfer that responsibility to someone, ideally school staff. So the kids shouldn't be allowed off the bus until they are delivered to the care of school staff.

I think the council need to arrange to pick the children up later. The whole point of the whole reason for the council putting the bus on, is an acknowledgement that the school they have provided for local children is far away, therefore they need to provide transport to get the children there at an appropriate time. It isn't the school's problem. Also I am surprised if it is actually legal for the drivers to leave the kids without an adult.