Preschool threatening to charge for late arrival

[KurtRussel]

I'm interested to know what people's thoughts are on the below message I received from my boys preschool (he is 3).

I've recently started maternity leave and not in a rush to leave the house in the morning as I've got the chance to spend a bit more time with my 3 year old. Once I have both kids ready we then take a walk to school which I couldn't do previously as I needed to get to work. We often arrive at school between 9/9.30.

Good Morning,
Just a reminder about session times.
Breakfast club is 7.30am-8.35am
Morning session 8.35am-11.35am
Lunch 11.35am -12.15pm
Afternoon session 12.15pm-3.15pm
Afterschool club 3.15pm-6pm.
We follow a routine and start learning straight away through circle times and play. This is key part of your child's education and starting early is a key opportunity.
Please ensure your child is dropped off and collected at the correct times. If you are late this will affect your child's attendance at school and you may incur a late charge. We follow the same procedure as if your child was of school age. Also just to make you aware that if you are continuously late or absent then this may affect your child's funding and the council may stop it this will then mean you will be charged for the sessions.
Many Thanks

I get their point of view to be honest. It must be irritating not knowing when everyone is going to show up, and if they have a waiting list the fact some of the sessions are going to 'waste' would be annoying.

You can always change preschool? Our local private nursery were far more flexible around drop off times.

Is it formal preschool attached to a school?
What are you actually signed up for, does it include the breakfast part mentioned etc?

I'd be really irritated, we have years of school ahead where timings matter and it's nice not to rush about - but it depends what you have agreed to and the terms and conditions. And it will be tricky if they're in the middle of phonics or whatever and more kids appear so I do appreciate the challenges for the pre school.

So you are routinely arriving 30minute to an hour late? Had you not checked this was ok before you started doing it?

the letter seems pretty reasonable, if attendance falls below a certain level, they lose funding for your child’s place and either you lose the place or you have to pay.

perhaps look what other preschools and nurseries are available in your area and use one that starts later if you can’t manage 8:35 start time.

If you want to spend more time with your child then take him out of the preschool. You can't just continually take him in late and expect that not to impact upon both him and the setting.

YABVU! Incredibly disruptive for the teachers and the other children.

Standard practice. I was often late and paid a lot. But they want to get home so I understand.

8.35 is pretty early for a mandatory start. I'd guess you could find somewhere more flexible or with a later start time. My children's preschool was 9:00-9:15. They were understanding if family circumstances meant you couldn't get there on time too. I had another school run to do first when DC2 and 3 went. Charging seems weird too. What is it costing them? Charging for late pickups makes sense because they have to pay the staff and keep the building open longer.

My children all attended the nursery at the school they eventually went to and I think this is pretty standard that they have set start and finish times.
Some of my friends have kept their children in private settings until they start reception and they seem to be more flexible with arrivals and finishing times along as you drop off and collect during the session times

Standard practice. Take them out if you don't like it. What a pita for everyone else.

Sorry misunderstood. Late to arrive they don’t like it as following a routine to get them in habit of school. I remember being told off for lateness but not fined. Can see both sides.

Although I understand you wanting a more leisurely start to the day, pre-school is not the same as nursery, where you can turn up at any time pretty much.

Preschools have a more structured approach to their days and it will be very disruptive to the whole class to have late arrivals.

So the choices you have are
to get up earlier and into preschool on time
find someone else who can get him there on time
find an alternative preschool or nursery with later start times
pull your DS out of preschool for the duration of your maternity leave

I am surprised that you are surprised.

You are routinely up to an hour late and expecting them to be OK with that? It must be next to impossible for them to plan any activities for the group.

I was going to say a child minder might suit better, but even they would find this difficult. You are expecting the type of flexibility that you only really get with a dedicated nanny.

It’s disruptive to the whole nursery if people are coming in at all different times. If they start an activity as a group then 7 children turn up over the next hour that’s disruptive to everyone. If you agree a session when joining the nursery then you do the session at the times agreed.

I think for a pre-school this is fine as it is a structured environment, but if it hasn’t been mentioned before I can see why you would think it shouldn’t have been a problem.

At a nursery rather than a pre-school I would expect to be able to drop off and pick up whenever it suited me.

Are you sure they mean late drop off? I read that as late pick up... Its still disruptive though

If 8m35 is too early, see if they're is any availability for afternoons

It does seem a bit much to charge you. Maybe they are thinking of the wasted money for the government unnecessarily funding whoever would have been caring for your child? It doesn't seem a great way to go about things. However as others have said, either be punctual or don't go. It's hard to settle everyone and set expectations with late arrivals.

YABU it's very distracting for the staff and other children if kids are being dropped off whenever their parents feel like it.
You're not talking about being 5 minutes late, it's up to an hour if you didn't get there by 9.30!
If you want that kind of flexibility he should be in a nursery or with a childminder with a start time of 9.30am.

My kids preschool was super laid back about drop off. Maybe find somewhere that suits you better, OP. I enjoyed the flexibility in my kids earlier years, although I think more preschools are tightening up abit now to raise the standards.

Take on board what they are saying about the disruption for everyone.

My nursery like a phone call if drop off is going to be after 9am (phone call of shame)

Had to ring many times whilst on mat leave. Got a funny comment about what time it was when I went back to work 🙄

Even at our private nursery, it is heavily discouraged to drop off whenever we feel like it in the morning. By the time they're equivalent to preschool age, even most private nurseries are working on following routines and doing group activities that it would be disruptive for children to wander into halfway. They technically won't stop us dropping off late, but they make it clear they don't like it and the child misses out on the activity in progress. It’s also annoying for the staff, having to have someone either escort your child in or keep tabs on whether you’ve left or not (safeguarding).

The funding thing - it's only a 3 hour session, so your son is missing up to a third of it, which might affect their ability to claim funding for his place.

I completely agree with the preschool and I think you're being very unreasonable. It's really disruptive when another child turns up late. . An occasional lateness for something that is really unavoidable is one thing, but I wholeheartedly support them wanting to charge for people who can't be bothered to get their children in on time, and it is very disruptive when children are late. I appreciate that you want to spend more time with your child, but no-one is forcing you to send your son to preschool, so if spending more time with him in the mornings is that important, keep him at home instead.

Thing is, they are being very clear what the problem is - firstly that it disrupts the others and secondly that if your dc missing to many hours, they can’t claim funding for his place.

So the second one is the bigger issue @KurtRussel - I presume before you got this letter you didn’t realise being consistently an hour late would add up to your dc not attending enough of the funded time and so lose funding. Now you do know, what do you think should happen if your dc loses funding?

Offering to let you keep the place if you pay for it seem fair.

and best you are told before it gets to the point you’ve lost funding.

Totally on their side. You can’t just rock up when you want to 🙄

Totally agree , it’s really disrespectful and it’s also taking a member of staff away each time to come to the door and let you in whilst they are probably in the middle of the first activity of the day.
My DC attended private nursery and council nursery / pre school and I always dropped them at the same time.
I agree with other posters , if you want a leisurely morning then just take your DC out of nursery and let someone else use that place properly.