Preschool's policy for late arrivals is to refuse admission

[Numberfour]

My DS attends a preschool 5 mornings a week. one of their policies is to exclude the child from school that day if they arrive more than 10 minutes late. Their reasoning is that register has already been taken and that it is disruptive to the other children.

I signed the policy but noted on the piece of paper that I am a childminder so sometimes have other matters on in the morning that may mean DS is late. if something does happen and we are late I always phone to explain and so far DS has not been excluded.

DH did not know about this and hit the roof when I mentioned it to him.

What do you think? Is this policy a bit mean??? A friend has called it draconian. Was I a wimp just to sign and accept it??

I think that's terrible - things happen when you've got lo's. It's not always possible to be bang on time.

I do find that quite an odd rule tbh. The only reason I can think of it being there is that maybe they have been messed around by parents turning up whenever they feel like it in the past.

I guess they had problems with some parents being consistently late and it being disruptive. Since they are fine with you if something unavoidable happens and you call to tell them, it seems like they are flexible when it comes to genuine cases.

sounds a bit hardcore to me.

though like other posters have said, if they are fine with you if you phone to say, then ok i guess.

think i would be a bit if our preschool had that policy though...

Seems very harsh. Mine (well ds1's) are very easy going about this sort of thing. They just have a doorbell to ring if you are late, and recognise that it isn't always easy to get toddlers out of the house on time and with all the bits and pieces they need.

Thanks for the replies,everyone. I also think it is a bit strict, tbh. it is as if the child is being penalised for something that is beyond his or her control. two people were turned away from class today and there were probably less than 30 in the school altogether. yes, there are some people who are ALWAYS late but as i said, being a childminder makes it quite difficult especially seeing that the first school i drop off at is 5 minutes away if there is no traffic and 20 minutes with! Walking would take too long (35 min at least) so that is out of the question.

i don't want to go on a crusade about it. fortunately DS finishes there in July so it will not be my problem anymore.

thanks again for your opinions1

OMG!! Our preschool offer to make me a cuppa when we are late - as they can see I have overslept and clearly arrived inmy slippers.

Miserable buggers!

i think you're right, treedelivery!

how old are dc's at pre school?

Message withdrawn

At our pre school the policies were drawn up and reviewed by the Comittee - formed and drawn from the cohort of parents.

Is this the case with your pre school?

Obv you are moving on soon but might be worth bringing to the Comittee to review?

FWIW I totally see why they do it, when I was involved in pre school many moons ago late arrivals were terribly disruptive for the children already there.

that's terrible

they don't have to be there at all if their parents don't them to want to be

in my opinion it should be entirely flexible, as per the needs of the children on any particular day. sometimes little kids are knackered and need to sleep in a while.

polite of course to ring with an e.t.a, but exclusion is ridiculous

how odd
never heard of this before
so what if you are late? hardly the crime of the year

how does this affect your fee?
do you still have to pay if you turn up late and they turn you away?

I would question them about this and ask why they have such an exclusion policy and fask them if OFSTED are aware of this policy and what they think about it.

hotcross, ds 4 so his schooling is free for the 12.5 hours per week that he is there. they would be funded by the local authority which also begs the question: do they still get the fee if the child is not permitted to go to school.

I can appreciate that both parents and children need to be "trained" (for want of a better expression) to get to school on time. But I work to keep my family going, not just for fun. And if I am late for reasons related to my work, I see no reason at all why DS should be excluded. When i told the head of the school that i need to get minded child to school and that sometimes it means i am late, she said that minded child's school's gain is therefor her school's loss.

All a bit pathetic really. I have no doubt that they are 100% committed to the children and their wellbeing, but i certainly do not agree with this policy anymore.

Thanks for all the replies and the chance to discuss this with people not involved in the situation.

just because the sessions are funded it doesn't mean they can exclude children
and yes, they will still get paid regardless of whether the child attends or not
the more i think of this the more I think it is probably not on

he is being excluded and that is against everything the EYFS stands for
I am sure OFSTED would not look too kindly on this policy
why not ring OFSTED and ask them?

thanks, hotcross. apologies for not replying earlier. i reckon a call to OFSTED might be the thing to do.

number four, how did your call to ofsted go?

I can understand the policy, although our local pre school is lovely and laid back (and just as well as I was constantly late!) but 10 mins is far too harsh... I would make it AT THE VERY LEAST somewhere between 15-30 mins. If I were to implement such a daft policy.

cat64, you have a good point about my apathy!
purepurple, I have not made the call yet - will do so tomorrow.
thebolter, seems more feasible, but in all honesty, i think the policy sucks. children are not turned away from "big" school if they are late. they have to report at reception, i think.

will let you know what happens.

i am on good terms with the head and she wants to come to my childminding setting for some experience so i may raise the issue with her then after having discussed it with OFSTED.