Can the school kick us/DS out for wanting to go to school?

[ABitTipsy]

DS has just started in reception. He is born and the school have a policy, decided by the governors, that summer born children can only attend part time til January.

This means my DS misses out on the important issue of making friends and getting used to the normal school day and routine including having his lunch there etc. simply because he was born at a certain time of year. He will have to come home and have his lunch at home and get bored whilst the rest of his class mates carry on getting to know each other, forming friendships, getting to know the staff and he will have to do all this in January, a full term after the others.

I am going to see the head teacher next week to ask about the school's reasons for this policy in case there is some benefit to my child in missing out on half a day at school ever day for a term that I do not know about. If not I will tell her that I will send in my DS with a packed lunch and he will stay for the full day like all the other full time children.

I can't see what the school can do about a pupil who wants to attend school but isn't allowed to.

Has anyone been through this situation? How did you handle it?

TIA

So where does it say that the school has the right to insist on part-time only for the younger children?

DS is in Yr5 and I still feel bitter that out of a class of 30 children in his class only 6 were able to stay in the afternoons (with two adults) for the first half term. Another year it could be 10 or 15, but they still stuck to the exact same dates.
If they really feel that a whole day is too much for most children, then they should ALL do half days, mornings or afternoons, thus meaning a smaller class and more adults until they get settled in. But can you imagine the bunfight as 99% of parents would want mornings.
Or maybe the smaller ones should get afternoons in a little group on their own?
We also had this daft arrangement where the older ones started first, with the others coming in a few more each day. So again, the older ones get the classroom to themselves for the first few days, but by the time the littlies join, the room is full of 30 children. Totally backwards.

BTW DS has suffered no lasting damage, it's just me that is still annoyed about it...but DS had done long days at nursery and attended a very "schooly" pre-school, whereas reception was much more of a shock to some less bold children.

Lol, prh, this is what we have been told by the school as part of the effort to get ds to go in full time.

Do you think we were being told fibs????

Wouldn't be the first time.

Luckily we didn't object anyway, so it doesn't matter to us.

Unless of course the coalition has changed the policies introduced by Ed Balls since we agreed ds' start time?

I'm afraid many schools (and, indeed, many teachers) don't actually understand the requirements of the Admissions Code. They may have been fibbing but it could equally be that they just don't know. The LA really ought to be explaining these requirements to them. I am expecting that we will see a string of cases over the next year or two where schools have refused to allow parents to defer entry.

The coalition hasn't changed the policies yet and I've heard nothing to indicate that there will be any substantial change. We'll have to see what the next Admissions Code says, but that is unlikely to appear until next year, by which time the admissions round for entry in September 2011 will be well under way.

All mine had to wait until January to go full time. It is just the way it is. I think insisting he stay all day won't get you anyway and will just annoy the staff.

It is obvious that it has to be a blanket policy as otherwise you will get mums pushing for their children to go full time before they are ready and competitiveness between some mums.

Why are people always in such a rush to get their kids into full time schooling?

In Sheffield summer born (actually Spring born too) don't start til January, joining the same class of children who start in september.

IME it is all pointless.

The so called vunerable younger children end up going into the bigger classes with all the preformed routines and preformed friendship groups, expected to still be able to keep the same rles and keep up with the others, despite being a term behind. IME at the school I work it takes all of juniors for most to catch up and they are not treated differenently once in Y1, so find it harder going.

It was one of the reasons we chose against state for our DD. She was ready and willing and ale to start FT in September. At her school she did and we have never looked back.

I really dislike the staggered starts and would really rather wish our LEA dispensed with it.

Hmm, still think it's usually a LA decision, and my own personal opinion is that if you insist on him staying, school staff and other parents are likely to decide that you're either rather pushy or desperate to farm him out, sorry.

Aaargh, sorry, that sounded a lot more critical than I'd intended!

In my kids' school the summer born children start first..the teachers decided that the younger ones benefit from being in a small group to get used to the routines etc..the next youngest ones start 2 days after that and the older ones 2 days later...once they are in they are in..none of this farting about with half days malarkey

My DD is summer born and i would have extremely pissed off if she had to only do mornings simply cos of when her birthday was...DS is 2 years older and she couldnt wait to be like her big bro

The OP knows her child and feels he is ready to be there full time..my DD (summerborn) is academically slower than my DS (winter born) BUT she was far more "ready" for school in other ways than he was

I think the OP would be perfectly entitled to kick up a fuss

I didn't read any other comments but I just want to reassure you...in my experience friendships are forming right through reception and into year 1.

It should not have a detrimental effect as kids this young don't really "attach" to one anoter in a special way just yet but remain open to incomers.

Is your DS a confident child? Or shy? Either way yu could invite a boy or girl over to play after school one day...ask the kids Mother or Father to come aswell...it's shared eperience outside school which fosters friendshps...so once party invites start coming and playdates...things will settle more...but it truly does take more than a year.

It is obvious from this thread that a lot of schools and LAs (Sheffield for one) are going to have to change their policies in order to comply with the Admissions Code, which makes it clear that these are choices for the parents from September 2011, not for the school or LA. I would like to say that I expect them all to sort it out. Sadly the number of admission cases I see where LAs are operating policies that show they don't understand the Admissions Code suggests that many won't and the Local Government Ombudsman will have a busy time sorting this out. Sigh...

It seems to me having read all of this that you'll never satisfy all the people all the time......

At our DD2's school, the children born in the first half of the school year started on 6th September and had a chance to learn the routines etc, and the children both in the second half of the year started on 16th September with each one being matched up with a buddy to show them the ropes.

Whether your child stays all day or not is for the parents to decide and schooling is completely flexible for the first year which I think is the best of both worlds.

It help the littlest ones (and my daughter is 4.2) settle in quicker knowing they have someone to ask what to do and they can stay some or all of the day depending upon their needs.