Children who are always late for school

[RoadArt]

OK, I am following on from the holiday in term time post and a valid point that someone has just raised about the message we are portraying to our kids that its ok to take time out of school and how this will affect their mind set when they are older and they will think its ok when they are working.

On this point, I am amazed at the number of parents who allow their children to be late to school, some every day, others maybe once/twice a week. It tends to be the same parents, the same excuses and the children get marked in the late register every day.

Isn't this just as bad? Its disruptive for the teacher/class when a child walks in late, and it teaches the child that its ok to be late, so as they get older, they never meet their friends on time, they get a job but dont arrive on time - because mum said was ok when they were little.

Timekeeping is really important, so why do parents think its ok for their children to be late to school on a regular basis?

There is no excuse for a child to be late for school. Everyone knows the starting time.

I am never late for school/work partly because I feel very flustered and anxious if I am late.

I do feel sorry for dcs who are consistently late for school.

ds is late quite often as I'm not Moses so can not move the traffic out of the way when it's moving slowly. We have tried leaving earlier and it makes no difference.

DD's friend at primary was always late and they lived next door to the school.

I don't think mine have ever been late, I agree with lollipop!

'There is no excuse for a child to be late for school. Everyone knows the starting time.'

Erm...there are plenty of unforseeable reasons why a child can be late for school even with the best intentions.

The other day they put roadworks on the road to school. Despite leaving in plenty of time we were late. Another day a bus hit a bridge. We were late. One day one of the DC's managed to find and hide my keys. We were late.

We leave the house in good time so we are there and sitting outside the school 15 minutes early each morning. If we left early every morning just in case I would spend hours of my life sitting in a cold car and be leaving the house at 7.30 am for no good reason

Yes there are unforeseeable reasons for being late but not on a daily basis (every day becomes predictable)

I think that to be late on a very occasional basis due to unforeseen circumstances is ok, but to be late on a regular basis is not.

And most of the people I see who are regularly late at ds's school are within walking distance, so no traffic problems. I think some people really don't think of the effect their lateness is having on others.

How can it make no difference when you leave? I mean, there have been occasions when there has been an accident and roads have been closed, but that doesn't happen 'quite often'.

I was rubbish at getting my DS to preschool on time, probably because I didn't take it especially seriously. But it was rude of me, and disruptive to them, and I got it sorted by the time he went to school.

We have a big problem at my secondary school with punctuality, and it drives me mad.

My mother has always had terrible time keeping and as a result i was often late for school. As an adult i hate being late so much i get close to having a panic attack. Needless to say dd is the first child in the playground every day - there is no good reason for constant lateness, its not fair on the teachers or the child.

I work in a junior school office and we could practically print the late book in advance.
The two worst offenders live two minutes walk away.

Oddly enough, those who are regularly late always seem to manage to be on time when the class is going on a school trip.....

In Western Australia being late wasn't frowned upon in the same way it is here. Nobody judged or bothered about it too much. They were especially understanding of larger families or mum's with newborns.

We've not had a late this year and I have set it as a personal goal as I am not a very good time keeper. Most of my friends had similar attitudes of will be there sometime around etc when meeting up. Often we'd just phone and say when we were expecting to leave. I liked that with getting the little ones ready or working around naps etc.

I see why time keeping is important but I do like the WA "no worries mate" attitude.

of course it makes a differnece when you leave. My kids live 18 miles from their school - the oldest has been there for 13 years now - he's been late 6 times over those 13 years - snow each time, otherwise we leave on time and he arrives on time - rocket science - no

So when children wander in half way through the morning having missed the my teaching input and not knowing what they have to do I should say no worries?

For us - if there are no traffic problems - I can leave at 8am or 8.30 am and still get to school pretty much at the same time (ok, the 8am slot might be 5 minutes earlier but it still takes twice as long).

The problem here is that the traffic is so unpredictable. It should take 15 minutes to get there so I leave about 30 minutes before hand to allow for small variations. Some days it takes 10 minutes, others it can take 1 hour and 10 minutes and there is no sensible reason for it.

Unless we leave the house at 7.30 every day (and risk getting to school nearly an hour early!) I cannot guarantee we will not be late.

Saying that I am only talking about 5 - 10 minutes late about once a fortnight usually.

I understand a lot less if you walk to school!

I'm quite often the last one to get to pre-school.
I'm looking forward to the summer when we don't have the daily rigmarole of coats/hats/wellies etc. I always think I've got more time than I have and then I'm always amazed when the clock seems to have suddenly jumped ahead a quarter of an hour without me noticing.

Dd1 starts school in september and they start earlier than pre-school. God help me then.

Also as this was on the back of taking your kids out of school thread. A day off to go out with the family once in a while was absolutely fine and a trip overseas to see the grandparents was welcomed. If family visited it was obvious that kids would miss school for days out. Long weekends every now and then ok. Often families would go camping etc.

Our best mates are coming over later in the year and we are lucky it's in the school holidays but if it wasn't I was planning on taking my kids out for a few days.

I do feel that sometimes people judge others for taking their children out of school. It's like it can be deemed as neglectful parenting but most of the time this isn't the case and parents are just trying to give there kids the best childhood memories and experience they can. Similar to those that make sure their kids don't miss school.

I think walking helps arriving on time, it takes the same time every day and no chance of delays. We could drive to school but it's so manic around the school re. parking I think it's far easier to walk.

It's obv. not an option for those that do not live near their school though

There are persistent offenders in our school too, but I don't know their circumstances. We live 10 mins walk away and have not been late yet (3rd year at school), however I am getting a bit fed up with the fact that when I am telling DD to get her shoes on or we will be late, she has started saying "It's OK to be late, so and so is late all the time and never gets into trouble". We are also getting "why can't we have holidays in term time, other children do".

mrz. I think you might have taken the point a bit too literally and me not being very clear. The children in our school in WA were just walking down to the oval to run around a few times for about 20 mins. Most of the time the kids would just run to catch up the others. I probably could have worded it all a bit better. They wouldn't have been marked late.

I have to say the most consistent late arrivals at our school are the ones who live closest to the school.

I won't say that ds has never been late but I WILL NOT let him grow up disorganised like me, he deserves better and so do his classmates.

I think I've missed the point, apologies. We were talking about the same old few always being late...... that I suppose would be still like "come on get it together". Sorry I'm having a bad day...... I need that cup of tea and a good nights sleep.

None of the other parents know this but the reason we are always late (we are closest tos chool) is twofold:

1. DS3 is collected by taxi from our home for his SNU and that is frequently late.

1. DS1 has ASD and starts the day off badly if in the pre-bell crowd: we reached an agreement with the former Head that we arrive a few moments after.

I know that's not most people's lives but heck, you never know!. Be aware when you judge, is all.

We are frequently late for DS's preschool, which doesn't bother me cos they don't do much anyway. I'd like to say it will improve when he's at school but I can't be sure.

It is a 10 minute drive. We allow 15-20 mins if we can. Reasons for being late have included:

1. cows
2. sheep
3. black ice
4. only road from home to main road closed with no notice

Then there is the usual rigmarole. DS deciding he needs the toilet once he's in the car. DD doing a dirty nappy once we're in the car. Etc.

It is not the end of the world. I don't like DS being late but these things happen. If the school ever took it out on him, knowing he relies on me to get him there, I would be furious.

Peachy. Very good point.

Just to make you giggle. When we were in Australia I met a mum who I got to know a little before I realise we were not on the same wave length! I thought she was being late because they had changed the school start time / siren times. She'd been away from school because her mum had died so it occurred to me she might not have realised. I saw her one morning as I was leaving and she was coming in and asked if she knew the new start time. She replied that she did know but Grandpa in my Pocket was her son's favourite programme and she quite liked it to. [head in hands moment]

:)