DD starting reception - whats with this settling in melarky?

[itsnicetobenice]

When my other lovely started school 6 yrs ago we dropped her off and that was it - day one in she went the end. I just got details in post for my reception starter in September and we are having some horific settling in period thats goes on from 7th Sept until proper full day starting 26th september - i have to say i am not amused at all that we have gone from school nursery 12.30 - 3.30 to even shorter sessions from sept for 2 and a half weeks 1.10 - 3.30pm. How the hell am i supposed to go to work arghhhh!!!!!!!! Is this the norm now or are our school reception teachers just fancying an easy run in for themselves in september. I have used all my hols to cover the 6 weeks holidays between myself and my dh so i think i am ermmmmm screwed.

Mothers/parents who work for a large firm with salaried employees are lucky to be able to take paid leave for settling in periods.

But the rest of us - and sadly that includes a lot of mums who can only get part-time, you-only-get-paid-when-you-work jobs - taking the time off means no income altogether. For a family which is single income, includes a disabled member or large number of dependants, taking those weeks off can sometimes mean the difference between paying bills comfortably or a miserable Christmas, leading to a lot of stress during those weeks, which are not conducive to a child settling in. And for a SAHM who only has the DP/DH's income, unless he's filthy rich, the increased petrol costs and inability to get on with other duties can lead to a lot of stress too.

In this respect at least our council gets one thing right - which is to let parents choose whether it's mornings only or full time from the start (but that's only once you've managed to get a school place at all - that's another story!)

Oh god, I remember this . DS1 had been full time at nursery, but only the autumn borns were allowed to stay all day - DS asked me why he couldn't stay on 'to help the teacher'
Not sure what the rules are now, but as i had younger DS I was entitled by law to take up to 4 weeks off unpaid per year as parental leave, so I arranged with my boss I would use two of them up as half-days - ie 4 weeks of half days, and luckily was able to get my parents to take it up from there. Complete nightmare because normal childcare arrangements not easy to make. It does get easier....

I had this when my dd started reception last sept, I managed by taking a couple of wks annual leave and finding a childminder who could take and pick up. My back up plan was to use the school breakfast club, the preschool that was based at the school and the afterschool club, so in theory she would have gone

8.20am b.fast club
9am - 12.00 school
12.00-15.00 pre school
15.00-17.15 after school club

In the end decided it would be too complicated and confusing for dd and cm worked well!!!

It only last 6 long wks but that was long enough and imo it was totally pointless.