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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

school escort? need someone to drive ds to his school 2 miles away

88 replies

Hotpotatofood · 20/04/2013 22:00

my DS has got a place in a school 2 miles away. we are both working and cannot take him. if we choose cm in the area of the school - we would have to drop him off at 7.20 am in order for me to manage to go to work, which would mean leaving house 7.00 am -I think it s too early and too tiring for ds. my mum helps me with childcare so she can stay at home with my DS in the morning and I just need to arrange for someone to take him in a car? say, leave house at 8.15 to get to school by 8.45 am. is there such thing like escort to school - someone driving him to school? or are there any other ideas how I can get him to school? public transport - 2 buses, so probably too tiring for 4 year old...please help me with ideas

OP posts:

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christinarossetti · 21/04/2013 22:15

Well, you could try but most child minders look after a number of children and if they do school drop offs, it will be to local schools.

It's more a nanny or au pair that would do a special trip for your ds - how much are you budgeting?

difficultpickle · 21/04/2013 22:48

Surely it would be cheaper for you mum to take him by taxi than paying for a CM to take him?

clam · 21/04/2013 23:03

You cannot expect to drop a child off into the hands of the teacher at 8.15 in the morning! They are doing a million and one other things at that time preparing for the day and cannot childmind for you.

seeker · 21/04/2013 23:08

I know this is a daft thing to say- but what on earth did you think you were going to do when you applied??

snice · 21/04/2013 23:13

I agree with clam-no-one is going to be available to take yr child at 8.15 unless there is a paid breakfast club at the school. At our school the doors from the playground don't open till 8.50

5318008 · 21/04/2013 23:17

lot of CM don't pick up from the child's home as there can be insurance issues around providing a taxi-type service (I forget the terminology)

seeker · 21/04/2013 23:27

Is it worth asking our local schools if they have a place?

Original poster

Hotpotatofood · 22/04/2013 06:38

yes, I have a younger son - he will be 16 months in September. if my mum took younger one in the taxi - then there is a question on child seats...? too complicated probably? will taxi have child seats? the main reason for the school is that it is catholic and if we want the secondary catholic - this is important aspect that child needs to attend catholic school. i know it is a big sacrifice but in present time in london when there is such a big competition maybe I need to sacrifice? on the other hand, there is a local school nearby CoE, so if I really stuck - I can put myself on a waiting list

OP posts:

scaevola · 22/04/2013 06:45

Read the OP: it's leave house at 8:15, arrive school at 8:45.

Would your DM be able to accompany him in a minicab?

BeckAndCall · 22/04/2013 06:47

And I assume you've looked at adjusting your working hours? Maybe you can change to starting an hour later and yourDH can finish earlier or the other way around?

seeker · 22/04/2013 07:22

Are you sure about the admissions criteria for the Catholic secondary? I would check those before I made any decisions. my understanding is that catholic primary is not usually a requirement.

clam · 22/04/2013 07:33

scaveola The OP said at 21:18 last night: "Ideally, would prefer to find one person who could do driving and giving ds to the hands of teacher. Say, leave house 8.00 to be at school at 8.15 am."

difficultpickle · 22/04/2013 07:54

At ds's old school they run a breakfast club (albeit no breakfast provided) from 7.30am. That was the deciding factor on why he went to that school (his CM changed her mind about doing the school run so I had to find a different school).

If parents dropped off children before 8.30 they were automatically charged for breakfast club.

SilverBellsandCockleShells · 22/04/2013 08:23

My children get bussed two miles to school every day for an annual fee equivalent to about a pound a day each. It's worth checking with the council whether they can provide anything but the service is only available to my children as they are piggy-backing on other children who are entitled to free transport.

scaevola · 22/04/2013 08:54

Yes, clam but I took "ideally" to mean exactly that, an ideal, but that the pragmatic limitation was that in OP.

In London, where the secondaries can be extremely variable, if this primary has a close feeder link to one you'd be happy with, then it might be worth putting up with this logistic nightmare.

JollyPurpleGiant · 22/04/2013 08:58

Why can your mum not walk with him to school? 2miles is really not very far.

noblegiraffe · 22/04/2013 09:04

Are you thinking it's too tiring because you would need to leave the house at 7 or because he'd have an hour with a childminder before school?

If it's just getting up early, then an earlier bedtime might help?

tiggytape · 22/04/2013 09:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sashh · 22/04/2013 09:10

Have you thought about asking at church?

Sometimes there are funds for this sort of thing and even if there aren't then they may be another parent living locally.

Katnisscupcake · 22/04/2013 09:33

My DSis uses a taxi for two of her DCs and a couple of the other pupils in their village. They all split the cost between them.

The taxi driver also sees the youngest (reception class) into school and on pick-up, waits at the school gate for all of the children to come out.

It works brilliantly and it's the same taxi-driver every day so they all know her.

Theas18 · 22/04/2013 10:52

Lots of 4yr olds of working parents do long days in wraparound care with grandparents/childminders/clubs etc

Scooping out of bed in PJs at 7.15 to go to grannies to get up/breakfast sounds fine to me. Ditto after school care.

Mine were in nursery 8-5.30 4 days a week though by the year before school. DD1 especially was very cross the school day was so short!

seeker · 22/04/2013 11:20

"Why can your mum not walk with him to school? 2miles is really not very far."

8 miles for mum though! An 4 miles a day before any other exercise is quite a bit for a 4 year old just starting school, surely?

AnythingNotEverything · 22/04/2013 11:33

Our LEA has funding for school transport for kids who attend faith schools but who live too far to walk. Faith schools often have large catchment areas.

However, our LEA is consulting about ending this transport subsidy from September.

There will be other families at church whose dcs start the same time as you who you could speak to.

School may offer a breakfast club which will would help.

Also, plenty of parents rejig their working hours, esp start times, to accommodate the school run.

Best of luck.

adeucalione · 22/04/2013 12:49

I think you need to find a childminder in the vicinity of the school, and drop your DS there at 7.20am - he will get used to the early time, and the childminder will be used to little children arriving in a sleepy state. I am sure she will be happy for him to spend his morning at her house doing pretty much what he would do if he was at home - playing, watching tv, having breakfast.

IMO this is the best solution because then she will be able to collect him if he feels ill during the day, injures himself or the school closes due to snow or a boiler breakdown.

The next best option is booking a taxi to take your mum and DS to school every morning, and providing a car seat for baby.

freetrait · 22/04/2013 14:58

I would probably book a taxi to start with with your Mum and baby, and then gradually you will meet Mums in the area who will probably be very happy to take him. There must be othe Mums living near you going into school.

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