should school have thought this through?

[martini84]

Have 2 dc in primary. School has both infant and junior classes. ks1 on a trip next Friday. This means they need to be dropped off and picked up at a different time to rest of school Fine so far. 4 trips to school but manageable. Today we get a letter about leavers disco. You guessed it it's on the same day as ks1 trip. So that makes 6 trips to and from school.
Do you think that's poor planning or par for the course.

Do you really need to come home between each of them? Can you not wait around for a while? Take a book or pop to a park?

In my experience of schools par for the course sadly

Can you share lifts with dcs classmates?

Par for the course I would say! They will only have certain days left of term and only certain days probably when they could get disco DJ/ get staff to stay late etc etc.

Annoying though, I'm with you on that one! But all week all I do is taxi from here to there and back again!!

For my school, the Leaver's disco is arranged by the PTFA rather than by the school so clashes do sometimes occur.
If siblings of children going on a trip also need to be dropped off early, they are also welcome to wait in the classroom until normal time, so the too-ing and fro-ing isn't needed. Perhaps your school has a similar arrangement.

Inconvenient for a few but it probably doesn't affect most parents, only those with a child in Y6 and in the infants

Par of the course andreally not a big thing to deal with.

Its no more trips overall is it? You would have to do the extra trip another day if the disco was another day. Better to have to have one busy day and be done!

If you tried to take in to account every single individual parents circumstances when organising school events, then you would go absolutely batshit crazy! There's just no way it's going to suit every parent.

Yes, bastard teachers, arranging fun things for both your children and giving up their evening without a single thought for you and your needs! Where do they get off?

Freenie

There's only a couple weeks of term left. It seems very, very late to be only getting the notification for the Leavers' Disco now. So whoever is the organiser, that part has been done badly.

For if you had known since the start of term that everything was on one day, you could have planned child sharing. Or at least not had the WTF moment.

Is it organised by PTA or staff? It might be worth asking if things can be better spread out in future years. There can be dreadful pile ups of events at the end of a year. There does need someone to be looking at the overall calendar properly. It is very important when staff/parents are volunteering their evenings that events are run really well, and that includes good scheduling.

I can only go by DS2's school, but no event, whoever organises it, is decided on without consulting the diary. It can be surprisingly hard to schedule everything at convenient intervals, and sometimes you just have to squeeze events in where they can be held. Or not have them at all.

Exactly Feenie. The other week, there was something Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. Mixture of sports events, numeracy evening and school discos. So many of the staff at all the events. Where is their life?

For if you had known since the start of term that everything was on one day, you could have planned child sharing. Or at least not had the WTF moment.

Or you could just get the fuck over yourself and accept that when you have more than one child that things might clash occasionally.

The last term is chaos. So many events.

Freenie is right, bloody teachers organising events sonthe children have fun.
You could not send your children on the trip/disco ? Or do lift share?

It's not just about (the inevitable) clashes though, is it? It's about consideration for the need for families to make arrangements, especially at the busy times of year.

Of course some schools are very authoritatarian generally, and don't think of the effects of poor communication on families. Ours was like that for a while, but changed so much for the better when the HT left.

Was the date of this disco really only decided on when there was only a couple of weeks of term left? I doubt it. Does it help families to have advance notice of events so they can make plans or deconflict clashes? Or should they "just get over themselves" for knowing and saying that decent notice periods make a hell of a difference?

I guess it was the short notice that got to me. We live on the fringe of the catchment area and dh will be away that week with the car. Also have 2 younger dc to ferry too and fro. Not the school's problem I know
we knew about the school trip for ages although didn't know abut the incredibly early start. Tbh if I had known both were on the same day I would have thought twice about school trip. £25 to go somewhere where we have already been as a family. Although I guess that would be unfair on dd.

£25 - jeez, that's steep.

We have a cap of £10 on trips - and £100 on the Y6 residential, which we subsidise heavily.

We have had a really expensive term. 3 school trips between 2 dc costing between £18 and £25. Plus one day where an outside organisation came in. Another £8 or so.
I think because school has a catchment area where most children are not on fsm they do not benefit from pupil premium so much so pass on all charges to parents. Nothing seems to be subsidised. At least leavers disco is cheap. No expensive prom with limos here!

Nor here at my school

Ds's school has a 3 day residential in Y4 and Y6 - £250 - same kind of area as yours. Ds is in Y3 next year - I need to get saving!

Seriously, they need telling - both our schools. I am not a bottomless pit.