Children at 2 different primary schools

[EldonAve]

Apart from the logistics of drop off / collection what else do I need to consider?
How much of a pain is this going to be?

holidays/inset days
parents evening
sports day
clubs
no reusing the uniform
different reading schemes

We have children at two diff schools. It's ok. Logistics on drop off/pick up are a pain but I find I have a lot of insight into both schools due to having a comparator. I've also made twice the friends.

It's ok for us, not great but ok.

One downside is the kids are v competitive with each other about their schools.

Finding a note on the table about a non uniform day, but nothing on it to say which school. Neither child owns up to putting the letter there, so you need to ask around to find out which child/which school is not wearing uniform that day or risk picking the wrong one, embarrassing for both!

Mine were in different primaries for 6 years, will likely always be in different schools. You just muddle through. It gives you the perfect "out" for awkward PTA invites, nobody can argue with a prior school commitment from a different school.
I did school runs on the bike for infants, then DS walked on his own from Y3 (one road to cross with a lollipop lady) while I walked DD.
Now they take themselves I sort of miss it!

would love to hear some positive stories.

this is probably going to be me next year.

worked out 2 in breckfast club- as daddy can drop the both off is 20 quid week .

childminder for dd1 pickup be £25 a week as both have pickups at 3.30 ad about 10-15 min walk apart.

Eldest school does do some clubs but sometimes they dont run 1st week term, last , bad weather and the clubs and days change every term, they bringing in afterschool club sept by looks of it 9 quid for 3.30-6pm which dont need and more expensive than childminder but with breckfast club and childminder its £180 per month!

That want include extra curricular activities and dd3s preschool so technically doing 3schools.

dd1 be year 4
dd2 r and will be 5
dd3 is 3 and starts next sept -god knows where.

we live distance from both schools

the schools are different lea so guess different inset days, holidays know higher schools dinners cost but least free school dinners from sept for infants.

Text messages announcing an inset day, to which you have to reply, 'Which school sent this?!'

I will have two at two different High Schools in September. I need to consider this too.

The handing down uniform one is a real bummer.

Your children's class assemblies will always fall on the same day despite one child only having 1 assembly a year. (happened to us twice in 2 consecutive years!)

Trying to keep straight the schools unwritten processes/expectation e.g. what do you do if you have a question to ask the teacher?

I found pickup/collect tedious but ok once we had routine in place - in my case I was able to share with other parents, so that is definitely worth exploring.

Other than parents' evenings I don't think there were that many "extra" events etc - you tend to find with children in different year groups that they are in different school plays/have discoes at different times/different sports days anyway. My DC are now in the same school and I expected to "lose" a lot more things that I actually have done!

The worst thing was school meals - for some odd reason, the schools were served by the same external provider and had similar BUT NOT QUITE THE SAME menus for slightly different prices. I was always getting them mixed up!

Sparkling, high school uniform is rarely worth passing down anyway, it gets well worn!

You get two schools' worth of parents to find friends from, and the DCs will be better able to find their own personality and style without being compared with a sibling.

The DCs have a wider social circle than others, which makes them more interesting people to be around.

am I likly end up gibbering tired wreck not knowing if im coming or going?

sending wrong child in non uniform

turning up on inset day-(done that one before!)

Met someone at toddlers whos sister does 3 primaries said how does she manage she says she doesnt 2 kids out 3 are always late which bad enough for drop f but imagine schools get annoyed at pickup.

one lady out school always late for her 2sons as daughter was in school down rd same finish time but they were always quite nice about it and used to it but knowing dd1 never gets out on time its a risk would be very late.

We have a family calendar, and letters for upcoming events/term dates are on the wall by the front door.
You become very organised, but may well end up muttering to yourself on the school run as you try to keep logistics straight in your head:

"DS to school A, DD to school B, back to school A for assembly, DS, make sure you save a seat for me, DD, don't forget Daddy's picking you up from school today after chess club, DS, have you got your PE kit? Must ask DP about how we're going to work Thursday. DS, are you playing at your friend's house on Thursday, that'd help..."

After a while even the DCs stop commenting on the muttering.

Spare v true-good point. DS1 is in Year 10 and on blazer No4.

Thanks for all your thoughts

But all parents whose children attend separate infant and junior schools have these 'problems' without giving it any thought! It will be fine. The only bummer is when the schools have the same start/end times and are a car journey apart. And regards handing down uniform, at primary the only difference round here are sweatshirts.
At secondary, huge swathes of siblings go to different schools. Single sex, grammar, not suitable etc.

For us it the main issue was school run juggling. One school far more realistic around pick-up time flexibility than the other which meant it was the younger child who had to wait, despite the fact that the route would have worked better the other way around. After school clubs once they are old enough and not getting too tired out can be a god-send!

In our case it was private preps so our "own fault" so to speak ... Have ended up with one boarding at choirschool but still sometimes get the "both kids need picking up at 12 pm end of term" problem when my husband commutes in the opposite direction. Last term solved by eldest going home with a friend for a few hours.

my 2's schools have different rules on things and sometimes remembering who has non-uniform day, sports day, day off etc is a pain but otherwise it's fine once you've worked the school runs out.

Mum has 5 children across 4 schools at the moment and says you get used to it, her advice to me about having children at different schools was to buy a big calendar and a different coloured pen for each child so you can see which school at a glance.

I had one at infants, one at completely separate junior and one at senior school, it's fine. I had a really big calendar and lived by that, you just have to be organised.