Is it OK for DS school to finish at 1:15pm on last day of term & require me to pick him up?!

[ChemiseBleu]

I am so pissed off with DS's school. I thought that this year they would stop their nonsense of finishing just after lunch on the last day of each term and registering them in for the afternoon but requiring you to pick them up early.

In previous years they did this on the last day of every term and I assumed that the new "tightening" up of rules re taking DC out of school would mean they wouldn't dare do it this year...

They mention earlier in the year on the calendar a picnic at 12 noon that parents are welcome too and then start gradually drip feeding into the newsletters that you are welcome to take them home after the picnic and then BOOM today - dates for July:

Wednesday 23rd Picnic 12 noon BREAK UP 1:15pm

This means extra time off work for me.

--This from the school who wrote to me before the end of the first half term with a calculation of DS's attendance after he had had 3 days off with a bug (M-W) and then been sent home at lunch time on a F after being sick in his lunch. Considering the attendance was matched against 2 half weeks and about 4 full weeks then yes it did come out at

Wow really. If only the real world worked like this. I would work a little bit extra each day to get to leave early once in a while.

flexi-time

All of the schools round here finish an hour earlier atl the end of each term.
There are no after school clubs either on those days.

Many workplaces do allow that sort of thing Betty, my last 5 jobs have all had that level of flexibility. I appreciate there are some where it is not possible, I have never worked in a public facing role, but for many of us it is possible.

Yes, flexitime. As a parent during most of my teaching career I am perfectly aware of the impact of early finishing times. I am not commenting on whether I agree with it or not either as a parent or teacher simply stating the facts re the legality.
I was lucky in that my husband had flexitime built into his job and was able to be at home for the early finishing. On the occasions he wasn't able to I relied on friends and then returned the favour during school holidays.
Even when I worked at the same school as my children this was the case as they did not just stay at school with me. Lots of teachers are parents, we have to organize care for our children as well. Teachers are not allowed to take any time off for child are during term time. There is no flexibility at all. That is not a complaint by the way! Just stating another fact before anyone points out our holidays.

We don't have that flexibility at work... , and also have to book annual leave 6 months in advance.

We also have not yet been told whether school will close early or not - sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't - it is the not knowing that is the absolute pain in the butt.

Can't plan to go away early and beat the rush, can't plan to stay at work and not use that half a day's leave that could be put to better use elsewhere.

When it does finish early they HAVE to book in for registration, can't take them an hour earlier at the START of lunchtime - they won't even consider booking the kids in on the register early.

School may not be childcare, but working parents need some sort of regularity and advance planning in order to be able to actually - you know - work.

Okay I didn't think of flexi-time. Not an option at all in my job. So it didn't even occur to me. Apologies. But seriously does flexi-time let you accrue in 5 minute intervals? I frequently work extra 45-60 minutes a day and can't get time off in lieu let alone overtime for it. (NHS - they're bleeding me dry!). :(

None of the schools here do it.

Our school is on strike again next thursday, some classes but you don't get to find out until the day before, you can't plan for this sort of thing. We need notice please

justashopgirl, what do u do when your children are sick, surely you have even less notice. When you work and have children surely you have emergency back up for cases of illness, I really dont see how this is any different.

I find attitudes towards schools very depressing on here.
Rest assured that no one is being short changed of their entitlement to education, due to schools finishing at lunchtime. Clearly different areas do things slightly differently and some areas end at lunchtime and others don't. It is always possible to ASK at any point, even now, about what will be happening if you are unsure. Or if it is not clear in advance, ASK in September about what will be happening for each term of that academic year.

It isn't done to inconvenience parents. Too many people on here seem to see schools as the enemy, who are out to get them at every turn. However, schools really are not required to fit around parents, as lots of people have said. The school day, with finish at 3.15 etc clearly doesn't suit most working parents, but it is the right length of day for children to be able to work effectively in school. Parents manage their childcare all year (increasingly aided by schools which provide care for children from 8 to 6......unheard of a few years ago) so this is just one slot to sort out, and there is no need for anyone to have it sprung upon them. The information will always be given if you ASK.

If you feel that you ask in advance and the information is not forthcoming, write to the Governors, asking what their policy is on how much notice is given of term dates and ending times.

However, most of the griping on here, does not seem to be about the information being withheld deliberately until the last minute, but just the idea that schools might end at lunchtime. If the info was published early, or you could have accessed it by asking, I really don't think there is a case to answer for schools.

I expect all of the gripers will be there at lunchtime on the last day, to thank the schools for their work with the children in The classroom, for the extra hours they have put into extra-curricular activities, run OUTSIDE the school day and on residential trips which take them away from their own families and have them on call 24 hours a day for the length of the trip.
Or will they have totted up the hours spent over and above by staff and found they were less in total than the 2 hours of the final afternoon.
Hmmm....

Our last day of term ends at 10am. They start at 7.45am so hardly even worth them going in that day. So they don't .

I'm interested as to whether there are childminders who will actually do something like 3 half-day sessions a year?

I'm a working parent, and fortunately have great childcare arrangements with a local nursery that will take kids till they turn 11 for holidays, half-terms and even for inset/strike/polling days.

During the week, DD goes to the school's breakfast club and after-school club.

However the nursery is not near the school and their staff can't do pick-ups. We have no family in London and our friends all work and none have children at the same school or even in the same borough.

As DD is dropped off at the BC and picked up from the ASC we don't get the chance to meet other parents in the playground, so there is no chance of asking another parent to have DD for a playdate.

So I'm left with the choice of taking DD out of school for the whole day and sending her to the nursery or having to take 3 precious days of holiday for the 1/2 day every term.

What is annoying is the amount of meetings that are arranged in school hours - parents evenings, class transition meetings, help your child read meetings, come in and make a castle with your child afternoons, summer fete, winter fair etc etc.

My DD goes to a school with over 70% of kids on FSM and a very high proportion of non-working parents who can attend all the assemblies, making things together afternoons, meetings and other things that are arranged. DD gets very upset that I can never go to them or be the parent helper on the trips.

I could easily use up my entire holiday allowance going to all the school things. I'd actually rather take a half-day for the in-school activities than to pick her up early at the end of term.

But, where does one find a child-minder who is prepared to do a couple of sessions a year?

my2bundles - if I have to take time off because my kids are sick, then I have to take unpaid leave (I work because we need the money).

If I tot up more than 5 days unpaid leave in a rolling year (for any reason) then I get called in to see the boss to "discuss any problems I may be having keeping up my work commitments" - so I book annual paid leave for any known about (or possible) child care commitments.

In the world of retail, there is often a lot less flexibility than you think.

Our school regularly ends at 1:30pm the end of terms. It seems to be standard. I doubt the kids miss out on much learning; I do appreciate that it is difficult for working parents.

On threads refargding working vs non-working mums, you often see comments that imply school is child are, therefore women are freed up, and therefore lazy not to work. Now on a thread regarding schools, mums are chided for regarding schools as child care.

I feel sorry for mums. I feel sympathy for schools too. We could certainly be better organised as a society.

If it has happened every term and they have been dripfeeding it into newsletters it was a bit silly to assume it would suddenly stop this term.

Just to clarify this. Last summer I wondered to myself if this would stop as I didn't think half days were compatible with the increased focus on absence (I know these issues are not directly linked).

In the Autumn Term the school calendar came out with the last day of term clearly marked - as a full day - pick up at 3:20pm. Then the same for the Spring Term. I therefore assumed that this practice had ceased only to have the end of Summer Term half day "surplrise me"....

And yes I know I could have checked with the office but I didn't.

And yes I am lucky that my job is flexible. This is a headache for other school parents with less flexible jobs - hence I am taking DS's friend home for a play date.

My DH would have to book a half day's holiday and he has allocated his days now for the year.

The key point for me is that the registering them in for the afternoon session and then this session being 15 minutes long seems absolutely to be a fiddling of the system and a reduction in the amount of education mandated by statute.

My flexi times have been monitored by clocking in and out, so it's the total minutes worked in the month (with some limitations, you have to be there between 10-12 and 2-4 and average >7.5 hours per day over the month). In other jobs it wasn't recorded as such but there was no problem with getting off a bit early on occasion provided you worked a bit over at other times, just done on goodwill.

I do agree that school isn't childcare but trying to get childcare around school and have all adults in a family working can be a nightmare.

Well if the times were clearly published as the end of the school day in official correspondence and then changed, I would put a complaint in writing, stating that you rely on accurate information being provided in advance, as holiday needs to be booked to accommodate half days, well in advance. Ask for reassurance that in future the times published at the end of the year will be adhered to. Send a copy of the letter to the Governors too in the letter to the Head, state that you are doing this. But make sure first that you are right and the end of term was previously published as the end of the school day.

I don't think there is an issue with finishing at mid day, as long as it is clear it is happening. I do have an issue with last minute changes. Any school is going to struggle to justify this.

Regarding losing out on 'educational' time, as has been said upthread, schools have to offer X amount of hours and minutes. They will have done this. Children are not being 'cheated' of 2 hours education.

Have just re-read your post and realise I misunderstood. The school did NOT publish the end of the SUMMER term as being at the end of the day. They have not made an error.

Your first idea, that because schools are cracking down on absence means that half days would not happen is wrong. Children are still offered exactly the same number of hours per year. Having a half day does not reduce the amount of overall time, as perhaps their lunch break is 5 minutes shorter, or whatever....schools have a little bit of flexibility.

Your second idea, that because other terms finished earlier, the final one would too, was also wrong. If schools are going to finish early at any point, it is likely to be the end of the year. As a working parent, you never assume anything, but always check. If the info does not come out until the start of term, it is always possible to ring before this. I guess you will do this in future.

So really, I think you are irritated, because you know you made wrong assumptions. Rather than just say, you should have checked, you are looking for someone else to blame and are putting it on the school. As far as I can see the school have done nothing wrong.

If you want to, ask now for the term dates and closing times of next year,mor do it in September.....plenty of time to plan then.

PS This info is often on the school website too.

I also think the attitude to schools and "fitting in with working parents" is quite poor sometimes on here. FWIW, all the schools in my area finish early at the end of every term - at 1.30pm rather than 3pm. So we're talking about a school finishing less than 2 hours earlier than usual 3 times a year.

I accept that if its done at short notice then it can be tricky, but surely most working parents have some leave "spare" for childcare issues - sick child / emergencies or whatever. Surely the priority, if you work, is that you have childcare covered. I also think that if you need a network of other mums at school but can't be in the playground all the time, you do other things - join the PTA, have playdates at the weekend, organise a Mums night out.

I now work 4 days, my H works full time. No family close by usually. For the last 3 years, we have had 1 week as a family at May half term, and a couple of days at Christmas. The rest of our leave is used (separately) for childcare - to cover all those appointments at school / plays / parents evenings etc. That's part & parcel of being a working parent.

As a matter of interest, Wombat, what's the source reference for the number of hours' education a school has to offer? I can only find the number of sessions specified (in the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999) and the legislation database is a pain to search.

chocolate
I do have an issue with the school bit giving information. And tbh schools are very good at that. Between the assembly that you are asked to attend to whatever sport day, the system is expecting one parent to be able to drop off everything at short notice.

The way they particular school has fine things also shows that they are clearly trying to fiddle the system. Why, otherwise, asking parents to come and pick the child up just after register??

Ned schools aren't there to for around parents but a school that decide to change the time to come and pick up a child, each end if the term or whatever, IS messing around any system a parent has set to fit around the school. The parents haven't chosen to send a child to school. They gave to. Actually if they were saying, 'well I'll pick my dcs at 12.00 as that's the time they will actually finish I don't count lunch time and taking the register as working and being at school' they could actually be fined!!
So it's ok for the school to send children away for no reason at all that convenience but it's not ok for the patents to take the child off school that same afternoon fit convenience.does it really sound right??

Also real curious to know what us the reason for the school to close early. As I said, all the schools in my area seem to cope with finishing at the same than usual.

mandy I am self employed. If I don't work I don't earn money. 3 hours at school mean 4 hours at work for me so around £200 ....
I love it when people assume that you just have done 'spare time' allocated...,

Just in case it needs repeating
Not everyone has some spare time to pick up a child early
Not everyone has a parent at hand to do emergency pick ups
Actually teachers for example would be the first to be hit by that sort of attitude.... No way they could just leave fir the afternoon like this.

Pyrrah Of course, childminders do cover for the early pickups. However, we provide this service for the children already in our care.
Not at all sure I'd want to offer it for just a day and a half a year