From what age can you leave child alone in the playground before school?

[meadowquark]

DS1 is in Y2, I am thinking ahead for Junior years. If I could leave him at the school playground 8.35 and run to work, that would save me a lot of faff of driving him to a breakfast club (in a different setting). The school starts at 8:55. Supervising teacher is from 8:45. The area is relatively safe, London zone 4 if that makes any difference. I am confident that my DS1 will survive and even learn some valuable independency skills.. on the other hand everyone on MN seems to be overprotective and I am not sure if it is legally allowed.

[CrockedPot]

Never asked if it was 'allowed' but started leaving mine once they were in key stage 2.

[Pantone363]

DD yr5 takes DS yr3 and DD (reception)

I drop 50 meters from the school gate and watch them walk down and through the gate. DS stands in his line, DD walks small DD to reception, puts her in class then goes to her own class.

I doubt this will be approved of here though!

[Pelicangiraffe]

being dropped of by an aunt, gran, cousin or friend is all the same. Doesn't matter as long as there's a responsible adult.

[Pelicangiraffe]

Bath - that would be totally normal in my circle of friends. Can't see the problem.

[BathshebaDarkstone]

I have no idea, a friend asked me to look after her DS in the playground once when she had to rush off to work, but I don't know what the school rules are. DD's in year 2.

[Awakeagain]

I don't think we have a rule
Teachers on playgrounds from 8.40 and always plenty of children there with & without parents, there are 3 different points for dropping off at my school so I guess the older dc are left even if parents are still on site there's nearly 500 children so not easy to track parent down

[OpiesOldLady]

At my children's school the yard opens with teachers from 8.30pm and we have to leave the children at the gate to the playground as they have a no public in the playground policy - so from reception age upwards. Breakfast club is from 8- 8.30 and then all the BC kids go into the yard too.

[turdfairynomore]

Our doors open at 8.45 but have parents drop kids off in grounds before 8am-even though they're asked not to as kids aren't supervised. One of the Y6 children fell over and broke her wrist a few weeks ago and she had to wait -alone, in tears outside until she could attract the attention of the school caretaker! He was the only person in/around the building and was wearing headphones so didn't hear the bell!!! Turns out that her dad had an early meeting and she'd been there since 7.20am!!

[mummytime]

At my DCs school they could be left after 8:30 for a 8:40 start, before that they had to go to Breakfast club. But it was pretty informal and lots of children went to school by themselves from year 3.
You could put a message in the newsletter (or whatever) seeing if someone is willing to take him into school, this shouldn't cost much.

Doesn't he have any playdates? I'd be more worried about that personally.

[AsBrightAsAJewel]

"maybe ask his teacher if he can help set up the classroom for 10 minutes in the mornings ?" I missed that statement clam

I'm not sure parents realise many teachers have meetings before school; we have two whole school staff briefing meetings a week. I also meet with staff from other agencies and sometimes parents. I may need to pop to the office to photocopy something, make a quick phonecall, follow up something with a colleague, the head or a member of the office staff, take the opportunity to go to the toilet before the onslaught of the day which means I'll be luck to get to one again before hometime ... None of which can really be done whilst child-minding. There is no way we can leave them un-supervised in the classroom. So it isn't just getting books and pencils off the classroom shelf, find the register and make the classroom look tidy.

[clam]

"maybe ask his teacher if he can help set up the classroom for 10 minutes in the mornings ?"

You're suggesting that the teacher effectively minds the child for free? Along with a torrent of other kids, once word gets out? I don't think so.

[MillyMollyMama]

Get DC to walk, then they will get there at a supervised time. Loads of others will be walking so drop yours off with them! Problem solved.

[Saracen]

OP, there is no specific law preventing you from dropping your child off without supervision. However, school might refuse to allow him onto school premises early if they are concerned about being held liable for accidents.

You could drop him off outside the gate, however, when you decide he is old enough that that is safe.

It might be worth going past the school at your intended dropoff time to check out the situation: if there are lots of kids, or lots of kids+parents there already, then it may feel safer.

[Saracen]

"Only year 5 and 6 are allowed to and from school unaccompanied (once parents have signed a permission form)."

It isn't up to the school. They are only in loco parentis during school hours, or additional times if they agree to it. Before and after school, it is not for them to dictate what arrangements parents make. If parents feel it is safe to send children to and from school unaccompanied from a younger age, the school cannot stop them.

I can certainly understand the need for permission to be given in writing so it is clear whose responsibility it is.

[Essexmum69]

We are not allowed in the playground until ten minutes before the doors open. Only year 5 and 6 are allowed to and from school unaccompanied (once parents have signed a permission form).

[zingally]

I work in an infant school, and parents stay with their children until doors to the classrooms open at 8:50. There are no staff on the playground before that (although I've worked in other schools where staff are on the playground from about 8:40).

When I've worked in primary schools however, it's common practice to see the KS2 children (year 3 and up) being dropped at the gates and left. However, these schools are all in pretty quiet, residential estates, or set in their own grounds, some distance from the street. I'm sure parents would be less keen to drop and run in an inner city setting, or even in a large town centre location. And even more so for schools that serve a more deprived community.

But thinking back to my own primary school days (20+ years ago), from year 3 onwards, my mum would drop me at the supermarket car park, which was a few minutes walk from the school gates and not by any roads. At the end of the day she'd wait somewhere on the path between the supermarket and the school gates. There was a long path between the actual school building and the gate. No parents, as far as I can recall, ever walked their child between the gate and the building.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

It's allowed from Year 3 in our school, the playground is open from early on and the doors open at 8.40, there are usually people arriving from about 8.30. Teachers don't come out at any point, doors open and the children go in. My DS has been going in ahead of me and younger DD since part way through Yr 3, but I was always somewhere in the grounds (each year has a different entrance). Now my youngest is in Year 4 I sometimes drop by car at 8.35 to get to work and that's fine, however if your school says different (I assume YR 5/6's at least can come in unaccompanied?) then there's not a lot you can do about it unfortunately.

[Goingintohibernation]

Is there no way you could adjust your working hours to start 10 minutes later? It does seem daft to be paying for 10 minutes of childcare a day!

[Luna9]

I am dropping my year 3 DD at the traffic lights in front of the schools and wait until she crosses with the rest of the children and parents; but it is not more than 10min before school starts; maybe I am being irresponsable

[Chasingsquirrels]

My 8yo (yr4) walks to school on his own sometime and even when I drop him on the way to work I never go in with him.
I have no idea if he is allowed in the playground, but to be honest if he isn't he can wait outside (not that we are ever early so it isn't an issue).

[MilkRunningOutAgain]

As our school Doesn't allow unattended kids in the playground, I used to drop DS off about 10 minutes walk from school from late yr 4 onwards. Quite a few of them walked on their own to school, but it's a quiet village with a lollipop lady for the one busy road crossing. He generally met up with a friend or 2 on the way in, but not always.

[PesoPenguin]

At ds's school children can arrive from 8:40. If your ds's school say 8:45 then I'm afraid it is what it is. plus it's quite a long time to be standing around for in winter.

[Hoppinggreen]

At ours I think it's from year 3 because that when they are allowed to leave class without an adult waiting for them so m assuming it works both ways.

[SirChenjin]

Our school doesn't forbid the leaving of children at any age, but makes it clear that the supervisors are not there until 8.30.