Does it make a difference who picks children up from school (parent or chidminder)?

[cakesonatrain]

DS is starting reception in Sept. I can hopefully arrange my working hours so that I can do drop off and pick up every day. This feels important to me, so that as well as being there for him, I will be on hand for any little issues that a teacher might want to mention, for example, and I can hopefully get to know/see some of the other parents and all that.

Anyway, what I'm wondering is, does it make any difference at all to the home-school relationship/ease of communication/anything else, if a child is dropped off/collected by a parent or by a childminder/child goes to after-school club?

Definitely for KS1 and reception. DH and I both work flexibly and are able to share most of the pick ups and drop offs between us, with my mum helping out on two afternoons a week. I think it was nice to get to know the other parents, to see the teachers regularly and to get a feel for how things were in school. Also nice for dc to have someone to chat to at the end of the day.

In KS2, I think it's much less important. DD now walks to school with her friends in any case, and when I do pick ups, I rarely see the other parents and never see the teachers. DD is also less keen to chat straight after school - usually she just wants to slob on the sofa in front of the TV for a bit, and isn't ready to talk about her day until later in the evening.

Interesting, bonsoir. I did a mixture of pick-ups and drop-offs, and always found the mornings more "useful" - it was easier to speak to the teacher, the other parents were more inclined to hang around and chat, and there was a whiteboard which said what the kids would be doing that day.

That said, I did always enjoy my dd's enthusiastic accounts of why she had been doing all day. These days, I get little more than a "yeah, it was good."

I agree that morning drop off is by far the best time for coffee and a gossip with other parents!

Availability of teachers either end is more likely to vary from school to school.

Most parents would agree that its preferable for a parent to do drop off/pick up. Which is why its so frustrating that, for most people, school and work hours continue to be so hopelessly un-aligned.