Morning drop off arrangements

[rainsofcastersugar]

Our school is changing the morning drop off arrangements after Easter. I'm not happy about how they are going to be doing this, so I just wanted to see how other schools manage 'the morning rush'. How does your school get children into the building before registration? Can you just bring them in or do they have to be led in by staff? How well does it work - or not? Thanks.

TA at classroom entrance to greet children. They go in and put coats away and choose an activity.

Warning bell at 0858 for the kids to line up in classes, and then at 9am another bell goes and the teachers come out to collect their classes. An early years assistant is in the infant playground from 0850.

we drop ours off at the school gate and aren't allowed into the playground. When the bell rings they line up and are led into the school by their teacher. We don't see any of this as we aren't inside the school grounds

Playground is open from 8am. No supervision. Doors open at 8.35. Children go in by themselves TAs are on all external doors for messages and whatnot. Doors close and are locked at 8.45 when school starts. Children then have to go through the office and are officially late.

Parents are allowed in the playground but not the school.

At primary the bell went at 8.50am and everyone lined up where the teachers came out for the class. Parents not allowed in the school unless via reception and by appointment after a parent assaulted a child in a class room then the child's mum in the playground.

I work at an infant school. All children must be brought to school by an adult, or a secondary school child (with written permission.) They cannot come in accompanied just by a sibling from the next door junior school.

Doors open at 8:40am and parents must bring them at least to the school doors - parents can come into the classroom and cloakrooms. Infact this is encouraged and the teacher and TA are there to talk to parents and children, etc. There is always a morning task for children to do; parents can choose to stay ad help them if they wish.

Bell for registration goes at 8:50am and at that point all remaining parents must leave and children come to the carpet.

For early starters, there is breakfast club from 8am and children can either go alone or with their parents - parents can buy food/drink if they wish.

Works well for our school.

Can be left alone in the playground from 8.40. Supervised by two teachers / TA / headmaster. Bell at 8.50 line up and into class. Parents can stay in playground / escort to class. Second bell 9am. If it's wet they can go into the classroom.

Reception - Year 2

Playground open & supervised from 8.30am. Parents allowed to wait. Whistle blown at 8.45am. Children line up & are led inside by their class teachers.

Years 3-6

Playground open & supervised from 8.30am. Most are dropped off at the top of the path leading to playground. Parents not allowed inside playground. Whistle blown at 8.45am. Children file into class sometimes but not necesarily led in by their teacher but always 2 teachers around to supervise.

From year 5 onwards I just dropped mine off on the road, they cross at the zebra & make their own way in.

Doors open at 840, parents take children into class and settle them with an activity, bell goes at 850

Bell goes at 5 to 9, the infants (separate playground) - doors open, kids go in (without parents).

Juniors can be dropped at school and left in the junior playground from 8.45, the whistle goes at 5 to 9 and the kids line up and go in when the duty teacher leads them in.

Hula- can I ask exactly what would happen if a parent didn't come in. Would the child be turned away or what?

I've only done it once when dd was in infants (ds had been sick in the car just before we got to school). I pulled up outside the entrance as close as I could. Dd got out & went into the gate leading to the entrance.

I've worked in 4 schools and had dc at 2 other schools.
Obviously it is influenced by the layout of the building, where the doors are, and of course the age of the dc, but all schools I've known in RL
either line the dc up when the bell or whistle goes, and they are led in class by class by a member of that class's staff
or when the bell goes all dc head for the door nearest their room, sort out their coats and bags and go into the classroom (this was a school that had 2 long corridors with several doors opening on to the playground and the coat pegs were all in those corridors and the classrooms spread along the corridors too - so worked well there but wouldn't in most schools
or as the dc arrive, they are allowed in to the class over a 10 min 'window' - so, for example, they can come in at 8.45 but aren't 'late' unless they arrive after 8.55. Obviously more of a supervision issue with this one, but is helpful if most dc are using the same entrance.

I've never come across a school ion RL where parents go in with the dc - I can't imagine the chaos this must cause.

Until recently we were supposed to go all the way into the classroom, which I hated, it was always such a crush as we are such a big school.

Now from yr2 up they line up in the playground and teacher leads them in at 8:40 (playground gate opens at 8:30)

Reception and yr1 are in a separate building and we take children right into classroom.

Thanks for your replies. Looks like many of you do something along the lines of what is being implemented at our school. Parents at our school are so used to going into the classrooms with their children and staying to hear them read and come next term, they will have to leave their children in the playground to be escorted in with the teacher. This will be a real shock to some of them! Our KS2 parents will not be allowed into the school at all. So this new system is quite common then? I can envisage the complaints already. How does passing on information to class teachers work? I presume not all are out there at the same time. Sorry for so many questions - just want to prepare for the inevitable backlash!

I'm not sure what information needs to be passed on ?
Occasionally someone will say something to the teacher when they are lining up, but I've never had a need to have lots of messages in the morning.
If you want to tell / ask a teacher something either send in a note or some schools use e-mail for this.
First school I worked at used to have the HT and a TA "on the door" in the morning, and if there were any messages, then the TA would write them down and they would get relayed to the class teacher, but the teachers in the classrooms could get on and start teaching from the very start of the day.
I'm STUNNED that KS2 parents have been going into the classroom - I mean... why ?

I have to be honest I would hate to have to go into the classrooms.

With regards to messages, I either write in the contact book or go to reception if it's sensitive etc. I have them always been allowed either to the classroom to speak to the teacher on a individual basis & actually it's much much better. It means a parent with a genuine issue has privacy/the total attention of the teacher without all the other parents there.

Our gates open at 8.30 and the playground is supervised from then on. Parents and/or children come onto the playground ( some older children are left, some parents hang around and chat.) At 8,45 the whistle blows and all children line up, they are then taken into school ( all classrooms have doors leading onto a fenced garden area next to the playground,) parents amble off. The gates are locked at 8.55, any child arriving after that has to be brought in to the main school entrance. ( Unless it's raining, in which case children come straight into the classroom, parents stay outside the garden area, the member of staff on duty gets wet!)

Playground is open from 8.30 am. No supervision until 8.40, kids play until 8.50 (some unsupervised, some parents wait). Whistle then they line up and go in led by staff member. Parents are allowed in the playground but not the school.

Reception are led to classroom door (they have separate outdoor space) by parents for first two terms, after Easter they are in playground and line up with the rest of the infants.

Teachers come onto playground at 8.45 and children can be left from then. Whistle goes at 8.55. Children line up and are escorted into class by their class teacher. Parents do not go into the class room but if need be could have a brief word with teacher on playground if they needed to before they left. I can't imagine what people imagine the problem with this is?

we pass any messages on via a letter in the childs school bag or via the school office. There is no need for loads of parents to be in the playground or the school buildings.

Our gates open at 830, doors open at 840 with head standing saying hello. Parents in ks1 drop at classroom where there is a early morning activity and we aim to heard any remaining parents out by 850 to start register. Ks2 parents are encouraged to drop at door but quite a few come in anyway. To be fair we are a small school 100 pupils so it works fine.

All our teachers are out on the playground from 8.30 onwards so brief messages can be passed on then, if anything more serious or needing more time is necessary an appointment is made at Reception. All the children have a named plastic wallet for written communications,these are handed in (KS2) or collected in (KS1) and checked each morning by the ofice staff who pass on anything teachers need to know!

Blimey, we don't even go into the playground, let alone classroom.

Children must arrive between 815-830, 2 staff are on the playground gate, you say goodbye o/s the gate and wave them through.

This arrangement is for reception through to yr6.

Important messages can be passed to office but most messages are written in child's homework diary.