Reception/Foundation Class Teacher won't allow parents in the classroom! Is this normal or am I right to be unhappy?

[oliverae]

Hi,
My daughter is just entering her last six weeks of foundation class at school. The teacher, who I have always felt was quite closed to communication anyway, has now sent out a letter telling parents not to enter the classroom in the mornings. She wants us to send the child in and leave them to hang their coats, book bags etc and choose their lunches by themselves.

I have no issue with my child doing these things and understand they are getting them ready for year 1 but it feels as though as parents we are completely excluded from their class, their world for most of the week.

Does anyone else have this problem? Am I just being clingy? What, if anything should I do?

Thanks!

[Ears2yaVanGogh]

Sorry, realised your DC was going into Year 1, not reception. But my message remains the same.

[MrsJoeDolan]

First 2 weeks only in my DDs school and then independent drop off with teacher to greet by the door

[TeenAndTween]

Normal here too.

Allowed in classroom on first morning, then in lobby area for 2 weeks or so.
Strongly discouraged after that, though teacher always on door to playground.

Termly 'work-sharing' to see books as well as parents evening. If you really want to see something you can pop in at home time.

Makes for a much easier and calmer start to the day, better for the children.

[DrankSangriaInThePark]

Not allowed beyond the playground here.

It was a new policy brought in after many of us had heard from our children that not only do X, Y and Z's Mum take them into the classroom, they then stay for 30 minutes talking about X, Y and Z with the teacher while the other kids amused themselves.

[Sirzy]

After a few weeks at school we noticed that DS was really reluctant to go in. Then we realised he was fine if he was first at the door. All the other parents going in, pushing out to door against the children going in was making DS anxious as he hates crowds.

I made sure that after the first day he knew I wasn't going in, then it was normal for him. It is now the end of the year and even though we have had many letters saying don't some parents still go in.

[PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom]

We get to go in on day one and that's it.

We do collect from the class for most of yr though.

Totally normal.

[balletgirlmum]

Another one who says its normal. We were only allowed in on the first day.

It must be incredibly disruptive & unsettling to have lots of random parents in & out of the class first thing in the morning.

[noramum]

We had this from Day 2 of DD's Reception year. On her first day they had their own time for arrival, so it was just us, the teacher and the head to say Hello to.

I think we saw the classroom 2-3 times a year. I actually had no desire to see it each morning. No in Juniors I don't see them at all unless I have a meeting with the teacher outside normal parent evenings.

DD had 60 Reception children in her year, a very small and narrow corridor. If there would have been also 60 parents plus maybe siblings and buggies you wouldn't be able to move at all.

We could speak to the teacher each morning in the playground, either when they queue or when they abolished the queue the children just walked in and the teacher followed when the bell rang.

[LemonYellowSun]

I was surprised on how many parents go in every day and fuss around taking up space.

How do you think the kids cope during the day and at playtime?

[lynniep]

I'm quite surprised you have been allowed in all year. Is it not completely chaotic in the mornings with parents in there as well as children? We say goodbye to our little ones at the door, watch them go in, and that is that until hometime when we wait outside, and as soon as we are spotted by the teacher our child is allowed to come to us.

[ButterflyUpSoHigh]

Only allowed until October half term here. Why would you need to go in after that once they have settled?

[BelindaBagwash]

At our school, parents don't come in to the classroom at all. For the first couple of weeks, they wait beside their child in the line, then move back so that the child can see them in the infants' playground, then they're discouraged from coming in to the playground at all.

[Tinkerisdead]

At our school parents can go in with children throughout reception AND YEAR 1!! Its shit! My child was terribly clingy and the parents being there make her a trillion times worse. So I'm there saying "you're a big girl now, get into class" and other parents tut me saying "I could never just leave mine to it like that!"

Thankfully my dd trots in herself now and its stressfree for us both, but the mums that go in, they go to look at the traffic light system trying to see who was on red or the book band groupings or the spelling groups. It drives me insane.

If the teacher needs to tell you something, they'll find you and you get the chance to see what your childs class/work looks like at parents evening.

[Devora]

This is parenthood, I'm afraid - we ARE increasingly excluded from their world.

At our school, parents are not allowed in at all. And when you see the behaviour of some of the parents, you understand why.

[Pumpkinette]

When my DD was in her preschool year at nursery the parents were told to stay out the cloakrooms after the first term. The children were 3 years old and expected to hang up their own coats and change into indoor shoes.

When she started school in August we were allowed to drop off in the class for the first day, from day 2 children lined up outside and parents were not allowed in the classroom or the cloakroom. If it's raining we can take them into the dining hall to drop off but are expected to leave pretty much straight away and the children go to class on their own when the bell rings.

I find it quite strange you school has allowed you to be as involved for as long as they have TBH.

[tobysmum77]

It was about 2 weeks ime. We'd never gone in with dd so she was about being given a sticker in w3 for going in on her own

[MrsChocolateBrownie]

We've never entered the classroom at drop off or pick up, not even on day 1.
However we usually do get invited in during the last week of each half term to see learning journals and work

[Wigeon]

I don't think parents went into the classroom even on day 1 of reception! Children expected to line up and walk in!

[PureMorning]

Ds is 4 in nursery and we drop in the playground.
Much better then trying to get 30 parents and 30 children in the thin victorian hallway.

Plus it means you xan drop and run

[littlejohnnydory]

At my dd's school we're not even allowed in the school yard! They had to go into the playground and line up by themselves when the bell rang from their first day of Reception. I've only ever been in her class room twice, for parents' evenings. I don't agree with it either.

[rhetorician]

live in Ireland and parents can go into children's classroom in the morning all the way to 6th class (the year children turn 12). I really like it - as they get bigger, fewer parents do it, of course. But it means you can chat to the teacher if you need to.

[SuffolkNWhat]

I'm one of only two parents allowed in YR classroom in the mornings.

Because I teach at the school and am often in and out passing on messages etc

Completely standard procedure especially in the Summer term.

[TheoreticalOrder]

I find it amazing any parents are allowed in to the classroom with their children in Reception. Mine certainly went in alone from kindergarten, which was the year before YR.

[cariadlet]

Wow! I'm amazed that parents were still doing that in the summer term. Surely Reception is all about developing independence and self-help skills. How do you think the children have coped all year when they had to fetch their PE bag for PE lessons, get their bookbag when it was time to read, hang their coat up after playtime etc etc?

[PrettyLittleMitty]

DD is in nursery (going into YR in September) and aside from the first week at nursery parents are not allowed in. We drop at the door where either the teacher or TA are there to greet the children. I give DD a kiss at the door, she goes off and hangs her bag up and gives me a wave through the window before running off with her friends and doesn't look back! It would be chaos if the parents were all allowed in. And I agree with other posts, that other parents hanging around can make some of the children anxious and clingy.