come and bring your wisdom to my school gates hell

[Cappuccino]

this is going to be long but stick with me - there are sherries and cake at the end

as many of you know, dd1 is disabled; as a result we are allowed to drive up into the school car park so that dd can walk into school

other parents obv are not and have to park on the road etc

but for us it's the only way to take her practically; have a 2-yr-old who is now too big to put in a backpack and push a wheelchair up the hill with; also I think it's important for her to walk into school and get used to getting herself to her place independently with her friends rather than 'deliver' her in a chair (she's 6)

however now the head has decided that because some parents have complained about congestion etc in the morning, the gates will be locked from 8.45 to 9.05 in the morning and around the same amount of time in the evening. 'if your child is late as a result that's fine' she says

I don't think it's fine for my child to be late. I think it's important for my child to learn to be on time as much as anyone else's. I don't want her to miss any of her school day especially the first bit since that is when she does her physical therapy with her support worker so it does not get in the way of lessons

the other option is for me to sit in the car park from 8.40 to 9.05 in order to get her there on time

I wondered if any other parents had any experience with this kind of congestion etc, and what strategies heads had come up with to deal with it

personally I think that the problems come from loads of kids at the same time - there are only 2 parents allowed to do this to my knowledge and I don't see that we are causing a problem; i don't see how locking the gate is going to make a massive difference. There is already a guy who 'polices' who comes in and out so it's not like parents can sneak in

here you go. a cake and a glass of Harveys Bristol Cream for your trouble

oi!

I think you need to ask her how she proposes YOU deal with it since you are an agreed exception. Tell her you don't want to be late and neither do you want to wait outside for hours in the cold. Make it her problem since she is the one who created it. Be ready with the solution you want, i.e they open the bloody gates for you. God, how annoying.

I would have another discussion with the school, if no other parents are tryng to use the carparks then why do they need to lock the gate.

We have terrible congestion n the school road but after sending out a letter no parents park or turn in the teachers car park and the taxis use the other one and they will chew your head of if you venture in there. But road is very busy outside and parents park all the way down the pavement on one side.

Def as why and explain that you don't want your DD to have to go in late or very early and make her feel akward about it.

btw, I got mildly excited at the thought of sherry at the end. How silly is that given that a) this is not rl and b) I don't even like sherry...

If there's someone who 'polices', can't he let you (and the other parent) in & out? Surely the school should see it wouldn't be a good idea for your DD to miss her therapy.
We have similar problems, as the parents of children in our ASD resource are allowed to park, plus one whose DS has leukaemia, but others often try & sneak in, which means staff arriving can't park. We keep in close touch with the parking wardens & get them down as often as possible - when they're there they stop people parking on the zigzags, but it also seems to stop the 'illegal' parkers as well

this is the thing, he already lets us in and out. we have parking permits so that no interlopers get in. I don't understand why they've decided to suddenly lock the gates.

Cappucinetto, I very slightly suspect that the head's out of order under the DDA. I agree with WWW, but also think it's a good idea to stress the points you've made about DD1 acting like any other pupil - punctually and independently.

I'd talk to the head. I have a pass so that if I have to collect ds2 from school when I have ds1 with me I can park in the school car park. The school offered it to me when I explained the problem.

I'd just talk to her, say you're not happy for your dd too be late (say you have something to go to afterwards most days so its not possible as it will make you later anyway), so can she please turn up to unlock the gates for you.

i thought so too motherinf

but went on course recently so I know that health and safety trumps the dda in an old-fashioned game of paper and scissors

so if that's her argument I'm a bit buggered

Often the words DDA are enough to worry them though. They don't want to have to prove it (anyway 2 of you driving into the school are hardly a health and safety issue).

Don't stand for it! Go talk to the Head. If the gate has to be locked then the person who has been policing it will just have to let you in and out!

Ridiculous!

Oh and when she begins talking about health and safety try mentioning inclusion

I had a similiar'ish situation with my disabled daughter and her school! I wrote a letter to the schoolboard, the head attends these schoolboard meetings too. Basically the problem was discussed by other parents and the head at the same time. It also helped that an education officer from the council was also there, that was luck! I had a positive outcome, all I feel from the power of the pen, and peer group pressure on the head who wanted to be seen to be doing the right thing.

In your letter make sure you use the dont mind if youre late quote, and link this into equal opps. Also add up all the lost time if you were late over the year. I put things like, I just wanted me and my daughter to be as typical as possible, and that I would love to walk to school, but pushing a wheelchair and carrying equipment meant it wasnt practical.
Lastly,if you get no joy, contact the LEA and ask for some sort of accessibilty assessemt to be carried out, as you dont want to be late, but parking outside is a health and safety issue for you..

good luck

Message withdrawn

dont see why they neeed to lock the gate if there is someone checking no one sneaks in? maybe its so that person doesn't have to be there?

Cappucino- could the gates be shut but not locked. This is what we do on our school drive and it is the necessary deterrent for parents whilst allowing late staff and people with extenuating circumstances to get safe access.
If you need to do anything then I would just drop the Head a little note saying you have noted the change in policy and that as you already have an arrangement could she please let you know how it affects you as obviously dd will not want to be late. That way she can mull it over and hopefully come up with an answer that measn you don't have to sit htere and don't have to be late.
If she doesn't then write and ask for a copy of the school access plan...
Good luck- I am sure a positive outcome can be achieved but appreicate it is upsetting for you.

i don't see why the gates have to be shut or locked either.

if parents are driving on the school premises when they aren't supposed to, the head has to have the balls to put a stop to it. by letter to everyone to 'gently remind them' of the school policy and then by personally standing o/s the gate himself for a few days to remind the ignorant or thickheaded.

i am assuming there are yellow zigzags o/s the school too. he needs to ring the local police to stand o/s the school for a couple days to hand out tickets to stop it too. (our head did this not so long ago and worked a treat)

i should think it contravenes health and safety to lock school gates even if for a short time during the school day.

'it' meaning to prevent parents from parking on the zigzags.

ok not much to add, but I would say:
make and appointment to see the head.
I would say - allowing you access when the gates are otherwise locked is a "reasonable adjustment" in DDA terms.
"allowing" dd to be late is simply not negotiatable - it would be disruptive for hr and for the class and htr and set her apart.
and I would present him with two alternative solutions : either someone can let you in or you can have some keys yourself and do the locking and unlocking. I cannot see how anyone could claim that waws unreasonable.
I would present those two options as a kind of presumptive close - say that you have been thinking of ways to get around the issue and you have two possible solutions. IMO that will make it harder (impossible?) for him to say no.
bandy the DDA around with gay abandon, esp the reasonable adjustments bit.
bit early for sherry but I will have a mince pie

IME,a 'gentle reminder in a letter' to parents doesn't work at all, the head standing outside works while the head is standing outside and no longer, having the traffic warden down works for about 3 days, unless someone actually gets a ticket, in which case it may be a week if we're lucky.
The traffic warden reckons that what would work is if someone got clamped. The problem with that is that it would probably bring the entire area to a standstill.....

partridge, the 'gentle reminder' letter is for public relations with the parents and proof to the police that the school tried to do something about the appalling behaviour of parents. will be more likely to get police / LEA to do something when the head rings them up asking for support.

it comes down to obeying the rules of the road, esp if zigzags are involved. with the police ticketing for zigzags, they are unlikely to drive into the school gates too.

earlier this week I watched one of our parents with his son who was on his way to drop off at school pull off at the red lights he had stopped at but figured couldn't be bothered to wait for them to go green.

just an update - thanks so much everyone

have been to the head and she has agreed to not lock the gates till 10 to which is better

harpsi thanks for the key suggestion cos she is looking at that

dh and me are v grateful