[clueless] When my DD starts Primary School in September, will she be 'full time' straight away?

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Or, is there a settling in period where they do half days?

Varies from school to school and sometimes later birthdays wait a few weeks/term before starting at all then gradually increase to full time.

Depends on your school VVV.

Depends on the school - they all seem to do it differently. At our school those born Sept to March start full time from day 1. The summer babies are split and some do mornings for a week and some do afternoons for a week, then they go full time as well. So the settling is quite short.

Other schools stagger the intake over a much longer period. I know my niece who lives in London is a November birthday but still didn't go full time until after October half term.

Some don't start till Jan. So you'd need to find out from the school how they do it.

depends on the school QV. here we had 2 1 hours visits the end of the term before, then 3 days back when reception not in at all, and then 1 day 2 hours, next til before lunch, then next til after lunch, until on day full time from then on in.

ask teh school

ours has a 3 week settling in period of mornings, then afternoons, then mornings and lunch, then lunch and afternoons then full days

IIRC

tis very complicated

Depends on the school...my ds was 4 last may and started school full time at the start of september

Oh okay. Thank you.

It confirms I am not totally ignorant....

I am pondering it for selfish reasons. I may have the offer of a job shortly, and whilst DD is at pre-school in the mornings they are happy for me to work afternoons, but when she starts Primary school it will be mornings/lunch. If she doesnt start full time straight away though, that might cause me a problem......

Will ring them this morning and find out.

Thanks all

I know when they do stagger it it's a right PITA for working parents as it's all odd hours. So hope it's a smooth transition for you!

Varies on each school.

DThis year DD did 4 days off finishing at 12 noon, then 2 days of finishing at 12:30 after lunch before starting full time.

x posts with you there! I see that was the whole reason you were asking!

aww thank you.

Oh bum. The settling in period is over a period of 6 weeks/up to half term.

That'll be helpful. Not.

vvv - that's the way they do it here too Total pita and far longer than is neccessary for most kids. First and second time round i used up nearly half my annual leave entitlement.

gawd, we had 2 terms of part time with dd and one term with ds in reception. Was a nightmare.

Its not going to be fun telling my potential new employers that my changing hours will be put back 6 weeks.....

DD goes to pre-school already in the morning, so its not like she isnt used to it. I wonder why they feel 6 weeks is necessary?

Oh, and they do home visits too as well

VVVQV - when DS started at school I used to rush out of work at lunch time to pick him up from his morning session and drop him off at nursery for the afternoon (he had already been at nursery).

It depends on the school. My neice went half days at nursery initially for the first half term then full time. In reception it was full time straight away.

My dd had the option of half days for the first week but no-one in her reception class took that option.

If you are really stuck you could always keep her in their current childcare until she can go full time, or organise a childminder who will collect.

That seems a long settling period. My son only had five days of half days. Admitally children who had problems settling in had the option of half days until the term after they were five. I know only one child who did that and it was at the parent's request.

A single home visit in the first week of term, then a week of half days, then full time for us. Extended half days isn't very considerate of working parents is it?

I really would not like this home visit lark.

Impossible for us anyway as dh works from home.

in our school the reception kids didnt start until 18th sept - ds was in 2nd lot started half days 25th sept - so i'd check that as well.

Will do. Thanks all.

I cant continue with the current childcare arrangements - its too expensive and I dont think she'll do school pick ups either. (She's not particularly flexible...)

Hey ho. What will be will be.