Excessive settling in times in reception year! Who'd like full time earlier?

[Guy1973]

I am somewhat despairing at the schedule for the start of the reception year at our primary. We have three settling in days where the youngest ten in each class go first, the next ten and then the oldest, which bring us to the 8th September. I can see how that's sensible, beds in the youngest children first in smaller groups etc, that's fine. They are then offering only half days for a further fortnight, so the first full day of school is not until the 25th, ridiculous!

They justify this by saying the teachers need to do home visits but the maths on doing that, versus time saved with half days doesn’t even begin to add up and besides, quite a few of the parents don’t want this home visit, as we went in and met the teachers a few weeks back.
It seems lots of schools go straight into full days and others manage to offer parents a choice, which I think is by far the best solution. Younger, more timid children can settle in gently but those who have been in full time nursery 8am-6pm from the age of 6 months (like mine) simply don’t need this.
I’ve put this on a couple of local forums and many people agree with me but the school doesn’t seem keen to listen to the working parents for whom this is a massive pain. Interestingly there was a court case that ruled in favour of a working mum and told the school they were obliged to offer FT. I’m not sure to what extent this might set a precedent…?

www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jun/29/infant-schools-settling-in-period-parents-work

What annoys me most about this policy is that makes life difficult for the modestly or low paid. If you earn squillions and/or have a full time nanny, as many in my neighbourhood do, it’s not really any skin off your nose. For those with two working parents on modest incomes, it might cause financial hardship and mean their kids have to forgo things they enjoy, which doesn’t seem very fair to me.
I’d be interested to hear from those whose schools do offer a choice of FT or PT for the first few weeks, or anyone in local authority administration who can shed light on the legal obligation side of things. Has anyone succeeded in lobbying or pressurising their school to offer FT earlier? I think it’s about time this system was changed to stop penalising the least well off and offer a better solution for everyone.

mrz that's not how my DCs' school explained it to us.

For them, home visits and a gradual start definitely go hand in hand.

Yes you can do one without the other, but the way they explained it to us, they're both a key part of their child-centred approach.

From having worked in a reception class, I would have welcomed a gradual start in reception as we could have had a bit of time to get to knwo the kids better, rather than meeting all 30 at once.

And maybe if we'd had that extra time with the DC, we would have spotted much earlier that we were calling the child by the wrong name!

mrz so if gradual starts are so pointless, why do you think schools do them?

Why are the teachers in my DC's school enthusiastic about the approach?

But they don't need to ... and settings that don't do phased intake or home visits can be hugely child centred.

"Why are the teachers in my DC's school enthusiastic about the approach" I really can't answer that ...perhaps as someone suggested earlier it's because they haven't experienced any other approaches so have nothing to compare.

In my school we start the reception class full time on the first day of term. We do home visits combined with our 2-3 transition days in July. In the mornings we have transition with the new pupils in the class then from 1pm - 6pm we have home visits. The days are pretty full on but they do serve a purpose.

Our DS' school is very child centred and really focussed on pastoral support throughout the school. No home visits and no staggered starts.

Wasn't even aware this was a possibility in UK. My DS starts reception in September and I would actually have loved the possibility of a slower start of half days and building it up. All in full time from first day in this part of the country however.

perhaps as someone suggested earlier it's because they haven't experienced any other approaches so have nothing to compare.

I think that's pretty unlikely in a 4-form entry school with teachers of varying ages, don't you think?

mrz your attitude baffles me. As a TA I worked with several different teachers with different teaching styles. Different teachers have different methods. let alone different schools. Doesn't make one more correct than another, necessarily.

You seem unable to accept that a method that's different from yours can give good results.

I'm not saying staggered entry is the only way to do it.

I am saying that the teachers in my DCs school seem to have sound reasons for doing it and are enthusiastic about the approach.

As they are now going to be spending more time with my children that I do, I want to support them and respect their professionalism unless I have reason to believe otherwise.

Why would you encourage other parents to start their children's school life with them in battle with their DC's teachers?

No home visits here although they visited the child at their nursery and got a hand over. Two induction mornings in May and we will start and finish slightly early on the first two days to miss the mad rush when they are finding their way. Full time from day 3 thank goodness.

We have been told they will be very tired and will probably have to go to bed early. Very detailed induction book filled with info. There was also a seperate bit on our form after formal name asking what the child is known as which is a good idea. Plenty of opportunity to raise concerns so I think everything is covered.

"I think that's pretty unlikely in a 4-form entry school with teachers of varying ages, don't you think?" Not really, as in many areas the idea of having a single entry point in September is very new so even a teacher with many years experience will have only known one system and many teachers cling to the familiar for security.

"I am saying that the teachers in my DCs school seem to have sound reasons for doing it and are enthusiastic about the approach. " yet you can't say what the sound reasons are beyond the stock phrase of "child centred"

"Why would you encourage other parents to start their children's school life with them in battle with their DC's teachers?" I'm not encouraging anyone to battle with their child's teachers simply pointing out that phased entry isn't any more "child centred" that any other system regardless of what you've been told and choose to believe.

I've been teaching for many years now and phased entry seems to be on the decline thankfully. It is, more often than not, confusing for the children as they don't see the same faces each day and the differing routines are unsettling.

Unfortunately, many schools do it because it has always been done so. They haven't considered that there may be ways that are better for the children.

Our school does home visits in the summer term to meet the families, NOT to 'check up' on them.

We didn't have home visits. Visits to nursery setting in the summer (which is probably a more realistic view of the child away from home other than dd2 who completely morphed over the summer despite only moving to next door classroom and change of one teacher ). Parent and child then had a meeting at school during the afternoon in first week. Gave the parent a chance to see their dc in school environment and highlight any areas the child had loved in drop in sessions. Also long questionnaire which we went through including the name they are known by, academic achievements, social issues etc. More efficient for teachers as many dc went to school nursery so could see many dc in one visit and then for parents visit the teacher didn't have to travel so all meetings done and dusted in a few afternoons.

Half days went on for three weeks though. Fine for dc1 as was SAHP. For subsequent dc it was a pita as they would just get home and settle to play when we would have to head out again to pick up siblings. No long lazy afternoons here for them, just another mile round trip to collect sibling. If they had stayed in school they could have planned a mellow few weeks of quiet afternoons and saved the dc having to traipse home for an hour before turning around and coming out again.

We work similarly although we do offer home visits.
Visiting nursery is very useful as often staff are able to tell you those little quirks that children display in "school" but not necessarily in the home. Spending time in the summer term getting to know children alongside familiar faces so that when they start you're not a stranger is important as are transition visits with parents and without so the setting is familiar too.

I'm so glad we contacted the school and said that DT's would be attending full time from day one (as did many other parents from nursery). Our DC's were use to a routine and attending school on a staggered basis would have been very unsettling.

Where we live the majority of parents are both working full time and don't have the flexibility to take three weeks off work. My parents live 200 miles away and DH's are overseas. What do schools expect parents to do other than start full time (as you are legally entitled to do).

I feel a bit frustrated at this as well. My child has a 15 minute appointment, and 2 half days the first week and 2 full days and a half day the second week then full time. It means they are not going into school for 6 clear days during settling in. I think it's too staggered - I think it should be half days for 1 week then full time x

When my DD2 started reception, the single-form-entry class started 4 days after the rest of the school, full time. In the 4 days the teacher & TA did home visits.
We were told that if our child was too tired to cope full time they could do half days if we so chose. I don't think anyone did.

Other friends with DC at other local schools had a hotchpotch of mornings and afternoons etc, some going on until half term. No one I knew was happy with this. Some said their child didn't understand why others were going home when they were staying, others that their child wanted to stay but had to go home.

I can see how a gradual intake helps the teachers, and might ultimately help the child. But I'm not convinced that makes up for the massively confusing time for the child in those first weeks both in school and with childcare arrangements having to be cobbled together (so no fixed routine for the child) for up to 6 weeks.

I wonder if there is any correlation between schools who are doing staggered starts (because they always have and it is convenient for them) and schools with poor phonics screening scores (because they think mixed methods work as that's what they have always done)? Probably not.

"And maybe if we'd had that extra time with the DC, we would have spotted much earlier that we were calling the child by the wrong name!"

oldtrees, I think that's nonsense. My ds's school simply asked us how we want them to call our child, in the form before starting school, so they can make tags for them in their usual names they are being called. My ds is being called by shortened name at school, but all the official forms are filled in with his proper name. I thought that was normal.

We established on another thread that nit all counties do full time straightaway
Ive been a teacher since 1978 ( mainly infant, mostly reception). Ive seen a lot of things come and go!
In my experience/opinion a gentle settling in over the first 2 weeks, eg mornings only for a few days, then mornings and lunch for a few days, then all day seems to be a good middle ground.

I know the current legislation by the way before I am pounced on!

Visiting nursery is very useful as often staff are able to tell you those little quirks that children display in "school" but not necessarily in the home.

How does visiting nursery tell you what they doing or not doing at home? Surely all you've got to go on is what he parent tells you, not what you observe yourself?

We had nursery visit at my ds's school. No home visits.
Nursery visits were very useful, ds got to know the teacher, teacher has found out what sort of child my ds was in school environment, etc., especially he had quite a lot of social/health problems. When we had meeting later, we didn't need to explain everything from scratch. Everything went so smoothly without a niggle.