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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

If you work, how did/do you plan to settle your child into starting school (Olive plans ahead)

52 replies

oliveoil · 04/04/2007 10:36

Dd1 will start in September but I don't have any hols left this year (inlaws swanned off on holiday for a month in March and I used mine all up) so I may have to beg for some unpaid leave so need to plan ahead.

I work 3 days.

If you work, what do you plan to do/did you do?

I am presuming they do half days initially or something (am waiting for info from head soon)

MIL could do it but over my dead body, this is my milestone thank you very much.

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Littlefish · 15/04/2007 23:48

What do you mean "how do they get away with that".

Schools do their best to ensure that children have a successful start to their school life, which usually means at least some part time sessions to start with. It's not a question of "getting away with it".

I've taught in schools where the needs of each child were considered, and some children contined to do part time until Easter.

Clary · 15/04/2007 23:53

Our school does half days at first (not for DS1 who didn't start till Jan) for 2 weeks IIRC which is frankly a PITA if you work (not saying it's not better for the chidlren).

We have a very flexible childminder thank goodness but even then one of us had to dash out and fetch DD as cm is near nursery not school. So will have to do the same for DS2.

OO you may well want to take some parental leave to be at home with her. Can you call the head next week and ask what they plan to do? (tho they may not know yet...)

1dilemma · 16/04/2007 00:29

sure little fish each to their own but my lo does 10 hour plus days 5 times a week (not ideal and not trying to be 'harder' than anyone else and not necessarily the way I want it just the way our life works right now) I have to get to and from work and for lots of people their working day is longer than 8 hours. As such I don't feel that he would benefit from or need to do 3 hour days for 2 months. For those who would fine but I don't think chipstick implied there was a choice and indeed islandofsodor said that when given that as a choice no one took it! I've specifically said I do NOT want to turn this into a teachers hours thread. we've had those and it wasn't pretty. Oliveoil wanted to talk about how to do the settling in thing and 1/2 days for a week is one thing but 2 months as I'm sure you can see is quite another. Way back in the dark ages when I was litle Summer birthdays started at Easter(I know some still do) just another way of helping the younger ones to cope. (However since you raised the issue if schools are supposed to provide 196 days or whatever of atendence a year then 42 or so being half days wouldn't do it by my maths, I might object less however when they don't complain when I take my dc out of school for a holiday)
1dilemma puts her tin hat on

custy · 16/04/2007 00:31

first day - take a photo take them to school all happy and pick them up - after that they have to get on with it.

1dilemma · 16/04/2007 00:35

voice of reason as ever custy

nappyaddict · 16/04/2007 21:36

i suppose in an ideal world part time days would be optional, so if your child is used to being at nursery or whatever all day then they can go full time from the beginning but for those that are used to being with mummy all day they can go part time until they are more settled.

for those where it isn't optional, if it is a problem cos you work what about cm's? i am assuming lots of people who do work either don't start late enough to drop off or early enough to pick so would have to use a cm anyway. what did you do when your lo's were at nursery for half days? most people i know had cm's for the half of the day where lo wasn't at nursery and when it was still half days at school it worked in the same way.

somersetmum · 16/04/2007 21:43

Well, here we have no school at all the first week, followed by four weeks of 9am to 12pm, followed by one week of 9am to 1.10pm (i.e. staying for lunch), which brings us neatly up to the October half term.

How will I manage? Well, I work three days a week, so that helps, but I am too far from the school to be able to do much about it. So, dh has agreed to collect her at lunchtime and ferry her back to the CM she is with now.

bobsmum · 16/04/2007 21:50

The council nursery that ds attends is fab. Throughout this summer term they bus the group of future P1 children to the school for short visits with their nursery keyworkers. ds has alrady been to visit the current P1s to look at their projest on dinosaurs and have breaktime at the school.

Then when they start school in August one of the teachers from the nursery will be at the school every morning for the first week to help the new P1s settle in.

As ds is going to have a few settling issues, I'm really really happy with this and don't think the nursery could do any more - they've really thought this out and I'm really pleased. Is that gushy enough

Having said that I think I'll cry!

bobsmum · 16/04/2007 21:51

And it's full time from day one - none of this woosy half day nonsense

ChasingRabbits · 16/04/2007 21:55

ours seems to be a week or two of mornings, then starting to stay for lunch, then staying for the whole day when the child/parent is ready - but they hope all will be doing full days by half term.
2 years ago my friend's dd started and by week 3 both child and mum wanted the child to stay full days, but no one else was doing it and none of them went full time tiil half term.
Last year most of them were full time by half term, although they were a group of earlier birthdays.
School in the next village does a 2 weeks of mornings, 2 weeks of afternoons, 2 weeks of 2/3 full days and 3/2 mornings (ie half the kids in all the time, full class for some of the time the last two weeks). just seems like a complete logistical nightmare for everyone involved, for working paretns it must be horrendous. They changed it to this cos parents were complaining about only getting the afternoon shift.

Once you know the arrangements parental leave sounds like an ideal solution, but be aware that while they can't say you can't have parental leave they can postpone the leave for up to six months where the business would be particularly disrupted if the leave were taken at the time requested - which wouldn't be very useful.

bobsmum · 16/04/2007 21:57

Not a WOHM btw, but just thought I'd add how much the nursery has to do with settling in at the beginning.

And the school has a breakfast club - but no after school. All children are expected to attend the breakfast club, but for various reasons ds won't be in the beginning.

Our primary is also encouraging parents to drop in for 1/2 an hour every so often in the current summer term as a classroom assistant of sorts so that we get to see how the school works so that we can pass on the info to our own children.

Eg - they don't put up their hands to ask a question they make a fist to show they are thinking and then put their thumbds up to ask a question. THese are the kind of small things that ds will apreciate knowing beforehand - he likes to be prepared.

FloatingLikeALeadBalloon · 16/04/2007 22:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

nappyaddict · 16/04/2007 22:07

somersetmum doesn't the cm do school pick ups/drop offs? the ones around here do.

1dilemma · 16/04/2007 23:05

I agree nappyadict I don't see why for some it can't be full days from the start, and all this part-time stuff for those that need it. I think I kind of shocked the headmistress with my reaction to the part-time thing so asked a touchy feely question about resting if they were tired or similar and she looked at me as if I was from Mars!
Currently I feel childminders aren't for us.
To my shame it has been full time nursery all the way for mine so we haemorrhage money on nursery fees a separate issue is the unflexibility of most nurseries to accommodate working parents.
I am so going to struggle with 21 centuary education sorry bobsmum but fists and thumbs whats wrong with hands up? At least that way when you move school you won't single yorself out as odd from the start!!

nappyaddict · 16/04/2007 23:19

if nurseries are unflexible with working parents surely a cm would be a better option?

1dilemma · 16/04/2007 23:53

You're probably right but I am (probably irrationally) almost phobic about leaving a child who can't speak in the care of another adult neither of us know without the perceived 'safety' of other adults that you get in nurseries.
Can you follow that?

FloatingLikeALeadBalloon · 16/04/2007 23:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

nappyaddict · 16/04/2007 23:55

yes but surely at 3 or 4 they can tell you if something is wrong?

1dilemma · 17/04/2007 00:57

Yeah but at 2 I'm not so sure and I needed care from 9 months then didn't like to move them becaue of continuity etc

nappyaddict · 17/04/2007 01:26

ah right, that makes sense.

somersetmum · 17/04/2007 21:16

nappyaddict. No, unfortunately my cm chooses not to drive when she has children in her care, which I totally understand and respect. The children don't miss out: she takes them on lots of walks and would walk her to school, but unfortunately she lives three miles from the school so that is not an option. Actually, she is a refreshing change from my last cm, who was still lovely, but had three senior school children of her own and seemed to be constantly on school runs or ferryibg her children around town.

KnayedFrot · 17/04/2007 21:25

Ds starts in 2008 and I think they do half days til October here.

Gawd knows what I will do as I work 8.30-12.30 and once he is f/t I will change my hours to fit round school, but no idea how I will manage half days for 6 weeks.

I will almost certainly take some parental leave. Quite fancy the idea of pottering aorund for a couple of weeks pretending to be a sahm. I could bake cookies for when he comes home [soppy]

nappyaddict · 18/04/2007 12:49

can you not work 8:30 - 12:30 and get someone to take him in?

OrmIrian · 18/04/2007 12:53

Our school does half days until half term which is a total PITA. With the first 2 I just took loads of half-days leave - which used up most of my leave entitlement . This time I can work from home for half days 4 days and my parents will pick DS~2 up on the day they normally look after him anyway.

OrmIrian · 18/04/2007 12:54

somersetmum - that sounds like us too. Maybe it's a Somerset-wide strategy then.

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