New reception starters - delayed return

[sunrainwind]

My daughter's new school is not taking reception until the end of September and then only part time for a week. We have just been told this and I'm very unhappy. The guidance is that all children should return in the new school year and I'm not sure why it's ok to delay reception starters - can schools do this? Their reasoning is to give the returners some time in their old classes (which I can't see how it can work with the bubble system anyway).

What "normally" happens is irrelevant at the moment. Covid-19 means that all bets are off, so there's no point in spouting about "kids' entitlement to this, that or the other" when millions of them have been out of school since March.

[quote avocadoze]@PatriciaHolm the 2013-2014 annual report clarifies: it’s not just a place during September, they are entitled to attend full time from the start of term. I have challenged a school on this, successfully. They let my dc attend full time from the start, and then in subsequent years made it clear to all parents that they could do so. Two years after my dc started, they had got rid of the staggered start.[/quote]
Aha! Thanks for pointing that out. It refers to it in the next annual report too - post the 2014 Code. I stand (or sit) corrected.

@PatriciaHolm they're having half in the morning and half in the afternoon.

Wish my dd's school were doing this - she is year 3 but would like them to have a few weeks with their old teacher before moving up. But easy for me to say ash she is my only. Hope you get something sorted OP.

@callmeangelica it's awful most have been out since March and exactly why I don't want her having yet another month out - irrespective of the childcare situation. I have concerns for all ages but feel the school isn't doing what's best for reception and they should be equally important to them as their current pupils.

However, hopefully this time next year things will be very different. We are lucky she's adaptable and sociable and will eventually be going into a super class with an experienced and lovely teacher. We will try to make up for what she's missing out on at home the best we can in the meantime.

I'm quite shocked at how blasé people are about this, and especially the ones who say that their school always delays reception starting properly by weeks. Do you all just not work? Three weeks of annual leave isn't an amount that anyone has just hanging around, is it?

When ds started reception half went 9.00 - 11.00 & the other half 1.00 - 3.00 for the first week & then full time.

@Hardbackwriter

I'm quite shocked at how blasé people are about this, and especially the ones who say that their school always delays reception starting properly by weeks. Do you all just not work? Three weeks of annual leave isn't an amount that anyone has just hanging around, is it?

I did the first day, Dad did the next, GPs got involved and then the childminder by the time #2 came along. I didn't like it, but I couldn't exactly force a school to fit around my personal circumstances.

I think it's fine to be irritated that it's going to require childcare juggling - that side effect of it would definitely annoy me - but honestly, your child has 14 years of school ahead of her. In the grand scheme of things, is 3.5 weeks going to make any difference at all when the whole class is doing the same thing? I mean this kindly I promise, but you need to be a bit thicker skinned about school and how they operate. They're trying to do the best by all year groups, and I would say for that moment in particular, Reception - who haven't started yet - are the bottom priority when compared to settling other children in new year groups with none of the usual transition mornings/days they usually do in the summer term. Once they have all other year groups settled back in they can properly concentrate on Reception. Plenty of schools won't be doing this, but I'd say it actually bodes well for your daughter - it's obviously a school that's thinking out of the box to do the right thing by all the children. It's not like you're being asked to delay by a term.

YANBU. The school is obliged to take them. Look up DofE guidelines.

I think everyone needs to remember that we are in unprecedented times and no one is clear how schools will actually be in September and what adaptations will be required to keep children safe.

@ScissorsBike

YANBU. The school is obliged to take them. Look up DofE guidelines.

Which guidelines are you referring to? The Covid-related ones?

@Hardbackwriter

I'm quite shocked at how blasé people are about this, and especially the ones who say that their school always delays reception starting properly by weeks. Do you all just not work? Three weeks of annual leave isn't an amount that anyone has just hanging around, is it?

I worked FT my eldest didn’t go FT until the January so my husband and I alternated the weeks and lots of juggling - thankfully the nursery said she could go to there in the afternoons - so manic drive at lunch to pick up and drop off. With my second a mix of leave shared with my husband and WFH until she went FT. We had no grandparent help so had to work it out! To be honest good practice for the juggling of 6 week holidays.

@snowballer you've hit the nail on the head with your comment about reception being the lowest priority which is why I'm unhappy as I don't think they should be any lower priority than other children!

Hopefully by September we will be able to do more with other families and children from her year group.

On the childcare side, it is the worst possible year to manage it (especially with the late notice having previously said they're going back earlier) with annual leave and parental leave decimated.

I'm well aware how the school works but this came as a shock.

But maybe look at it this way - starting Reception is a big deal and a huge transistion. Moving into an environment where the rest of the school arent settled is going to make it worse.

Prioritising the rest of the school to get them settled isnt putting Reception last it is recognising that if the rest of the school isnt settled it could have a huge effect on them - its is why schools tend to delay and do staggered starts. Not to be a pain but to do the transition properly and focus resource correctly

Interestingly though the reverse is happening in Secondary schools. DD is starting Year 7 in September and across the board local schools seem to be getting Year 7 in first for a couple of days

Just received our communication from school for DS reception start. Full time isn't until 21st September, unlikely to be able to offer any wrap around care to any year group etc. It's been a really hard year balancing work and childcare.

I completely understand that the school want to settle the reception joiners in successfully but two full weeks seems excessive in my opinion. Just another difficult conversation for DH and I to have with our employers and more extreme late nights as we try to keep on top of everything.

Mines starting on 10th September and full time from the start. Friends with children the same age have varying start dates, with one not starting until 26th September! And as an early September birthday he can’t continue to attend his pre-school.

DfE Guidance for full opening of schools

www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools

My school gave us the dates in April as soon as we got the offer so I’ve been able to plan in annual leave around the 2 weeks of staggered start (they even gave us parent evening dates for October so I’ve been impressed). Mid September seems fine but the end of September seems a really difficult challenge. One of the schools near me arses around for 6 weeks. I don’t know what on earth working parents do to cover that.

Reception didn't start until October when my kids started then part time until half term

I’ve got a child starting reception in September as well, we don’t even have a term start date yet (or the uniform list) - and it’s a very good and organised school, they are simply holding off giving out any info until they are more certain on things as they know how pissed people get when told one thing and then it gets changed, even when always subject to change anyway. So I really don’t think a change of dates now is late notice at all, with 2 months to go, and realistically any terms dates schools had published on their websites or communicated normally were always going to be subject to change and to be taken with a very large pinch of salt this year given the uncertainties with covid

Is your child not back at nursery/preschool now? Ours will be there until start school, if there happens to be a couple of weeks gap in September if a late start then so be it but it’s hardly the end of the world for a reception pupil (think how many less weeks private pupils do a year) and seeing as nearly all reception children start September but have birthdays sept-aug there’s already an up to 52 week difference between the kids starting school.

Also have a reception starter in September.
I was actually surprised this WASN'T happening at my daughter's school!
She starts full time on the same day as the rest of the school do.

I do totally see where you're coming from though and it must be a nightmare for working parents to have to find childcare for another three weeks!
Plus as you say our preschoolers have missed out this year just as much as older children have.

Are the school doing any settling in sessions?

DD starts in September. They have a forest school and a stay and play session in the week running up to when they start.
They've split the class into two with one group starting the day before the other and with both being full time by the end of the week.

Maybe they're planning something like that? I know it's tough however you can't expect (if nothing else) for a class of mainly 4 year olds to start full time school straight away; especially when there's been no settling in sessions.

I know it's frustrating. My child is going into year one and has missed a massive chunk of her first year at school. It's really sad thinking back to her first 6 months before all this. I feel like she has been robbed. Reception is the only year they get to have a playground full of equipment and the freedom to play with so many toys inside. Year one is going to be very different. I feel like she's had an unfair start. Plus year one is mixed with year twos.

If my daughter was starting this year like your child. I'd be worried about her first experience of school even more. I can only imagine that the teachers are also worried about this. They can't give the kids the usual warm huggy welcome that they deserve. It's going to be a very strange time. They've not had the settling in days this year either. I can completely understand them wanting to settle the other years so they can gradually settle in the little ones. It's such a huge step. They need to give them the best start they can and it's going to be really hard.

I feel for you as a mum too. We just want our children to have what all other kids got to have. It bothers me that they can't have reading books or folders either. No backpacks. All the personal touches have gone.

Hope your child settles in well and this nightmare is over soon x

ITa a sorry excuse I think. I really don’t think the kids need to be settled in their own classrooms first. They are a bit more resilient than that. My year one son went back into a totally different classroom. None of the kids seemed phased by it in their bubbles. Pre schoolers need to start as the nursery’s wont take them after August. My preschooler child has missed out on just as much as primary school children.