AIBU or is this a little heavy-handed for primary school?!

[RichSherl]

My DCs go to a school in the south west and this term the headmistress has started a bizarre new drop-off policy...

Every day the children are expected to enter their classrooms for 8.45. This is when teachers open their doors and let the kids in. The parents then need to leave immediately.

I've got no problem with any of this but the thing that's changed is for latecomers.

Over the past couple of weeks the groundsman has begun forcibly closing the main school gate at 8.50 and telling late arrivals to go in via reception. It all seems pretty weird and draconian because he has to keep opening the gate for parents that are still leaving!

Some kids walk by themselves to school (so it may be a safeguarding issue?) or have genuine reasons for being late that's not their fault.

I know schools love rules but it all seems a bit needless and trivial to have an unfamiliar man telling children off and making them feel bad/naughty at the start of their day. I know some of the other parents have got pissed off about it too.

So, AIBU?! Tell me what you think.

There shouldn’t be a stream of children coming in at that time though. If these are mainly children who have walked on their own then they need to leave home earlier

@RichSherl teachers would need to be in class with the children though

Depends how big your school is my sons primary was huge over a thousand students over a vast set of buildings they open the classroom doors at 8.30 close at 8.50 (ish) gates close just before nine but you should go through reception at 8.50 really the problem was many parents had many drop offs one family would send the oldest off with her friend throw the middle one at the teacher then take the youngest into nursery (where you actually "go in" to drop off so people need the time

What time is the official school start time - is it 8.45 or 9.00?

How exactly are teachers going to be manning the gate at 8:50 and in their classroom at 8:45?

Why are there steams of kids coming in late? Seems like you have had it pretty lax at your school?
Also, why are there parents in the playground? At our school all children including yr right from the beginning say goodbye at the school gates where a member of staff is standing inside the gates, making sure all kids go in the right direction to class and don’t come back out. No parents are entering the playground in the mornings!

Our primary school does this. Is the doors rather than gates, but the doors open at 9am and close at about 9:03, and if you miss the window you need to go in through reception- it takes about 5 minutes to walk around the school from the infant doors so by the time we've done that the kids are properly late 🥴

At DD's school only nursery and reception parents take to the classroom, everyone else drops at the gate, which gets closed promptly at the end of the drop off window (there is another way out for the handful of parents who do go in to drop off). What did surprise me was when I was helping with a trip and had to go to the office to wait, was just how many children came in late. Especially given we live at the edge of the catchment and it's 10 minutes walk!

Our primary school gates are locked at a particular time and if anyone is late then they go through the reception gates, I would expect this in any school to be honest.

You can't just have children arriving late to class and knocking on classroom doors or windows to be let in, the only sensible solution and for safe guarding purposes is to go through the reception gates.

SLT

it's a big and slightly awkward site. Classrooms can be 300m from the main gate (which is immediately beside a busy road).

@RichSherl in some of our local Primaries SLT are teachers too. Also at this time of year SLT are probably desperately trying to find cover for a member of staff who is off sick. They have more important things to do than man gates for parents who can’t be bothered to get their kids on time for school.

Latecomers have always had to go to reception at DC school. There's nothing wrong with instilling and encouraging good habits of timekeeping.

DS school do this, although gates open 15 minutes before the school day starts, not five. I guess it depends on the size of the school but five minutes would give very little time for a lot of people to drop kids off and leave.

Caretaker/groundsman also locks the gates. He'll direct people to the office if it's after time but he's not locked up as he's waiting for people to leave, but he won't hassle about it.

My kids school has always been like this after having the embarrassment of having to do that a few times you soon learn to be on time

Some kids walk by themselves to school (so it may be a safeguarding issue?)
If they're not capable of taking themselves to reception if late, they're not mature enough to travel alone and maybe need to be booked into childcare to take them to school, or a parent

Our school brought this in but it was less complicated as we were all out of the gate by the time it was locked. It took some re- adjustment but after a term it was fine. And there was less lateness.

This is how our school works. The gates to the playground are opened at 8.30 and locked at 8.45(ish - there is a bit of leeway) and if you're late you go in via the school office. The head is on one gate and the caretaker is on the other. He's a lovely guy, very jovial but does chivvy you in/out because it's busy and people faff.

I was speaking to the school office at 9am yesterday and there was a steady stream of late pupils.

YABU. It’s very common and could be for several reasons: to secure school grounds (imperative), to ensure lateness is properly recorded and as a deterrent.

All perfectly sound reasons.

No, the teachers would be busy with their classes.

The groundsman probably isn't a strange man to them anyway. When I asked my Reception class who was in charge of the school they all named the Caretaker. He was the one who opened the gate, fixed things and got the hall ready for dinner whereas they rarely saw the Head and didnt really know her so obviously he was in charge.

Yes our school does this as well. I presume it is a combination of safety (gates have to be locked) and ensuring that a record is kept of lateness. I do think it has a positive effect on timeliness - you often see children running up the hill to "beat the gate"! I won't deny it - we have done it too!

It's extremely common for children who arrive late to have to report to Reception, for safeguarding reasons and so thst the school can monitor persistent lateness. But what on earth is a groundsman? Do you mean the premises officer/manager? If so, I think that's a very derogatory way of referring to someone who would usually be an important and senior member of the school's staff.

Has always been the case in our school. The playground gates open at 8:55, and close again at 9:00. Anyone arriving after that walks round to the main entrance and gets given a late card. If they aren’t present by 9:15 when the register closes, they are marked as absent.

They are doing this because they are fed up with parents bringing their children late to school and are making it more difficult for them. If parents don't like it, the answer is to get to school on time.

Our SLT do it - headmaster on the KS2 gate, deputy head on the KS1 gate. The caretaker does close the Reception gate. Parents are not allowed on school property for pick up or drop off for any of the years, it is all done at the gates.