Taking your child into the class room

[kraftymiles]

My child starts school in Sept, he's a July baby and pretty confident but his mum isn't !. The school are really discouraging us taking our child into the class room from day one. We are expected to leave them in the playground to be collected. How will I ever get to see my childs learning environment or check he's happy ?. This is being done under the OFSTED blanket of safeguarding but is it really necessary. I've had a look at the OFSTED websites and Direct.gov to check but cant find the answer. Anyone experiencing something similar or can shed light on the 'proper' way to do this ?

Going into the classrooms of Year 2 children is so OTT though! I was talking only about the settling in period, i.e, first week they start Reception. After that I think the children should be left to their own routine of going in and starting their day without being accompanied by a parent.

There are parents who still take their DCs into DS's Year 4 classroom!

It drives me nuts. When DS was a bit younger and often got wobbly at drop off, the last thing he needed was to have to fight his way through a bunch of parents and pushchairs, and the last thing I needed when trying to calm him down was the chaos of all these chattering, nattering people who apparently had nowhere else to go. I ended up taking DS to school slightly late every morning to avoid it all (with the teacher's blessing - she was equally about the need to accompany 8yos into their classroom but seemingly powerless in the face of school policy).

Allowing your DC to make their own way into the room was not only impossible but frowned upon. Dreadful. Thank goodness the ones with the clingy parents are now in the minority.

Our school encourage YR parents to go into classroom but tbh I wish they wouldn't - maybe ok for the first week but not after that - my son is on the clingy side but very obedient and happy to follow structure, so would cope much better with 'leave mum by lining up and going in with peers' than he does with 'fight way through a crowded cloakroom full of chatting parents, then want mum to stay reading books all morning and cry when she leaves me'

The other downside is that the teachers get monopolised by pushy parents wanting to discuss reading books etc, so can't concentrate on welcoming children and meeting their needs (ie seeing which one is crying today). Having a welcoming teacher on the door and parents remaining outside would lead to a personal greeting for each child and a calmer start to the day.

If he is confident he should be fine - don't ruin that by getting worked up about it yourself. My sister can remember her first day of school. She saw another boy crying and remembers thinking 'why are you crying, this is school, it's really exciting!' so I think it also depends on how you talk to them beforehand about it too.

Unfortunately Ofsted will get rid of all those soft starts. Really cracking down on safeguarding i.e. excluding all adults from schools except those who have been CRB checked for that school. Those schools that still do soft starts will probably have to can it when they come up for their next Ofsted.

Guess it keeps the CRB in work and money. Shame it's worse for children though - stopping soft starts in those schools where they work well and creating a climate where all adults are suspicious until approved by the authorities.

Wonder if my enhanced CRB check will get me into the class room to drop off DD at Reception this Sept?

In dd's school, parents/carers must accompany their children into the classroom throughout the whole of Reception year. You can arrive any time after 8.30, but all children must be on the carpet with parents left by 8.45, except on a Friday when parent/carers are encouraged to stay until 9am to read to their children with yoounger siblings.

I must admit, in a foundation unit of 60 children with just one cupboard for all coats/lunch boxes etc it can become a little crowded and manic! Thankfully most parents have the good sense to leave buggies outside the door.

One of my friends left her dd at the school door the other month as the dd wanted to take herself to the classroom herself. My friend got reprimanded about this, as school insists on chn being accompanied to the carpet.

Year 1 onwards, parents are not allowed in the classroom at all (execpt parents' eve, appointments etc.)

Probably not, I have a CRB for work but needed another one to volunteer in the school.

edam, our school with the parents going in to reception has just passed its OFSTED. I am not a huge fan of the new government, but one thing that has pleased me is that they are going to reverse this ridiculous policy of having to check everyone who may be seen by a child.

[www.ofsted.gov.uk/.../Parents,%20carers%20and%20schools%20(Word%20format).doc - OFSTED report findings that parents going into the classroom at the start of the day have beneficial effects at foundation and beyond]

PS I don't link this because I think that children whose parents don't go in suffer, just to remind people that schools will say its for health and safety/OFSTED requirement when actually it is not.

• OFSTED report findings that parents going into the classroom at the start of the day have beneficial effects at foundation and beyond

I think the layout of the school is going to have an impact. For example we are lucky to have a brand new school so each class has their own door opening on to the playground. Coats and bags areas are within the classrooms so no narrow corridors to negotiate. In reception children line up with their parents buy the reception door. When teacher opens the door it is encouraged to let children go on in by themselves. They are going straight into the classroom and there are huge windows you can see through. They need to manage their own bags, coats etc. They need to learn for themselves where things go and to remember to give the teacher letters etc.

Dd1 is in Yr 1 in a blended Reception/Yr1 class. At this stage parents are allowed to see children into the cloakroom, help with bags, go in to speak to the teacher etc.

It's a nightmare, I loathe the cloakroom scrum, have lost count of how many times dd2 has been elbowed in the head etc

I've been sending dd1 in by herself for most of this year and can't wait for Yr2 when parents have to stay in the playground. Am dreading going through it all again with dd2.

Thanks clem, at last ONE thing on which Ofsted speak sense!

Am just fed up as I have a CRB check for ds's school and have to have another one for Scouts. I do understand why they are different for each location but does seem an almighty, expensive faff (and our LEA is making schools pay for CRBs now, rather than picking up the costs for us). Everyone is panicking about our next Ofsted (due any time) and their new focus on safeguarding. I think we are fine but there are all these rumours doing the rounds. Allegedly one school was marked down because the woman in the office offered the inspectors a cup of tea without checking their ID - even though someone ELSE had checked their ID and the woman knew this! No idea if it's true or exaggerated though.

They do seem VERY keen on name badges!

This month I have had to get separate CRBs for the hospital, school, a supply agency and an NHS interview I am going for. The system needs someone to take a measured and logical approach...

CRB checks are place specific - which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing.

They aren't really place specific, they are time specific - ie you need a new one in case you have done anything since the last one.

what disappointed me when I got the check back was they don't say 'congratulations you are a fine, upstanding citizen'. Oh no, it just says something like 'nothing known' as if you ARE still suspicious but they just haven't caught you out.

We took our children into their reception class and - I have to admit - it made me feel very confident on the first day when I realised that it all looked just like nursery but lovelier!

With an armchair, book corner etc.

However,

Many schools don't allow this and I think that it's a combination of two things..

1. is there enough space?
2. how formal is the school?

Although schools are very similar nowdays, some are a bit more formal than others. (The local school that had its children lining up on the first day of reception (how harsh!) makes its male staff wear ties)

Half way through year 1 we were encouraged to not go into the classroom or corridor outside.

Dd last school in reception mums used be encouraged come in and read for 10 minutes very crowded classroom

year 1 year 2 you could go in help put away if needed bu I just chucked dd through door by . Her new school even reception parents don't go In teacher opens door kids go in

ds well I'm another one putting hi. On bus at 7.30 and will get hi. Of bus about 4.15 be no just popping into school

Megapixels, in some ways I agree and will stop when DD suggests she wants to go in by herself. Normally this happens towards the end of Yr3 when they move up from pre-prep to a different building for prep.

At the moment though I think she enjoys the fact that I get to carry her sports bag, tennis racket, music bag, rucksack, booster seat (if going home with others) etc whilst she swans in carrying her book bag!

The headmaster stands in the playground and welcomes all children by name and says good morning to parents. Don't see any particular scrums but maybe this is down to design of buildings.

clemettethedropout Enhanced CRBs are indeed place specific - for example, a brownie leader with a current CRB check completed at exactly the same time would still need a different one to work in a school - and that one would only refer to the specific school, not all schools.

Butkin - design of the building is a big factor I think. Ours is a tiny Victorian school which has been extended in a hotch potch fashion and is now a rabbit warren. We're full to capacity on pupil numbers so there always seems to be too many people crowded into tiny spaces.

Sorry to be pedantic Feenie but some enhanced CRBs are portable. I have one for medical school which covers not only the hospital that I am based at, but all hospitals in the teaching region, but not for working on an ambulance (hence another one). I also have one as a supply teacher that covers all schools, which is also portable to work I do as a health care assistant
It is by the by, however. The system is a lumbering dinosaur and needs reforming. There should be monthly checks on everyone who works with vulnerable people, done at the push of a computer button (pie in the sky I know...)

Sorry to be pedantic Feenie but some enhanced CRBs are portable. I have one for medical school which covers not only the hospital that I am based at, but all hospitals in the teaching region, but not for working on an ambulance (hence another one). I also have one as a supply teacher that covers all schools, which is also portable to work I do as a health care assistant
It is by the by, however. The system is a lumbering dinosaur and needs reforming. There should be monthly checks on everyone who works with vulnerable people, done at the push of a computer button (pie in the sky I know...)