What’s the latest you could feasably get to school in the morning?

[GreySkiesAboveMe]

Just some advice really.

I start a secondary scitt in Sept, I have 2 primary aged children at home and I’m currently trying to figure out before school childcare.

I’ve looked at all of the schools I might be placed in and the earliest registration is at 8:40.

With that in mind, what would be a reasonable time to arrive in order to set up for the day. No marking or planning, just setting up.

Thanks

whatever they are : good Heavens , what kind of utopia do you work in , fowlis ??

Scottish secondary

The university I mentor for stipulates 8-4:30 as the times that the trainee has to be in school for. Not sure if this happens with SCITT.

I’m in primary, 7 years qualified and feel like I’m late/rushing if I arrive after 7:45.

It is pretty much the same here for me as for noblrgiraffe.

I am pt so don't have my own room. I arrive 10 mins before 8:35 briefing, and don't really do anything to get ready in that ten minutes. I make sure I am prepared from home.

I just have to be super organised and make sure I have all my resources ready a week beforehand, have anticipated as many issues as possible. I do all my marking at home (essay subject, little classroom setup needed).

I hope you find a way to make t work.

We had this row before about unis on another thread. Those stipulations can only be recommendations as they discriminate against people needing childcare and are longer than nearly all schools' directed time, where it exists or is stipulated.

My school doesn't have directed time,afaik, but there is an unwritten rule/myth that we have to be on site at 8.30.

My academy starts at 8.40, staff briefings at 8.30 3 days a week.

I only arrive about 8.15 most days, like many teachers with children. I do all my copying/prep before I leave each day. It's absolutely fine.

Well done for coming into secondary when everyone else is running a mile for it.

I get in at 7.45. Drop kids at childminder at 7am. Ideally I'd be in at 7.30. I'm part time so the other 3 days a week I take my DCS to school myself. I don't think they would cope with early starts every day.

Before kids I used to get to work at 7am every day and loved it. There's always stuff to take up your time and I hate feeling rushed before teaching.

Schools will have an official time that they expect full-time members of staff to be in school. At mine, it is 10 minutes before registration, which I think is fairly typical.

I could not function if I regularly did this, so I get in an hour earlier. This enables me to set up for the day calmly, and get ahead on prep for the week ahead and beyond.

I paid my childminder a REALLY high rate for a 7.30 start, including breakfast. Then normal rate from 8 am.

She didn't have any other children at that time, so i essentially said i was happy to pay an 'hourly charge' that reflected our exclusive use of her (I have 2 DCs).

It was worth it because it meant i could work and earn money.

Alternatively, who runs the breakfast club at your school? Would one of the staff there be happy for you to drop your child with them early, and he / she then takes your DCs into work with her? Basically you are paying 30 mins of 'nanny rate', then normal breakfast club?

I get in about 8.30 for an 8.50 start. Tend to be prepped the night before. Only day I get in earlier is Monday for the briefing and Dh drops off on Monday. My old childminder used to start at 7.45.
Loads of staff have this problem so as long as ready to start teaching on time, you should be ok.

THe whole time my DTDs were at primary they were at breakfast club and that didn’t open until 8. I would drop them off then sit in traffic, arriving any time between 8.20 (very good day) and 8.35 (bad traffic) but generally around 8.30. Lesson 1 was 8.40. Briefing twice a week at 8.30 so if I was there, great, but if I wasn’t, I’d read the briefing notes, which were done anyway as a certain number of staff would be on duty and miss it anyway. They moved HOD meetings to 8.20 in my final year there so I often missed those. Just be up front.

Ironically, now they’re at secondary and on the school bus at 7.15 every morning, I’ve left the school and am running something different (still teaching but at a theatre - it’s bliss) and we don’t start til 10! —because I’m in charge and I don’t want to— because half the kids travel miles to get to it.

Cross out fail 😩😩

Teaching in a theatre and starting at 10 is literally my dream job!!!

I would say- for secondary 8.20/25. As long as you were there before 8.30 x
Isn't there anywhere that starts earlier for you? I am sure that starting at 8 is actually quite late for a childminders (all around our area starts at 7.30 xx) x

Primary it would be 8.15 latest, and that would make you the last teacher through the door - though that is fine as long as you are fully photocopied and resourced, and just needed to put all the resources in the right place. Playground duty usually starts 8.30 at the latest, and you would expect to be on duty at least once a week, having set up your own classroom.

Secondary you could probably eke it out by a further few minutes, or even to 8.30-8.35, especially if you didn't have a form class to register.

I also think, as a studebnt, it depends critically on the teacher you are with. In primary, a placement will be with 1 class, usually with 1 teacher. If they are an early in, early home person - usually for childcare reasons - then it will help your training a LOT if you can have the same pattern, as there will tend to be a lot of professional discussion / mentoring done before / after each school day. If they are a late in, late home person, again if you can mirror that, that's brilliant.

In secondary, my understanding is that you will tend to be in a department teaching different teachers' lessons, so that 1:1 'matching' isn't as critical a part of your training experience, and just fitting in with general department norms, if at all possible, will be fine.

See, everyone has different experiences. When I worked in secondary I found lots of people got in early but were gone 10 minutes after the last bell. In my current primary school very few people get in before 8.15 but you can normally find everyone still there at half 5!

The lower school my DCs went to certainly ad no staff embers there particularly early. The breakfast club originally opened at 8 and was frequently late opening and the school was locked. The only adult there was the breakfast club supervisor at that point. The primary and lower schools round here start at 9 and the one on my road, I believe most staff are in about 8.30 ish. Secondaries tend to often start teaching at 8.35, as early as 8 am round here, so these things affect your potential arrival time. This'll be a long term issue for you OP, as will parents' evenings when they come round if your DH is away.

There are lots of teachers on MN but they aren't 100% representative of all teachers, remember. They gravitate towards the harder working end of the spectrum and most are juggling quite early parenthood and teaching, which is the hardest part. Some teachers arrive really early, some leave very late : many don't do one, or the other or either!

Piggy,

I think you are right that different individual schools have different 'cultures' in terms of 'normal arrival and leaving times' - and of course different start and finish times in terms of actual school day as well (we're an 8.45 start, caretaker unlocks for the cleaners around 7 and locks up at 6 pm, I think - and anyway most staff have keys).

Another variant is whether it is the culture to work mainly at school outside 'children there' hours, or to take work home - again there will be personal variations (I am a work at home person, always have been, due to childcare commitments), but also 'the way things are done round here'.

I'm afraid it's a perennial problem. Directed time begins at my secondary at 8.15 and that is not unusual here. I am very fortunate to have a brilliant childminder who does a 7.30 start and I like cantkeepaway's strategy of making it VERY worth the cm's while to take your DC at 7.30 with a higher than usual rate.

I also agree with pp who suggest talking to your DCs' school breakfast club. I know a couple of teaching parents who successfully lobbied for theirs to open earlier and managed to drum up enough business from other parents to make it financially viable.

I notice that not having a form group has been mentioned as a possible solution but be warned that many secondary schools have moved the tutor time session to later in the day. We are teaching from 8.25, and have a very early 3.05 finish which is frankly no good to me. It would revolutionise my day if the whole timetable were shifted back 25 minutes but it has been this way since time immemorial and is pegged to the timings at the local infant and junior schools.

If you can't set up in the morning set up the night before.

We have meetings from 08:20

maybe find a different school for your DC with a breakfast club that opens at 7.

I start teaching at 9. I usually arrive 8.45 because I lay everything out that I need the day before. Works well as I have my own classroom.

Dh is secondary/FE & registration is 8.50am. He usually arrives at 8.20 - 8.30 except on Mondays when there is a staff briefing & he arrives at 8.15am

Rex - I can’t understsnd it. Research shows teens focus better later in the day. I’d love ds’s school to shift everything 20 mins later.