School punctuality

[whenskiesaregrey]

Part of my job role is to monitor attendance and punctuality in a school, the latter being an issue in our school. Parents will regularly rock up 15, 20, 30 minutes late for school. This obviously impacts on the kids and them settling into class, starting their learning etc. The reasons from parents are very often that the parent overslept or they didn't leave on time AKA not real reasons. Or no reason at all! It's always the same families, often multiple siblings. I'm thinking of bringing in a rule that once you've had five lates in one term, the child will start staying in at break to account for however many minutes late they are and catch up on missed work. This will obviously not include extenuating circumstances (SEN, medical etc). If there is a one off problem, this won't affect you (because they will have been late fewer than five times). Kids are primary age. What would you think? AIBU? Is it reasonable to be late more that five times a term for no good reason?

Or, as in our case, it might be entirely the child's fault as they don't care about being late. I always trained her to say sorry she's late to the teachers, and they invariably said she should't worry about it. So she didn't... I, on the other hand, hate being late, and would have appreciated some backup about how it actually did matter!

Depends on the age of the kid. If they're walking themselves to school, absolutely. If they're relying on parents, no. However, you can get the educational welfare officer involved and ask her to give parents a call- often a call from someone official with 'welfare' in their job title lights a fire under the parents.

We live in the German countryside - the door to the primary school is simply locked from inside at 7:45am and not unlocked again until playtime (obviously it can be opened from inside in accordance with fire safety).

You can ring to be let in but as there is no receptionist the door will be answered eventually by a very annoyed class teacher, if it's opened at all.

Nobody's ever late.

I would try to think of something to make being late becoming an awkward pain in the arse for the parents? Maybe having to wait at the school door and then fill in a form detailing the reasons for the lateness or similar?

What has been done so far tonaddress what sounds a bloody annoying problem?

I can understand why you would want to put something like this in place, but as previous posters have said, the child is being punished for the parents tardiness. Can you send a letter to the guilty parents outlining how disruptive it is on the whole class if their child is late, and maybe shame them into being more punctual.

I totally understand your points about the child missing out. This is my concern too. But I have tried calling parents at 8am (they don't answer), we have offered an early entry to school to avoid crowds, school bus, but all to no avail. These children are suffering from that delayed start to the day.

In terms of who would supervise - the class teacher often stays in the classroom during that time.

We don't have Education Welfare Officers anymore, they've been scraped!

In terms of who would supervise - the class teacher often stays in the classroom during that time.

It’s one thing being in a classroom. It’s another supervising children. You can’t pop to the loo or to get a drink if you need it.

I would refuse to do this on principle.

*Scrapped

You will be penalising those parents or children wo need to drop off other children at another school first. Or childrenbif childminders who do dyop iffs at several schools, some schools dont open early eniugh so some children in the dropnoff system will be late.

Fine system? Similar to the one for un-authorized absences.

My immediate thoughts are do you have the authority to bring in such a rule and more importantly, who’s going to monitor and look after the children during the break? Teachers that’s who. My husband is a teacher and has more than enough to do without losing time for parents who don’t get their kids in on time. And as many others said, don’t punish the kids, try to work with the parents

I'm not sure if this varies between local councils, but if poor attendance (which includes persistent lateness because they're marked absent if they miss the register) become a problem for students at our school it gets handed over to someone at the council who makes an appointment to go round and see the parents to talk about it. I suspect there's the threat of social services in the background. Anyway, it seems to work.

My school also recently started locking the playground gate 10 minutes after the bell rang so parents can't sneak in late but have to go through reception and officially sign them in as late. That's made a big difference too.

Can you call the parent in for a formal looking meeting:

Explain concern at lateness and discuss reasons they say and strategies they can try to use.
Explain that school takes lateness seriously as it is disruptive for the child, the teacher and the class.
Explain the escalation steps that could happen (which presumably eventually leads to fines).
Say if they are struggling you are happy to refer to social services to get them more support.

Trust me, I have tried working with parents. I've knocked on doors! I've tried to arrange meetings, they don't turn up. Lectures at the office just get shrugged off. They have to sign in electronically. There is often a queue to sign kids in late! I can't fine as its not an absence. It is at the school's discretion to initiate something like this.

It sounds like you’ve already decided to do this and you’re going to ignore everyone (including teachers) telling you it’s grossly unfair on the children.

It really angers me that parents do this! I have children who regularly miss significant chunks of their schooling because parents can’t be bothered to turn up on time, and it really shows. The gap between the ones who always miss the introduction to maths and those who arrive as soon as the gates open and get on with pre-lesson work is widening. I’ve also seen children miss out on school trips due to lateness and have to stay at school with another class. I can only imagine there’s some really challenging issues at home for parents to put their children through that, it’s all so sad.

I'm not ignoring people at all what I'm saying is I've already tried the solutions that have been suggested.

You need to just make it as much of a hassle as possible for the parent AFTER they have dropped their child off. Just remember the kind of families you are dealing with here, think of what those children are already going through on a daily basis.

Free breakfast clubs would be much more beneficial for these children, is there a way that certain children can be identified and approached? Maybe speak to the pasterol support lead about this, they will have more of an understanding and probably have direct associations with some of the families.

Is this UK and is it a local authority controlled school or academy?
I think the punishment has to be on the parent not the child.
Late - doors/gates locked. They have to formally take their child through reception and formally provide a reason why late. This happens 5 times they have to come in and explain themselves. Continues to happen - follow up with education officer (or whatever their current name is) to understand what their home issues are that mean they are not getting children in on time. Essentially you need formal backup for this to work.
If your school has the freedom - I think academies do then your ultimate sanction is 'if you can't abide by our rules then please go to a different school'.
Ultimately though you need a strong senior team that are as pissed off as you about this and are willing to deal with the nightmare families that this will apply to. (Because a good family with challenging circumstances will have been happy to work with you on bringing children in early just so they are in school on time)

YWBVU to further punish primary school children for having crap parents or parents with challenging circumstances.

If these children miss registration, are they not listed as absent, which will catch up with the parents eventually?

There will also be psychological repercussions for the child if you do this regularly. I seriously think if you are thinking this is a good idea, you can't be in a qualified position.

What position do you hold at the school?

If you are not the headteacher I would suggest it's the head rather than you who arranges to meet with these persistent offenders.

I'd arrange with the HT to be on standby for a few mornings so when the late parents bowl up it's straight away 'morning little Jonny lovely to see you, come through- Mr/Mrs Smith the headteacher needs a word please, just through here to her/his office'.

You can't punish the children.

I suspect the dc's school has been offering free breakfast club to the families who struggle the most. The parents don't work, their children were always late but I've seen them in breakfast club the last few months.