'Gradual' entry into reception -what did you do about work?

[slotnicki]

A friend and I were discussing this the other day. Children entering reception at our local primary start off going for about 2.5 hours a days and build up to a full day over about 5 weeks.

This makes it really difficult for working parents. I will probably be able to do this by using up leave (though I am not sure how my boss will feel). My friend, who is a teacher has no flexibility. What have you done in this situation?

TIA

A childminder maybe able to help - we're normally able to be quite flexible for a short time

I'm a teacher and when ds started DH took a week off work and then we had a childminder.

I kept my son at nursery until he was 5 and he went full time from then on, it was a combination of factors, as we were mving house 3 weeks after the school year started and moving him at that stage would have been a nightmare, so the nursery agreed to keep him on and it worked really well for us.
Bloody expensive though!

I know its extreme, but I am giving up work full time and starting work at my daughters new school, part time as an administrator, because I will be staff, I have also managed to swap my daughters first week from afternoons to mornings and kept the 2nd week as mornings, as I only work up to 11.15 am, so that has worked for me.

I can relate to your problems and experiences - and it's what decided me to start my own business - I was finding it hard never seeing dd as she was at nursery while I worked 4 days a week, and then I realised that even if I cut back my hours, in a couple of years I'd have to alter my hours again to accommodate pre-school - round us they do a term of just mornings, and even after that it's hard to find a job that's just 9.30 to 2.30, say

Antonia