In answer to your original question, yes I'm annoyed at the excessive settling in period (in my day you started reception on Day 2 of the school year for a half day and by day 3 you were in for the duration and just got on with it). However I think it is annoying for everyone not just the least well off, and it penalising the least well off - very much a subjective opinion - is not the reason I find it annoying.

Guy - it was good of you to expand on your thinking but I really think you have missed the point. no one here is saying that FT wouldn't be best and of course a 4 year old can go to school for 6 hours per day from the outset. A choice of full days or half days would be even better and maybe your particular school will chose to do this in the future. The issue here is however that your school has chosen to do have a protracted settle in period. It will have its own reasons for this but the issue is how you are handling it all...
You may have support from many (including me) that schools should offer FT schooling from day 1 but you don't have the support in terms of how you are handling this issue. Insisting that you will be approaching the school to exercise your legal right to FT childcare from day 1 is both disrespectful to the school and your child.
I think this thread has run its course but I hope you take something from it and think carefully about the consequences of your actions.

UN-BE-LIEV-A-BLE!

I'm afraid I just couldn't let you have the last word.

I would be amazed if you can approach the school respectfully I just don't think you have this in your DNA. You bring all sorts of arguments into this and whatever your motive...it does seem that when the initial people you emailed gave you the response you didn't like you had to bring this to a bigger forum and from what I see it's not 50/50 here either. Having been on your original email there was not one negative response all positive and we were all considering the children in this first big stage of their schooling.

This is the second headache to the school you have already caused, causing stress to staff and using up valuable resource. I can't wait for when you find out you may need to come in to see your child's work, sports day, musical shows, performances oh and Inset days - but I'll wait for that debate

Thanks oab. Well, your first point is a complicated one and there isn’t really space to respond here, suffice to say that barring a few times I’m not proud of, when I’ve let frustration get the better of me and poked fun at people on other political threads, I stand by almost everything I’ve written on here. However, I appreciate both your sensible, considered response, and your concern.
I agree, we need a sense of perspective in everything and I dare say everyone is right who has pointed out that there will be many further frustrations over the coming years. Having said that, this seems to me to be an eminently avoidable situation, simply by offering choice.
Imagine this scenario if you will. I, with the support of 20 of the 60 parents from this intake, have a meeting and ask the school if it will reconsider. Let’s say they do and offer a small compromise, offering all parents the choice of FT from week 3, or perhaps even half way through week 2. Let’s say 20 take it up and everyone gets something a little bit closer to what they would like. Everyone’s happy no? or certainly happier… Those that want home visits can have them, those that don’t can pass. What on earth is not to like about this situation?
If this happened and news travelled, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if other parents across the borough started asking their head teachers for the same flexibility and my school (in a thought leader / trail blazing / pioneering kinda way) will have shown it can work well and a small element of choice provide a better solution for everyone.

This comment from another thread nicely illustrates what’s possible…
My kids' school had the perfect solution IMO: in reception they can do as much, or as little, as the parents want until term after 5th birthday.
For some (most) this will be full time from day 1, for some mornings only, for others it will be some full days, some mornings. The only stipulation is that you stick with it until the end of a half term. Everyone is happy in my experience

To respond directly to point 3, if by researching an issue for which I believe a better solution can be found for both parents and children, getting input from hundreds of parents and teachers and approaching the school in a respectful way but with the courage of my convictions, makes me difficult, then so be it frankly, and if the price of affecting some change for the better ruffles a few feathers on here, then that’s fine too.

On the last point, I have enormous respect for teachers and completely agree that both the leadership and staff at the school have the best intentions when making decisions of this kind, but look, let’s not forget that this style of settling in is one school’s opinion of what’s best.

This thread has been broadly 50/50 as regards choice vs enforced half days, there are other threads where the option to have choice is the clear winner by perhaps an 80-20 margin. I know a lot of Wandsworth schools do this, as perhaps many in London too but there rest of the country is a completely different matter, so no-one should kids themselves that there’s some sort of nationwide consensus among schools that protracted settling in periods are the best option.
Several teachers and parents have commented on other threads that they feel the half days supplemented with additional childcare had the very opposite effect of that which was intended and unsettled the children. Some other teachers have even said they had to insist their child started FT because they had no other childcare options and were obviously working themselves.
Here’s a selection of posts for you to consider and just quickly, for those critical of the length of my posts – simples, scroll on, don’t bloomin read them, no-one’s forcing you to!
The vast majority of children do not need staggered starts. If individual children do, then that can be arranged.
I think a lot of schools are just used to doing staggered starts, it's what they've always done and it works for them so why change it?
What they don't appreciate is the impact on the child and family of lots of stress and difficulty, ever changing routines and childcare, at such a sensitive time for children.
In the past, when fewer children attended nursery and were often at home with mum or granny, a gentle introduction was maybe more necessary and easier to accommodate. However now something like 99% of children attend nursery or playschool by 4 - and with 30 hours funding more will attend full time - more families having to have two working parents to get by, and living further from extended family, its just not necessary or feasible.
Or
I'm so glad we contacted the school and said that DT's would be attending full time from day one (as did many other parents from nursery). Our DC's were use to a routine and attending school on a staggered basis would have been very unsettling.
Where we live the majority of parents are both working full time and don't have the flexibility to take three weeks off work. My parents live 200 miles away and DH's are overseas. What do schools expect parents to do other than start full time (as you are legally entitled to do).
Or
At our school when Dd1 started it was two weeks of half days. It was very difficult. I work in education myself and I wasn't allowed one of the weeks off and dh had similar problems.
Fast forward to when dd2 started and the new ht had them starting ft. Our school has a huge out of school club and I reckon three-quarters of families have two working parents. The ht took that into account.
Or
I've been teaching for many years now and phased entry seems to be on the decline thankfully. It is, more often than not, confusing for the children as they don't see the same faces each day and the differing routines are unsettling.
Unfortunately, many schools do it because it has always been done so. They haven't considered that there may be ways that are better for the children.
Our school does home visits in the summer term to meet the families, NOT to 'check up' on them.
Or
Well we seem to have about 50/50 teachers telling us it's in the children's best interest to settle in gradually or quickly. Some of them must be wrong. So I'm inclined to believe those that have actually tried both like mrz.
Or
I don't think it's in the children's interests to start school with a routine that changes from week to week or day to day even without adding in a hodge podge of makeshift childcare arrangements outside school hours. It's interesting that none of the teachers on the thread who've tried both have found gradual settling in to benefit the children.
Or
I agree with you OP - not all DC need this 'settling in' period and I really think schools should work with parents to identify those DC who do (and who have DPs who are willing and who can accommodate the reduced hours), without penalising those parents who really need their DC to start FT school straight away. It seems ridiculous and unfair to force this on parents who a) work or b) feel their DC don't need it. I would complain and get anyone else who feels the same way to do so. The only way to change things is to make your position known.
Or
As a reception teacher for many years I've had experience of a variety of staggered/phased entry and starting full time and I much prefer everyone starting together on the first day. IMHE children are no more tired at the end of a half term full time than when we had a staggered intake
So anyone who’s read this far will have got the picture. It is simply not the case that this excessive settling in period is viewed positively by all teachers and certainly not by parents, so perhaps a better solution is possible.
I think this thread has done exactly the job I hoped it would do, so I think I’ll leave it there. It’s shown it’s a somewhat divisive issue and in the context of that, it would seem that to offer choice is the best way to keep all parents and children happy.
I’ll post again in September and let you know the school’s response and what transpires. Thank you all for your contributions.

GuyD73,

1. It's a bad idea to use the same ID for your business and personal views.
People who thought of you as the nice guy selling fairtrade fish will now, after reading your long posts, remember you as the guy who just couldn't take the 2 weeks settling in period at his daughter's primary.

2. You need to get a sense of perspective (as mentioned by other posters as well).
Yes, I can see your point that it's a pain for parents. But you need to take advice from other parents when they say there will be lots of other annoying things in your daughter's school life.

3. You need to make an effort to start a positive relationship with your new school and teachers. Sounds like you like the school, so you are very lucky.
It wouldn't be fair on your daughter to be thought of as the girl with the difficult dad.

4. You also need to consider the point of view of the teachers.
"The school" is not just an entity you deal with, it's a group of well meaning teachers. They have a lot more experience at setting in children than you. Remember, they are not well paid but they do an amazing job of educating children, providing emotional support and so on. So treat then with respect and start a positive relationship with them, as they will spend more time with your daughter than you do.

To me this is a bit like complaining that there isn't any school at half term, and saying "Well my child doesn't need a break half way through the term so they should offer school for her".

Yes it's inconvenient and expensive to have to find childcare or take leave to cover settling in. And yes it will hit working but low paid parents the hardest. But the same could be said of all school holidays. Are you going to campaign against those too, if you feel they are too long for your particular child?

As others have said I really hope this doesn't backfire for your children.

I don't know you or your family but I honestly think what you are doing is a creating a very negative start to a parent/school relationship and I just hope it doesn't impact your children in anyway, even if indirectly. I really think you should be focusing your energy in a more positive way. As you can see a very mixed response to your post. I am shocked by the length of the posts on something so trivial and so short term in the lifetime of schooling. You obviously have a lot of time to kill ! As someone mentioned above it's the start of things to come and fortunately if you have your own business you are in a great position to juggle it all ! Insisting that the school take in your child for full days will just cause resentment and more importantly result in your child being alone in the class and being labelled a poor child with difficult parents! That said I wish you the best and I do respect your decisions to do what you feel is best for your family and others despite not agreeing with the approach.

Well, it's just that you've made it abundantly clear that you've got a lot of free time on your hands to write VERY long posts on here and you've said you've been doing the same on Mumsnet, so methinks you've got plenty of time to look after your youngest while she is doing the settling in-period, so my BS-detector was going off a bit.

Your school is probably at least good and if your first choice and walking distance (yes?) you should count your lucky stars and not give your kids unnecessary stress what with this and their ruined futures because of brexit. Put this non-issue aside and enjoy what's left of the holidays with your girls - it's nearly over already! There are enough real divisions in the world without people inventing ones that don't exist.

Sorry but my efforts will prove neither futile nor a waste of my time. I have been contacted by a significant number of people, as a result of similar posts on multiple forums and many of them are as annoyed as me and feel this is entirely unwarranted or that at the very least, parents should get a choice. I’m not going to carry on arguing with you Petal about the different demands of school vs nursery except to say both my daughters will breeze FT school from the off when the time comes and my youngest will be among the youngest in her year, having only just turned 4 when she attends for the first time. Those with more timid or less energetic children are very welcome to have as many weeks of half days as they like.
And Parsleysong, I am not dropping anything from my original post and neither was it ever a case of ‘rich vs poor’. Additional childcare costs to cover the fortnight period at the start of term might perhaps be around £400 (4 hours a day x 10). This will not be any kind of problem for anyone with a well-paid job, or indeed a FT nanny. For those on minimum wage it’s a meaningful amount of money which will in some cases mean that their child goes without, and when I say that I don’t mean they’ll starve, but that they might miss out on some new toys or clothes or a trip to the seaside – it doesn’t matter what it is, it’s a self-evident FACT that this will be the case for some families.

I have been directly contacted by lots of people too ashamed to post publicly that this is a nightmare for them for financial reasons. Perhaps you think their pain doesn't matter? Perhaps you think it's a 'storm in a teacup'? Perhaps you don't think it's not important a little girl won't get the new bike she'd hoped for, for her birthday? (because that's the £400 going elsewhere). Well my sense of fairness struggles a little bit with this I'm afraid....

Now if you have a sensible argument as to why that can’t possibly be true, or that I’m making it up perhaps, then I’d love to hear it! Trying to make out that by highlighting this FACT that I’m in some way ‘whipping up class hatred’ is one of the more tenuous claims I’ve heard on NVN (See Dudette, I can do understated!). And while we’re at it Parsleysong, you know precisely NOTHING about me other than one of the things I do is a run a local business (and continue to fight Brexit), so please don’t presume I’m ‘lucky’ or anything else for that matter. Please also, stop trying to tell me what is and isn’t important to me and what I should or shouldn’t do. Who on earth do you think you are? For the record, you won’t catch me telling anyone on here how to think or what to do (FFS).
Anyway Petal, having consulted with the DofE and most recently the LEA, (as well as having the benefit of hundreds of replies to my posts from all across the country), I will be very politely informing the school that sadly I can’t accommodate their proposed schedule and will be taking up my child’s FT place from week 2 (after 3 days of ‘settling in). I will also be informing other parents at the school of the legal obligations to the school to offer this and that they have this option, and hope that in future years a fairer system can be found that works for everyone. I’d say that is absolutely worth fighting for, and there are a great many who agree with me.

Once I've had a response from the school I will let y'all know how futile (or not) this endeavour has been

Guy, good work for dropping the "poor vs rich" angle in your headline. Stop trying to whip up class hatred when there isn't any. You are lucky in that you work for yourself flexibly and can collect your kids, like people on "the social". It's much harder for parents who work full time.

I also can't stand that you throw in evocative and loaded words like "deprived" and "entitled". You are neither! You should concentrate on building up your business rather than spending time on this non-issue.

testing testing

We can't even blame the heat for this madness.

Okay, I’ll try and respond to these multiple points as briefly as possible.

Here’s how it works currently at our school. On the first Wednesday of term, the youngest 10 kids in each class go in for half a day, on Thursday the next ten etc. Mine is among the oldest with a September birthday so she’ll do a half day on Friday. That’s all well and good, I’ll say for what feels like the millionth time how I can see how this benefits the younger or more timid children and is a good way of gently easing them into school in smaller groups. However, after that, ALL the children just do mornings for a further 2 weeks, which to my mind (and many others share this view), is completely unwarranted.

So would my child absolutely not benefit? No, I can categorically say she wouldn’t, she is being deprived of the FT education to which she is entitled. And no again, I’m not in any way being ‘difficult and argumentative’ , I believe I’m right about the school needing to offer choice and take into account the needs of working parents which is even enshrined in the admissions code. I am building a consensus and trying to put forward and strong, coherent and evidence-based argument.

Your point about nursery vs school doesn’t make a great deal of sense either. My child has done 8am til 6pm since the age of 6 months and you’re honestly suggesting to me that a 9-3 day at school is somehow more demanding of my child? NO, it’s simply not.

I asked the same question on Mumsnet yesterday which has had 46 comments (I won’t link it here out of respect for the owners of NVN). It’s clear that thousands, possibly tens of thousands of primary schools either offer the choice of PT or FT in the first 3 weeks, or simply go FT from the off in early September. Many don’t bother with home visits and interestingly, some do those home visits in July so that the kids can get straight into it in September – Bravo!

So in short, it can be done very easily and a great many schools do it, I’m just not remotely clear why this school can’t. Without wishing to be confrontational, I’m afraid this FACT completely destroys your argument.

So final point, I called the Department of education yesterday and it seems that schools do have a legal obligation to offer FT education from the start of term, so if a parent requests it, they can’t refuse. You can research the case in Bournemouth which set this precedent by looking at the link in Liver Bird’s comment. So it seems even the law is on my side I’m afraid. Hope this clarifies matters

Thanks very much for this Liverbird, it's a good and balanced article, and I think it tends to support our shared view that it's possible (and desirable) to provide choice. I've looked into some other threads and there are schools around the country that offer FT and PT in this period depending on parent choice and this should surely be the ambition of any school. I can see no reason why the school can't offer it, or that it should in any way detract from the experience of those who'd like half days for a few weeks.

Only had time to read a handful of the comments but if anyone's genuinely interested to hear what readers think about it, I urge you to read them. I think they show there's perhaps a growing sentiment to say that schools are failing in their responsibilities by NOT offering FT in a timely fashion.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/1 ... nts-anchor

There are some fairly questionable comments on this article but I agree with this one below Having said that I also agree with the comment on the Grauniad article saying any objection should be 'subtle and respectful', so I'm going to aim for that!

Several parents whose children are more than able to handle full-time schooling have tried all reasonable means to ask the school for the full-time tuition that their children are entitled to. In each case, the school has rejected their requests and provided no good reason other than "this is how we operate". A complaint at this level was necessary for the school to take action.

Note that this ruling does not prevent children from attending school part-time in the same manner as the school previously required. It merely gives parents the choice of full-time education for their children.

I believe this mum has done a great service for the other parents who were facing this issue.

PS. I will be speaking to our LEA about this issue shortly, so will post an update in case it's useful for other parents...