Postby GuyD73 » Thu Aug 10, 2017 11:52 am
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.
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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.
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! 
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.
