Starting school/school hours

ailuro2

prettypennies wrote:

Before and after school clubs are not an option.

Can I ask why are they not an option- they are self financing, but do recieve some funding to help pay for equipment etc.

clairec79

That is one thing that bugs me - people say they admire a father for staying home with the kids yet often critisize a mother for the same (and for what it's worth my husband is a stay at home dad)

Zziggi

black-saturn wrote:

Maybe your son should be at a special school? If he doesn't like hustle and bustle he won't like it in school either.

But there'd be hustle and bustle in a special school too.

BTW he was tested when aged 4yrs & 1 month. He was found to be functioning (intellectually) at AT LEAST the level of a 7 year old. The local special school(secondary dept.) don't enter kids for any GCSEs. A mainstream school with minor assistance which educates children with a view to sitting GCSEs when they are 16 is a more appropriate route to take at the minute.
If I thought a special school was needed or appropriate then I would.

funky-footprints wrote:

this is exactly why i had no choice but to be a stay at home mum, we could not find the child care .. our kids go to school out of catchment (not our choice the local school was full when we moved here) there are no pre-or after school clubs .. all the child minders in the area are all ready full up and cater for other schools, likewise childminders where we live cater for schools in our area.

Ditto

silvercar wrote:

From a safety point of view your childminder would be better getting your child first because:

a) getting one child out of school will be quicker than gathering 3 children leaving the others alone for a shorter time.
b) at least the others waiting will all be waiting together rather than alone.

Yes, hence why i wanted DS to be picked up first then for the childminder to go to the other school.

Tw1nklestar - thanks, your comments are really useful Re:IEP but also how the staff may need to feedback info to me. Food for thought.

prettypennies

ailuro2 wrote:

Can I ask why are they not an option- they are self financing, but do recieve some funding to help pay for equipment etc.

It is a small school so I assume there would not be enough children attending to cover the costs.

The school has run a few after school activities such as football and rugby. A small charge was made for these and the teacher stayed voluntarily.

To be quite honest, (although I appreciate that they are a valuable resource for parents who wish to work full time) I am not a huge fan of pre and post school clubs for young children.
6 hours at school is a long enough I believe.
I just have the twins and they are growing so quickly I don't want to miss out on their childhood. (Possibly a reaction to my parents both working full time when I was a kid).

The problem with these clubs is it gives employers the opportunity to push part-time in to taking on more hours than they want to do.

I don't want anyone who works full time to think I'm having a go at them, it just horses for courses.

BernadetteN

As a childminder (who picked up from 2 schools last year a mile apart that finish within 10 minutes of eachother) and the mother of a primary school aged child on the autistic spectrum and also someone who has NO family within 350 miles for support, I am afraid that I can see your problem as mainly a logistical one and my sympathies lie with the school.

In my own situation last year, when I had no-one able to pick my own children up from their school which finishes at 3.15, I walked first to the school of my mindee which finished at 3.05. I usually made it to my children's school at around 3.25 and always phoned if I was going to be later. I had an informal agreement with the head that my children would sit inside the school and wait for me on these days. The head teacher allowed me to be late because I give alot of my time to the school and knew that this would be happening once or twice a week only. He would NOT however have tolerated a request for my children to be let out early as that is an unreasonable request which would impact on the other 60 children in my children's classes whereas them being picked up late does not impact upon the school's routine.

It was not an ideal situation and I have now dropped my mindee because of this situation.

I would suggest that you look for an alternative childminder who can pick up your child on time, find another parent who could help you out, find an after-school club. Perhaps whilst you are doing this, you could ask your head to let your child wait for the childminder inside the school after classes are finished - there is another child in my children's school who started Year R with a statement for autistic spectrum and every day he is at school he goes to the secretary (and becomes her special helper) whilst he waits up to 30 minutes for the after-school bus to pick him up - if this happened with your son he might really enjoy the responsibility of operating the photocopier for example!

My children's school is NOT a child care facility.

Savvy_Sue

ailuro2 wrote:

Can I ask why are they not an option- they are self financing, but do recieve some funding to help pay for equipment etc.

Because they're self-financing, they have to have enough children wanting to come. As prettypennies said, hers is a small school, and in a small school it's hard to make them both viable AND affordable. Plus you have to have people mug enough to put a huge amount of time and effort into setting them up (I know, I've done it twice!) and even then, there is no guarantee of long-term viability (I know, I've seen the two clubs I help set up fold after I left!)

An alternative is a club serving a group of schools, but the logistical problems of getting children safely from all schools to the venue are at least as difficult as those facing the OP! (I know, I've done that too!)

ruthyjo

I read this thread yesterday but was thinking about it at work today. I think a lot's been said about how your problem is mainly logistical with which I would agree. However if you decide to go ahead and "play the disability card" I had another couple of thoughts I don't think anyone expressed.

If I was the head and you were telling me that your child couldn't cope with the end of the school day because of his special needs on the two days you haven't arranged for a pick up for him I would expect the child to be collected early every single day. After all if he can't cope on some days he's unlikely to cope on any. I'd also query whether he could be dropped off at a busy time in the morning if he was unable to cope on an evening and possibly require you to drop him off late/keep him in the car until everyone else had gone in or similar. I'd also query whether the child could cope with unstructured lunch times and possibly require you to take him home for lunch too.

I think some people on the thread advised you to go to the governing body of the school. I've got to say as a governor I'd back the head on this one and I think most governors would feel the same.

I also think that going in now arguing special needs over a logistical problem will look very poor. If your child finds new or busy situations stressful as you've outlined I think it would be reasonable to expect that a parent would have addressed the question of routine long before the start of term. Trying to use the mild special needs now will mean they are unlikely to be taken seriously in the future when you really need them to be.

Also if I was a parent of one of the other three children the childminder minds I would not consider it acceptable for my child to be rushed off to get a child from another school after school. I would expect that my child would be able to come out at their own pace, chat in the playground, possibly play on the play equipment at the school if there is any etc.

This all sounds very negative, but I think you have put yourself in quite a poor position. If your child is under 5 you should be entitled to take unpaid leave for upto thirteen weeks before his fifth birthday. I would take some of that and use the time to settle him into school and sort out an adequate childcare arrangement.

silvercar

I have read this thread again and have every sympathy for your situation. I changed career at one point in order to accomodate my childrens school hours. This does seem to be a most difficult stage, at least babies stay in one place and don't need ferrying around.

Your problems seem to boil down to one issue,

ruthyjo wrote:

.....................sort out an adequate childcare arrangement.[/QUOTE]

You don't have adequate childcare that fits around your work and your children's education. This is the issue you have to address. Either change your working hours or find different childcare. I know it seems harsh but any other option is going to leave you balancing on a tightrope. Either you worry every day about your child feeling abandoned at the end of the school day or you risk getting the back up of the staff. Something you really don't want to do on Day 1.

Kimberley

My boys school finishes at 3.15, but they don't come out until 3.25ish and even then kids are still being picked up 10 mimutes later, i wouldn't worry about it, most classes don't end as soon as the bell goes.

sticher

Kimberley wrote:

My boys school finishes at 3.15, but they don't come out until 3.25ish and even then kids are still being picked up 10 mimutes later, i wouldn't worry about it, most classes don't end as soon as the bell goes.

In my son's infants school, every class comes out at exactly the same time 3.05 virtually every day. Every child has to stay with the teacher until they see their parent/person who collects them. This all takes approximately 5 or so minutes. I have been late on the rare occasion when children are then taken to the office.

My middle son comes out of the Juniors at 3.10 - these classes come out at all times, sometimes much later.

I have a friend who works as a CA in the infants and who has on occasion kept my son with her after school - as a 'special helper'. The trouble is that no children are allowed to be left alone.

I have also been in the position where my middle son (in a wheelchair for 2 years) had to go into school early to avoid the rush (at the schools request) - we went in every morning, but I had to stay with him until the teacher arrived.

I now have a similar problem to the OP (after 13 years of being a SAHM with part time jobs to fit round the children). I am about to start a full-time college course and find myself with a lack of childcare. I have paid quite a bit for the course and it is something I have always wanted to do, so am reluctant to drop out. There is a local after school club (YMCA), but this charges £9+ per day, per child - I simply cannot afford it.

At the moment, I am considering asking friends to hold on to the boys, until my eldest (very sensible 13) could take them home - but don't really feel totally happy with that as I have only just started letting them stay home together when I pop to the shops. Would that be totally irresponsible? (they are ages 8, 9 and 13 and usually quite sensible).