Staggered reception start - older children

[whatwillbex]

Hi

So we went to my dd new primary school the other day and they were telling us how they do a staggered start for all the reception children to help ease the younger ones in. So they do it in batches of three gradually. I thought what a lovely idea. It's dawned on me my dd is one of the older ones so will be in the last group not potentially starting for a another 3 weeks and then only mornings.
That's 9 weeks including the summer holidays without any preschool or anything. She will be climbing the walls by then and me haha I will be at the end of my pregnancy too. Anyone else in the same situation? It just seems like a long time, luckily I'm at home but what would you do about child care if not? X

 

[pa2k84]

Were you actually told timings? It may well just be staggered for the first week so different children Mon, Tues, wed?

 

[whatwillbex]

The way they told us was in weeks. The first week the youngest will start then second week they introduce the next and so on. :/ I just assumed this is how all schools operate. Ix

 

[pa2k84]

That does seem a long time. DS1s school never did this they all just started at the same time, then did the many weeks of finishing before lunch, then after lunch then normal time - that was bad enough! Hoping when DS2 starts (next year luckily) its not too drawn out as will be working this time round.

 

[.Mrs.B.]

My friends school done this. My advice would be to take advantage of being able to do things in term time for a couple of weeks. Days out will be quiet and cheap. My son starts reception in September, he was born on the 2nd September so I'm really hoping his school do this too and I get a couple of extra weeks with him.

 

[CaptainMummy]

I've never heard of this. Here, all children start on the forst day of the new term. Until this year, they did a week of finishing at lunchtime and then normal times after that, but they are stopping that now and the new starts after the summer will be full time right away. I personally wouldn't like my daughter to start a few weeks after some of her classmates

 

[lau86]

My school does this but the older ones start first and then the younger! All my children will be the first starters. I have family to look after mine so it would be that. I remember my cousins school doing it and they were really stuck as they were both working full time- it was just a case of beg for child care! The problem was my cousins kids went to a nursery but they couldn't even do that as technically they weren't meant to be there?

 

[Nibblenic]

Our did a staggered start over 3 weeks, its fairly normal i think. Ours did it differently in whole classes but short days, so till 12, till 1, till 3.

 

[whatwillbex]

I think it's good just a shame she will be without that structure/ routine for so long and I'm worried she's going to struggle leaving me after so long as she's normally pretty independent, hope that doesn't change. She's really looking forward to it. She's been school ready since 3.5! Just going to have to be uber savy with activities to keep her occupied for that long stretch I suppose. Wouldn't be so bad if we knew some children near by. X

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Ours are in full time from start but I have requested my DD does just mornings till January. She was 4 in Feb xx

 

[george83]

My son's school does a staggered start so they have 2 new children each day until all the children are there. They did it however based on their emotional needs not their ages which to me makes more sense. I agree my ds would have gone stir crazy without anything for 9 weeks, hopefully you do manage to make the most of some days out

 

[Pearls18]

Yikes that's a long time, we would really struggle with that as we both work full time no family around. It frustrates me as my kids don't need that kind of approach, my eldest was fine just as I knew he would be and I know my youngest will be. They do 2 week staggered starts here, I feel like it's making more of a fuss than needed but easy to say for me only knowing my kids, I know others aren't.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Oh my daughter would be fine with it I think. But I feel I will never get this time back with her so this works best for both my older 2 did part time a while. Now at secondary. Time flies x

 

[Pearls18]

Oh my daughter would be fine with it I think. But I feel I will never get this time back with her so this works best for both my older 2 did part time a while. Now at secondary. Time flies x

I was more than happy for my son to start school, he was ready and it's important, I don't feel we were missing anything, he loves school, I firmly believe in quality over quantity in this context . Not saying I would want to see the staggered starts stop as I appreciate many children may benefit, but for me personally it was an unnecessary frustration and will be again so with DS2!

 

[whatwillbex]

This is the thing my dd has been more than ready for two years haha. She would do great starting the same day and would be happy to do all day. She loves routine. I agree with quality and quantity of time spent with dd. I will be heavily pregnant by the end so I'm probably not going to be a fun mummy as Im carrying quite big already and don't drive so it's going to be an interesting few weeks x

 

[pa2k84]

I think that a lot of children go to preschool for full days and quite a number of children go to nurseries for longer hours so to start them off for a couple of hours at a time does seem more for the schools/teachers benifit than the childs. Maybe an option would be better for the first few weeks but guess would not work with all schools.

 

[.Mrs.B.]

I agree, I think most children would be ready. They should offer the option to the parents. I would choose the extra weeks off but I know it might cost some parents hundreds in childcare that they hadn't planned for.

 

[MindUtopia]

I've never heard of this, but it would really annoy me and I definitely think you ought to be given the choice. I have friends who are delaying reception start (until the spring) or who only want to send them for mornings. But for those who feel their kids are ready and who would be without childcare, it seems like an awful burden. It would be a real pain as we both work full-time and are counting on the term starting on time especially as our nursery will be taking new kids from September, so childcare would have to materialise from nowhere since neither of us could take off. I'm wondering if it's more common in the bigger schools? Ours is a small village school with only about 14 reception students, many of whom already know each other from the nursery and playgroups that feed into the school. In fact, I think mine would be really upset if she didn't start at the same time as her friends.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Well despite never having any childcare my daughter did her induction morning yesterday. She stayed for 3 hours and didn't even say bye lol she ran in. Some kids were clinging to parents legs despite already being at the nursery! I think parents know kids best and we should go for best option for us! I think ours offer a half day wed and Thurs but then they staRT full time on the Friday if that's what parents agree.

 

[Sarahcake]

9 weeks omg!

My son's school are doing a 3 week start;

Week 1: wed-friday 8:45am - 11:00am
Week 2: mon-fri 8:45am -1:00pm
Week 3 and onwards 8:45am - 3:15pm

He's been going nursery full time full days since he was 2 so I don't feel like he will need the staggered start to be honest. But it is what it is. 9 weeks though is insanity!