More than one school drop off?

**Bitsy Beans** · 27-09-2010, 12:48 PM

How many of you drop off at more than one school?
I currently have to drop mindee off at the linked junior school before heading back to the infant school to drop off my DS.
I currently walk there pushing my kids in a tandem pushchair and if I am honest I am finding it a rush - it takes me 40 mins to do both drops offs this way.
How do you all cope having to do drop off's at more than one school?
Looking forward I know I am going to have to do this drop off when my DS goes there but that fills me with dread having to potentially lug future mindees there in the same way I do with my own 2 at the moment. It's not a nice walk next to a really busy road and I don't own a 7 seater people carrier or anything so using the car isn't really an option.

Not sure what the point of this post was really - a bit of a whinge I suppose

I appreciate no one can really do or suggest anything but boy do I now appreciate having a primary school all on one site

**Ali56** · 27-09-2010, 01:36 PM

I don't envy you I have to say!

I live in a tiny village so there is only one school to drop off at! We do have to jump in the car two days to drop off at the pre-school in the next village but timing wise it all fits. There's nothing really to say except at least it keeps you fit, sounds like such a rush for you-there are advantages to village life then!!

**LisaMcNally09** · 27-09-2010, 02:24 PM

I drop off at 2 schools and i am struggling tbh. It takes me about 40 minutes too but when my kids move schools (see other posts

) i'll only have the one school to do so looking forward to it!!

In a positive way my kids got to do all the after school clubs so it was more manageable but they arent going to be able to when they move unless mindees want to go to any aswell

**funfunfun** · 27-09-2010, 04:31 PM

I do 2 if my OH isnt here to take my own children

If he isnt i do it ......... my youngest goes to infant school and eldest to juniors they are 2 seperate schools .

Can be a pain IN THE BACKSIDE though especially as some mindees i have at 8.30 drop off i have to wizz off straight away if i have my mindees with me we need to they are slow ......and as one school is 8.45 the other 9 start !!

On pick up i have a double pushchair
(which is v heavy as the kddies arnt the smallest) and my son along with another mindee and they are all small ones (had a variation granted)

It takes about 20-30 mins for each way 1 hour in a morn 1 hour at tea time then inbetween at lunchtime i have to pick up my own son....which probablly adds another 30 mins

........kids love the walk though .

**Bitsy Beans** · 27-09-2010, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by funfunfun

I do 2 if my OH isnt here to take my own children

If he isnt i do it ......... my youngest goes to infant school and eldest to juniors they are 2 seperate schools .

Can be a pain IN THE BACKSIDE though especially as some mindees i have at 8.30 drop off i have to wizz off straight away if i have my mindees with me we need to they are slow ......and as one school is 8.45 the other 9 start !!

On pick up i have a double pushchair
(which is v heavy as the kddies arnt the smallest) and my son along with another mindee and they are all small ones (had a variation granted)

It takes about 20-30 mins for each way 1 hour in a morn 1 hour at tea time then inbetween at lunchtime i have to pick up my own son....which probablly adds another 30 mins

........kids love the walk though .

Sadly the walk to the junior school is alongside a busy main road and the pavement is very narrow. We managed to see a squashed rat the other morning - nature at it's best

The walk to infants is far nicer (and takes 5 mins with my slowest mindee).

Like you I am pushing a double buggy and my son sits at the front so it's not a pleasant task having push him and my not so lightweight 2 year old aswell.

Spoke to mindee's mum tonight as they've been dropping her off at school in the morning since last week. Broached the subject of them changing contracts to just afternoon pickup and mindee's mum seemed happy to consider it (I think she was going to mention it to me anyway).
So at least I might have a temporary reprieve

**mushpea** · 27-09-2010, 07:25 PM

I drop off and collect from 3 schools,, 1 school is 5min ish walk through an estate to the 2nd school and the 3rd school is right next door,, so i drop off at the first school at 8.40 am then my son runs ahead (he loves running) to go to the 2nd juinor school to be in by 8.50am and is never late then the 3rd school is infants and they are in by 8.55am, as long as all schools run on time its not a problem getting them all there on time,, also both schools know i do the 3 drops and understand if i am late getting to the 3rd one for pick up,, the 2nd and 3rd are just accross the play ground to each other so
not aproblem,,, the children know we have to do the 'mad dash' between schools and race each other on the way!, the whole process takes around 30mins .
the only time its a problem is in the snow as it slows us down!

**venus89** · 27-09-2010, 07:42 PM

Only one - I refuse to do any more. But then I only take preschool children, and my school pickup is my own children.....

But I know minders who do 3 or more, dashing from school to school and the schools often have to hold the children in late so the childminder can pick up. It works for them but it's not for me. I like a simple life..... And tbh I don't agree (sorry) with dragging the children around like that - on my DHC there were cms who had aybe half an hour at home in the mornings by the time they'd dropped off here, there and everywhere then gone out again for the lunchtime pickups..... That's not how I see childminding, driving around all morning from school to school......

**karen m** · 27-09-2010, 07:53 PM

i drop at 3 schools,but don't do any pre-schools so after 9 we do our own things with lo that don't go pre-school,

**Ripeberry** · 27-09-2010, 08:06 PM

There are 3 schools within 2 miles of me, but they all start at the same time 8.45am and they don't allow kids to go in before 8.30am, so really I'd be useless for other schools as I would make sure MY own kids were in on time but all others would always be late being dropped off and picked up.

It would only work for pre-schools as they all start at 9am and have staggered finishes so I would have the choice of at least 4 pre-schools

**mushpea** · 28-09-2010, 05:59 AM

Originally Posted by venus89

Only one - I refuse to do any more. But then I only take preschool children, and my school pickup is my own children.....

But I know minders who do 3 or more, dashing from school to school and the schools often have to hold the children in late so the childminder can pick up. It works for them but it's not for me. I like a simple life..... And tbh I don't agree (sorry) with dragging the children around like that - on my DHC there were cms who had aybe half an hour at home in the mornings by the time they'd dropped off here, there and everywhere then gone out again for the lunchtime pickups..... That's not how I see childminding, driving around all morning from school to school......

I walk the kids from school to school and certainly dont drag them,,they make a race of it and leave me behind!,, I am not ususaly late for any child as long as the schools run on time and the parents know that i do the 3 schools and the mad dash each day before they even start.
ofsted and the EYFS state children need excersise and fresh air and thats certaininly what we get each day so i dont see the problem, if parents didnt like it they wouldnt send their chldren here and if the kids didnt like it they would moan or cry all they way which they dont.

**Tina O** · 28-09-2010, 06:14 AM

School runs! got to love them .....

I'm very lucky at the moment I have two boys (10+) they are both at different schools, then I have 3 'afterschoolers' coming from two different schools. BUT they all arrive to my frontdoor on school buses.....

so for me it's 4 school buses a day xx

**venus89** · 28-09-2010, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by mushpea

I walk the kids from school to school and certainly dont drag them,,they make a race of it and leave me behind!,, I am not ususaly late for any child as long as the schools run on time and the parents know that i do the 3 schools and the mad dash each day before they even start.
ofsted and the EYFS state children need excersise and fresh air and thats certaininly what we get each day so i dont see the problem, if parents didnt like it they wouldnt send their chldren here and if the kids didnt like it they would moan or cry all they way which they dont.

Well bearing in mind that I was talking about childminders I have met who would spend most of a morning DRIVING children from school to school to playgroup and had made arrangements to leave some children at school later than their peers had gone home so they could fit in all their school runs then perhaps this wasn't aimed at you so you can get down off your high horse - I'm perfectly well aware that children need fresh air and exercise, thank you.

**wellybelly** · 28-09-2010, 11:58 AM

I have 3 schools to drop off to in the space of 15 minutes. Some days it works, others it doesn't but I'm not seen as one of the late ones. The junior and nursery schools are next door to each other but the infant school is a good distance. I leave at 8:15am to ensure I get a parking space outside the junior / nursery school. I take kids into them at about 8:30 and then we do the walk or part drive to the infant school. Normally we walk between schools but I'm using my car more at the moment because I'm 6 months pregnant and it helps me otherwise I'd collapse in a heap. The schools have a steep hill between them so it kills me at times.

Before I had my 7 seater, I walked and it was a 2 1.2 mile round trip. I hated it but ofsted loved it because of all the fresh air and exercise the children were getting. We may go back to walking in the near future because my car is expensive to run.