nursery not being inclusive?

[PRINCESSDAISYFLOWER]

Mum picked up mindee from nursery last week, he was visibly upset. it turned out that, that week they had a "walk to school" scheme, Mindee is dropped off to school by mum each day as mum has to drop younger sibling off to me and get to work (she is a nurse) she gets to work 30mins late every day and makes this time up in her lunch hour.

She does this because she personally wants to take her ds to nursery.

Anyway because mindee doesnt walk to nursery (he walks home with me) he was the ONLY child in his class not to get a certificate. He is only 4 and this made him really upset.

Mum had a go at mindees teacher, out of 25 children this mindees mum is the only one with a f/t job and feels her son in being penalised for this, what do you guys think?

[louise]

Poor kid, there was no reason to leave them out. I know from being in school last week it was national walk to school week. They asked the kids how they normally get to school and then how they did each day. Me and my friends were talking about it saying that for some people its not always practical to walk to school as like you say some parents have jobs to go straight to. My son walked every day but thats as I don't drive and he didn't get no certificate.

[singingcactus]

I've seen that scheme before and most schools who run it find ways to ensure children who are unable to walk to school find another way to do the walk. I don't agree with every child getting a certificate and there never being any winners BUT I do think this is a hateful scheme that deliberately sets out to exclude young children who have absolutely no control whatsoever over the way they get transported to school!
If the little boy walks home then he should still have got the certificate! That absolutely sucks.

[Mouse]

I think mum is right to be upset about it.

We always have a similar issue with school when they have their walk to school week. My DH drives DD to school & then goes straight to work. I can't walk her due to the aririval times of my little mindees and he can't walk her because he has to go to work in the car.
One of the teachers gave her a really hard time about it because they had to get as many people walking as possible. She felt awful about it and pleaded with us to let her walk by herself. In the end we compromised - DH parks one street away from school and they walk the rest of the way. At least then DD can say she's walked

[manjay]

I think this is a great scheme if it is handled sensibley by the school. Our village takes children from a wide area so it is impractical to expect everyone to walk. I guess it is more aimed at the parents who live 2 minutes from the school, have no where to go but still insist on driving to school. All our children took part and the ones who were unable to walk pledged to walk the equivilant at the weekend.

[blue bear]

When mine did this we were encouraged to park by a friends house and walk to school with them ( we travelled 4 miles to school because of special need) teacher got caught out when the whole class decided that they were friends with the child that lived next to the school lol!

Nursery should have spoken to mum before/ during walking week, surely they know her circumstances as we should work in partnership with parents? They could have then negotiated a possible compromise especially as he is only 4 and he does walk home with you.

[Twinkles]

I wonder how many of the teachers walked to school ?

[The Juggler]

that is awful and the most ridiculous thing is the child does walk everyday - just home FROM school not to it. What difference??????

I think this is shocking

[Chimps Childminding]

that is awful and the most ridiculous thing is the child does walk everyday - just home FROM school not to it. What difference??????

I think this is shocking

I agree!!! If he walks home he should still have got a certificate

[mandy moo]

[QUOTE=Twinkles;932321]I wonder how many of the teachers walked to school ?[/QUOTE]

We have walk to school week too, and Ive often wondered that.
we are a small village school, 8yr groups inc nursery & reception, all the parking spaces (15-20 spaces) are taken by staff as parents are not allowed to park in the car park.

When will teachers recognise its not down to the child wether they walk to school that week or not, it will be the parents descision <sp?>
and as someone else says that parents may have to go to work, droping the child off on the way.
My eldest Ds was picked up on this one year, before I started minding I was Nannying for a friend in a town 8 miles away. I had to drive my kids to school, to able to get to work on time.
I did actually tell him to ask the teacher to talk to me about it if she had a problem with him be brought in the car,
I never did hear any thing from the teaching staff about it.

[onceinabluemoon]

I think its bad in one way but fair in another...

I think the Mum could have parked a couple of streets away and made an effort to walk the last bit (5 minutes?) so ensure her child joined in but she chose not to do this, equally the nursery could have made some effort in getting the child to walk an equivalent distance.

BUT
At the end of the day (sorry cliché) the certificate is given for walking to school which your mindee didn't do and with the best will in the world (another cliché...) its totally unfair on the children whose parents did make the effort if a child gets a certificate even though they didn't do something. I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion but really what is the point of making an effort if you can get 'the goods' for just doing nothing? I have been angry so many times because I've made the effort to do something (even at the cost of missing university lectures!) so my children will get a prize or a certificate and another parent has gone and whined to the teacher about who they simply couldn't do it and their child has also gotten a certificate anyway, it made a mockery of my effort and made me wonder what the point of trying was...

Sorry but I think Mum should shoulder some of the blame as she didnt bother to ensure her child joined in, I know it would have meant 5 minutes less lunchtime but it's once a year...

[Jiorjiina]

To a certain extent I agree with you, onceinabluemoon, but the boy was the only one in his class who didn't get a certificate, for something that he had no control over. This is what I find most disturbing.

I totally agree with not giving out certificates and prizes to everyone regardless, but the child's mother is already arriving 30 mins late at work because she is dropping off the youngest ones at the OP's for minding, so there really isn't anything else she could do.

Under those circumstances, it shouldn't make a difference if the walk is to school, or away from it (particularly if the other kids are picked up by car at the end of the nursery day).

Incidentally, I can't help but feel that parking only a short distance away and then walking the last part to school is basically cheating. What it's saying to children is "It's OK to take massive short cuts as long as you do the last, most visible bit by yourself".

(Not that I'm blaming people who did this because of distance/time limitations, but it does show up a big flaw in the scheme if all you have to do to get a certificate is arrive on foot and then say you walked.)

[Chimps Childminding]

I agree with not giving out certificates willy nilly, BUT if the child walked HOME from school surely that is still walking even if it isn't to school and I would have let hiim have a certificate, especially if he was the only child who didn't get one

[nokidshere]

I disagree with the rewarding of children for any reason that they have no control over.

Its easy to say everyone should do it - espcially if they are local - but sometimes there is just not enough time if you are a working parent to walk your child to school and back and then go back for the car to take you to work. Or the person driving may have physical problems that means they cant walk - there are any number of "unseen" reasons that might make people drive.

I have had words with both my own childrens school and the private school some mindees go to over this subject - and on the contents of lunchboxes -on more than one occasion.

[alwaysright]

i think like every one else that this is awful! we had walk to school week last week as well and i cant walk as i collect a young baby at school as mum drops off older brother she then has to go on to another school so i already have to leave early to collect him when i have other children in the car, i said to my daughter tell sir we cant walk to school but we can walk home, appararntely thats not acceptable!! ridiculous! what difference does it make if we walk to or from school!! she didnt get her certificate either! and neither did the brother of the baby as miss said he didnt walk....his mum has to get another child with additional needs to another school but this isnt taken into consideration

[Flisspaps]

I'd make him a special certificate for walking home from school, and then post it to his house - with some stickers or something in it.

Getting something in the post is probably the most exciting thing in the world that can happen to a four year old.

Not very often I say this, but *** the school.

[acorns]

Had I been the lo's Mum, i would have parked a short distance from the Nursery and walked!

[The Juggler]

Had I been the lo's Mum, i would have parked a short distance from the Nursery and walked!

but the poor mum is driving and doing this purely so she is able to take LO to nursery and drop another child somewhere else. Surely that is more important than droppign her somewhere else at 7.30 in the morning - she's even giving up half her lunch break so she can do this