Parents will be fined £1 for every five minutes if they are late to pick up their kids at a Kent school. Teachers at Holy Trinity CofE Primary, in Gravesend could even ring social services if the children are still waiting to be collected at 4 pm. And if parents cannot be contacted, kids will be admitted into the care of the local authority. The new policy to prevent even a ten minute late pick-up has left parents furious.
One parent said, “As parents of the school we were shocked to receive this information from the school. Gravesend is a poor area and many parents struggle to work due to the cost of childcare. Lots of schools finish around the same time and this means that it is a struggle to get kids on time. The school used to let kids wait in the library, then we were told the library was closed for refurbishments. The school offered an after-school club a couple of years ago, but this was closed by the headmaster with little notice because it didn't make enough money.”
But the school says the costs are to cover teachers staying late to supervise the children. Headmaster Denise Gibbs-Naguar said, “The policy was introduced this week to ensure all our children are collected from school on time; this is for each individual child’s benefit as well as for the whole school. School finishes at 3:30 pm but the number of uncollected children is increasing. They are still at school at 4 pm. The school is not able to sustain this cost which is used to pay the staff for supervising those children. What’s more, pupils who are collected late often show signs of anxiety and distress as they don't know where their parent or carer is and worry that something may have happened to them. As of Monday afternoon, I had not received any response from parents or carers about the policy, but I always encourage families to contact me if they would like to discuss anything.”
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