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A headteacher has introduced a 'fee' for parents who are 'regularly significantly late' when picking their kids up from school.
The primary school, which is based in Folkestone, Kent, has put its foot down when it comes punctuality.
In a newsletter, headteacher of the St Peter’s Church of England Primary School, Toni Browne, warned that pupils who are regularly not picked up on time will be put into the afterschool club and that parents would be charged for it.
Browne outlined the new rules in a newsletter which read: "We have an increasing number of children who are being collected late at the end of the day, without the office being informed or any apology to staff.
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"Staff have work to complete once children have been dismissed and arriving late to collect your child prevents staff from being able to get on with their work.
"From Term 2, children who are collected late from school on more than one occasion, will be put into after school club and a fee of £6.00 will apply."
She continued: "We understand that occasionally lateness can’t be avoided and in these cases it is important you call the school office, so we know you are running late."
Currently, no parents have been charged since the new rules were introduced.
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And while some may be a tad miffed by the proposed change, Folkestone Harbour ward councillor Nicola Keen has come forward to support the new rule.
"I don’t think this is unreasonable as children can be very anxious if their parents are late to pick them up," she explained.
"It does not take long for parents to let the school know if they are going to be late. I just encourage all parents to communicate clearly with them."
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The councillor continued: "I would be very surprised if the school would actually have to enforce this.
"The pastoral care within this school is absolutely amazing."
A spokesperson for Kent County Council added: "Parents were informed at the start of November 2023 that pupils who are collected late from school on more than one occasion, will be put into afterschool club and a fee of £6 may be applied.
"The school appreciates that there may be occasions where late collection is unavoidable and simply asks that parents keep the school informed.
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"The school works closely with parents and since this announcement was made no parent has been asked to make such a payment."
Browne told Tyla: "We do not plan and have never planned to charge our parents who fail to pick their children up on time.
"We run an after school child care provision for those families who need it, for which there is a charge of £6.00. The provision runs daily from 3:15 - 5:00pm and includes a light meal.
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"We had a very small number of families in term 1 who were regularly significantly late collecting their children (over 15 minutes late, sometime up to 25 minutes late). These children were placed into after school club (free of charge) until their parents arrived.
"We are always very happy to support families who notify school on the rare occasion when they are running a few minutes late and we would never charge for those genuine occasions.
"However, where parents are regularly significantly late and the children have to be placed into after school club, the school informed parents that they would be required to pay for the provision.
"After sharing the information in the newsletter back in October, regular, significant lateness without notification has ceased and we have not charged any family for the use of after school club due to unnotified significant lateness.
"We have not received any concerns or objections raised by parents/carers in our school community in relation to the information shared in the newsletter in October 23.
"We have good relationships with our parents and the pastoral support offered at St Peter's is recognised as being excellent."
Rhiannon Ingle