Before Your Child Starts School

We all want to do our best to enable your child to settle into school as smoothly as possible, and we do a range of activities to achieve this. Once you have received a letter offering your child a place, we hold a meeting for parents in school (usually May) to get to know you and find out about your child. Then we have the following:

An afternoon in school in June

We would like you to bring your child to school on this occasion, so that he/she can meet the other children in the class and the teacher and teaching assistant.

Activity Afternoons

We have four Activity Afternoons on Fridays in June from 2.30 to 3 to continue this process.

Rainbow sacks

In school we have a large number of Rainbow sacks, full of toys, games and activities based on a theme. At the Activity Afternoons, Reception children can choose a Rainbow sack to take home to play with and return it the following week. The topics include Bob the Builder, Noah’s Ark, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and lots more.

Starting School!

When it gets nearer to September, here are some ideas to help get your child ready for school

1. Talk about starting school and encourage your child to look forward to making new friends and learning new things.
2. Aim to make sure your child is going to be happy about leaving you. If you have used a playgroup this will probably not be an issue but, if not, try to leave your child with friends or relatives for a few hours on a regular basis to give them confidence that you will return for them.
3. Have a positive and relaxed attitude to school.

By far the most important way to prepare your child for school is to give him practical independence. It is a great confidence-builder for your child if he/she can do these things:

1. Dress and undress
2. Remove outdoor clothes and hang them up.
3. Tie shoelaces (if possible).
4. Use the toilet properly and flush the toilet after use.
5. Wash and dry hands
6. Use a knife and fork.
7. Tidy and clear away toys.
8. Use a handkerchief/tissue efficiently.
9. Share toys and be prepared to take turns.

The First Day

On the first morning do try to allow plenty of time so that you do not have to rush them getting dressed and also have time for a drink and some breakfast.

Starting school can be exhausting - emotionally, physically, socially and mentally, so do not be surprised if your child comes home feeling tired.  A meal, a bath, a cuddle and a story before getting him/her to bed early will be a great help.

Most children settle into school quickly and happily, but if there are any problems, or you are worried about anything please ask. Things are usually easily sorted out, particularly if dealt with in good time.  Sometimes children appear tearful when leaving you in the morning, but will be perfectly happy within minutes once they see the interesting activities there are.  If there is any real problem we will of course talk to you about it.  One last thing - try, please try not to compare children.  They all develop at different rates and you can be sure that if you talk to, and encourage your child by listening to him/her, he or she will make the most of their opportunities in school.

A Typical Day

What did you do today?  Ask this question in the first few weeks and you will almost certainly get “not much”, “I’ve forgotten”, or “I played with -------”.

Perhaps the following will help.

After registration at 8.45, we do various activities in our classroom that prepare the children for reading, writing and Mathematics, and let them experience art and craft and imaginative play.  Many of these activities are often linked to a topic or theme which we explore for half or one term.

At 10.55 to 11.15 am we have a break when the children play in the playground (weather permitting) or in the classroom.  Activities then continue until 11.50am when we prepare for lunch.  Lunch time is from 12 to 12.30pm with twenty minutes afterwards to play after eating.

The afternoon session is from 12.50 pm to 3pm.  We often use part of this session for music, drama, P.E. or dance.  At the end of every day the school meets together for collective worship, where we have a story, poem, or discussion; a hymn, and a prayer. 

As we often take advantage of good weather for outdoor P.E. sessions it is important that P.E. clothes are at school Monday to Friday and warm jogging bottoms are needed in the winter.

Helping Your Child with Maths, Reading and Writing

Maths

You can help by showing your child that maths is everywhere. Ask questions such as : Have we got enough? How long is that? Is this bigger or smaller?

Reading

• Choose books together
• Make reading a special time
• Choose information books as well as stories
• Look at the pictures together
• Talk about the book
• Be seen reading yourself – otherwise what is reading for?!

Writing

Please do not try to teach your child his/her A (ay) B (bee) C (see)  before starting school as we use the phonetic alphabet in the early stages.  If you need to talk about a letter please use the letter sound i.e.  the sound ‘a’ as in apple, ‘b’ as in ball, ‘c’ as in cap etc.  If your child shows interest in learning to write his/her name please use lower case letters, not block capitals, and make sure the letters are formed correctly.

Remember that if your child says it’s writing, it is!

The Legal Situation

Legally every child should be in school in the term following their 5th birthday. Gloucestershire Local Authority’s policy is for all children to start school in the September of the academic year in which they become 5 (ie some children will only have just had their 4th birthday when they start school in September)

Choosing a School

There is a range of information available for parents to help them choose a school – Ofsted Reports, School Profile, Performance Tables etc – but the most useful source of information is to talk to other parents, then visit the school!  At Hatherop Primary we hold an Open Day in the summer term when everyone is welcome to see the resources and to see our children showcase some of our activities.  Prospective parents are also welcome to visit the school during a school day – appointments can be made by contacting the school office.

Parents need to contact the school of their choice early in the Autumn term of the year before their child is due to start school. The Local Authority will then confirm with parents their choice of school. By March they will write to parents offering places – parents have the right of appeal if they are not happy with this. By May we will know which pupils will be starting in September and will be in touch with you.