Every child is different but to make the transition from either Nursery, childminder or being at home to going to school five days a week a little bit easier, the main things that would help your child are being able to speak clearly to others, listening to others and following simple instructions, being able to go to the toilet by themselves and being able to carry out small tasks independently.
When your child is at school, they are more than likely going to be in a class of 30 children. There will usually be one teacher and one TA, though some schools do have additional staff, which is fabulous. This will be a lot of new faces, there will be a lot of new routines to learn and a lot of new rooms to become acquainted with: hall, playground, classroom, outdoor learning space, corridors, toilets etc.
Your child will be doing a lot of settling in when they first start. This may be seen in different ways in different schools. Some schools run settling in sessions in the summer term, some do teacher home visits, some do a staggered start so some children start earlier in the term than others, some schools may do reduced hours at first, working up to a full school day. Each school is different.
The teachers will also be assessing the children by watching them while they play and have specific activities set up to see how they interact with others and the resources in the classroom. The reason behind this is so they can see how to tailor their future lessons to the abilities of the children within the class.
Contact your child’s prospective school to enquire about how they settle their Reception children in.
How Do I Prepare My Child For School In The UK?
Talk to them about school. What it is, when they’ll go, what they’ll wear, what activities they might do, why they’re going. There are so many conversations you can have with them.
In the months up to their school start date, speak to them every few days about a different aspect of school life so it’s not an overwhelming amount of new information for them all in one go. It is a big change.
If your child has older siblings, invite the older siblings into the conversation about what happens at school.
You could set up a role play area in your living room or play room and act out what school will be like.
In the weeks and days up to your child’s first day, get them to try their new uniform on. I like to wash ours first then add name labels into everything. These are our favourite labels at a reasonable price.
We got our daughter to wear her new school shoes around the house. It helped that hers had Elsa from Frozen on the inside. Last year’s Nursery ones had different Disney princesses. Such a great idea. They’re black on the outside but princesses on the inside.
Then, do a practice run of walking to school (or travelling if walking is not possible). Have a look at where the entrance to the school is. Talk about what will happen and that you’ll miss them when they’re there but you’ll come to collect them in the afternoon.
Another activity we did was to read a story book about school to our daughter. We found a sticker book helped like this one. It made it interactive. We did a page at a time and she enjoyed it and was learning about school life at the same time.
Check out my post about old-school activities you can do with your preschooler. These kinds of activities can prepare them for school through practising turn taking.
As well as doing specific school-related chat and activities, you can also do any kind of play activity, reading with your child and taking them places. These will all support your child’s knowledge of the world and how to communicate with others and help them when it comes to joining Reception class.
Check out my post here on water play with toddlers.
What Should a 4-Year-Old Know Academically?
Every child is different and progresses at a different rate, however, there are documents online which give some ideas as to what is expected of a 4-year-old by the professionals. If your 4-year-old isn’t able to do certain things on the list, assess how appropriate the skill is for them at this time and it may be something to work on them with.
The Ages and Stages document is one that health visitors use in the UK to assess whether a child or parent needs additional support. I shall link it here.
The main skills to be assessing before your child starts school are:
- Communication – Are they easy to understand? Can they talk in sentences using correct verb forms e.g. -ing/-ed/-s words such as playing/played/plays? Can they answer simple questions about everyday things?
- Gross Motor – Can they catch, throw, hop, jump and balance?
- Fine motor – Can your child, draw lines, colour reasonably accurately, draw people, use scissors and buttons?
- Problem-solving – Can your child remember a list and say it, use location vocabulary e.g. under, on etc, know colours, pretend play, count five objects correctly?
- Personal-Social – Can your child brush their teeth, wash their hands, serve themselves food, tell you their friends’ names, get dressed or undressed by themselves?
School Readiness Checklist UK
This is a checklist of skills I wanted our daughter to have before she started school.
Pick which ones you’d like your child to master and start a few months before starting school practising the skills with them.
- Be toilet trained
- Know how to ask to go to the toilet
- Put some clothes on independently
- Put their own shoes on (doesn’t matter if they’re on the right feet)
- Listen to and follow simple instructions
- Help tidy up
- Tell someone their full name
- Say the alphabet confidently
- Count up to 20
- Know colours
- Enjoy stories and discuss them
- Talk about their likes
- Have some understanding of taking turns
Here is a list of things I hadn’t thought of before my daughter started school but are good skills to know:
- Open their snack/lunchbox un-aided (we practised the night before and realised our daughter couldn’t open the box I’d picked so we had to change snack box)
- Open a banana/satsuma independently
- Open their rucksack by themselves
- Know which shoe goes on which foot
- Use a knife and fork
- Put their own coat on
What Should I Do If My Child Cries On The First Day Of School?
If your child cries on the first day, speak with the class teacher about what they would recommend. I would recommend giving your child a hug, tell them you love them, you will miss them and you will see them later after school and then at the first opportunity after speaking with the teacher to make them aware of the situation and making sure your child is either engaged in an activity or with the teacher, leave.
You are not the only parent and child going through this. It’s an emotional time but take solace in the fact it’s not just you and your child. After all, your child may have only recently turned four or may never have attended any other childcare apart from family members, or they may miss their siblings who are still at home, or they may know no-one else in the class, or they may have invisible disabilities or neuro-divergences or they may just want their mummy. There are so many reasons why children may be upset in the first days of school and they are all valid reasons.
Speak with the class teacher and ask for help.
Give your child a hug and tell them you’ll miss them but you’ll see them in the afternoon when school has finished.
The teacher may then give your child a hug and reassure them. Or they may use distraction to tempt the child to think of other things. Maybe they’ll show them the activities set up round the classroom.
Now, is the time to leave. Don’t drag it out. You’ve said goodbye. You’ve said you’ll be back.
And then hopefully at the end of the day, you’ll turn up to a smiling little one who has done lots, but as we all know, when asked what did they do, will say, “Nothing!”
But my advice, would be to always speak to the class teacher and take their suggestions. Many Reception teachers will have been doing their job for years and will have worked out the best ways for children to transition into a school setting.
This transition is hard for children and parents but school is ultimately a good place for them as not everyone can nor wants to home educate their children. If you have any worries, again speak to the class teacher. Ask them at the end of the day how your child was or use email or other app which the school uses to communicate your worries or concerns.
If crying continues at home before school the next day, just matter of factly say, “It’s school-time”. And make it clear there is no choice. They don’t get to stay home anymore. I don’t believe that having days off when children don’t feel like going to school is going to help the situation. Obviously don’t say it quite so harshly to them as that but sell school as a positive place for them to play and learn while Mummy and Daddy (or other care-givers) go to work or do other activities.
Our daughter was fine going to school for the first three days, but on the fourth day did not want to go in. She didn’t like her uniform, she didn’t like the school dinners, she didn’t like that she had to go to school on Fridays when she never had to go to Nursery on Fridays, she didn’t like the fact that her cousin was over to play with her little sister and she couldn’t because she’d be at school. All of these things made her so upset and it was a real struggle to get to school. I completely understood where she was coming from.
We were the last through the school gates in the morning but I didn’t let it phase me, I wasn’t embarrassed. My daughter had had a really hard morning getting ready and was struggling with all these new experiences and I was upset for her but I knew the best thing to do for her was to get her into school. We were there only five minutes after the gates had opened but most parents had gone already.
She had a great day! She came out smiling and showing me her paintings.
It is such a massive change for them but getting them into the routine of having to go to school will ultimately help in the long run in making the morning run that little bit easier.
What Is The Usual Routine In a Reception Class?
At the start of the autumn term, parents may be allowed to drop their children off in the classroom to help familiarise the children with their new learning space and to aid the transition into the classroom. Some children (and parents!) will find this easier than others.
This is just an example routine. Each school is different and I am sure your child’s teacher will be more than happy to speak to you about your child’s daily routine.
Children will come in and either be allowed to free flow around activities that are set up ready for them or they come in and sit on the carpet. They may go and find their name or photo and self register too. Our daughter places her water bottle and snack box on the trollies, hangs her coat and bag up and then picks an activity.
Following that, there will be registration and then a morning of phonics, maths and English. Some teachers will work with small groups and the others will have choosing time.
Choosing time is where there are activities set up for the children to access independently. The activities will be based on what the class are currently learning about or skills that they may need to practise.
There is usually not a lot of whole class teaching at this age. Teaching will generally happen in small groups and the other children will be either working with a TA or accessing the activities around the room or outside.
Reception is about playing and socialising with other children and adults, because this play and socialising is teaching them a lot. Plus, their attention spans at this age do not allow them to enjoy sitting and listening to someone talking for an extended amount of time and it’s also not the best way to get information into them at this stage in their lives.
During the morning, there may also be snack time and play time. Some schools don’t have a set time for this. They let the children have their snack at any point in the morning and go outside throughout the morning in the times when they are not working with a teacher. It all just depends on the school.
Before the class move onto another lesson, there will be “Tidy Up Time”. Teachers may gain the class’s attention by clapping or shaking a tambourine or playing a catchy tidy up song on the interactive whiteboard. The children will then be asked to help tidy up the classroom ready for the next session.
Lunch for Reception is usually just before 12 and in the first few weeks, their class teachers may go into the dinner hall with the children to see who needs help with choosing food, getting trays and cutlery and making sure the children know what to do with their trays at the end. There will also be dinner supervisors to help the children and see that they eat something.
In the UK, children of Reception age will be eligible for free school meals (FSM) no matter what income their parents earn. (Correct September 2023)
Lunchtime will include some outdoor play (weather dependent) and then back to class.
The afternoon starts with registration again and then more small group work and choosing time. There may be lessons by outside teachers such as a Music teacher or a PE coach.
There may be an afternoon play and another snack time and then the afternoon will start winding down with “Tidy Up Time” and a story. The children will then get their coats and bags ready to go home and line up to be called forward when their parents arrive to collect them.
Good luck to your little one on the next step in their life journey!
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