What should I expect when my child starts Reception in September?

What should I expect when my child starts Reception in September? 

How exciting! Your child is due to start Reception in September. You may be experiencing quite a few emotions about this and that is completely normal.  

To help you feel a bit more prepared, we’ve created a guide to help you understand what to expect and what your child will experience as they start their exciting first year of school! 

School support 

Hopefully you will have the chance to visit the school where your child will be starting their Reception year. Visiting your child’s school gives you and your child the opportunity to become familiar with their new teacher or teaching staff as well as the environment that they will be learning in. If you are unable to do this then a phone call or video call will help as well as looking at photos of the classroom or learning environment. Try to arrange this if you can. This enables your child’s teacher to become more familiar with your child but also with you as the parent/carer. 

This great form will support your child’s new teacher in getting to know your child and allows you to raise any concerns that you might have. 

Click the link below: 

https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/search?s=getting+to+know+you&y=EYFS 

What questions should I ask my child’s new school? 

It is very likely that your child’s school will answer most of these questions but here are some that should help you feel more prepared: 

Is there a school lunch menu and what is the policy for lunches? 

Most school’s prefer it if children stay for school dinners but you may wish to find out what is there policy for packed lunches. If your school provides a copy of the lunch menu or there is one to look at online, then this can really reassure your child as they will know in advance what they will be eating that day. 

How does the school support children that aren’t settling in? 

Probably most parent’s biggest fear around their children starting school is that their child won’t settle and feel happy. Most children do settle after a few weeks but it is good to know what measures your child’s school might put in place just in case they don’t. 

What phonics scheme does the school follow? 

More detail on phonics and what it entails is featured below, but for now, finding out which phonics scheme that your child’s school follows will help you to research and understand more about how your child will be learning their letters and sounds. Some phonics schemes have some online resources that you can familiarise yourself with too. 

What are the children to staff ratios? 

The legal requirement in primary schools is one adult to every thirty children. You may wish to find out if there is another adult such as a teaching assistant within your child’s class as this can support with the general needs of the class. 

Will my child be required to come to school in a PE kit or will they get changed when they are in school? 

Find out what days your child will be taking part in PE sessions and then you will know whether you need to spend some time over the summer practising getting changed into a PE kit. 

What will my child be doing at school in the first half term? 

Initially, it is very likely that your child’s school will treat this as a settling in and getting to know you type period. The focus will be on establishing and building strong relationships and developing your child’s confidence within their setting. 

In Reception, your child will be developing their skills in what are known as the Areas of Development. 

The first three are called the Prime areas of Learning and Development: 

• communication and language; 

• personal, social and emotional development; 

• physical development; 

The next four are known as specific areas of learning: 

• literacy;  

• mathematics;  

• understanding the world;  

• expressive arts and design. 

Similarly to Nursery, children in Reception traditionally still take part in child-led activities involving lots of play. Often, this is based on their interests or it might be that there are some topics or themes such as All About Me or Minibeasts. See an example of our minibeast resources by clicking th link below: 

 https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/resources/eyfs/eyfs-themes/eyfs-the-natural-world/eyfs-minibeasts   

However, it is likely they will also be taking part in more formal, adult-directed type activities such as phonics, reading and maths sessions. 

What will a typical school day be like in Reception? 

 
Settings do vary however, a typical day in reception for your child might include: 

• Registration - Greeting one another and going through the timetable for the day 

• Phonics session – Children begin to learn how to blend letters and sounds 

• Extended play-based learning and/or outdoor play 

• Lunch and outdoor play – chance to eat and run around 

• Adult-directed activities - such as carpet time, circle time or stories 

• Maths sessions – often short sessions, fun and practical style activities 

The Reception classroom is sometimes known as the third teacher (after the teacher and the child themselves). They often provide areas which are designed to support children’s learning and development through independent play. It is likely that the learning environment will offer areas for: 

• outdoor play and exploration 

• construction 

• creative play 

• reading  

• writing 

• role-play/imaginative play 

• investigation/science 

• sand and/or water play 

• malleable activities such as threading or play dough 

• maths discovery and exploration 

• mark making/writing challenges 

How do I prepare my child for September?  

What can I do to help them be ready for school? 

As well as looking at photos of your child’s school and teaching staff and describing the school day to them, there are a number of things that you can do to help your child feel more confident about starting school. 

You may have heard the term ‘school readiness.’ If a child has developed the skills below then the nursery to school transition will probably be easier. 

Here are some simple things you can do together so that they feel confident and prepared: 

🗣 Following instructions: Play games like Simon Says and What's the Time, Mr Wolf? 

🚽 Independent toileting: Practise bathroom routines — wipe, flush, wash hands — sometimes it helps to sing the happy birthday song so that they know they have washed their hands for long enough. 

Can they go to the toilet, wipe their bottoms if necessary, flush the toilet and then wash their hands? 

If this is proving challenging, you could talk to your health visitor or GP. There are also a great range of resources available on the internet.  

Home - ERIC This website have some brilliant tips and advice! 

🍴 Using cutlery and carrying a tray: If you feel that your child needs practise with using cutlery, let them experience having a go with playdough and real knives and forks (obviously we do not want them to ingest any play dough). Practise the cutting action of the knife and the steadying action of the fork. 

If your child is having a yummy school dinner then it is likely that they will need to carry a tray to and from their tables. To make this fun to practise, you could try pretending to have a restaurant at home!  

🧥 Dressing themselves: Practise with zips on coats. You could line up a few and then set a timer to see how many seconds they can zip and then unzip them all up in! Similarly, doing up and undoing buttons. If you have baby clothes with zips, put them on teddy bears to make it more fun for your child. 

👟 Shoes and socks: Practice putting them on and taking them off. 

Make it into a fun game - who can do it the fastest? 

A great tip to get your child used to getting their shoes on the right feet is to use stickers or one sticker that you can cut in half to make a whole. Stick inside your child’s shoes so they can begin to be able to tell their left shoe from the right shoe. 

👜 Hanging up coats and bags: If you have hooks at a lower level then it is just a case of practising, however if they are up high you could consider letting them use a safe step so that they can reach to practise. If you don’t have hooks available then another idea is to hold an upside-down coat hanger to let your child practise putting the loops over the hook of the coat hanger.  

What is phonics? How can I prepare my child for this? 

You may have heard of the term phonics and be wondering, what it is all about! You might be feeling worried that you are going to teach your child the wrong thing. Please don’t worry, we’ll explain some of the important parts below.  

Phonics is really all about the sounds that the letters make and also different letter combinations and how they create a word when those sounds are put together.  

s and sh 

To begin your child will be learning the individual letter sounds and then they will start to learn how to blend the sounds together. For example: 

c-a-t = cat 

For your child to progress in phonics it can really help them if you support them with their blending skills. This can be practised before they recognise the letter formation as it is more about the sounds they hear. Blending is the process of putting letter sounds together to make a word. So for example, by asking them to pick up a s-p-oo-n at dinnertime or pointing at a b-ir-d while out for a walk. It can make a good car game! 

Hearing the initial sounds in words will also create a strong foundation for your child as they learn more formal learning phonics and so learning to read. Games like I Spy when you are out for a walk or in the car can really help. Similarly, laying out a selection of toys that all start with different sounds such as a car, a teddy and a ball. You could say, which object starts with the ‘b’ sound? 

https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/search?s=phonics&y=EYFS 

How will my child react to starting school? 

Everyone’s child is different but it is very likely that in the first few weeks they will be very tired at the end of the school day. They may even seem a little grumpy! This is quite normal as they are processing a lot of new information. If you are worried, check with your child’s teacher about how they are settling in. You may be desperate to know what they have been doing each day and you might be met with a ‘nothing’ which can be frustrating but also very normal. 

Here are some questions you can try asking and if these don’t work then try waiting until bathtime or bedtime when they are more relaxed. Sometimes, if you start talking about how your own day has been, they might join in with news about their day. 

• What made you smile or laugh today? 

• Which area of the classroom was the most fun today? 

• What did you eat at lunchtime? 

• Did anything make you go ‘wow’ today? 

• Did anything feel really challenging today? 

• What are you excited to learn more about? 

• Did you have a ‘proud of myself’ moment? 

• What is one way you helped someone else today or someone helped you? 

• Who did you sit with at lunch today? 

Are there any books that will help prepare my child for starting school? 

There are lots of brilliant stories out there that will give your child more of an insight into the world of ‘school.’ We’ve compiled a short list of some of our favourite ones below: 

• Harry and the Dinosaurs go to school Ian Whybrow, Adrien Reynolds 

• Starting School Janet and Allen Ahlberg 

• I am absolutely too small for school (Featuring Charlie and Lola)  Lauren Child 

• The Colour Monster Goes to School Anna Llenas 

• I have to start at school today Simon Philip, Ged Adamson 

Let’s reflect 

Starting Reception is the beginning of an amazing adventure for your child — and for you too! It is very likely that in the first few weeks, there will be highs, lows, proud moments, and maybe a few both happy and sad tears along the way. Hopefully this blog has given you some reassuring tips and guidance on how your child and you can prepare for starting school. 

You've got this! 🎉🎒✨ 

Images: freepik