Starting school & won't know anyone

[Empress]

Any suggestions on this? Our little one will be starting school this sept, & won't know a soul there cos we don't know any local kids. she's going straight into fulltime nursery school & i'm sure she'll be fine in a few weeks but at first she'll be surrounded by people she's never met before. she's been at the same ft private nursery (not local) since she was 6mths old, all the kids she knows are there. its going to be so hard for her!!

[threeangels]

I would not worry too much because little kids make friends so easily. A lot easier then us adults. Before you know it shell have more friends then you can probally handle. How old is your daughter. Maybe it wont be as hard . I think that we as parents tend to worry more then the children themselves. I guess its only natural. Before you know it youll probally hear, the words my "friend".When my family moved from oregon to tennessee my dd along with my 12 year old son knew noone. My dd age 9 now made so many friends the first week of school I couldnt keep up with who was who. Same with my ds. Good Luck

[sjs]

I'm not speaking from personal experience, as my dd is only 16 mths, but if you are worried, perhaps you could speak to the school and see if they could put you in touch with a couple of kids who live near you and will be starting in Sept too. Then you could have a few over with their Mums, or meet them in the park for an hour or so. There might be parents in similar situation to you who use a nursery further away.
Or if the school let parents stay for the first few hours you could be there to settle her in.
I'm sure three angels is right that little ones cope well with this sort of thing though.
Good luck!

[robinw]

message withdrawn

[cherry]

My 4 y/o will be in the same situation, she's been at the same playgroup since she was 2 1/2 five mornings a week, and nursery 5 afternoons a week since sept 01. However we've since moved and can't get her a nursery place so she's had to stay over there so come reception in sept she'll be lost. However with the summer hols coming up, a friend suggested maybe there'll be some local activities which will give her chance to get to know a few kids. Maybe you could look into the same?

[angharad]

It's really not that unusual for children in reception to be strarting school "on their own", in many places it's the norm because councils don't have enough places in state nurseries. In the mean time if you have the opportunity for her to mix with children from outside nursery (swimming lessons at the weekend?) it may help her deal with unknown faces. Honestly though, I understand your worry that she'll be on her own but little ones are much more welcoming of new faces than older kids (and adults!)