How 'damaging' is it for a child to miss over 1 week of school in reception?

[Maddison]

This would have been DS1's 4th week in reception but was diagnosed with impetigo last week and consequently I have had to keep him off school, he will probably not go back until next week, so he will have been off school for 7 school days in total.

For the first 2 weeks of school the morning nursery children attended school on mornings, the afternoon nursery children attended school on afternoons, from the third week all the children were in school together. As DS1 has only had 3 days with all the children I'm worried that they will all have settled into little groups of friends and that when he goes back DS1 will be left out. I have been to the school to get work for him to do at home which we have been doing, but the teacher (who's lovely) is keeping other work to do herself with him during assembly when he goes back and I'm a bit concerned about him getting behind and the length of time it will take for him to catch up.

Sorry about the babbling on but do any of you have similar experience? I'd love to hear your stories and any advice.

thanks in advance

[starlover]

i don't think he will really get behind with work, as ime they don't do that much real "work" at that age anyway.
I am sure he will soon fit right back into the swing of things... it's always exciting for other kids when someone they already know has been away and sudednly reappears!

[Kelly1978]

dd didn't start reception til half term, as we moved hosue and she had to wait for a plce. SHe ahd no problems settling in and catching up. I'm sure your son will be fine.

[SleepyJess]

Nt DS had a fortnight off school in Y4 when he was four.. he had salmonella poisoning (! ) and obviously couldn't go back until he had stopped poo-ing everywhere!

It did him no harm at all.. it really won't at 4.. they are playing most of the time anyway.. and you can do learning activities at home.

SJ x

[TinyGang]

I'm sure it'll be fine. Dd had to be off for a week right at the start of term (yr2) with the same thing. She'd only been in a couple of days when Impetigo struck.

I was worried - it's not an ideal time right at the start of term - but actually she was totally ok and slipped back into it all again no trouble. The school will understand too because of what it is.

[Maddison]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I am trying to get him to colour in animals which the school associate with numbers to develop his fine motor skills, work which we were given by school, and as he is anti pen and paper this is proving quite hard! Chances are I will be bald by the time he goes back to school

[breakfastfairy]

Hi there, searched under same sort of worry as my dd has been diagnosed with impetigo ( tiny sore at side of mouth)and she has to be off two or three more days whilst the anti biotics work. I feel she is missing out on all the friendships and settling in as she has only been in three days out of eight. whats more frustrating is that she is not 'ill' and is bright as a button and wants to go to school ! Seems like im just keeping her off for no reason. The doctor said it is very contageous so best to keep her off. After two years Maddison if you are still around and on this site dont suppose it made any difference her being off at the beginning ?!

[aintnomountainhighenough]

Maddison I have a DD who has just started reception and wouldn't worry if she had to have a week off, in fact I would love to keep her at home with me as I miss her . However my DD is doing a letter a day at school and you might just want to ask the teacher what he will miss and see if they have any materials you could use (it might also be useful to have something to fill the time whilst he is off!!).

[gemmiegoatlegs]

my ds also in reception and doing phonics, one each day. we have a book where we write and draw things beginning with the letter.

They all seem to use the jolly phonics cd which is available at the ELC

[PeachesMcLean]

Chances are he'll settle in fine when he goes back. Did he enjoy it before he was off?
Seems a shame that he'll miss assembly though so he can catch up on work. It's only reception and the emphasis should be on learning to play and work together, and learning school routines, which includes Assembly, if you ask me.

[HonoriaGlossop]

Don't worry about him getting 'behind' as if it's anything like ds' school, the first term is not really about 'work' but about listening skills, that sort of thing. Same with friendships; the kids should spend this term being encouraged to mix and to think of ALL the class as friends, etc, so that should be fine.

In the interests of honesty though, I should say that this happened to us in ds first term, even the same thing - Impetigo! He ended up having a week and a half off due to a bad virus coming first THEN the impetigo DS did find it hard to go back, I did have problems with him being unhappy and very tearful and not wanting to go to school . At the time I was so stressed and had visions of him being school phobic! However I'm not saying this WILL be the case with your ds, just wanted to give you our experience. It might just be worth calling the school the day before you think he'll be going back and seeing if you can let the teacher know he's coming so that she can be extra welcoming.

[rydercup]

Gosh...my little boy is gonna miss pretty much the first month of reception (he broke his femur the August bank holiday!) - initially I was concerned about time off from school...but like everyone says...its still predominently play at this age...and fortunately he knows most of his friends (as he was in the nursery with them prior to starting reception!). To be quite honest..he has probably learned more from me at home these past few weeks...lots of time on the computer and colouring/hama beads etc. Try not to worry (I keep telling myself this too!!!!!) - I am sure all will be fine. Also just think of the amount of people who take their kids out of school at the start of the summer hols for 2 weeks on holiday!

[PSCMUM]

NOt even slightly damaging at all! I can;t believe you and teacher are so organised you are collecting work for him! I think he will be just fine, its only a week, and he;ll be there for years and years and years...and sometimes will long for a week at home again!

When my dc3 was extremely ill and we were not sure what would happen to her, we had a family holiday during term time (the super fantastic nurses at the Royal London Hospital had her medication couriered to our holiday home every day) for a week. DC1 was in Year 2 at the time, and DC2 at playgroup. Neither even mentioned it.

Don't worry!