School NOT offering induction for Sept reception children

[slotnicki]

We have been offered places at 3 schools for Sept reception. Of these, 2 offer some sort of induction - ie a morning or two for the child to visit the school and meet their teacher. My dd went to one of the schools today and it provided a really good introduction to school.

I received an invitation to a parents' evening at the third school today and was amazed (after I phoned to enquire) that they do not offer any form of induction. All they offered was the opportunity for my 4 year old daughter to meet her teacher at the meeting which begins at 7.30pm. As I do have some reservations about this particular school, it would have been really helpful to have been able to use the induction to make an informed decision. As I don't want to read too much into this, I am wondering whether some schools simply don't bother with inductions - has anyone else come across this? It is a state school by the way!

[Pinotmum]

At the school my dd will begoing to they held a meeting on Monday this week for parents and children and then we had a flying visit to the reception class. We do not know who the teachers are yet either. However as my dd attends the Nursery there I was not concerned about this.

[bambi06]

my ds had a morning in his new class before he started

[coppertop]

Ds1's school had an induction morning in the summer before he started in Reception. As he has SN he was also given a second morning in the school, this time with me there to keep an eye on him.

[pabla]

At my dd's school the children starting in September have two 1 hour sessions and two half-hour story-times over the last four weeks of the summer term before. In September, they have a staggered start, i.e. they won't all start on the same day. I think most schools around here do something similar.

[Gobbledigook]

Not heard of that myself. All the schools have some sort of induction round here but they do vary. Friends of mine, accounting for 2 different state schools (well, church schools, voluntary aided) had just one afternoon session of 1.5 hrs.

My ds is starting in Sept and he has 3 afternoon sessions of 1.75 hrs. He had his first last Friday, he has another this Friday and one next Tue (where parents go to a meeting at the same time).

No staggered intake as far as I'm aware though. It's in at the deep end!

[Twiglett]

ours has a 3 week induction programme, phasing the kids in in small manageable groups so the teacher can get to know them individually, introducing them to having lunch at school then by week 3 they're in full time

makes total sense to me (we had an intro meeting today with the teacher, deputy head and head as well as PTA)

[singersgirl]

Ours just had one hour-long session last week - in groups of 10 on 3 separate afternoons. They then stagger the start dates, with them starting in the same groups of 10. DS1 started school in a new country, and they didn't have induction days - but all the children were in the same situation and seemed to cope fine.

[cazzybabs]

It does sound off, but Maybe they find it diffcult to staff. What do they do with the currect reception children - how do they ensure they are still receiving a good education that day?