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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

Reception class - how much do you know about what your child does each day?

18 replies

Pheebe · 09/10/2009 15:16

DS1 has just started in reception and although we know vaguely what topics they are covering, thats about it. There doesn't seem to be any sort of timetable (appreciate things are very fluid in reception). Also all he seems to have for lunch is mashed potato and cake!

Would it be unreasonable to ask for a timetable and information on weekly menus?

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DottyDot · 09/10/2009 16:35

Hmm - you could try.....! Ds's are now in years 3 and 1 and the only way we know what's going on is via their homework, where we can guess what they're probably covering. If we ask them what they've been doing we get "don't know" or more commonly, "forgotten"...

A fairly good tactic is to get them to tell us 3 things each they did at school that day - making it quick, like a quick fire quiz. At least 2 out of the 3 things will probably be about what they did in the playground but occasionally a piece of information about actual school work will slip out!

OrmIrian · 09/10/2009 16:37

Hmmm iirc it was usually 'Can't remember' or 'nothing' with the occasional bit of painting.

Elk · 09/10/2009 16:37

I asked the school for a copy of their menu plan, it works on a 4 weekly rotating menu.
Children do seem to have a problem remembering what they had for lunch, yesterday they had mince cobbler with vegetables but a friends dc insisted that they had only been given sandwiches.

My dd's teachers have always had a daily/weekly plan up on the wall and you are welcome to pop in occasionaly and have a look at how they structure the day. We also get a letter from the teachers at the start of the school year so we know that dd1, eg, has science on Tuesday afternoons and PE on Friday after break.

jazzandh · 09/10/2009 16:46

We get a weekly newsletter from teachers just saying what they will be doing in the next week. Menus are rotated on a 3 weekly basis.

School has a website that such information is posted on.

Pheebe · 09/10/2009 16:51

OK, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to ask then Seems such a shock to go from knowing every minute of his day to guessing what he's up to between 9 and 3.20 every day!

OP posts:

abgirl · 13/10/2009 20:32

Ha ha ha, nothing, DS1 is 'don't know' to EVERY question we ask him about his day at school!

LyraSilvertongue · 13/10/2009 20:34

Usually very little. DS2 conveniently forgets everything he's done the second he's out the door.
But some days he'll come out jabbering away about something he did that really interested him.

LyraSilvertongue · 13/10/2009 20:36

Our school has the weekly menu on a board by the entrance and it's also available on their website. It's certainly not unreasonable to want to know what your child is eating every day.

newspaperdelivery · 13/10/2009 20:40

Our school meals are administered through myschoollunch.co.uk - yours might be too. Then you know exactly what is on the menu.

Ni idea about the day here either - I am guessing it is down to the fact it's their first term. I hear about carpet time and story time, and I did once hear mention of a register.......

After half term I'm going to ask. Am a bit scared to though

RubysReturn · 13/10/2009 20:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 13/10/2009 20:46

Very little. I do know DS's timetable and I can generally get away with asking one question about what he's been doing before hitting "Mummy, can we not talk about this any more?" territory, but I can't guarantee that the answer will be in any way informative.

thegrammerpolicesic · 13/10/2009 21:57

Getting slightly more out of ds now.
Still a lot of I don't know/ remember etc.

Definitely have to know when to drop it with him as if I go too far he clams up. Mind you I'm not sure if I believe half of what he does tell me anyway so maybe I'm none the wiser than when he was saying nothing. Sigh.

jomummy2 · 20/10/2009 00:19

You should be either sent a half termly agenda of what areas are being covered during the half term or it should be made available on their website. That way you know the gist of what they are doing. In Lit and Num My DS is in reception and they are doing labels and signs, phonics, coins upto 5p, counting forwards/backwards and 1 more than. They are also learning about harvest and studying Handa's surprise. Because i know generally what he is learning i can gage my questions around this and get more out of him.

Also you should be able to pick up a menu from the office of what is for lunch and when. I just asked and they photcopied it for me so i can tell him the choices before he goes that day and generally know what he will be having as he decides before we leave the house

fridayschild · 20/10/2009 13:43

If it's any consolation the school obviously get the same! DS2 came home with a note on Friday saying please could we write down what he did over the weekend, because the teachers want the class to chat about it on Monday. Without prompts apparently one child will remember that he or she might have played with some toys and then every single other child says the same.

I get a bit more chat out of DS1 than DS2. Mainly that is the child, but also I have a better idea myself of what happens in reception (same school, same teachers) and so I can ask more focussed questions.

titchy · 20/10/2009 14:00

If ait's any consolation it doesn't get any better. DD, yr 6, does 'stuff' at school.

cat64 · 20/10/2009 14:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

flakey · 20/10/2009 15:38

My son is just the same and I told him he had to tell me 3 things about school before we could watch telly. he told me:

He had a packed lunch
It had a smoothie in it
He didn't have any crisps

I find that just after school is the worst time to get any info out of him, but it will suddenly come out at random times. But then, as soon as I do get a tiny snippet of info I leap on it and ask lots of questions and he totally clams up. However, when I spoke to his teacher she told me that he was really interested in everything and loved all the activities. Maybe it's just too overwhelming at the moment

gallery · 20/10/2009 20:50

Like flakey, I get the random titbits. We try to talk over supper about our days so some stuff comes out then. We know he sits on a table and who sits with him to do numbers. We just had parents evening and my husband got a debrief. I try not to ask too much but yeah, desperately want to know did he actually eat his meal or just pudding and did he do anything except play. But I think boys might be less interested in talking about stuff- my brothers were very private on these topics too

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