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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

What's this whole reception home visit thing?

39 replies

asdfghjklpoiuytrewq · 10/07/2016 19:41

I'm a bit confused. DD starts nursery soon so it'll be next yet but I've now heard that you get a home visit before your kid starts reception? Where can I get more info on this?

OP posts:

Birdsgottafly · 10/07/2016 19:43

Whose told you that you get a Home Visit?

What type of Nursey is it?

megletthesecond · 10/07/2016 19:45

Around here we get a quick teacher and TA visit for 15 mins during the first couple of weeks of reception term. It was very relaxed. They usually find out what your dc likes doing and playing with (the TA and you get a chance to ask questions. I think they handed out the Bookstart pack too, not sure if they still do them these days.

LadyStarkOfWinterfell · 10/07/2016 19:45

Ds's school did home visits soon before they started reception year. It was no big deal. Why are you worrying about it now?

middlings · 10/07/2016 19:46

In our area the teacher and the teaching assistant pop around for 15 mins the week before school starts. It's just so they can see the children in their own environment. No big deal.

Not all schools do it though.

calamityjam · 10/07/2016 19:46

Ask the school. It is fairly common practice nowadays to do this. It allows parents the opportunity to discuss any issues that the child/they may have in privacy. It also allows the teacher to see the child in their own natural environment. Hopefully it will give the teachers an opportunity to tell the parents what they expect their children to be able to do upon starting school. Ie, toilet trained, get dressed undressed for PE, line up, sit on the carpet for 15 mins, use a knife and fork correctly etc. You will be amazed at how many 4 year olds are not fully able to do these things.

megletthesecond · 10/07/2016 19:46

Oops, the TA kept my dc amused while I chatted with the teacher.

branofthemist · 10/07/2016 19:47

Some do. We had one when Dd started (she is now 12).

Ds didn't, not sure if try changed it or it was because they knew us so well. Dd quite liked it. Gave her chance to see the teacher outside school. And gave me a chance to ask some questions relating directly to Dd.

Some schools don't do it at all. Some do it when/if they go to the nursery. Some in reception.

You do not have to agree. Though I would.

branofthemist · 10/07/2016 19:48

Oh and it was about 25 mins long. Quick cuppa, few questions. A chat with Dd. Job done.

monkeysox · 10/07/2016 19:48

Ours visited before starting school nursery!
Normal here too.

NorbertDentressangle · 10/07/2016 19:55

They do that here too and have done for years (DD is 16 now but she had a home visit before she started reception).

They say it's to meet the child on their own territory, to see them in their home setting etc but the cynical part of me thinks that, in over-subscribed popular schools, it also ensures that the child lives where the parents claim they live!

StillRabbit · 10/07/2016 19:56

Some schools do, some don't. My DCs school didn't and the school I work at now doesn't but where I used to work did and refused to admit children before the home visit had been carried out - even for in year admissions. A TA would spend time with the child and the teacher or family liaison officer would go through paperwork etc with the parent.

fiorentina · 10/07/2016 20:03

We had a quick 20 minutes where they played with DS and got him to draw a picture as well as taking a photo to be used on pegs etc. It was all very informal and you could ask any questions you had. Nothing to worry about.

Coconut0il · 10/07/2016 20:08

Some schools do it, others don't. We had a 10 minute meeting with the teacher, at the school, before DS1 started. At the school I work at (same area) a teacher and ta do home visits. It's very informal, bit of a chat and paperwork. Nothing to worry about.

Figgygal · 10/07/2016 20:10

Our ds is starting reception in September and has a home visit booked the day before my understanding is that it's just to see him in his home environment 20 minutes or so no big deal

NinjaMum11 · 10/07/2016 20:16

My third son was the only one to have this but he has ASD and goes to a school for severe learning difficulties so I assumed that was a special needs thing.

oldlaundbooth · 10/07/2016 20:17

How on earth do teachers have time to do that?!

EssexMummy1234 · 10/07/2016 20:20

I've not heard of that here - I know the teachers visit the local nursery's to meet the children - maybe the ones not in nursery get a visit here?

CigarsofthePharoahs · 10/07/2016 20:21

We had a home visit when ds started school. I think they're a good idea, having an uninterrupted chat with the teacher while the TA talked to my son. The toddler got in on the act too!
I have to admit I did suspect it was a covert way of the school checking that you were who you said you were and were living in the catchment area!

ThisUsernameIsAvailable · 10/07/2016 20:22

The home visits are to meet the child in a familiar, safe environment, not a big scary school they haven't been to before. They get to meet parents, talk about the child and their interests a lot easier than if it was at school

I'll be honest, it's also to have a little look at where and how the child lives in case there's any issues with that.
An example I can think of off the top of my head is a house where there were just knee high piles of things everywhere that had been pushed aside to make paths through to sit down in front of the tv, walk into the kitchen etc, that was a month after the appointments had been sent out. So not a surprise visit

RicStar · 10/07/2016 20:25

Dd has one in sept reception kids start one week after start of term so visits can happen in first week. I also think it is a bit of a fake address deterant but will hopefully be useful too.

TeenAndTween · 10/07/2016 20:25

Our school starts reception back a week after the main school and they do home visits in that week. Then they all start full time. Its part of the transition process for the child, and enables the parents to meet the teacher and raise things on their own home turf.

BertieBotts · 10/07/2016 20:28

We had one before DS started the preschool attached to the school. The reception class was joint with preschool.

It's so they can meet your child on their own terms and find out a little about them before they get lost in the chaos of a big class, I think. DS was hugely into trains at the time and they promised to get the trains out on his first day, which they did, which went down well. And definitely having met him in advance meant that his first day was less nerve wracking for him.

I think it's fairly common in areas when a lot of children going will be away from Mum for the first time in their lives because it's a very useful tool to

I agree probably a little catchment checking going on too - though what they'd do if they suspected fraud, I'm not sure. They didn't leave our living room so it wasn't like they were checking he really lived there, though I think it was fairly clear. Toys everywhere and manky carpet!

BertieBotts · 10/07/2016 20:29

Oops. Useful tool to reduce anxiety.

Our school had reception/preschool beginning one week later than the rest of the school too.

OurBlanche · 10/07/2016 20:29

If my DSis is anything to go by teachers do this by inventing extra hours in a day, extra days in a week and extra weeks in the year.

She started hers last term... she likes doing them, she thinks it is helpful. She just wishes that there was a realistic way in which a teacher with a full teaching load could do it all in her paid time, but she has done some in her own time (which means her TA has too) and every visit has meant her classes have had to be covered - by someone else as her TA goes with her!

I have no idea how it is supposed to work, you know, how the paperwork says it works!

Previouslurker · 10/07/2016 20:32

Our school does these. I think they are brilliant for the child. They now know who their teacher will be and in their minds have put them on their 'safe list'. This means that day one at the classroom door will be a 'Wow I know you. You came to my house' experience rather that going to a stranger.

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