First half term - how is it going

[Anchovy]

Just interested to see how other new starters were getting on at the first half term?

DS is not actually in Reception, has started the Nursery of his school. however to all intents and purposes he has started school, in that it follows a curriculum, has set hours, breaks etc and is an everyday event - a whole step change from his relaxed informal nursery school. The only concession is that they do not wear uniform till next year. Plus he is already 4, and they get the older nursery children doing much the same work as the Reception class already.

For us it has gone well - in many ways better than we hoped. Settling in has been relatively wobble-free: I understand that he got upset once when they did a fire drill, but the teacher said that that was because he was pretty much the only child who actually understood what was going on and was very keen in helping the other children out into the playground and making them understand it was serious and that they might be in danger (he has quite a vivid imagination!)

Teacher is young and in her first teaching post, but friendly and relatively firm. Likes giving out stickers, which has made DS her willing slave!Seem to do LOADS of writing and reading (Jolly Phonics), regular changes of library book, notes home from the school once a week and a daily checked message book system which seems to work quite well.

The big excitement for us was that DS got a "golden leaf" to go on the "tree of acheivement" which he had to go and get from the headmistress at assemby in front of the whole school (up to 11 year olds). Apparently it was for trying really hard and being helpful, although I have a snbeaky feeling it was a recognition of our outstanding contribution to the junk modelling collection!

On the down side, I think his language and sentinments have got a bit more "direct". We seem to have quite a lot of talk about shooting people, chasing and killing them etc which we did not before hand.

One strange thing that I haven't got my head round is that there are only 2 boys in his class. There's not anything I can do about this and in many senses I think this is a good thing as I just feel girls at that age are quite a bit more mature and less silly and so it will only help him. Also other boy seems qite nice, although they do get thrown together quite a lot - I'm hoping there will be an influx of boys next year.

Hi - interesting thread!

My DS started reception in the school where he has already done a full year of nursery. He was 4 at beg of August. So far so good. A few wobbles at the beginning as playtime was with all the older children and that frightened him a bit - was used to the little nursery garden - he lost everyone he knew one day which upset everything for about a week. Spoke to the teacher and the head of primary and they shuffled things around so that the "littlies" were only out at same time as Years 1 & 2 which helped a lot - so much so that within a day DS was one of 4 caught trying to knock the fence down to "break" a friend out of nursery!

DS is enjoying school - insisting on going this week even thouhg he as a cold and I wanted to keep him at home - much more ineterested than last year where he stated one morning that he was off home to teach himself!

Also a lot more talk of superheroes and killing people. His best friend has 2 old brothers who can kill anyone apparently - and have done!

He has moved away from playing with 2 girls that hw was very friendly with last year which is a shame. But they are both 6 months older and when you add on the diff with boys and girls anyway, I reckon they are about a year ahead of him.

All in all a good half term!

Oh - and he was made "Top Dog" or Hot Dog as he calls it - had to stand up in front of whole school to get his certificate - for "bravely leaving his Mummy in the mornings". That was week 2 just after the bumpy bit about the garden which threw him a lot.

my ds started in september he has settled in really well. he got a new friend in the first week, just like you said bb he has stopped playing with the girls , he likes all his teachers & his reading is coming on,im quite happy with the way things are going.
he seems to get stickers for good behavier but i dont know about any other rewards like you talk about.

Go on, Issymum, dish the dirt on the other mums - they were "implications" on the other thread.

I'm taking a whole sodding morning off work to go to a "morning tea party" (bleurgh) just to make sure that people think I'm a good egg.

The absolutely barking mad one in our class is, of course, the mother of the only other boy in DS's class so we are doomed to be lumped together forever. Eeek!

I do really support our school & ds's teachers in particular, but in the link book we have had:

"definately"
"From page 15, finnish."
"We have given X a special book to bring home because he is facsin [crossed out] fasin [crossed out] fascinated by it in school"

Oh, the exquisite pain of being a ludicrously over-educated mother trying to bite her lip in the face of the manifest illiteracy of the people charged with educating her children...

In last week's school newsletter (written by the head) we had: "I am dissapointed that some Y6 parents have not made apointments for me to check thier childs secondary transfer form".

I'm shocked at this

That's in a different league of shocking than spelling errors. Do you drop off? Do they blank you too?

Issymum, WAS horribly tempted to point out to ds2's teacher that she had mis-spelled the name of the sea creature which is the symbol of his group in class (afraid to say any more in case I am identified!) but could not think of any way of introducing the topic without forever marking myself out as a trouble-maker! Have to grit my teeth every morning as we pass by the window used as a noticeboard and see the word written up in about 20 point type. Actually, does this mean that no other teacher (or the Head) has noticed this mis-spelling either ...

Grrr on the ignoring in playground too. Seem to suffer from this also even though ds1 is in year 3 so have loitered through a few winters in the playground. Although I work, I do drop off the boys every morning and pick them up on Friday. However, with ds2 I am determined to make a fresh start so am determinedly smiling and making polite chit-chat at every opportunity - and then some. Fear that I must be thought of by many of the year 3 mums as some sort of stand-offish working mother who rushes through in the mornings shedding various bits of school kit, cheques and harvest festival offerings and by the Reception mums as above but with the disadvantage of gibbering bits of nonsensical rubbish through a fixed grin.

Annh - I have a fear that in relation to DS's classmates mothers they view me as both at the same time: stand-offish working mother occasionally turning up in suit and with an "I mean business handbag" (albeit one from which spills things for junk modelling, message book and DS's mid morning snack (an important part of his routine and a bit of a metaphorical comfort blanket for both us)). Then I over compensate massively by smiling madly at everyone and gabbling something strange and inconsequential to try and break the ice with any random parent in view. DH thinks I will probably be marked down by everyone as extremely odd and that as noone that odd could actually have a job, my job is actually some kind of therapy for my own delusions! I have a nasty feeling when he does drop-off he's saying to them "she doesn't actually have a job, you know: we just let her pretend she does to keep her happy". So I'm actually heartened in a bizarre way to hear from Issymum that everyone shuns the Dads who do drop-offs!

I do much like Anchovy, and I bet I do have a bit of a mad glare (oops, not saying you do Anchovy) as I brace myself to say hello to someone new. They seem to have all accepted me, though, much as their children seem to have accepted eccentric ds (one of the things we always get on to is their child's stories about What He Did Once).

Weirdly, the only person I feel shunned by is A Very Senior Colleague who takes their child to a different (posher) school, but the same way. I've tried to say hello but have really got nowhere. Wish I knew what was happening there.

Helloooo. Well, after DD1's well-documented rocky start, she is now very chirpy about school indeed. She adores her teacher and her classmates seem a pretty nice bunch too, including at least one New Best Friend. And apparently her reading is 'coming along' although I'm b*ggered if I can see how.

I, curiously enough, appear to be still living in the Parallel Universe which Tamum inhabits, as far as other parents are concerned. They're rather nice (and I speak as a lifetime sullen non-joiner-inner). Friendly. Very supportive in current rather strained domestic circumstances. This may well be linked to the fact that (a) most of them work and are therefore very much in the 'right, kisskiss, byebye, see you later darling, must dash' mode (b)DD1 attends the kind of degenerate academy where they don't wear uniform and do call teachers by their first names, so parents of Strong Moral Fibre probably don't go there in the first place.

The dads who drop off at dd's school seem afraid to make eye contact, so there's no opportunity to be friendly to any of them.....or perhaps word has spread that I am the only single mum in dd's year, and all the fathers have been instructed to steer clear of me!

Must say that I am dreading the reception year drinks party tomorrow night. I know it's a chance to meet/socialise with the other parents, but there are just over 60 children (eek, that's potentially 120 parents)! I find the idea of going solo to the mumsnet Christmas party far less intimidating!