Child starting reception in September - your best tip please!

[Coffeeonadrip]

As above, daughter starts reception in September. She's an only child. What's your best tip to survive this with some sanity intact?? She's been going to preschool so she should be ok separation and making friends wise. Will I be ok though?

Don't be surprised if they are really grumpy at night and you need to bring their bedtime forward.

Make sure uniform, shoes, jacket is easy to get on /off as teacher can't help them all. Use sharpie to put their names on, you'll soon realise it is the easiest and most effective. Buy cheap uniform and don't be surprised when they come home with clothing marked with whiteboard markers. Don't let them take anything to school they will get upset if they lose, don't ask school to go searching for lost possessions.

Work on asking them the right questions so they talk about their school day and show you what they have learned or find hard and support them, sound really interested, let them think they are teaching you something exciting.

It is taboo to tell other parents when your child does something well 🤣, never ever mention if they win a prize at prize giving, only discuss things they find hard or have messed up.

Keep playground chat neutral, don't get involved in conversation running down the school or teacher, suggest talking to teacher if anyone hass
problems.

Find out the school policy for collection of it is not a parent collecting. At our school you fill out a specific slip at the start of the year for anyone that may potentially or will regularly be picking up. For example I have grandparent and and friend and her husband on the form. It means that if there is an emergency and something happens we can call on one on them to do pick up if we can't get there for some radon. If it is a one off then you need to fill out a different form. So far we, and our mutual friend have never had an issue with collection because of one of us gets stuck, one of the other can pick up (if that makes sense!).

If they have to all have the same book bag, get a key ring so as you can easily identify.

If they can wear any old polo shirt, I always buy one of the logo one (we have branding on the collar so it is noticeable when outside of jumpers/cardigan) for school photo purposes and a supermarket white one for day to day.

Have a jar with some pubs coins in-there will always be a random cake sale/raffle sprung on you!

Whatever time you need to leave in the morning, aim for five minutes earlier - the school shoes putting on convo is painful!!!

Stamptastic.
Dont put her in tights on PE days.

Such great tips!

Remember your child is in school a long time. It is not a sprint educational or socially.

Nominate a friend and/or family member who can do pick up school pick up too
Inevitably it’ll happen that you’re unavailable and someone else will need to step in

She will probably be really tired and you'll get some behaviour that is more toddler like at times - eg after school. Don't worry about it and cut her some slack while she adjusts.

You will get really obsessed about reading book bands and what band she's on. But almost all children do learn to read write spell and do maths at primary school - there's no real advantage to learning precociously...

The most important thing they learn at primary is how to regulate their emotions, behave appropriately, make friends, try new things, persevere with things that are hard.

Five minute mum on Instagram has a good blog post about starting school (and lots of fun games to enhance learning)

Stickins for clothes, shoes, water bottles etc. Stash of £1 coins and envelopes for putting return slips or sponsorship money in. Buy short sleeve shirts if they have to wear a proper shirt, saves on scrubbing out whiteboard pen. M&S do non-iron ones with a velcro top button and strechy bits at the cuff. Pinafore dresses also help protect from whiteboard pen. Buy at least two jumpers or cardigans, as these will get taken off more regularly and therefore lost.
Check on pe - these days they go dressed in kit which is much easier. I'm hoping they stick to this after Covid. Our school also provides pencil-case stuff so you don't need any of that, so check what yours does. I had to essentially learn phonics along with my child, it wasn't taught when I was at school. Also the maths is totally different. Our school did a couple of parent sessions to explain the different methods used and it was helpful, Be prepared to feel like you're back at school too, when homework set is very obviously something you have to do!
Oh, and make sure you have a printer with plenty of ink and paper, or easy access to it. There was a surprising amount of priniting to do at times.

Don’t ask what did you do today or who did you play with. You’ll get better responses to questions like what story did the teacher read today? Did you play with the lego/toy kitchen/ whatever. What did you play at recess?

In 9/10 the star of the week will just be the next on the teachers list for the term. And they will think of something lovely to say. Be proud of your child but please dont get hung up on who has or hasnt had the bloody star of the week. You never know other childrens needs. A mum of a friend of dds knew which child had had star of the week and who had had it twice before her dd had it and was all set to complain (domt be that parent) this was year 4

I have to say I was on the pta and met lots of parents I wouldn't have known. Some of it was hard work (parents like the pp who won't help and then moan about not enough discos etc) but lots was fun and the children enjoyed the discos and christmas fair etc so maybe give it a chance. And if you cant sign up it's always good to help out at the events

If shes in wraparound care then buy uniform for every day if you can buy from supermarket. Mucky buggers they are in reception.

Great tips here, following along too!

Ahh yes pta they really think everyone should be grateful to them.Participation is apparently open to all but the pta only meet in afternoon and not evenings . All in the pursuit of a leading role in school play for their child

Key ring on book bag to make it identifiable in a pile of 30.

My personal tip is to label clothing/other stuff so your child can identify it at a glance- not so adults need to peer at the label. Basically, the best way to not lose jumpers is for your child to know whether she is putting on the correct jumper in the first place. We do the iron on/stick in name labels with First name/initial and then a little picture. My DC have never lost a jumper

Agree with the advice not to do too much in evenings/weekends. Low key is best.

From someone who works in a school....label everything and read all communication from the school. The school office will be eternally grateful.

All our school letters come by email. Read them and act on them ASAP.

If you rely on school wraparound care, find out if it is committee run. If it is, join the committee.

Label, label, label. Keep Sharpies and name stickers to hand.

@RamItBunty

Ahh yes pta they really think everyone should be grateful to them.Participation is apparently open to all but the pta only meet in afternoon and not evenings . All in the pursuit of a leading role in school play for their child

Our children definitely go to different schools (thank goodness) Pta meetings in the evening in the pub and my children have never had a lead in the play Why be so negative? It clearly doesnt suit you but it's hardly a top tip for starting school to avoid anything to do with the pta.

Avoid pta.hell yes .It’s a top tip if you want to dodge grief from flaky difficult parents
You cannot simply dismiss it as negative because you disagree or have no direct experience. Our pta meet during day only.no evenings. And pta parents vociferously pressure for their children to have prominent roles , visible stall

We are now coming to end of reception year - my top tips are much like other posters

1. Get as much food in DD as you can for breakfast and come armed with snacks at the end of the day.

1. Don’t skimp on the number of sets of uniform you have if you can afford it - we have about 7 of everything and has all been well used, I cannot rely on having to do midweek washes and we have definitely needed a fresh clean set each day.

1. Don’t do the reading / homework shortly after getting home. Leave it a good couple of hours if you can. We wouldn’t do that ourselves, when getting in from work we need a break so do they. Everyone in my friendship group seemed to want to crack on with it as soon as the walking in the door at 4pm then wonder why the kids didn’t want to.

1. Expect to learn phonics

Also I was told by lots of people to expect them to be mega tired after the school day. It’s simply not true for all kids, some bounce off the walls after school

Don't bother trying to work out what order the groups are in. By the end of the first term, your dc will probably be able to rank the whole class. (Helpful hint - in classes with groups named after colours, red always seems to be top! )

@RamItBunty

Avoid pta.hell yes .It’s a top tip if you want to dodge grief from flaky difficult parents You cannot simply dismiss it as negative because you disagree or have no direct experience. Our pta meet during day only.no evenings. And pta parents vociferously pressure for their children to have prominent roles , visible stall

Likewise you have obviously had a bad experience but not everyone's is and as I've said the pta at dds school met in the evening and understood people worked so spread work across the group and their children weren't chosen for the school plays. All I said was you cant, based on your experience, claim it is hell and avoid at all costs. Unless you know the op and all other readers are going to be at the same school as your dc

We found the reading went better if we did it in the morning when they were fresh as well. But we had after school club to contend with.

Mine never went through the mega tired phase -mine went through the "bouncing off the wall and wanting to tell me absolutely everything anyone had done all day in mind numbing detail" phase

Get on the right side of the school office staff - generally within the school they know ALL and are the people who can make your life easier.

PTA - ours met on a night in a pub, I did it for a few years in the infants - not to get any favour but because it was very clear what they did for the school and I believed in how and what the infant school was trying to achieve. Kids usually shoved at the back in plays or the narrator in the case of the child with the loud clear as hell voice.

Biggest advice I'd give is just to be approachable on the playground and chat to people - you really want to build up a network of a few friends you could message in a pinch and ask them to hold onto your child at home time for a few minutes if you're delayed en-route or whatever, or message to ask if it's dress up as your favourite insect day tomorrow or whatever.

Also - sometimes you get crappy cliquey cohorts of parents where you never manage to do that (DD2 is in one) - give it all you've got and then don't take it personally. If you need to query something with the school - going in with a "can I just check what actually happened as I've been told this but I know wires get crossed" usually bears more fruit than going in angry from the outset.

Helpful thread. DC1 is starting school in September. I'm a bit nervous for him but will be doing my best to be nothing but positive and reassuring with him!