Do schools ask for info from parents before starting reception?

[ApuskiMcClusky]

Hello - ds1 is due to start reception in September and we're pretty sure what school he will be allocated in April.

He has a kind of monocular vision caused by a squint (sight in both eyes but his brain ignores one or other eye, with no possibility of improvement); he hasn't shown any particular signs of being affected by this, but we've been warned that it might cause issues down the line with reading print and handwriting for example.

Because it's not causing any noticeable issues at the moment, I don't want to make a big deal out of it with the school, but I'd rather they knew so they could keep a look out for any possibly related issues.

Is there typically an opportunity in the new starters process to raise this, and what advice would people give on how I might best do this so that it's not too big a deal but not disregarded either?

Yes
We had a meeting in the 1st week of school
Reception children started a week later so that the teacher could meet all the children & parents individually
In some places they have have the teacher come to your house which I find a bit ott

most schools have the reception teacher come out to see you in the last few weeks before they break up before the summer break

just wanted to post though because I have the same eye condition as your son
the brain is very clever and to be honest I see my vision as normal as it accomodates so well
handwriting I tend to have the paper at a very odd angle, I almost write vertically as I see better up and down rather than reading across the page if that makes sense, but it's more obvious with small print, so the large print they start reading with never caused me any problems

in my experience (and my sister who also has the same condition) academics were not affected as we naturally found our own way, but more in motor skills associated with depth perception and we were both percieved to be clumsy children

I would just tell the school that he has some visual problems that may or may not cause issues and to let you know if they spot anything but in reality issues would more likely come to light in yr1 so you would probably have a better relationship with the school then

yep. as above.

fwiw, dd2 had an alternating converging squint and monocular vision as you describe (we were told she had no chance of developing binocular vision - she basically 'saw' with whichever eye caught first and her brain ignored the other eye), and it has had no impact at all on education. she's 8 now, and the only time it was problematic was when she had it operated on a year and a half ago, and her brain had to 're-set' for a couple of days as she kept reaching for things and missing them completely. squint is pretty much gone now though, but no idea whether it has changed her vision....

I would go and have a chat before hand with the head/reception teachers. My dd2 was born without a hand and this doesn't generally cause issues, but it's better to know where you are with the school before the issues come.

Some schools will have a meeting, others don't, 2 of mine did, and the other didn't, so you need to ask.

Fab, thanks all. It's great to hear that it's not been much of an issue for you workshy and your dd madwoman. I am hoping his brain can continue to accommodate it in whatever weird way it does (orthoptist and opthamologist have not been the best at explaining it!), and that if it helps him to do things in a different way (like how he positions paper for writing) then he is allowed to do so.