How do your children start reception?

[incywincyspideragain]

Mine is doing almost 2 weeks of half days, ds1 was the same. It makes no sense and is an absolute nightmare for work after 6 weeks of holiday - I asked the head and he said 'we've always done it like that' I have ds3 to start next year so would like to constructively challenge this. I know every school does it differently - how does your school do it? and do you know why? has anyone ever looked into the 'best' way to start children off at school?

well, my dd3 is starting tommorrow- 3 classes of 30 children all starting together, straight in! HT said that for most children it worked out fine and dandy-any parents who want anything different can have it. So, if you felt DC wasn't/couldn't handle it, you just say when they will be there.

Makes sense to me!

1 week 1:20-3 and 1 week 9-11:30. DD cant wait to be in a full day but we have another week and a half of this.

I'd have to write the world's longest ever post to describe how the school my DD starts tomorrow does it
As a summer born she starts with mornings, Autumn and Winter born do a week of mornings then full time. Summer born after a few weeks move to 2 full days then add extra days until finally ft week before half term. Tbh I think it's over kill and they'd be better off getting in and getting on with it! Anyway, as a SAHM it's not a huge issue for me but would be a nightmare if I still worked. As DD has been at nursery 4 days a week since 11 months (I've recently stopped working) I'm sure she'll be fine. I'll be dropping hints a couple of weeks in about letting her stay ft.

We have the option - either full time, or 5 half days or 2 full / 3 half days.

We're going for it next Monday, full time from the off. DS1 is 5 next month and if I find he is desperately tired, there is flexibility to do a half day in a week or so if we wish (apparently).

I just hope him seeing other kids going home doesn't unsettle him.

suffolk village school.

You are offered a half day place up until term when 5. however for the last few years everyone has started full time straight away.

however it is a very small school with mixed age classes- this year there are 4 children in reception year :)

My ds is doing Mornings this week, Afternoons (2hours) next week, then Mornings with lunch, then afternoons with lunch, then in all day, then the younger ones (who will do the opposite) will join them for days then after half term its 'normal'.

They also have Wednesdays off for the first half term too.

It a nightmare.

When DS2 started they did half days until October half term - that worked for him as he still needed an afternoon nap at the time but most people complained. it was done to allow the staff more time to prepare for the upcoming ofsted which had loads of notice as it was 10 years ago

Last year DS3 started and they did half days for the first week (well tue-fri) and i think they're doing the same this year.

My P1 class do half days from Aug-September weekend, then FT after that. We're in Scotland and I'm aware there's a pretty big difference between Reception and Primary 1. Our kids are shattered by lunch, lots of yawns at home time! (2 didn't want to leave today - hope they feel the same in a few weeks...)

It is not for the school's benefit, it's for the child's benefit. Yes it's a PITA but it helps them. My DS was at FT nursery from 1&1/2 and still found a morning of school much more tiring - completely different experience.

I'm Scotland too but ours only have 1 half day and then are on full days from day 2. Both mine coped fine with it.

Vodka - there are some who would cope fine but lots would find it hard. School is intense for wee ones!

ours used to do the half days but changed it several years ago to full time from day 2. It is hard work for them but they seem to enjoy it anyway. DS in P2 and dd in P5

mine will not be doing full days til october! they start on mornings for a week, then morning plus lunch, then full days. and the mornings is not til the 17th! before that have a couple of inductions

Glad they're enjoying it vodka :)

Straight in full time and from Friday DS will be doing breakfast club as well.

We have 3 options.

One week of mornings then full time
OR
2 weeks of mornings+2 weeks of staying for lunch, then full time
OR
Even more staggered and going full time after half term.

We picked the middle option, as did most people I think.

I am expecting DS1 to be knackered even so. He is only just 4 and only did one full day of preschool plus some mornings.
He would find it very hard to go full-time immediately so I am glad we had the choice.

School is not childcare.

They start next week - had option of a) 8.45-11.45 b) 8.45-12.45 or c)8.45-3.15 so we are doing b for 2 weeks then onto c the the week of the 24th Sept

My godson started school today. He is doing to half days, but both days including lunch. He is full time on Friday.

At DD's school they start FT from the first day.

My school - not in school at all this week; home visits happening. PT next week - all very mixed. Some come for mornings, some for afternoons. But some days it includes just an hour and half of school, some half a day and some including lunch. Not quite sure when FT - possible end of next week or at least some time week after. Feels quite long winded to me though and must be a nightmare for working parents!

My dc's school does a week of mornings, then week of mornings with lunch, then full-time, although is flexible ie children who had already been in the nursery often did one half day then went full-time.

My dd hadn't and the gradual phasing in definitely helped her.

Dd1 started reception on Tuesday and is doing afternoons this week, then goes full time from Monday. They have half the class in in the morning and half in the afternoon this week.

Thanks all for responding - it certainly is varied! I think I struggle with the idea that everyone seems to think they are doing the best for the children but there isn't a common approach, I hoped to understand better an ethos for settling in children.

Oh and to all who commented about school not being childcare - believe me I know its not - the school systems bears very little resemblence to the real world in terms of working hours or holidays, it is also very important to my children that I do work and don't annoy my line manager too much like asking for 2 weeks unpaid to cope with School starts when I don't have another option for childcare to fill in for the gaps for just 2 weeks of the term - the rest of it I can deal with because I can plan it better and there is very good provision for holiday clubs and out of school care all of which are excellent and have never let us down, they do a great job.
Surely teachers with children have the same issue when their child starts school?

Rest of The school returns tomorrow (Thurs) and every family gets a 30 min appointment with teacher to chat about the child, and find out about homework and how crazy the parents are etc on the Thursday or Friday.

On Monday, half the class does mornings, half the class does afternoons. If your child went to the nursery, their session matches the session they did at nursery.

From Friday, they stay till after lunch then go home, and the afternoon group now also start in the morning. Then from next Friday they start full days.

I think it's perfect. The first four days, the kids get a quieter start, and the teachers have time to do assessments and get to know them in a smaller group. Then a few more days that are a bit longer. Then straight in.

Then also did a 2x hour long induction sessions back in July while the parents had lectures meetings.

DD1 started yesterday and the eldest half of the class, of which she is one, go straight in, full days, no messing. The younger half start at 11.20 every day for a week and then onto full days next week.

When my DDs started, half the class started on the first day, and the rest on the second. There were staggered starting times for small groups, so they had lots of help settling in. After this, it was full days, right from the start.

It seemed to work fine.

DS started with full days from day one, although most of the children attended a nursery attached to the school, and many had already attended that for at least a few full days each week.

DD1 started today and she has three half days and then she is full time next week. This is repeated for each third of the class over the next three weeks so the youngest kids start two weeks after the eldest. Thankfully our nursery will take them for the afternoon. It does feel very disruptive though, DD1 has 6 kids in her class from nursery and they've been talking about school together all summer and now they have to start at different times depending on their age so DD1 knew no-one she started with today.

All the schools in town have different starting schedules which seems to suggest it's down to the whims of the staff rather than anything based on clear evidence of what is best for the kids.