How Do They Take Your Reception Child Into School

[FiveHoursSleep]

Our school is a 4 form entry this year and we gather outside the front door of the school and they call the children in one by one, class by class.
When their name is called, they walk up to their teacher and are passed through the door to stand in line with the rest of their class. We don't get to see inside the classroom.
If they become upset, they are taken off the parent and passed inside and the parent(s) is/are asked to wait in the meeting room for a bit until the child has calmed down.
At pick up time, the parents wait outside the door and the children are passed out one by one. If the teacher has concerns, the parents are asked to wait behind.
Is this standard or do most reception parents get to take their kids to the classroom?

We stand in the playground by the classroom door.
The teachers/TAs open the door and the children are all welcomed in. Parents can have a quick word with the teacher by the door. Parents don't usually go into the cloakroom area.
At the end of the day children are passed out one by one once the teacher has recognised the person collecting them.

Must admit that your way sounds like chaos.

Our reception classrooms are different from the rest of the school and have big double doors onto a small playground/garden area. In the morning you pass your child across at the doorway and at pick up you stand outside and children are sent out one by one. You can see inside the classroom but are not allowed in. Today was ds's first day (dd has been through it all already) and crying children were scooped up by the nursery nurse (met all children with class teacher last week) with a "Its time to go inside now, bye bye grown ups" and the doors shut.

Problems of different scales are discussed either in the playground or inside class at the end or in a private meeting room. The cloakrooms are the other side of the classroom so no parents go in there, in fact I didnt see them until parents evening, but there are nursery nurses available to go and check if an item has been left on the peg etc.

In the summer term in preparation for yr 1, children line up in the morning in the playground with the rest of the infant school.

Reception classrooms are down one ground floor corridor, so parents can drop off and pick up from the classroom without wandering round the rest of the schools.

We are a one form entry and do exactly as you have described, OP.

Mine still hasnt' started! I'll tell you on Wednesday :o

DS1 is in reception, only one class an they have a separate entrance directly into classroom. At the moment we wait outside until teacher opens door then go in. From next week the kids will go in themselves, for now we can go in too to make sure they put things in right place etc

At end of day they are brought out 10 at a time and can only come to us when identified by teacher/TA.

Exactly the same as piprabbit.

The doors direct into the classroom are opened, a teacher waits at the door and we hand them over. The TA helps out in the cloakroom. Another teacher and TA sit with the children that have done their jobs, when they are all seated they do the register.

At the moment we go in with them to help them to remember where to put everything, the deadline for being able to go in with them is the October half term, but they are usually go in alone way before that.

Where I work:

Infant onyly school.
3 classes per year.
Same routine for reception - Y2, although home time begins 10 min earlier for reception.

Doors open at 8:40am and parents take children into cloakrooms, sort bags/coats and then into class to do their self registration, water bottles... Bell goes at 8:50am and at that point all parents should have gone/be going. Teachers and TAs available in the classes.

Never done hometime in reception. Think parents wait outside and teachers/TAs bring children out and they are sent to parents once teacher sees parent and calls childs name out.

The children line up in the playground, just like the other infants, and their teacher takes them in all together. If a child is upset, the teacher or TA takes them in personally and does their best to calm them down. Parents are expected to stay in the playground.

End of day, they are let out one at a time, to the right parent.

I think most schools adopt this morning routine. When I taught reception years ago and the parents came in in the mornings we couldn't get rid of them and they would all try and talk to the teacher who couldn't then get on and settle the children and those children that were a bit 'wobbly' were much harder to soothe with their parents lingering/cuddling/coaxing them.
It's far better to give them a quick kiss and a hug in the playground and let the staff get on with settling the children.

We got to take dd into the classroom, all year. But they are lucky with the Foundation building - there is a huge open plan classroom, with a divider, for the two Reception classes. Sometimes a bit chaotic, but overall it was fine.

I know its getting more unusual, though...

Parents had the option to take their children into the reception classroom all through reception. Some dropped and ran and some (like me) had a child who wanted them to stay whilst they changed their book, hung their coat up, wrote their name etc.

I liked it. I had more of a sense of the teachers and the classroom situation. I would have been happy with only having a term or so of this (although dd wouldn't have) but I'm glad there there was a more gentle transition from nursery.

In the small village school my dgs goes to parents[or gp when minding] take child into cloakroom then into the classroom where they find their namecard andhand it to the teacher who says 'Good morning'.Then parent signs a sheet about snacks and says goodbye.

We are a 4 form entry. It was my DS's first day today.

Currently, for the first few weeks, the reception classes are starting a little later than the older classes, at 9am. The teachers line up in the playground, and the kids bundle through and line up in front of their teacher. The teacher and TA's then escorts them to their classroom. It's not as chaotic as it sounds and there is a fence between the playground and the milling area to separate the parents. Any upset children go to the office with their parents until they settle down and go in separately. Any messages for teachers have to go through the office.

Eventually they will have to walk from the milling area through the playground into their classroom by themselves. They will have a lot of practice of this, and there will be lots of TAs on the route to make sure they get to their classroom safely. I am a bit worried about this, but I'll try and make sure he's with his friends for the first few times.

Our school's method worked well today, I think. I would prefer it if I dropped him off in the classroom, or at least handed him directly over to his teacher in the playground, but we did a year of that in the nursery class, and he is my PFB! But it's just not practical with the layout of the school.

We take them to the classroom until they start Yr 3, small village school.

Ours is a one form entry school.

Doors open at 8.40am, school starts at 9am. We take our dc in, put their coats or hats etc and lunch bags on their peg, find their name and post it in the postbox. We are then encouraged to stay if we can until school starts. The teacher and ta's mingle with the children, chatting with parents. It's lovely.

At the end of the day. We all wait outside and our dc are allowed out one at a time once the teacher has spotted whoever is picking them up. She will ask us to wait behind if there is something that she would like a word about.

Children line up in the playground. Parents are expected to wait. When the bell rings the teacher comes out and leads them into their classroom. Patents don't come unless there is a problem.

Same with yrs 1-6 too.

At home time they are brought in alone to the playground, and the teacher hands them over to each parent in turn.

I am beginning to think our school is the odd one out!

all classes Y1-6 line up in the playground, but not reception.

reception have their own entrance, garden with gate. All parents bring their kids into class, kids hang up coats etc, lots of general friendly milling about, parents wander out. This continues all year, although I know from dropping of friends ds that it gets much quickeras year goes on, but all the parents still go in.

When the reception teacher came for home visit, she said she likes it, she likes the contact with parents, and the way parents can see what is going on in classroom etc.

This year it is 2 classes, 60 kids and they still do it this way. At end of day they bring kids to their gate, and let them go one by one to their parent.

Another small village school, DS is collected at the gate by either one or both of his Yr 6 'buddies' and taken through to the classroom. At the end of the day the parents go to the back of the school where there is a separate classroom/play area/ fenced playground for Reception, when the teacher sees a parent he calls the child, then we then go in and get them. It's a wonderful 'family' school, only 96 pupils in all.

I think it's a real shame when parents are discouraged / barred from the Reception classroom. It's an important transition for both children and parents, and fosters community relationships which will last for the next 7 years.

in our school reception right the way though the whole of the infant years, the school day starts at 8.50 but the class doors open at 8.35 and we can take the children in help them with coats, they put their name up on the wall we then spend the rest of the time either reading a book together or do an activity the teacher has prepared, it also give you a chance to chat to the teacher or ta, i love it as you feel part of the school, you get to see the things they have been doing or making, at home time we wait outside the class and the children are sent out when the teacher or ta sees you

That sounds great typoqueen. I'm (lazily) going to c&p what I just posted on another similar thread, ie it seems to be a real missed opportunity for a school when they just slam the door in parents' faces.

The transition into Reception is a really big one for children and parents, and a good school should recognise that and focus on involving parents from the start, by encouraging them into the Reception classroom to meet the teachers and the other parents who they will be spending the next 7 years at the school gate with.

Schools are communities, which flourish when parents feel involved and committed to the school - a skilled Reception team should manage the involvement of parents properly IMO.

I agree. A friend of mine was completely freaked out by her school's 'no parents in the classroom from day 1' rule, it was so different from nursery and left her feeling more anxious and unsure about things.

In our large 4 form entry school, the majority of children attended the school nursery class which has a separate entrance (through the attached junior school) where we settled them in the classroom for the first few weeks, then handed them over to the teacher/TA at the classroom door for the rest of the year.

I would have been very freaked out not taking him to the classroom if we hadn't have done that in nursery. And I feel very sorry for the parents of children who didn't attend the nursery. It is a very big step for parents and children.