Any advice/reassurance?son (reception) starting new school on Monday

[Rosvita]

My 4 year old son is starting a new school on monday and I was just wondering if anyone could offer any advice/reassurance to me as obviously I'm just a bit nervous about him settling in/making new friends etc.

It was a difficult decision to make as he has settling well at the school he was at (it would have been easier if he was unhappy or we were unhappy with the school but this was not the case). Our main reason for moving him to the new school is that it goes right the way through to the end of year 6 (his old school ends at year 2 then feeds into a not-very-good middle school with some disruption to friendships etc as parents battle to get their kids into other middle/primary schools at the end of year 2).It was also our first choice school,has better facilities,serves a better area,imo good teaching practices,and means that my daughter will also be able to go to the same school when she's of school age.It also increases their chances of going to a different secondary school from the awful one that is our catchment school.In short, we are changing him because we are thinking of the future for him (and her).

Obviously I just want to do what's right for my son and an hoping we have made the right decision. In the grand scheme of things I have to remind myself that he's only 4 and that a change in school now will hopefully be smoother than later on, he can still stay in touch with old school friends if needed, he knows some of the kids at the new school and I know some of the parents. Also things change-you never know some of his old classmates may try and transfer into his new school at the end of year 2. Already his closest friend from the old school is moving away. There should be the possibility of moving him back if worst case scenario he doesn't settle at the new school.

We have told my son about the new school and shown him it online and driven past and he seems excited and says he wants to go to the new school.He was most upset about the fact that he wouldn't be able to go on the school trip he was due to go on next week. However, I'm not naive and sure the change will affect him at least to some extent initially.

Thanks if you got to the end of my post-just needed to write it all down somewhere!

Meant to add the reason we are moving now is that we kept our son on the waiting list and a place only just became available for him

we did this with dd summer term of reception.we had moved to the next village and she could have stayed at old school.All other issues similar.she is fine, she loves it. the only one who suffered is me because I miss the friends I made at old school . they are so adaptable at that age. we are now really glad we moved her because there is a massive year for ds entry to village school this year and we are almost guaranteed entry for him because she is already there. (22 siblings, one form entry)

Thanks for your reply and reassurance.Glad to hear you made the right decision for your children.Fingers crossed my son will settle too!

Having taught many children who join late in the year, in many diff yr grps, I can say that they normally adjust very well and everyone soon forgets they were ever 'new'- as with most things, it is the parents who worry more !!

Hope it all goes well for you both

I know from talking to DS, also in reception, that new children cause a great deal of excitement, in his class at least. Everyone wants to play with them.

He came home complaining bitterly last week because he didn't get chance to play with the new boy, as everyone else got there first. Hopefully it will be similar for your DS!

Thanks for your replies.Roll on Monday-I'm excited for him to start now!

Not quite the same but DS joined a completely different school from all his nursery friends in September and was one of only a couple of children in the year who hadn't been in the nursery together.

The teacher was great at helping him to play and work with lots of different children in the class, kept an eye on him at playtime and basically looked out for him. Within a few days he had several new friends and by Christmas the report was that you would never have known that he was new.

Keep talking to his teacher, stay positive about the change and just be prepared for a few tears at the beginning. We also had a 'whole class' birthday party for him (something I always said I wouldn't do) and that has helped in getting to know the other children, helping him to feel included and also getting the phone numbers for parents so that we can invite them to play at a weekend!