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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Sad Reception year is almost over! Is Year 1 still fun?!

16 replies

MamOfTwo · 20/06/2013 19:03

My DD is coming to the end of her Reception year - we have been very lucky and she has loved school since day one. She has started to say that she wants to stay in Reception and loves her teacher more than anything in the world etc etc and doesn't want to move to Year 1! Thing is, I feel sad about her Reception year being almost over too as it has been such a lovely year! Neither of us are very good with change! How is Year 1 different? Will school still be fun for her? What can I say to help her cope with transition?

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IWillDoItInAMinute · 20/06/2013 19:09

My DS is coming to the end of Y1. He has had a fab year. Your DD may find it even better than YR as she will be more settled into school life and no longer one of the "little kids" as my DD in Y5 calls them

He has had so much fun this year, I don't like change either but you'll see your DD blossom. Enjoy

bluegiraffe · 20/06/2013 19:24

my DD said the exact same thing about her YR teacher at end of her Reception year and at intervals throughout summer break and for the first week or two of Y1, but she soon fell in love with her new teacher and has risen to all the new challenges of Y1 and blossomed, even through a change of teacher mid-year (just as fab and just as loved!)
Now we are hoping she will follow the same pattern for Y2 ...

simpson · 20/06/2013 19:35

DD is also coming to the end of reception.

She has been shown her new classroom and could ask questions (she asked whether there was a climbing frame in the new playground and if she still got her fruit, typical of her!!)

She is looking forward to it and I believe she will be playing in the bigger playground soon to get used to it and she has been going to assembly for the last 3 weeks.

Original poster

MamOfTwo · 20/06/2013 19:37

Thank you for the reassuring replies! Hopefully DD (and me) will be fine once we get into the new routine! Looking forwards to lots of fun over the summer hols before then (come back sunshine please!).

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mintyneb · 20/06/2013 19:42

Have to echo what the others have said! My DD is also coming up to the end of yr 1 and has had such a great time. In the first term they learned about space and man on the moon but the school was also 'visited by aliens' who abducted the deputy head! They had to go on a big search for him finding alien clues on the way.

Then over the Easter hols a dinosaur laid some eggs outside their corridor :-). Day after day they saw one of the eggs begin to crack until whilst they were at lunch the dinosaur hatched - but ran away!

DD loved her reception teacher and couldn't imagine having anyone else as good but now of course she loves her yr 1 teacher just as much.

In my experience, the fun does not disappear and I have had the added enjoyment of watching my DD begin to take to reading, grow massively with her writing and also soak up new things with great enthusiasm.

I wouldn't worry if I were you, things can keep getting better :-)

MsDeerheart · 20/06/2013 20:58

Depends a bit on the school and the child - my DS didn't enjoy y1 as much - seemed a bit dry and he missed the free play - buts some schools did do a fair bit still. He has loved Y2 through

FriskyHenderson · 20/06/2013 21:02

Ds was sooo annoyed with his Y1 teacher because 'there's only one computer and she's really bad at sharing'

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 20/06/2013 21:05

Oh I feel like this - and so does DS!

He has loved reception and wants to stay in his current class. He has had such a lovely time and come on leaps and bounds. I am almost certainly going to sob!

Itsjustafleshwound · 20/06/2013 21:10

Are the pupils being mixed up or are they going up with the same class?

Don't be sad - reception is just one stage of many. The play does stop and the real work begins .... And it is quite refreshing to see all the new starters and see just how far your child has come.

Also, getting older they get a bit more of a challenge that the 'basics' have been covered ...

Wigeon · 20/06/2013 21:20

My DD is also going from Reception to Y1 - can't believe how much she's changed even since last Sept!

How much do you know about how your school manages the the transition to Y1? Have your schools told you anything / written a letter to parents / held an info event?

Brownowlahi · 20/06/2013 22:10

We have been prepped for year 1 for quite a while, spelling tests are a weekly ordeal and far more organisation and structure than when dc1 was in reception at a different school, hardly any learning through play and lots of written work at dc2 school. A drive to raise standards further up the school.... I am sad that dc who is a late August birthday won't be one of the youngest in the school in September though.

postmanpatscat · 20/06/2013 23:59

I teach Y1 and we definitely have fun :)

brownowl why does it sadden you that your DC won't be one of the youngest? DD1 is 31 Aug and has just finished her GCSEs, she hasn't been the youngest in school for a long time!

mixedmamameansbusiness · 21/06/2013 14:50

We are also coming to the end if Reception. They are really integrated with the rest of KS1 though, I.e. attened all assemblies etc from the beginning, share the same playground albeit they aren't allowed to cross a line.

We haven't found out who our teacher is yet but DS2 is familiar with where year 1 is and knows the teachers in KS1 really well.

Our school insists on two play sessions per week and even in year 2 they have one.

AaDB · 22/06/2013 08:08

DS found the change of pace from yr to y1 very difficult. His school mix classes each year and he was put in a mixed Y1/2 class. He found the work much more challenging and missed his friends. He went from being happy go lucky to a mini teenager overnight. We decided to really cut back on homework and this helped enormously.

On the plus side he moved playgrounds and likes being one of the bigger kids. He has al
matured a lot; he seems very grown up.

I am amazed by the type and quality of work he can do. I'm sure it's all pretty standard for y1. When I look back at the start of Reception to now, it makes me so proud of him. Two years in school has made a massive difference.

Your lo will be fine. School will have strategies in place to deal with this. They will have their friends with them.

TheMagicKeyCanFuckOff · 22/06/2013 12:54

DS is finishing Yr1. He loves it and it's been great fun as I've found the change of very much more play based learning to a lot more solid and has a lot more work but the teacher is great and I've found that the transition is relatively okay. They have loads of fun and now do project type stuff instead of the more reception style stuff and he has fun every day at school. He is looking forward to Yr2 now but has loved this year and I honestly can't tell the teacher how much fun he's managed to have.

lottieandmia · 22/06/2013 14:26

Dd2 really struggled with the transition from reception to year 1. It is quite a jump really and she felt very hard done by that she was no longer allowed to 'play' and instead had to sit and a table and work instead. Some of the other children settled down to the change fine and others were like her so it just depends really. But year 1 is very different imo. My dd is now coming to the end of year 4 and she hardly remembers that she was like this! So he will get used to it one way or the other.

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