Starting school like a pro - come and share your tips

[AndHarry]

PFB is starting school in September and I'm trying to remember all the great tips I've picked up on MN over the years and from the MN guide. Come and add to my list so I look like I know what I'm doing...

• Label everything! Get EasyFix clip-on labels so you don't have to spend ages ironing in labels that will fall out or sewing.

• Label everything expensive-ish like coats and jumpers twice: once somewhere obvious and once somewhere more hidden so that if a child (or parent ) takes a fancy to that item you'll be able to prove that it belongs to your child.

• Talk to a parent with a child already at the school to find out what you actually need to buy on the school uniform list and what is on the list but never actually worn (leotards, tracksuits etc.)

• Get your child to practice using cutlery, undressing and dressing, and wiping their own bottom properly over the summer.

• Add a distinctive keyring to book and PE kit bags so your child can spot it easily amongst all the other identical bags.

• Buy a good water bottle with a sports cap that they can refill in school (any recommendations...?)

M&S also do a 20% off uniform event - sometime towards the end of summer term I remember. DS always has uniform from here and his trousers easily last the year, as do his socks.

Can also recommend start rite for shoes. Each pair so far has lasted each year.

ghoulwithadragon I have exactly the same key ring problem my DS's bag it is weighed down with them DD has already started on her preschool backpack!

stikins are the best labels I have found will stick on everything and don't come off in the wash or dishwasher.

Tips I have been given are:

• teach them to put their clothes into some sort of pile as they take them off for PE & to pair their shoes;
• if you have a DD, then, in winter, put them in trousers on PE day so they don't have to battle with tights
• label lids as well as the item itself (eg water bottle lid as well as the actual water bottle) as one without the other isn't much use!
• teach them to roll up sleeves before washing their hands, especially if you have sized up & their sleeves are down over their hands

I taught my DD to take her clothes off and put them back in the PE bag. This helped a lot - she didn't lose a single item of clothing until nearly all the way through Y1 (which I think may be some kind of record).

We do not have a formal uniform policy at our school. Kids are encouraged to wear the school sweatshirt and polo shirts but can wear plain ones in the same colours if they wish. If your school is the same I'd suggest that you don't buy the expensive poloshirt with logo from the school and buy cheap poloshirts from supermarkets / M&S. I have reached the conclusion that nothing will remove whiteboard marker from poloshirts and that you might as well buy cheap ones and throw them away as soon as they are marked.

Yes, the whiteboard marker is a nightmare!

I must heed my own advice on this one...spend the week before school doing not much. Let your DC get bored of home, so that school is a fun novelty.

Don't do what I did and take them to every theme park/farm park within 50 miles to make the most of the last few days, so that they don't then want to go to school...preferring to stay with you and the potential of more fun days out!

Also plan for the weekends in that first term to be really quiet. Do very little, but do attend as many parties for school friends as possible, and stay to get to know the parents and children.

Top tip - remind them when they undress for PE to leave on their underwear My sister used to teach Reception and said that new starters often completely stripped down as they were used to undressing for bathtime, rather than changing clothes.

Oh, and writing on the label, or inside a collar, with a Sharpie is infinity easier than sewing/ironing on labels.

I was just looking at tickets for the butterfly event at the Natural History Museum

One of my earliest school memories is of us all getting changed for PE and one of the boys had been wearing shorts with those inbuilt mesh pants so had nothing on underneath. He stood on the table and whirled around a few times to show off his willie :o I can't remember what happened but I sometimes wonder what our teacher thought!

Marking place!

write left and right in their shoes and plimsolls, or draw a picture they can match up to get the shoes the right way round, don't know why but even a child who can normally manage shoes forgets which feet they go on at school.

Check they have everything when you pick them up and go back to the classroom if they've forgotten anything, there is a lost property monster that eats things left overnight (or more sensibly its probably the cleaners putting things in the wrong place)

SmileAndNod scrub it with cold water and washing up liquid then stick it in a normal wash. (DD gets a lot of whiteboard marker on her)

Definitely pick them up with a snack (unless you live round the corner from school). My DD is always starving! Also - the school might give you a water bottle? Ours does.

Book childcare if you need it now - our after school club is already nearly full for next year.

Don't buy the school shoes until just before term starts otherwise their feet are guaranteed to grow massively!

Uniform is on sale all year round so don't worry if you don't get everything.

Start buying £5 presents if you see special offers and cheap birthday cards for all the millions of parties they will be invited to in reception!

These tips are all for the kid ....

But its the parent who needs the most prep

There is an art to getting out of the door every day with reception child, younger toddler, packed lunch, book bag (with reading and any homework complete), swimming bag/PE kit/forest schools kit/random extra item for science class and with all the necessary forms complete and cheques for various activities written.

Good luck!

To follow on from my previous post, school run tips are as follows:

• Get all the bags ready and laid out by the door the night before
• Get the packed lunch made and in the fridge the night before
• Set the table for breakfast with cereals laid out out ready (this wards off toddler tantrums about wanting random stuff for breakfast that you haven't possibly got time for!)
• Get dressed before coming downstairs (unless you have a very messy eater in which case, don't!)
• Have teeth brushing equipment and flannel and hairbrush downstairs - brush teeth in the kitchen sink so you don't have to go back upstairs (the latter sends everything pair shaped, they disappear and start play with lego etc!)

• No matter how panicky you feel about the fact that it is 8.45 AAAARRGH! or how irritated you feel about HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO PUT YOUR SHOES ON!!!!! you must not show it. It only ups the ante, makes everyone miserable and everything takes even longer. Go into the utility room, put your head in your hands and do a silent scream to yourself if you have to.

• Walk to school if you can. It's nice, the fresh air is good for you and no matter how grim the morning has been so far, the school run is always a nice time for a chat and a good de-stressing transition to saying good bye at school.

The water bottles we love are the Sistema's ones that come in all shapes and sizes from Sainsburys etc. They have a 'twist n sip' spout for greater hygiene - no unclean little hands need to touch the drinking tip. I buy a few in different colours and then mix and match the lids so they don't look like other peoples water bottles - it helps DD recognise her bottles.

Oh, just remembered my Dad's advice to all parents on their dc's first day (he has 8 kids, so has done 8 first days and watched the parents on countless others)

it doesn't matter how nervous you are or upset that little ones all grown up etc, do not cry in front of them or let on you're nervous, cry your eyes out once you're out of sight by all means but don't make a fuss about it/do the overly long hug, ooh my big grown up boy, I'm going to miss you thing, every child should be sent into their first day with a smile, a wave and 'have a great day'

Or as he put it on DS' first day "man the fuck up and stop weeping xihha, you're embarrassing me and DS"

Make sure you have a system at home for dealing with all the letters from school and dates and info you are given. You don't want to be the parent who forgets home-clothes day, or dress-as-a-pirate, or bring-a-teddy.

If they come out without coat or jumper, send them back to find it that very same day. Much easier to find things before they have moved too far.

Don't blame the teacher if a jumper goes missing, or ask them to look for it. Ask to look for it yourself.

If naming clothes with anything other than name tapes, check regularly the name hasn't washed off. (Happens a lot at our school)

If at all possible, don't let them take random toys into school. They get lost / 'claimed' by other children.

If they really need a transition toy, try to get it to stay in their school bag during the day.

Never let them take anything precious into school. It will get lost.

I have ABSOLUTELY no idea why I am reading this as my DC are in ys 5 and 7! But it makes me feel really nostalgic!

If your school gives out lists of term dates etc in advance, mark everything down in your diary. If you say to a small child "do you need to take anything in to school today?" you will not get a sensible answer. If you say "ooh, its assembly next week, what are you doing for it?" you will be told that they need a bumble bee outfit for tomorrow (#askmehowiknowthat!)

Deffo agree re not chucking stuff out too quickly. We have had bits of uniform too disreputable for daily wear, but they become very acceptable when other stuff has gone missing, or eg for trips and sports days when a discarded sweatshirt may just never come back. My experience has been that most stuff does turn up after a while, but it makes life a whole lot easier if you have something to tide you over.

My ds is and always has been the worlds most easy going child (he is currently applying his own particular brand of chilled out-ness to revising for Y7 exams ) and even he was horrendous in the first term of reception, tired, stroppy, argumentative with sibling etc, but fine at school. You need to cut them a huge amount of slack - at home it needs to be a clear and undemanding routine, lots of food, regular bed times (and early! my niece used to fall asleep at 6pm!) Remember the goal here is nothing to do with anything academic - the goal is for them to enjoy going in to school and participating in what is on offer. If they can do that, you really are going to be fine.

If you have a girl, pop a pair of ankle socks in her PE bag for the days you forget it's PE and let her wear tights! My DCs' school doesn't make them change at all apart from plimsolls for the first term which reduces stress hugely!

I don't label drinks bottles, I use a small hobby drill to engrave their name on it. I still do this for DD1 and she's at secondary - also useful for marking calculators etc.

Don't let them take lego to school, no matter how keen they are to show their long suffering teacher their lego friends hairdressing salon - disaster as even if you put it in a ziplock bag it WILL get lost and the poor teacher has got too much to do as it is

Don't let them take Rabbit/Cuddly/Snuggle Rag to school. It will get lost or at the very least forgotten at home time.

If you think your child needs to go up a reading level, a good way is to gently suggest this via the reading record rather than marching into school and demanding a consultation.

The easy2name stick in labels are still going strong here, including on shoes, water bottles etc. I'm fearing that I'll have to stick the ones for her little sister on top, as hers are still most firmly stuck on.

Non-Clark's shoes are easier to recognise in a pile. Shoe labels in an eye-wateringly bright colour help, too.

There will be a child in the class who has an older sibling in the school. Their mum will be the fount of all unwritten school-related knowledge.

If you have a magazine folder in the kitchen for all school-related pieces of paper, then you can always find things. I now also have my cheque book and some envelopes in there, plus spare name labels (to apply to new hats, gloves etc).

I need a drill?! That's hardcore labelling :) I'll probably buy one in desperation round about October...

I wasn't the slightest bit bothered about DS starting school until reading through this thread but I have to admit to shedding a tiny tear reading about first days. Maybe I'll let DH do that bit and go to work that day.

A great tip I read on here was to blow kisses and put them in your child's pocket "for later".

My DD loved that and still does nearly a school year later!

I used put kisses in DD's pocket. Maybe the idea came from me!