Starting school

[Minniemooseishere]

Can someone tell me what they need to be able to do when they start school?

Dd listens and will follow instructions, she knows all her letters and knows how to spell her name. She can recognise and count but only to ten.

She can write her name but not very well. She can draw a circle but mostly still just scribbles, She's going to a small school and I'd hate for her to be behind the other children.

I'm going to get some uniform at the weekend and practice getting ready for pe.

As you can probably tell I'm very anxious, she's very excited though!

My DD is the youngest in reception, I found she coped better with knee socks on PE days better than tights. Can she zip up her coat? Can she recognise her name? When you say she knows her letters, does she know the letter names or the letter sounds?

bum wiping and carrying her lunch tray to the table without dropping it.

she sounds like she is very bright there is no way she will be behind xx

The academics don't really matter when starting school.

What matters is can she feed herself, dress herself, toilet herself, share, sit and listen to a story, play with peers, cope with rules, tidy up after herself etc. Maybe recognise own name when written down but that isn't a must.

Good idea about the socks, she's getting the hang of tights but it takes her ages.

She knows the letters and their sounds.

Bum wiping is something I'm going to tackle over the summer holidays.

Someone recently asked if she could read so I was abit worried about that

no-one (apart from fake mumsnet children!) can read when they start school. xx

I used to work with a lot of reception who needed extra emotional support.

Help her to become resilient, able to wait for her turn and to ask for help. Many children face something in school, don’t tell the teacher but do tell parents and it becomes a bigger deal than it needs to be!

It's not impossible for children of 4 to be reading, but it's very few and far between so don't worry.

Make sure she can dress and undress. Read/recognise her name in her clothes. Go to the toilet. Put shoes on correctly (get left right stickers).

Everything else she’ll learn (all the academic and social stuff).