Reception Transition

[Bobholll]

Do you think anything will go ahead now this year? We had a couple transition mornings scheduled for DD in early July - meet the class, meet the teacher, look round the school & have lunch in the ball. I’m gutted to think nothing will go ahead, DD is shy & feeling anxious about school. We’ve moved to a new area where she doesn’t know anyone 😣 ..

I doubt it will go ahead. Why not email the school to ask, say you are trying to organise your diary and would like to know if the transition activities will be going ahead. Not unreasonable to check as you might have to book time off work to take your dd.

My dd knew only one boy at her school and had not had any transition stuff like this. Schools ease them in very gently in reception so don’t worry, she will be well looked after, and they will make sure she is mixed with the other kids and is helped to make friends.

I was really worried about my youngest starting in reception last year. He had been at the preschool, but hadn’t been there since March, and didn’t know the reception teacher. We also couldn’t go into the classroom with them in September,. But actually he was fine, school had lots of things out on the playground so they could play for a bit with parents there before going in, and they all seemed to do really well with it, even the ones who didn’t know anyone.

Could you get in touch with any other parents to meet up over the summer individually? Is there a school Facebook page you could post on, or a local group asking for other parents from your school.

I'm also wondering how this will work. I have no idea what the plan is, as I've not had any information from the school (I'm not sure when information gets sent out in normal times).

Small village school, none of DS's nursery friends are attending so he will know no one, just turned 4. So I'm already very apprehensive about him starting school.

We just received the email today about the stay-and-play transition session in a few weeks for the new starters so you may still hear something yet.

I organise these things at my primary school. We'll be reviewing our plans tomorrow, but I suspect we will aim to still have the children in for taster sessions, but we'll probably cancel the meeting and visit we had planned for parents.

On one hand I agree with the PP - the children will be fine . Reception teachers are excellent at settling in anxious kids, and they'll take even more care over it this year. It's the parents it's harder for. However, I disagree with the suggestion that you should email the school (or at least not yet). They will have been waiting for tonight's announcement before they can start reviewing and revising their plans - please give them a few days to communicate out before chasing them. Trust me, they'll be busting a gut trying to get their induction process sorted (alongside all the other things they'll probably be scrambling to rearrange), and it will take longer if they're simultaneously having to field lots of parent queries. No doubt they'll also be receiving yet another 90 page diktat from disappeared-off-the-face-of-the-earth Gavin Williamson shortly, which they'll also need to try to digest.

My little girl started last year and we weren't allowed any transition sessions, apart from one outdoor story session. Even then we didn't meet her teacher. But, her teacher and the teaching assistants have been fantastic in all of this. They have shown her nothing but care and support. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is if things do unfortunately get cancelled, the staff will still do everything in their power to make sure the new starters settle in well x

We've had an email to say Dad's school is waiting to hear from the Council what they are doing with transition days but are hoping to do something based primarily outside (our transition day is set by the council for everyone in the county). I'd assume there are at least some counties where the same applies and it's not even up to the school what they do.

Autocorrect obviously DD not Dad's school!

Got an email this afternoon & everything’s been cancelled 😣 such a shame.. but as everyone says, I know the school will work extra hard in September to settle the new starters. A few friends have been emailed today to say theirs will be going ahead outdoors & after school, which seems reasonable to me. My DD can be in softplay with at least 30 kids but not a school playground 🤷🏼‍♀️ I get the risk to teachers though!

I’m just sad as DD is really feeling it being somewhere new & I know from experience with nursery that she worries like crazy until she sees her new environment & then she feels better. She was in tears for a good couple weeks every night about her new nursery but once we’d been for a visit and looked round, totally fine & couldn’t wait to start a few weeks later..

Maybe I’ll go for a drive up to her school & we can get out & at least stand on the wall & look down into the playground etc!

We have started our transition for new starters this half term.

Staff have spoken to nursery staff already last half term but haven't been able to visit the children in their settings this time round.

At the moment classes are having 10 children per class to meet their teacher outside in the playground. They are taking place after school for 30 minutes at a time for the first visit. This is to avoid having children in classrooms when the current children are in.

There are additional sessions planned this half term. It wont be like previous pre-Covid times, but it is more than the current reception children got.

FWIW our current reception children settled in very quickly and calmly from the start despite no face to face transition last year, and despite parents having to say goodbye at the school doors and not being able to come into school when dropping off/pick up. We were a little surprised at how smoothly September went despite it being so different to previously.

RE 'seeing the new setting' - our school puts out videos on a blog for the new starter families. They have a a series of videos for the children. Things like introducing the teacher and LSA, introducing key staff such as the head, a video of the classroom and the different areas, one of the small outdoor areas each class have, one of the cloakroom and toilets, one of the hall where they have dinner, one of the big playground etc.

My DS is starting school in September. We've just had an email today to say the transition visits planned for the next 2 weeks have been cancelled and they can't wait to meet the children in September.
But luckily the open morning that has limited numbers will be going ahead tomorrow morning.

I have one starting school nursery and one starting reception and have not heard anything about planned activities. I've tried to get in touch with the school about the after school club arrangements and noone's got back to me either, it's all very frustrating.

Our school is still doing transition visits but holding them in the reception outside area. I think it's 3 1 hour sessions.

My children both started at schools in reception class with no transition sessions. They were absolutely fine.

Also out of interest, though this might sound a bit harsh, our Reception teachers said that settling-in was much easier last September than normal because parents were not able to come into the classroom at all (not that we normally encourage it). Perhaps a few more tears in the first few minutes of the first day, but much easier than normal after that. Maybe sometimes you can have too much transition!

I'm more interested in getting information on their plans for the inevitable staggered first few weeks as soon as possible to plan childcare. I've already had to change mine from their closest school because there are no childminders or private nurseries offering wraparound currently "due to covid" of course.

I think it would be nice to have the opportunity to at least visit the school once before I send my children there for the next 6-7 years.

Yes, it definitely would be nice - but schools are unfortunately operating under strict guidelines, which make any form of open day pretty much unworkable. As for September, who knows what the rules will be by then? Which makes it hard to plan. Have you not heard anything re September start though? We're doing our usual arrangement of a couple of half days for Reception followed by a full start, though it's true that we can't say yet whether we'll need to keep our staggered five minute pick-up slots yet. But hopefully that won't be too much of an inconvenience, as it only makes a max 10 minute difference to timings. As for wraparound care, we're still running ours, but any external nurseries and childminders are obviously totally outside our control.

Believe me, schools are gutted about all this too.

All our transition plans have been pulled back because of the delay in opening up.

It's not just issues within school, it is with pre schools too. We have 3 different pre schools we take children from with 5 different bubbles between them. They can't have children from different bubbles mixing so we can't have them in together. We can't run 5 different transition events for 2-3 children each it simply isn't feasible.

We had a stay and play last week for the reception class 4 or 5 children and 1 parent at a time for 30 minutes. Masks, gel etc.... used and all social distanced (bar the kids). It worked really well.

Your babies will be fine, honestly the will!

My little girl started reception this year, having never met her teacher before, never having been in the school before and knowing none of the children... she also had to be dropped off at the school gate and walk by herself to the classroom door from day one.

She has been amazing from day one and has totally flourished! Reception teachers are absolutely fantastic and will really nuture your little people. :)

And they started full days straight away, I was so nervous that she wouldn't cope, but she just took it all in her stride and she loves school!