Lack of information from Reception.

[LiLi2015]

My DD4 started school last week and seems to be getting on well, no major issues settling in so far (touch wood) However I am a little concerned about the lack of info for parents. I have no idea what her school days look like, what she eats (if anything at all!) or if she's generally getting on ok. I don't expect a full rundown of her day as I know that's impossible for 30 children however is a basic school routine and dinner menu too much to ask?

She has come home today with a full water bottle and said she hasn't drank anything apart from her milk at snack time.

Covid means I haven't even been able to set foot in the school and I just feel totally in the dark. I hand her over in the morning to strangers and I have no idea what she does all day 🤷🏻‍♀️ it's making my anxiety horrible.

Am I being crazy? Is this normal?

I found if you put the water bottle in the net pocket on the side of a backpack (so it's visible) or give it to the child to carry in, then it tends to get taken through to the classroom and drank. If it's inside the bag it gets left in the cloakroom and fogotten. But I wouldn't worry, if she had milk at 10.30ish and a drink with lunch (12/12.30?) Then the longest will have gone is 3 hours.

Drinking water during the day is a fad and a myth? What’s wrong with MN lately?

My parents are old and they drank plenty of water at school. The benefits of regular water consumption have been proven for decades. Especially in little kids who are running around and engaging their brains - they need hydration throughout the day.

How else are people getting their 2 litres every day? Don’t people get thirsty? Do you not visit the loo for hours on end, is your pee yellow? I’m astounded to see people could actually deprive their children of water because it’s a ‘myth invented by the bottled water industry’.

I haven’t bought a water bottle in years. I’m still drinking regularly and haven’t caught any bacteria from my reusable water bottle.

My DD is in year 1. We have a menu but similar to Rooroobear it keeps changing due to supply issues. Took a while today to work out what the strange sort of lasagne she ate today was (spinach and ricotta cannelloni!).

We had Tapestry but it took a while to set up. The school had to get permission forms back from parents and then set it up.

Does your class have a WhatsApp group? Great way to find out info from those with older kids!

It is a bit of a culture shock but we had tapestry so there were at least some pics of the first few days. The biggest shock for me was holiday clubs. I found it hard to send my daughter somewhere completely random for a week and get absolutely no feedback while in parallel I get information on the number of wet nappies and minutes of sleep for my younger one in nursery.

Ah, I hear you OP! I really struggled when DS started Reception last year, especially as he hadn't gone to the preschool attached to the school so didn't know anyone else. DH does the drop off Mon-Thurs and DS is then picked up by a childminder 4 nights a week so I felt like I missed the walk home and the opportunity to have a chat with him about his day as by the time we get home he's tired and just wants to chill out for a bit before bed.

Things that helped were making a few friends with other parents once DS settled which meant we sometimes we got bits of information or could compare notes. I also had a poke about the website and found a topic grid so could casually ask about dinosaurs or Owl Babies or whatever it was on the grid that week which got him talking about what he'd been up to.

Regarding drinks, DS has had constipation issues in the past so needs to keep hydrated. He wasn't drinking any water at all during the day and didn't like the milk so I bought him a non see-through bottle and give him dilute squash which he drinks most of during the day. (I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to tell me I'm a dreadful mother for doing this!)

She drinks in the morning, at breakfast and then at lunch no doubt so she will be fine. Email svhool office for dinner menu if it is important to know in advance although presumably your child can tell you what they ate. As for school routine it really is very play based at reception so a timetable would be pretty meaningless. Try the website and look under curriculum if you want a run down.