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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

Primary settling in sessions

28 replies

pigscanfly82 · 01/07/2022 14:44

Just curious as to how many settling in sessions your primary school is offering for reception 2022 starters? DD's new school have been brilliant - we have had a parents induction morning, been invited to a music afternoon, sports day, school fete, forest school morning and 2 classroom settling in mornings.

2 of my NCT friends are sending their DDs to a different school, but haven't even had a parents meeting. The school are doing a 30 minute classroom taster in September, but no other events. Communication from the school has been appalling and they're regretting their choice.

Are there other schools out there that are not doing anything to support with reception induction? They're not on Mumsnet so I said I would ask on here for them.

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KarrotKake · 01/07/2022 14:53

Not a reception parent, but all those events are a nightmare for working parents. We wouldn't be able to facilitate many, if any, of them depending on the notice recieved.
So, then you have a 2 level system, with some kids having done loads, and some nothing, so you have to assume everyone has done nothing.

ifoundthebread · 01/07/2022 14:56

My son goes to the schools nursery but so far they have had a few trips to the big school to explore new classroom and get familiar with the new teachers. Parents have a evening event at the school in which the expectations, plans, schedules are explained to parents. Then parents are incited to take their child to lunch in the school as going for lunch outside the classroom will be something new. Then the day before term starts parents are invited to take the child for a drop in session and can stay and explore the new room with child for an hour or so, then they start full time the next day

HappyHappyHermit · 01/07/2022 14:58

Ours has a parents meeting and then 4 sessions spread over several weeks. It has been just the right amount for dd and she is excited to start properly in September, I think it is good if there are at least a couple so the children know what to expect.

Sammilouwho · 01/07/2022 14:59

We've had 2 'look around school' meetings, a teddy bears picnic to go to, the teacher is visiting our house and she has a transition week where she will be going in 3 mornings (which is a nightmare when coordinating around nursery), I know the other school in the area haven't had this but they are doing meet the teacher soon.
We've been given plenty of notice for them and the events have been done at the end of working days/lunchtimes, they've been really good actually!

purpleme12 · 01/07/2022 15:43

We had 2 sessions before my child started.
I believe both in July.
One was in classroom/outside.
One they had a school dinner at school.
I think yours sounds like a lot more than normal OP.
I wouldn't expect more than one or two

PineappleWilson · 01/07/2022 15:51

One, you got a choice out of 5 options (each a morning or an afternoon) and only one parent could attend. The school also didn't hold open days / tours before parents chose schools and, when we emailed about them, didn't bother to reply.

BendingSpoons · 01/07/2022 18:08

That sounds like a lot to me. I expect 1 evening parent meeting, 1 session for the child to visit with parents and one home visit in Sept.

redskyatnight · 01/07/2022 19:42

We didn't find the events in June/July that useful as the DC had forgotten about them by September! So I think what schools are doing in September is more important.

Dizzyhedgehog · 01/07/2022 20:14

DS had a quick visit to the current Reception class this week and will have a voluntary two-hour session with the other children from his new class in a few weeks. However, he's in the school nursery. This means, someone can pick him up from there and then return him afterwards. I'm working, so wouldn't be able to just drop him off mid-morning and collect him again by lunchtime. There's a school uniform information thing coming up but I won't attend. We've got that covered already.
I think it's enough. He'll be full time from day 1 in September and already knows the school anyway.
We'll be having a parents' evening once the kids have started.

PicturesOfLily · 01/07/2022 20:19

We’ve had a parents information evening and dd was supposed to go yesterday afternoon for a stay and play session. I’d managed to get the afternoon off school to take her but she woke up with a sickness bug so we missed it! There is a story time session for 30 minutes next week that we are going to try & go to (I’m missing the last hour of my school sports day) and a home visit the following week as September is absolutely impossible for me as a teacher. She is an early September birthday so in the last group to start on Friday 9th September! She has 3 hours then in full time from the Monday.

ItsSnowJokes · 01/07/2022 20:26

1x 45 min stay and play session and then the teacher came round to the house in the first week of term before they started the following week.

SpringRainbow · 01/07/2022 20:53

I am amazed that you got so much.

It was a while ago but my kids got a home visit from there teacher, a session when the parents came in with the kids, a couple of sessions where they go in themselves, and then there was a meeting where the parents got to speak to the teacher alone.

I always thought that was a lot.

TempsPerdu · 01/07/2022 20:58

That sounds like a lot to me. I expect 1 evening parent meeting, 1 session for the child to visit with parents and one home visit in Sept

This is what we have for DD, who starts in September, and what most other local schools are offering. Our school then has quite a slow, phased entry in September - mornings only for the first month (v annoying for the majority of working parents). Yours sounds like a lot more than normal OP!

CafeNervosa · 01/07/2022 21:01

One parents evening and tour;
one visit from teacher to preschool;
one 45 min play session in July;
one home visit in September;
2 mornings in the first week of September;
mornings only on the Monday & Tuesday of the 2nd week;
full time from the 2nd Wednesday of term.

Closedlips · 01/07/2022 21:03

Home visits?! Is that really a thing? I've never heard of that here. We've got one hour parents meeting and one 2 hour session for the child next week. Then they start in September as normal.

mistermagpie · 01/07/2022 21:07

We're in Scotland so don't have reception (think kids are older here when they start school?) but my DS is starting in August and had three 1.5 hour sessions during may/June. They got to go into a class, meet their school 'buddy' (a senior pupil who will support them a bit at first), meet their class and teacher etc. the parents got a tour and presentations about uniform and what to expect.

It's been pretty good actually, I'm quite pleased. I have an older son at the school but he started in 2020 so it was a bit of a shitshow due to Covid and we had none of this.

Twizbe · 01/07/2022 21:09

My son is in reception this year. Because of covid we got 1 10 min meeting with the teacher outside last summer.

As new parents we organised a picnic by ourselves via Facebook.

There really wasn't much more we could do.

Most local schools here did a very drawn out 3 week induction. It meant some of my NCT group's kids didn't start until October!

My son's school had 1 day with half the class and the next day with the other half and then all together the next day. I think it was a much better tbh.

Abraxan · 01/07/2022 21:12

That amount of events would be very difficult for many of our parents, especially in school hours. We have a lot of working parents and that off work, especially when they may need time off in September to facilitate the slightly staggered start.

We have some 30 minute taster sessions this coming week, after school finishes. Parents will join their children in the classroom for part of the time and rest will have a short meeting with the reception lead. This is staggered over a couple of evenings. Nursery contact has already happened over video calls.

Home visits will take place during the first half week in September. Staggered start begins the following week, with a couple of half days, a couple of half days with lunch and then full time from day 5. There will be another parent meeting on the first half days.

We do have fairly regular communication with home via the reception blog and a dedicated page on our website, plus access to a new starters email account to ask specific questions. The families have had access to photographs and online documents such as what the school looks like, where to hang coats, what lunch time looks like, where the toilets are, where to out their water bottle etc. They've also had short videos from their new class teachers. We also have a shared Google drive to download copies of documents and guides, More will be added before the end of term. Over the summer they will receive log in codes for their individual child's learning journal (sorted into class groups with a whole class blog (password protected) as well as their own password protected individual page) where more welcome information will be posted and we encourage parents to send us a photograph via that so we can use these in the classroom, along with a drawing they do at home visits, etc.

CoodleMoodle · 01/07/2022 21:20

DS is starting in Reception this year. I have a meeting at school next week to meet the teachers, find out what class he's in, have a tour (I don't need one as DD already goes there), etc.

Then the following day he has 1 afternoon in the class, for about 90mins. DD is going into Y4 in Sept and that's when her class are going to meet their new teacher and see their new classroom. Everybody is moving up for the afternoon. When she started in Reception, she had two or three afternoon settle sessions and I'm not sure where the older kids went!

The deputy head told me they'd only been able to restart the sessions this year, and they hadn't been able to for the last two.

CoodleMoodle · 01/07/2022 21:23

Oh yes, and we had the teacher visit our house for DD, but haven't heard anything about them doing the same for DS. I think it would be quite nice but so far that's not happening.

Original poster

pigscanfly82 · 01/07/2022 21:38

Thanks everyone. I will let them know.

I'm wondering if Dd's school has all of this because she won't be starting full time until 19th September.

OP posts:

Lilbunnyfufu · 03/07/2022 00:13

The only communication we have had so far was in May when we was invited to tour the school and see DS classroom without him.
I know from looking at their website that we should be invited to a stay and play day this month at some point and in September for the first 3 days we stay with the children and on day 4 and 5 they stay a little without parents.

Bunnycat101 · 04/07/2022 19:39

I would have found all of your school’s stuff too hard to facilitate in the summer. Our school did 2 weeks of messing around at the start which I found more unsettling tbh but I can see why they wanted to get half the class in at a time to make it less daunting for the children. By the time my second goes she’ll have been to loads of school events etc, will know lots of the kids so the 2 weeks will feel even more annoying.

berksandbeyond · 06/07/2022 12:21

We had a parents evening, an induction morning and then there's a 'stay and play' where the child and one parent can go along. I'm happy with that!

berksandbeyond · 06/07/2022 12:22

They also have 2 shorter days and then start properly, none of this messing around part time for weeks nonsense, thank goodness!

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