Questions to ask??

[Lullabycrickets23]

This is a very broad one, but we have a Welcome to Reception meeting this week.
Questions I should be asking or anyone regrets not having asked?
Is this the place to ask for some sort of timetable?
All I know is we can order uniforms and put the name down for wrap around care.

Just go along and see what they say. There’ll be lots of information given and that may answer any queries you have. Reception classes don’t really have a timetable that a parent would need to see. The only thing you would need to know is PE day but I imagine they’ll tell you that.

A really good questions to ask is, 'What can I do to help my child to be school ready?'

They will usually tell you everything you need to know.

Things you might be interested in finding out (if not already discussed):

• Do children get changed for PE at school, or do they just come to school wearing their PE kit?
• Do the children need to keep a pair of wellies or other shoes in school?
• Which phonics scheme do they use?
• If your child will be taking packed lunches, are there any particular rules about these? (nut-free, no fizzy drinks, no sweets etc)
• Does the school use an app to keep parents informed about what their child has been doing?
• Will the staff be doing any home visits before school starts?

I imagine they will cover most of the basics, but definitely ask what you can do to help them be 'school ready', if they don't cover this. Hopefully they'll ask you to focus on all those self-help skills, rather than expect you to do anything structured or academic with them.

They won't share an exact timetable with you. Mainly because this won't have been drawn up yet, but also because it evolves over time in Reception. They start off with short 5-10 minute bursts on the carpet, between continuous provision time (where the children are sent off to choose their own learning from things like the home corner, construction, sand pit, playdough, painting etc). As the year goes on, they'll gradually up the amount of whole class carpet time, both in terms of how many sessions they have a day and how long they do them for.