RECEPTION! If you've been there, bought the T-shirt. Please post your single toppest tip please!

[Sycamoretreeisvile]

DD is PFB and will be starting our local state primary in September at the grand old age of 4 and 3 weeks

Please can you be kind enough post your single top tip to help me and DD negotiate this exciting and also vaguely scary time.

Anything from uniform (mind is boggling - how many fleeces, polo shirts, skirts does she need?)to whether or not to bother with school lunches (can I be bothered to make a packed lunch everyday? )

TIA

Thank you all again for your thoughtful and insightful posts.

Excellent advice so far - re. the calendar: get a little blackboard and draw up a basic timetable - PE Monday, swimming Thursday etc.

And have a designated spot for school bags - we have a big basket they all get dropped in to, and it's the first place to look if anything goes missing.

Snacks are essential even if you live close by.

Bear in mind at all times that the first term is really for settling in. Any actual number and letter type learning is a bonus. If you find yourself thinking "but is she being stretched?" then give yourself a slap.

Actually, make that the first year!

Agree with Grammaticus. I wish someone had told me that a year ago!

I think www.nametagit.co.uk do the pin-on name labels ...

This is all great advice.

I looked on the Sept hand-holding thread but I'm too late and it's too long to read (suppose I could just post anyway)

DD starts in August (we're in Scotland). There's no reception here - she'll be just 5.

I am fretting about uniform - got some M&S stuff online and tried on the skirts last night - age 6 because she is very tall - and the skirt fell all the way down past her bum. Oh dear - it will have to be dresses then pinafores when it gets cooler.

Anyone else had any luck finding cheap navy skirts with an adjustable waist?

Few more

Hang on to things like train tickets, boarding passes, photos from interesting places etc.
When they were doing a topic about holidays and travel I gave DS an old boarding pass in his name from our last trip. The whole class played travelling on a plane just with the boarding pass as a starting point.

Also save any old bits of ribbon from chocolate boxes etc (eat the chocs obviously ), kitchen roll tubes, shoe boxes and similar as you will probably be asked to supply things for craft projects.

Hi, I dont post often, but though i'd add another one. Id suggest finding out the contact procedures for things like, sickness, appointments, lateness . Esp find out if you are expected to call school every day if child off for one week (for example). Also, where child to be taken and collected from if person taking/collecting the child is late.

Also found it useful to keep diary. Dates and significant things or contact/communication you may want to note. For example, if my DD has an appointment, I enter it in on the relevant date and also note the date and means that the school were informed. (Eg. letter sent on blah blah date, or 'told teaching assistant on blah blah date pm). My DD has had grommts inseted and discussed the implications with the welfare officer-again date and time noted. Found the diary most useful to determine changes or progress. Sadly, also used it to note times when nits sought refuge in DD's hair! EEewww!

HTH

This is really helpful thanks
Can I just tell you something funny about comparing children? My DD just had a settling in morning at school. At picking up time all the children came running out with something they had made/drawn. I saw another child's picture with a beautifully written "Amy" on it. I looked at my DD's effort and thought "this is rubbish compared to Amy's" (making very encouraging comments and "how wonderful" noises). Then I remembered my DD has a broken right arm and is in plaster cast from armpit to fingers...of course she couldn't write her name

When you buy the pumps get the ones with a velcro fastening rather than the old fashioned elastic ones. Much easier for them to get on.

Also, buy some stick on labels with their name on it - I think they're from a website called stuck on you. Very helpful for labelling lunchboxes and water bottles.

On no account buy those dreadful shoes with the toys inside. The constant lifting up of the inside sole wrecks it and makes the shoe very uncomfortable.

Question please? Do boys still wear shorts for school these days, it seems a bit 1950's & dont want to make ds different in any way??

Don't dread the other parents or assume they're all in some kind of clique that's quite deliberately designed to exclude you. Stick your neck out and be friendly. You will quite probably end up with some delightful new friends of your own.

in this weather, yes

Definately don't buy shoes with the toys in the heel - my DD had a pair to start reception this year, and they were wrecked within the first term from being taken on and off.

Lovely apron type pinafores look lovely but are a fiddling hellish nighmare for a child to get in and out of (arms and or head will always come out of wrong hole).

Dress you dds in the lovely pinafores on the days they are NOT doing PE. On PE days put them in a skirt.

Push the boat out and buy pants with a large picure of something obvious on the front. This avoids trunk-through-the-leg-hole wardrobe malfunction that my dd in her nice plain white pants manages to achieve on a startlingly regular basis.

Patent shoes need to be cleaned less BUT are to be avoided if your school has a traversing wall.

4 is very very young to be starting school! DD started at the same age. Please remember that despite the pressure, your child is under no legal obligation to go to school till she is 5. Full days can be very long for a young child, and it is really worth negotiating a part-time week until you feel she is wanting to go full time. Dd was tired and bad tempered and horrid when she got home. Why should the school have her on good behaviour and we get the grumpy monster? She has been going part time all year and doesn't seem to be missing out.

If anyone is thinking of buying M and S stripey summer dresses don't worry if there isn't an age 4 left.

My very short 4 yr old fits into the age 5 dress and it doesn't look that long....the dress is on the small side if anything. If you have a tall DD they might even need the age 6 dress for reception.

MY DS has shorts for warm weather and long trousers for cold weather.

Taggitts are the name tape clip thingies!

I have found it invaluable to get a calendar (the sort where you have a page for a month with a box to write in for each day, rather than just a line). As and when you get notes from school with dates to remember, add the details to the calendar, ie 'Mufti Day', 'Swimming' etc and then check the calendar each day. There's quite a lot to remember once it all gets going.

Also, I find it useful to get items ready for next day the night before, ie lay uniform out, pack swimming kit. It's always a mad rush in the morning.

My main tips are:

Don't discuss your dc's abilities with other parents, particularly if your dc is bright.

Don't forget important dates such as storybook day.

Try to attend as many school events as possible as you dont want your dd to be the only child whose parents don't attend.

Don't listen if your dd tells you that no one likes them.

If your dc is invited to parties,ensure that they attend , if this is not possible make sure you explain to the other childs parent why your dc could not attend, if you do not do this you may find that your child will not be invited to other parties.

I would say packed lunch to begin with - at my DC school, the children have to carry their own tray and for most reception children it is a huge struggle to get their lunch from serving hatch to the table.

Mine also found the whole dinner hall expereince the most tramatic thing about starting school. Although the younger children go in to dinner first, their is a lot of noise, a lot of people - most bigger than them! My dc is very slow eater and used to end up eating with the year 6's

Also expect DD to fall asleep as soon as she gets home!

Make sure you have enough:

1. cheques 2)envelopes

Talk to your child about 3 ways to start making friends with children you don't know:

1. think up a good game 2) do something kind for someone 3) tell a joke or say something funny

Sycamore, you have my sympathy - my eldest started Reception aged 4 years and 4 days! After a slow start, she's now in Year 7 and just came 2nd out of 100 children in maths. They all get there when they are ready, and they aren't anywhere near as competitive as the parents.