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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

Home visits for children starting reception - why?

84 replies

corlan · 28/06/2010 16:01

I've just received a letter telling me that 'In preparation for your child starting at school we would like to visit your child at home'.
I've never heard of these visits happening before. Are there any primary teachers that know what the thinking behind this is?
(To be honest I'm not too keen, maybe because I work in a secondary school and I know how judgemental about student's homes and families we can all be!!)

OP posts:

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houseofboys · 28/06/2010 21:05

Ours runs a little 'test' apparently - checking phonics and numbers and getting them to cut things out and colour. She's an NQT so I've put it down to being extra keen - seems a bit OTT to me. Don't they get pre-school/nursery reports anyway?

mrz · 29/06/2010 07:45

NonnoMum it isn't the size of the TV that matters it's the fact that some parents haven't the basic social skills required to turn down the volume when chatting about something as important as their own child that is the issue ...

BalloonSlayer · 29/06/2010 07:57

at "telly turned down."

Who in the name of arse would not turn it OFF?

[Disclaimer - I can understand leaving CBeebies on to distract your toddler when you have a visit from the midwife but that's about it]

gorionine · 29/06/2010 07:58

"Ours runs a little 'test' apparently - checking phonics and numbers and getting them to cut things out and colour. She's an NQT so I've put it down to being extra keen - seems a bit OTT to me. Don't they get pre-school/nursery reports anyway? "

Was it done in your house houseofboys? I do not get why this could not be done in school.

I do honestly not think it is possible to go to someone's house and absolutely not "judge" be it positively or negatively. Houses can give the wrong impression either way.

james79 · 29/06/2010 22:54

In my experience the children enjoy having had their teacher visit their house, it can be really special for them. Also a really good opportunity for parents to ask about things that they may not have felt comfortable asking at school with other parents around.

ShoshanaBlue · 29/06/2010 23:45

It's true. Having to talk over Jeremy Kyle is pretty much the norm. I remember a particular year where no parent turned the tv off and the one family with social aspirations and ideas of grandeur did turn theirs down....

Colditz is correct. We have the smallest tv in the world. It's a portable. My child is in fact in the top reading group.

hester · 29/06/2010 23:49

We're having that, I assumed it was standard. I think it will really help dd feel less nervous on her first day at school.

piprabbit · 29/06/2010 23:56

DDs school does this, it's fine. It was a chance to meet a child where they feel safe. A chance to talk to the parents and for the parents to raise any issues. A chance to see the child in action - talking and playing.
They took a photo of DD which was then up in the classroom with all the other children to make them feel welcome.
I appreciated it as I had a newborn baby at the time and it was much easier to meet the teacher and TA at home than head off to school.

If the teachers judged our house to be bookless, just because we only have a few board books downstairs, they would have been soooo wrong. We try and limit books to the study and bedrooms, but have recently had to put extra bookcases on the landing. I think it's a losing battle.

Just13moreyearstogo · 30/06/2010 00:02

I've heard of this in Steiner Schools but not otherwise. It probably does help children starting school to have had their teacher in their house and been able to chat about their toys etc. I can imagine most parents feeling very scrutinised and tense though, so it wouldn't necessarily have the desired effect of making the child feel that mummy, daddy and teacher were buddies! So glad I didn't have to endure it. I'd have spent days rearranging the bookshelves and ensuring that educational toys rather than Barbies were on display.

mrz · 30/06/2010 07:41

Guidance from the government published in 1998 said that EYFS settings should "communicate with parents" and one method suggested was home visits which many schools and nurseries now do.

StewieGriffinsMom · 30/06/2010 07:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Bonsoir · 30/06/2010 08:02

I think it is unbelievably intrusive for a school to ask to visit a child at home - a complete and utter violation of privacy.

traceybath · 30/06/2010 12:30

So a teacher would go out to 30 children's homes - blimey - whose teaching the existing class then?

I sort of get the point but seems a bit odd and very intrusive really.

Oh and we have a tiny tv but ds1 is not in the top reading group - what am i doing wrong

Rollergirl1 · 30/06/2010 12:48

traceybath: At DD's school the home-visits are all done in week beginning 7th September by the Reception teacher. None of the Reception class attend school in that first week of term so there isn't a problem with regards to who is teaching the other children.

And the home visit is not compulsory so if a parent feels it is intrusive you can just say no. I can't see any problem with it personally.

traceybath · 30/06/2010 12:50

Oh I see - i thought it was done now.

I personally wouldn't have minded but ds1's school don't do this.

Rollergirl1 · 30/06/2010 13:01

I think our school only started last year and they specifically do it as a part of the induction process. So the children have two classroom visits in July where they get to meet their teacher and see the classroom. And then the home-visit is done in the first week of term instead of lessons with all children attending school the following week.

I think it will be good for my DD is she is quite a shy little thing and I think she will come out of herself with the teacher more in her own enviroment then she may do on either of the school visits.

nymphadora · 30/06/2010 13:05

Both my dds had them and dd1 started in 2003

BecauseImWorthIt · 30/06/2010 13:08

My DC are 18 and 15, and we had home visits here.

Actually I thought it was a great idea. It meant that we got a chance to meet the teacher and ask our own questions about what would happen on that first day/first week.

It helped to make us feel part of the school community, that they cared enough to want to visit every child personally.

(But I confess to also being pleased that we have lots of books, and hoping that that gave her a good impression of us !)

MathsMadMummy · 30/06/2010 17:15

sounds like a great idea! good chance to talk about DD and demonstrate her brilliance

wondering if our local school does them now!

piprabbit · 30/06/2010 17:24

Who wouldn't want a chance to have the teacher's undivided attention while you holdforth at length about your PFB [grin}?

Once your child starts school you will be hanging around the classroom door desperate for a quiet word or two after school.

deepdarkwood · 30/06/2010 17:29

Our local school does them (& has for years) and my mum (prim school teacher has done them for at least 5 years or so.
I like 'em - chance for parents to ask questions you feel awkward/stupid asking with everyone else around; chance for child to encounter teacher on home ground & feel confident, chance for teacher to get a sense of what's going on in child's life.

In ours, they always take a photo of the child & get them to draw a picture which is then displayed in the classroom - so everyone goes into the classroom & finds something of theirs. We also got a little gift of a set of drawing pencils (19p wilkos job!) for each child to do their drawing.

My mum said the only houses that ever made her nervous were those where she couldn't see any toys/that had been tidied to the nth degree (but that just reflects on her innate love of chaos & inability to tidy anything...)
Like anyone else, teachers will judge a bit - according to their own personal priorities. They'll do that anyway, though, so I can't see that them find out I don't dust my skirting boards will make any difference.

Elibean · 30/06/2010 17:55

I was a tad nervous when dd1 got the pre-Reception home visit, but the teachers were lovely and very un-scary, and dd adored every second. She went to her first day in a new school, knowing no-one, a little less scared thanks to that visit.

I'm now looking forward to dd2's pre-Nursery visit, and have no intention of dusting anything this time

FWIW, they didn't ask much - apart from asking dd to show them her favourite cuddly - just had a cup of tea and were friendly, so dd could get a feel of who they were (as much, if not more, as the other way around).

HTH

mrz · 30/06/2010 19:04

We do home visits after school so the existing class don't suffer

ShoshanaBlue · 30/06/2010 22:49

Ours are done when the local elections are being held in May (school is a polling station). It's the first contact that you have with the teacher and after that they have the meetings in the school.

nomoney · 30/06/2010 23:18

My neighbour is a TA and she often does home visits with the reception teacher.

She is a normal sort and she recommends conducting the meeting in the garden so you don't feel obliged to hoover

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