Nervous about DD starting school. Familiar faces.

[RainbowDrop_x]

I know the school threads have been done to death but I'm so nervous.

We got our 2nd choice, which we are happy with, a little disappointed that we didn't get our first choice but I'm over that now.

What worries me is that (and I know it isn't essential) DD may not have any familiar faces going with her. She has a close friendship group at preschool but most of them have siblings so are heading off to whatever school it is their older brothers and sisters go to, I know she'll make new friends but the thought of her starting without someone she knows really panics me.

Did this happen to anyone else? How did you deal with it? How did your LO deal with it?

 

[hattiehippo]

The same here! Tom has been with 3 of his friends at nursery since they were 8 months old and he will go to a different school to any of them just because of the size of the town I live in.

There will be 2 kids in his class that are friends with a out of nursery friend but he doesn't know them well. I'm just hoping he finds someone he hits it off with.

 

[Scally]

I have asked my child's pre school which other children are going to the same school as her- i'm hoping to arrange playdates etc in the summer so she can get to know them more before starting x

 

[BethK]

You can ask the preschool to give you a list of the children who are going to the same school

It is a worry, luckily dd is going to the same school as her best friend but we are still having play dates throughout the summer with the other 2 kids from her preschool that will also be going to the same school.

3 kids may not seem a lot but it's only a 1 form entry school. 1 class per year and a max of 15 children.

 

[Boomerslady]

There's a few other children from bens pre school going to the same school as him, but it's got 6 classes per year so I don't know if he'll be in the same class as any of them. I hope at least 1 or 2 of them are though so he knows someone.

 

[stephx]

I think there is 5 children that I know of going to Ava's school. It's only a 1 class year though so that's quite a lot!

I know her preschool groups the kids together for the whole summer before starting primary school, maybe you could ask your nursery to do the same?

 

[RachA]

I don't know for sure but I think DD is the only one going to her school from her pre-school. It doesn't bother me at all.
When my DD started school there were two other boys going from his pre-school. They were boys he'd never really played with so I didn't push a friendship between them. The pre-school did encourage them together during the final half term but pretty much once they started school they stopped playing together.
DS is now in year 2. I'd say that the majority of children that started together as friends are no longer particularly good friends. Friendships can shift and change so much in the early years of school that is rather my DD start school not knowing anyone and find her own feet.
Children can forget things pretty quickly. My son only knows the two boys in his class went to the same pre-school as him because of mentioned it a few times to him. There was also 1 particular boy at his pre-school that he was really good friends with and played with all the time. We lost contact soon after starting at different schools and DS wasn't bothered at all.

I think we can worry more than we need to if I'm honest.

 

[hel_5]

When DD1 started school she knew no one, the only person worried about this was me!!! Quite a few of the other kids all seemed to know each other, BUT there were also some kids who didn't know anyone either, after the first day she had friends, I think it also helped the way the school is set up, it's a small school and there were loads of older kids in their classroom (when we dropped off) for the first week or 2 and they were there to help the kids settle in/made sure everyone had someone to play with.

After speaking to a friend, her daughter is a yr older, she went to school with 2 of her best mates, this ended in tears multiple times as often they had to get into pairs!!! So one was 'left out', the other side is if it is a big school and there are multiple classes per year their friends could be in the other class.

Try not to stress, at the open day it was clear who knew each other, we steered DD to another girl who knew no one - her dad looked v grateful when the two of them were playing (she was v shy and nervous). TBH both my other kids are going to know few kids when they start school as the playschool they will go to isn't the local local one, but I'm not worried, they make friends v quickly xxx

 

[Rachel_C]

I felt the same when LO started nursery as she started in January when there were only a couple of new starters so all the other kids already had little groups of friends and she started late due to chicken pox. I shouldn't have worried though; she quickly made a good friend (as somebody else said, I saw a little girl who didn't seem to play with anybody else and steered her towards her and it worked!). Plus, there are always some kids in the group who will mother the kids who are on their own. My LO was adopted by an older girl for the first term. The teachers will be used to dealing with it too.

 

[alicecooper]

when my DD started school she didn't know a single soul, but that never bothered her.

DS1 of course knew DD though she was in the year above him, he was comforted by the fact that he got to see her in the playground.

DS2 is starting in September but he won't get to see DD or DS1 in the playground as they'll be in the bigger playground and he'll be in the younger kids one, but there's a little boy who lives on our street who plays with DS2, and he's already in Reception, so he'll be in Year 1 when DS2 starts Reception and they'll share a playground, so that'll be nice for him.