School Starters?

[rosie272]

We don't get home visits here! Just 2 visits to the school prior to starting and that's it. I quite like the idea of a home visit, that's a nice way for your kid to meet the teacher.

 

[Jchihuahua]

I am a reception teacher and spent all last week doing home visits. Daisy's school also did home visits.

 

[MrsVenn]

Aww this is a lovely thread. Glad everyone got off ok!

Here's my little madam from Weds last week:



We didn't get a visit nor a settling in day If you were in the pre-school, they got an hour with the teacher and that was it.. hey ho, she seems to have settled very easily so I don't feel she's missed out.

 

[Lellow]

Jchuihuahua, is there any hidden agenda with home visits? Are they also to see the childs home environment, whether theyre looked after etc possibly or is it just a meet and greet, no more, no less?

I had mine today and it went great (i think). Aymens teacher and the teaching assistant came, the TA played with Aymen and the teacher focused more on asking me questions about Aymen and a few about our family set up too etc.

 

[rosie272]

Aww this is a lovely thread. Glad everyone got off ok!

Here's my little madam from Weds last week:

View attachment 801025

We didn't get a visit nor a settling in day If you were in the pre-school, they got an hour with the teacher and that was it.. hey ho, she seems to have settled very easily so I don't feel she's missed out.

She looks adorable! It's amazing how grown up they all look in uniform.. glad she's settling in ok

 

[Jchihuahua]

Jchuihuahua, is there any hidden agenda with home visits? Are they also to see the childs home environment, whether theyre looked after etc possibly or is it just a meet and greet, no more, no less?

I had mine today and it went great (i think). Aymens teacher and the teaching assistant came, the TA played with Aymen and the teacher focused more on asking me questions about Aymen and a few about our family set up too etc.

I'm glad it went well . Our home visits are a meet and greet so the parents can ask any questions they have on a one to one basis and so we can have a proper chance to introduce ourselves. It also gives parents a chance to talk about any medical needs/speech and language issues/ SEN issues the child may have in private. We are certainly not setting out to make any judgements on the home environment etc as that isn't the aim at all and 99% of home visits are fab but on a few occasions the home visits have given me a real insight into where a particular child is coming from.

 

[pinklizzy]

I'm so glad we don't have to have a home visit, the whole experience was stressful enough without having to worry about that as well!

 

[RachA]

This was Esther's first day at school which was Wed 10th Sept.

She seems to be really enjoying it. She's just doing 12.30 til 3 for her first 2 weeks and then she'll be full time.
If enjoyment if measured in paintings then she's really really enjoying it as during her first 3 afternoons she painted 8 pictures!!

 

[rosie272]

View attachment 802707

This was Esther's first day at school which was Wed 10th Sept.

She seems to be really enjoying it. She's just doing 12.30 til 3 for her first 2 weeks and then she'll be full time.
If enjoyment if measured in paintings then she's really really enjoying it as during her first 3 afternoons she painted 8 pictures!!

That's really good Esther is enjoying school and loving her painting! Charlie really just doesn't like painting and colouring in, and they seem to be getting a lot of that just now! He loves Tuesdays because they get professional football coaching and asked the teacher can he just come on Tuesdays
I love her uniform as well, she looks so smart!

 

[RachA]

View attachment 802707

This was Esther's first day at school which was Wed 10th Sept.

She seems to be really enjoying it. She's just doing 12.30 til 3 for her first 2 weeks and then she'll be full time.
If enjoyment if measured in paintings then she's really really enjoying it as during her first 3 afternoons she painted 8 pictures!!

That's really good Esther is enjoying school and loving her painting! Charlie really just doesn't like painting and colouring in, and they seem to be getting a lot of that just now! He loves Tuesdays because they get professional football coaching and asked the teacher can he just come on Tuesdays
I love her uniform as well, she looks so smart!

That's so funny about just going in on Tuesdays

Esther's school is very free flowing in Reception. They have quite a number of areas set up with different things on offer to do. They can choose anything whenever they want and then they get taken into small groups for their phonics lessons etc.

 

[Tasha]

They all look adorable.

When Kaysie started (two years ago), we spent the whole first half term building up, so it started at one hour, two hours, then before lunch, then after lunch, until 2pm and eventually full time. We needed that though. That school didn't work out though, so we home schooled for a year and then when she went back last year, we built up again over four weeks as they said she was so little

 

[aimee-lou]

We had an appointment arranged with Earl's teacher for the friday before he started. She seemed really nice - I think it was more for her to establish if there are any concerns about him, what she needs to look out for, what his interests are, and what he already knows. She also didn't know his birthday which is a bit worrying! lol

Earl has been in 1.5 weeks now and so far he's enjoying it. Although we have had a couple of things. On Saturday morning he was eating his breakfast and watching TV (only allowed at weekends now lol) and he jumped up and said 'Mummy, it's 8 o'clock, I need to put my uniform on or we'll be late!'. He then got a little upset that he didn't need to as it was Saturday lol. Second thing I've noticed is that I think he's a bit disappointed in the lack of true teaching. He has been excited for ages about learning to read. We've been doing workbooks and things at home, and he's well on with his letters, numbers and some basic maths and phonics/word recognition. He's brought home 'sharing books' which we're supposed to read with him which he is really enjoying but I think I'm going to have to put some time aside each weekend to keep doing his workbooks as they're not really teaching him anything new at all......he's been rather upset about that. He did love PE though - they did something called 'graphic dance' which I suppose is interpretive dance where they had to 'be' whatever was in the picture the teacher held up....so a bubble, a frog, a butterfly etc etc. I have also put him on the waiting list for a gymnastics club which is from 5.....I'm hoping they'll have space for him after Christmas.

 

[hattiehippo]

We had an appointment arranged with Earl's teacher for the friday before he started. She seemed really nice - I think it was more for her to establish if there are any concerns about him, what she needs to look out for, what his interests are, and what he already knows. She also didn't know his birthday which is a bit worrying! lol

Earl has been in 1.5 weeks now and so far he's enjoying it. Although we have had a couple of things. On Saturday morning he was eating his breakfast and watching TV (only allowed at weekends now lol) and he jumped up and said 'Mummy, it's 8 o'clock, I need to put my uniform on or we'll be late!'. He then got a little upset that he didn't need to as it was Saturday lol. Second thing I've noticed is that I think he's a bit disappointed in the lack of true teaching. He has been excited for ages about learning to read. We've been doing workbooks and things at home, and he's well on with his letters, numbers and some basic maths and phonics/word recognition. He's brought home 'sharing books' which we're supposed to read with him which he is really enjoying but I think I'm going to have to put some time aside each weekend to keep doing his workbooks as they're not really teaching him anything new at all......he's been rather upset about that. He did love PE though - they did something called 'graphic dance' which I suppose is interpretive dance where they had to 'be' whatever was in the picture the teacher held up....so a bubble, a frog, a butterfly etc etc. I have also put him on the waiting list for a gymnastics club which is from 5.....I'm hoping they'll have space for him after Christmas.

I would def give it longer than less than 2 weeks to be worrying about Earl not learning anything new yet. Most of the 1st couple of weeks will be settling them all, getting them used to being a class together and finding out what level they are all on in different areas. Then the new teaching begins! Weekends should be downtime at this age not more school work IMO and I'm saying that as an Infant teacher.

 

[RachA]

I echo what hattiehippo says. I know from experience with my son's (now also my daughter's) school that the first half term is really all about getting the know the children and finding out what levels they are at in order to out the children into the relevant teaching groups.

 

[aimee-lou]

I know what you mean but he is begging me to do his workbooks on an evening which i get around by doing reading but at weekends i don't want to squash his enthusiasm. We will play it by ear i think. Thanks guys x

 

[Jchihuahua]

We had an appointment arranged with Earl's teacher for the friday before he started. She seemed really nice - I think it was more for her to establish if there are any concerns about him, what she needs to look out for, what his interests are, and what he already knows. She also didn't know his birthday which is a bit worrying! lol

Earl has been in 1.5 weeks now and so far he's enjoying it. Although we have had a couple of things. On Saturday morning he was eating his breakfast and watching TV (only allowed at weekends now lol) and he jumped up and said 'Mummy, it's 8 o'clock, I need to put my uniform on or we'll be late!'. He then got a little upset that he didn't need to as it was Saturday lol. Second thing I've noticed is that I think he's a bit disappointed in the lack of true teaching. He has been excited for ages about learning to read. We've been doing workbooks and things at home, and he's well on with his letters, numbers and some basic maths and phonics/word recognition. He's brought home 'sharing books' which we're supposed to read with him which he is really enjoying but I think I'm going to have to put some time aside each weekend to keep doing his workbooks as they're not really teaching him anything new at all......he's been rather upset about that. He did love PE though - they did something called 'graphic dance' which I suppose is interpretive dance where they had to 'be' whatever was in the picture the teacher held up....so a bubble, a frog, a butterfly etc etc. I have also put him on the waiting list for a gymnastics club which is from 5.....I'm hoping they'll have space for him after Christmas.

I don't know the children's birthdays in my class unless I go and check their admissions forms! I don't think any teacher would know their pupils birthdays off by heart to be honest.

As a reception teacher myself it sounds like what Earl is doing at school is pretty normal for this stage in the year. Reception is all about learning through play rather than formal learning although it is more formal than pre-school/nursery as things like a daily phonics and maths session are introduced. This stage in the term is when we do lots and lots of informal assessments to find out what the children can and can't do so we are doing lots of playing alongside the children, talking to them, observing them etc so we get to know them all really well and can then move them on at their own pace.

If you feel that you would like him to do more then don't worry about asking. That's what the teacher is there for and I always take on board things the parents would like us to do. Daisy's teacher does give her proper reading books as on the home visit I told her that Daisy can read. I told her what reading book band she is reading with me and the teacher read a book from that band with her to check and now sends those home so don't feel worried about asking.

 

[Nats21]

How are all your LOs doing now theyre a few weeks into school?

Callum seems to be doing well so far, he got shining star of his reception class this week, he sounds like hes doing well. His first parents evening is mid october. We had a meeting today to see how they will learn reading and writing which sounds fun. He already recognises the words cat, dog, he and she, mom and dad and a few others.

Not sure about your LOs but Callums getting loads of homework as well! Most nights he comes home with at least 1 piece of homework, nothing like starting off slow! Are your LOs enjoying school? Xx

 

[sophxx]

How are all your LOs doing now theyre a few weeks into school?

Callum seems to be doing well so far, he got shining star of his reception class this week, he sounds like hes doing well. His first parents evening is mid october. We had a meeting today to see how they will learn reading and writing which sounds fun. He already recognises the words cat, dog, he and she, mom and dad and a few others.

Not sure about your LOs but Callums getting loads of homework as well! Most nights he comes home with at least 1 piece of homework, nothing like starting off slow! Are your LOs enjoying school? Xx

What type if things does he get for homework if you don't mind me asking

 

[aimee-lou]

Earl gets 1 piece of 'i can' homework which entails him and us finding out about a topic. He gets his home learning book in his bag on a Wednesday and we send it back in on a Monday. So far we've been set 'i can find out who is in my family' & ' i can find out about the pets i have/would like' . he also gets a library book and has free access to the shared reading shelves. I try to read with him 3/4 times a week. His phonics is coming on a treat.....he recognised the word 'fish' on his own his this morning. He is still asking to do lessons so I'm letting him lead on that as he enjoys it. His favourite thing at the moment is he can now play i spy!!!

 

[Nats21]

How are all your LOs doing now theyre a few weeks into school?

Callum seems to be doing well so far, he got shining star of his reception class this week, he sounds like hes doing well. His first parents evening is mid october. We had a meeting today to see how they will learn reading and writing which sounds fun. He already recognises the words cat, dog, he and she, mom and dad and a few others.

Not sure about your LOs but Callums getting loads of homework as well! Most nights he comes home with at least 1 piece of homework, nothing like starting off slow! Are your LOs enjoying school? Xx

What type if things does he get for homework if you don't mind me asking

Course not hun

He gets a sheet with a different letter on each day, we then pronounce the letter and then he copies over the letter a few times and then writes it out a few times by himself.

Once hes done this with all the first sounds he'll bring home ditties which is the next stage and then once hes done that he brings home reading books which by then he should know how to read by himself. The school follow read write inc which we had the meeting for, sounds a good way of teaching them. Callums already reading a few words which is great. Heres a website on it -

https://global.oup.com/education/co...id=87C7AEA8FBD31D1902D676DDAA265FDA?region=uk

Hes also had homework where hes had to write his full name out a few times. Maths is coming soon as well according to the teachers! xx