Joining Reception in September 2024

We are looking forward to welcoming your child to St Philip’s School this September. There will be a number of opportunities for you and your child to come and meet with us prior to starting.

Our Get Ready for School sessions are a chance for you and your child to come into school, meet with their teachers and explore their classrooms.  There will be 3 sessions from 2.30pm – 3.00pm on: 

Monday June 17^th                   Get Ready for School – ‘Stories’;

Tuesday June 25^th                    Get Ready for School – ‘Numbers’;

Wednesday July 3^rd                 Get Ready for School – ‘Outdoors’.

You are invited to any or all of the sessions.  An adult must accompany your child.  Unfortunately, we do not have room to accommodate pushchairs or siblings. There will also be a ‘Get Ready for School – All on my own’ session for the children to attend without their parents/carers on Thursday 4^th July from 9.15am – 10.00am. Parents are welcome to stay in the school hall to meet other new parents and have a cup of tea or coffee.

There will be an information evening on Tuesday June 25^th, 6.00pm – 7.00pm.  This meeting is for parents and carers only. You will receive a school prospectus, hear about the Foundation Stage (Reception year) curriculum, have the opportunity to ask questions.

We will give you a pack which will contain:

• details of dates and times of the home visit,
• Getting Ready for School Booklet
• Forms
• Packed lunch guide – cooked meals are also available
• Term dates…    and lots more!
• When your children start in September, we ease them in as gently as possible by starting school with a mix of mornings and afternoons.

We would like to further enhance our partnership with parents by organising a ‘home visit’ where Reception staff can come and meet you and your child in a familiar environment.  These visits are an opportunity to chat informally about any queries or concerns you may have and will last for no longer than 10 minutes.  We will let you know your allocated visit date and time. In past years, parents have found this most useful. There will be further details of times, start dates etc at the information evening.  Home Visits will take place in the second week of September.

Most children will be able to manage the full time start from the 16^th but some of the summer born children may find this very tiring and need to continue on a part time basis for a while longer. We will talk to you about continuing on a part time basis if we feel your child needs this to settle more comfortably and encourage you to talk to us if you feel this way as well.

Meet The Team of Reception (EYFS) Staff
	Mrs Thompson                                                     Head of Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Currently Teaches Robin Class Mondays- Wednesday
	Mrs Coppens Currently Teaches Robin Class Thursdays & Fridays
	Miss Holder Currently Teaches Jay Class
	Mrs Sinclair Teaching Assistant
	Miss Lumabao Part time Teaching Assistant
	Mrs Isaac Part time Teaching Assistant

Transition is really important, partly to allay any worries children might have, but also for parents. It’s a much bigger deal for some families than others, but it’s the start of a seven-year relationship and we want to make sure it gets off to the best start possible. Like most schools around the UK, we invite parents into school for information sessions and arrange for children to meet their teachers.

Things parents can do to help

Getting ready for transition at home might be a new challenge for families whose preschoolers would ordinarily be in childcare in the run-up to starting school. BBC Bitesize Starting Primary School has lots of resources to help you have fun together at the same time as supporting their learning and sense of independence. Why not try singing nursery rhymes together  or playing numeracy game Bud's Number Garden.

There's also advice on how to make your home a fun learning zone , and films to help your child develop independence skills like using the toilet and getting into good sleep habits .

One thing to remember is that pre-schoolers don’t need to do lots of what you might think of as schoolwork at home before they start. My Early Years team will always say that getting dressed and undressed and using the toilet independently are key skills which can be encouraged at home. The simple things can be really helpful, too: getting familiar with numbers, letters and sounds, singing nursery rhymes, and just doing things with your children like baking, getting out in the garden if you have one and simply chatting with them. Parents often underestimate the value of talking with their children, and that’s something that preschool children who are at home might get a lot more of.

How to talk to your child about the change in plans

Things are uncertain at the moment, but this doesn’t need to affect the way you talk about transition with children of this age. We approach a lot of things thinking like an adult, but kids tend to be more resilient than adults in many ways. They don’t need to know that things aren’t happening the way they would do normally. They take things at face value and tend to throw themselves into most things - we just sometimes need to shield them from our own worries. The conversation can be as simple as “we’re waiting for a message to tell us when you’re going to start school, isn’t that really exciting?” And it is really exciting, for them and for their school. We can’t wait to meet them.

For further information check out the rest of Starting Primary School which has lots of ways to help prepare children for different aspects of school life – both practically and emotionally.