Top Tips for New Starters
Head of Early Years (Academic), Mrs Jen Bowler offers her top tips for children starting school in September.
Preparing for the move up to Reception is such a fun and exciting time for children – choosing new school shoes, trying on their school uniform and getting excited to make new friends! As parents, you will want to prepare your child as best you can for the transition to ‘big school’. Here are some top tips to prepare your child for starting with us in Reception:
- Foster greater independence with day-to-day routines such as putting on their own coat, getting dressed and putting on their shoes.
- Encourage independent toilet and hygiene habits.
- During meal times, encourage your child to use both a knife and fork correctly, as well as pouring a cup of water from a jug.
- Develop fine and gross motor skills. Playdough and Lego are great activities to strengthen fine motor control. Gymnastics, Yoga and general outdoor play equipment are great to strengthen core muscles and develop gross motor skills.
- Encourage your child to write their own name – signing birthday cards is a great opportunity for writing! Please ensure your child is not using all capital letters to write their name.
- Get your child to write and mark-make as often as they can – ‘writing’ lists for shopping, labels for their construction models, postcards from holidays etc! Depending on how often your child has been ‘writing’ at home and Nursery will depend on whether they are mark-making or beginning to form letters and words. Whatever level your child is at, just keep it fun!
Read lots with your child! Encourage your child to turn pages and say what is happening in the pictures.
- Read lots with your child! Encourage your child to turn pages and say what is happening in the pictures.
- Identify objects that start with different alphabet sounds – do not worry if they don’t know what the letter looks like yet as being able to hear the sound is more important at first.
- Count reliably to 20 and recognise numbers to 10. Counting objects whilst out on walks or when driving in the car are great for a quick counting activity.
- Use scissors regularly and with greater control and independence.