Supporting Your Child At Home

Supporting your child at home

We understand that our children come to school with very different experiences from each other.

An area that will really support your child in preparing them for school is their life skills - being able to take their coats on an off independently and zip them up, use a fork when eating, put their own shoes on using velcro and follow a leader in a line.

Take a look at some other recommendations to become school ready from a page we find very useful called 'PACEY':

Preparation

Starting school is an exciting time for young children and their parents. It can be a daunting time, too. But with a little preparation and encouragement, most children will settle in easily at school, ready to learn and discover.

• Harry and the Dinosaurs Go to School - activity sheet - Ideas for sharing a story book about starting school
• Usborne First Experiences: Going to School - activity sheet - Further ideas about how to share this book with your child
• Effective information sharing during transitions - ideas for those involved with children's transitions, including the seven golden rules to remember. 

Physical preparation

• School ready - physical development - A guide to helping children with their developing physical skills as they approach the start of school
• Make a mark, make a start - Ideas for mark making, art, and early writing activities
• The numbers game - Help your child to prepare for learning maths at school with these simple games, rhymes and everyday activities
• Listen and learn - School involves a lot of listening – to their teacher and other adults – so practising good listening skills before your child starts school will help them get off to a great start
• Happy talk - Most early years teachers agree that, for a child starting school, being able to talk about what they think and explain how they feel are more important than any academic skills

Self care tips

There are lots of ways that you can help your child be self-sufficient enough to start school confidently. 

• Support your child to be confident about getting to the loo in time and wiping properly, using toilet paper rather than moist wipes.
• Chat about the importance of good handwashing with soap and water, especially after going to the toilet or handling animals, and before eating lunch.
• Let your child practise putting on their school clothes, taking them off and folding them neatly in preparation for PE lessons, especially if there are fiddly fastenings such as shirt buttons and zips. Clothes with elastic bands and shoes with Velcro® are easier to handle for young children. Teach your child tricks such as putting labels at the back, holding cuffs to stop sleeves riding up, and wrinkling tights to put toes in first. 
• Children having school dinners need to be able to use a full-sized knife and fork and carry a plate or tray. If your child is taking a lunchbox, make sure they can open it, as well as any containers and packets inside. 
• Get your child into the habit of hanging their coat up, putting their toys away, clearing the table, and so on, to prepare them for doing these things at school. Why not turn it into a game? Many schools use a piece of music to indicate tidy up time and motivate children to help. Try this at home and ask which song your child would like. ‘Mission Impossible’ is a popular one!
• Introduce your child to the routine of "catch it, bin it, kill it" – catching their sneeze, cough or runny nose in a tissue, putting it in the bin straightaway, then washing hands to kill germs.

You will find more information on the link below:

Starting school toolkit | PACEY