We are excited that you have chosen to start your child’s journey in education with us and we would like to offer you a warm welcome to Clifton Primary School.
Should you have any questions before your child starts with us, please send them via email to: admin@cliftonprimary.ealing.sch.uk
Starting reception class at age four or five is the beginning of school for children. Some children will have attended a nursery or other formal childcare; other children will be coming straight from a home environment with family into a full day of school.
For all children, it will be a big step – some may be very excited, others may be a little worried; especially if they’ve not been away from family before.
Once they begin school, some children will find it easier than others due to a number factors including the individual personality of the child. Like adults, some are more sensitive than others, some respond to change better than others.
New Nursery September 2023
A member of our school office will contact you to offer your child a place in our nursery as soon as they have turned three years old. Once you have accepted, we will ask you to complete a school admission form. Following on from this, a member of the EYFS Team will offer you and your family a home visit and shortly afterwards your child will start with us.
For all new children starting with us in September 2023, there will be a Stay and Play session at 1pm on 23rd June.
Any further information about our school including the curriculum, the topics that we will be covering or general information can be found on the schools website.
New Reception Cohort for September 2023
Once you have accepted the offer from Ealing; we will send you a welcome letter. If your child is completely new to Clifton, we will ask you to complete a school admission form. If your child is currently in our nursery, you will not need to complete this.
Home Visits for new children to Reception:
· To allow all of our new children to feel confident about their start to Reception, members of the EYFS Team will visit you at home during the week of 26th June. On 19th June, a member of our school team will call you to arrange a convenient time for the visit. This will allow for you to ask any important questions and for you and your child to get to know the team better.
Stay and Play Sessions:
· All new Reception children will have a Stay and Play session on July 7th.
- Parents and carers of the children who are currently in our nursery should arrive at the Talbot gate for 9am AFTER dropping your child to nursery. If your child is in afternoon nursery, they can still be dropped off at morning nursery at 8.55am so that you can also attend the session child free.
- Parents and carers of new children to Clifton should arrive at the Talbot gate for 12.55pm with their children.
September Start Dates:
· We split all of the new Reception children into groups and start them on different days to make sure that they get lots of support from our staff; this will begin from Wednesday 6th September 2023. At your Stay and Play session, we will give you the exact days/times that we would like your child to be in school.
· By Monday 11th September, all children will be in school for the whole day. For those children who are taking a little longer to settle in, we will slowly build up their hours to full time. This will be done in collaboration with you and their new teacher.
Start by chatting to your child about school
In this way you can help your child look forward to:
Giving reassurance
Talk to your child about what to do in case something happens at school or they feel worried about something or feel unwell. This will help to avoid your child becoming very anxious about being away from you. Say things like:
Think about these questions:
Encourage independence at mealtimes by encouraging your child to feed themselves and open packets and wrappers. It is best to use full size cutlery to practise. Find ways of eating when you are outside of your home environment, so your child is comfortable eating in front of others e.g. take a picnic to the park or have a snack at a friend’s house.
Encourage hand washing and hygiene routines throughout the day and talk about when and why we wash our hands. Demonstrate the right way for your child to wash their hands and wipe their nose.
Encourage your child to use the toilet on their own. When you visit the school ask that your child be shown the bathroom area.
Encourage and talk about hygiene and why we wash our hands to support children in consistently building this into their routine. If they forget, provide a gentle reminder to support their thinking. For example, "What might happen if our hands are dirty?"
Help your child to practice dressing and undressing at home and make it fun. Use zips and buttons. Slip-on or Velcro shoes are easier to put on.
Help your child to practice putting on their uniform and then practice the journey to school together. A regular bedtime with a routine is very important. For example: bath time, getting clothes ready for the next day and going to bed at the same time. Giving your child meals and snacks at the same time they would get them on school days prepares them for new routines.
In every day experiences provide opportunities for children to notice and count objects around them. For example: the number of plates on the table, how many stairs as they are climbing them. Talk about the size and shape of everyday objects. For example: the table is round, the paper is square.
This is so important as it will help your child interact well with other children and make friends more easily. You can discuss this with your child when talking about meeting new children and making friends. Provide opportunities for sharing and takings to help your child understand they sometimes need to wait for things. Play games with them where you need to share toys or other items.
Read with your child and make sure there are a few nice books available for your child to pick up and look at with words suitable for their age to begin reading. To improve your child’s vocabulary (range of words they understand) try to introduce new words and find different ways to explain things. Encourage your child to talk out loud and using longer sentences. So, if they answer a question with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ encourage them to give you a longer answer.
Encourage short periods of uninterrupted time for sitting together to share everyday experiences. For example: go over what has happened in the day and what was fun about it.
To help your child understand how to follow basic instructions, make this a fun exercise by telling them you are playing a game and let’s see what they can do when you ask them. You can try instructions like ‘please tidy your toys’ or ‘choose a book and bring it to me’ or ‘please put your coat on’
Encourage your child to make marks on paper. Use big and small pieces of paper, use different pens and pencils and crayons. The more confidence your child has making marks – the easier they will find it to begin to write. Talk with your child about the marks they have made.
Let your child see you writing different things. For example, a shopping list or a greeting card. This will help your child understand that we write for different purposes.