Guide to Starting School

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 15:14:25 GMT

Introduction

Starting primary school can be an exciting yet daunting experience for both children and parents. It marks the beginning of a new chapter in a child's life, one that sets the foundation for their future education and social development. As a parent, it's natural to have questions and concerns about how to best prepare your child for this significant milestone. That's why we've created this guide to help you navigate the process and make the transition to primary school as smooth as possible. By following the tips and advice in this guide, you can help your child feel confident and excited about starting their new adventure!

What you can do to help your child know what to expect in the classroom?

Talk about school
Lots of positive conversations and talking about all the fun things they will be able to do at school, will help to settle nerves.

Practice the routine
It can be helpful to do a practice journey before the big day, looking for interesting things on the way.

Read books
Books are a great way of answering children’s questions about school and explaining how the school day works. Perhaps you could visit the library together and choose some books about school.

Practical skills

Recognising and writing their name
Your child will need to find their own peg or drawer with their name on, so this will really help them to find their things independently. Once they are confident recognising their name, they can practice writing their name, too.

Wiping their bottom
Being able to go to the toilet on their own, wipe their own bottom and wash their hands will help them to build the confidence and independence they need to do this in a classroom, and reduce the risk of accidents.

Independence
Being able to dress and undress independently will help your child to be self sufficient in a busy classroom, particularly when it comes to getting ready for PE.

Build phonetic awareness
Playing phonic sound games like 'I-Spy' and singing rhyming songs all help to build phonetic awareness, which will help your child with the first step towards reading.

Over the Summer Holidays

The summer holidays are a lovely opportunity to spend lots of time with your little one before they start school full time, but it is also plenty of time to help them get into routines and become mentally ready for school.

Establish a school-friendly routine
This will help your child to get their body-clock on schedule, and get used to the full days they will be expected to do once they start school.

Continue to socialise with other children
This will help your child to continue to feel confident in playing with other children and practice their social skills.

Play
Playing is an essential part of your child's development. You can try games that involve turn-taking, imaginative play and physical activity, such as playing at the park. Perhaps you could role-play going to school with some of their toys.

Encourage independence
Starting school can be a big adjustment for children, and encouraging independence can help them feel more confident. Encourage your child to dress themselves, tidy up their toys, and use the bathroom independently.

Read together
Books will be a big part of your child's education, so it is important that they continue to practice looking at books and find enjoyment in them. Going to the library and allowing your child to choose their own books is a good way to get them interested and engaged with reading.

Practice fine motor skills
Children need to develop their fine motor skills to hold a pencil, use scissors and develop hand-eye coordination. Encourage your child to practice using crayons, pencils, scissors, and playdough. You can also try activities like threading beads, drawing shapes, and tracing letters.

Practice counting
You can help your child by practicing counting with them. You can use everyday objects like toys, fruit, or cutlery, or try games like counting the number of steps you take when you're out for a walk.

Explore the outdoors
Spending time outdoors is a great way to help your child develop their physical skills and learn about the world around them. Take your child on walks, visit the park, and encourage them to explore nature.

What to Expect in Reception

The Early Years curriculum in reception is designed to support the development and learning of children aged 4 to 5 years old. It covers seven areas of learning:

Communication and Language
Children are encouraged to develop their speaking and listening skills through a range of activities such as storytelling, singing, and games.

Physical Development
Children are given opportunities to develop their gross motor skills through activities such as climbing, running, and jumping. They also learn to develop their fine motor skills through activities such as painting, drawing, and cutting.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Children are encouraged to develop their self-confidence, self-awareness, and social skills through a range of activities such as role-play, sharing, and turn-taking.

Literacy
Children are taught phonics, reading, and writing skills through a range of activities such as reading stories, writing letters and words, and playing word games.

Mathematics
Children are taught counting, number recognition, and basic mathematical concepts through a range of activities such as counting objects, matching numbers to quantities, and sorting.

Understanding the World
Children are encouraged to develop their knowledge and understanding of the world around them through activities such as exploring nature, learning about different cultures, and understanding the basic principles of science.

Expressive Arts and Design
Children are encouraged to express themselves creatively through activities such as painting, drawing, music, and drama.

Reading in Reception

Phonics
In England, children are taught to read using phonics. Phonics is an approach to reading that focuses on building words from sounds. In Reception, children will start by learning the letters and the sounds they make, and how to put them together to read simple words. For example, once they know the individual sounds for ‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘t’ they can blend them together to form the word ‘sat’.

Comprehension
Good comprehension skills are vital as they help children understand the meaning of the words, as well as supporting their vocabulary and knowledge of the world. In Reception, most comprehension teaching will focus on children listening to books that are read to them and then talking about them.

Books at school

The books your child reads at school and brings home to read with you will depend on whether the school uses a reading scheme or not. Reading schemes are structured, levelled sets of books that grow gradually more challenging over time.

A common approach to reading in Reception is to send two books home each week – one from a reading scheme for your child to read to you and one chosen by the child for you to read aloud to them.

Maths in Reception

In Reception, often maths will be linked to real-life contexts. Children will use resources such as counters, beads and blocks to work out a calculation. For example:

Teacher : How many counters do you have?

Child : Seven.

Teacher : If you take away five counters, how many do you have left?

Child physically takes five counters away

Child : Two

Working in this way helps children to build an understanding of an abstract mathematical idea, in this case subtraction, which wouldn’t be possible if they only used numbers or tried to work out the problem in their head.

Working with the School

Both you and your child’s teacher want the same thing – a happy, confident child who enjoys going to school and loves learning. By building an effective home/school partnership, both you and your child’s teacher can achieve this aim together.

Get involved

The best way you can support your child’s school is by being an active parent:

★ Attending meetings for parents, when possible, about the curriculum or other aspects of school life

★ Helping your child with their homework

★ Listening to them read

★ Making sure they’re at school on time every day

★ Being available for parents evenings

★ Responding to messages from the school

★ Communicating with the school if there are any problems

If your child needs extra support, you should be introduced to the school's SENCO, who will support you and your child with their development.

Parents evening

Most schools hold parents’ evenings every term, and they are a very important part of the relationship you develop with your child’s school and their teacher.

★ Check whether you should take your child with you, as this varies from school to school.

★ You may not see your child’s work at every parents’ evening. Very often the first meeting of the year is all about meeting for the first time and discussing aims and targets for the year.

★ Talk to your child and ask how things are going at school. Ask them what they would like you to ask the teacher. Afterwards, tell them how the meeting went.

Frinton Montessori Top Tip

When you go to visit the school and the reception teacher for induction, have some questions ready to ask them. You might like to find out the schools policy on behaviour, how they monitor lunch times or what support they have in place if your child needs extra help.

What is AEL in the Montessori curriculum?

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 13:27:08 GMT

Maria Montessori talked about ‘Activities of Everyday Living’ in her curriculum for 3-6 year olds. At Frinton Montessori, much of our AEL curriculum is now homed in our conservatory so you will often see it at drop off and collections times but what exactly does ‘AEL’ mean and what is its purpose?

Montessori herself categorised AEL skills into three areas:

1.Manipulative skills (We would call these fine motor and gross motor skills)

2.Care of self

3.Care of the environment

The language used by Montessori might seem a little old-fashioned, possibly even some of her values but when we look a little closer at our AEL curriculum we see how it really is at the heart of daily life and our values at Frinton Montessori.

Manipulative Skills

Each activity has a direct outcome which is the specific skill the child will refine. This might be pouring between jugs, using a key to open a lock or threading beads. All of these skills in themselves are useful and practical but they also have indirect outcomes which means they are refining a much wider range of skills such as hand-eye coordination, concentration, resilience, strengthening of the wrist and fingers and refining the pincer grip. Put simply, everything has a purpose, and that purpose is always linked to the child’s development and growing independence!

Care of Self

We aim to teach self-care as precisely as any other activity - thinking carefully about clear steps the child can use and practise. We may make our movements slow and almost theatrical; for example in showing the child how to blow his or her nose.

We also include the following in ‘care of self’;

- Moving around inside and outside

- Sitting on a chair or a mat

- Rolling and unrolling mats

- Carrying and using equipment safely

- Setting out and navigating around floor mats

- Tucking chairs under

- Coughing and sneezing

- Using a knife, fork, spoon and cup

Care of Environment

We are at the heart of this by presenting the environment each day as tidy, inviting, orderly and well-matched to the children’s physical and mental abilities.

The children are encouraged to build responsibility for their environment as part of a community and a sense of belonging. We help each other to tidy up and foster a sense of pride in all of our environment.

Montessori always advocates for real rather than role-played activities - letting the child actually sweep the garden with a real broom rather than playing with a pretend one.

“Every useless help is an obstacle to development.” Montessori, 1946: 59-60

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