One of the very best ways that you can prepare your little ones for starting school is to encourage them to have a go at doing things by themselves. In a class of 25 children, the teacher can't always be on hand to help them in the same way that you are able to at home. That said, please don't worry - we help them as much as we can but it's much better when they have a go themselves and we can just support.
Getting dressed
Some children are super quick and have mastered zips and turning clothes inside out while others are soooo unbelievably slow that you get into the habit of just doing it for them to get out the house before midday! If you have a plodder - please invest the time over the summer. Give them challenges of turning a jumper or pair of trousers the right way round if they are inside out; this is usually where they come a cropper! Can they pull up a zip? It is incredibly hard on some coats to start a zip. Do consider this when you are buying them their new school winter coat as you may see them running around the playground with it flapping in the wind as they have darted out the door to play instead of waiting for our help. The good news, for everyone concerned, is that for PE days you can send your child to school in their PE kit. Once they have started school, we will let you know which is your PE day. By the summer term, we have swimming, this is when we really need them to be confident.
Take responsibility for their own belongings...
Once they enter the classroom, it is their responsibility to look after their belongings. It is so tempting to carry their rucksack, their coat and water bottle. You give it to them at the door and in they go. Remember to give them to responsibility of carrying these items to school. Ensure that you talk to them about what their coat looks like and how they distinguish it as theirs. If they don't recognise their name yet, put inside a little sticker or a keyring - think of some way that they know this is their coat. It could be quite stressful if another child has the same coat as them and some of the special little things they had hidden in the pocket have disappeared.
Rucksack
We had a quandary as to whether children should bring rucksacks or book bags and have decided that rucksacks are the best solution. If you can find one with an external bottle holder/side pocket - this might help the spillage problem. You can keep their coats, bottles, snacks and books in a rucksack and they can put these on their pegs. Hopefully they will recognise their pegs and also their rucksack but it may be worth putting on a keyring and clearly labelling it for them. You never know - someone else might have the same bag. They do get in a pickle if they think someone else has stolen their belongings!
Cutlery
All of the EYFS team of teachers and teaching assistants, as well as lunchbreak supervisors, are with the children in the first fifteen minutes of lunch to support them as much as they can. We appreciate that the dinner hall can be a daunting place. If they don't know how to cut up their food and you do it for them everyday, now is the time to start practising. You can use a paper plate and plastic cutlery as part of a role play game. It is a really important skill to teach children how to hold their knife and fork properly to cut up food. Obviously there are some things that are tricky to cut and we will of course help them but, especially in the current times of hygiene being of upmost importance, we feel so sorry for those children who resort to just eating with their hands.
Bottom wiping
Many children carry on through pre-school being very good with going for a wee independently but when it comes to poo's, they don't always wipe themselves quite so well and will often ask an adult for help. In school, this is not something that we are able to help them with. Obviously if your child has an accident or if they are struggling with particular needs and are yet to be potty trained, we support them with this issue. On a day to day basis, they nip off to the toilet by themselves. Particularly at present, they need to be accessing the toilet alone as part of our social distancing rules. Over the summer, please ensure that they are practising this skill and that they are confident to look after themselves in this regard.
Our top tip for accidents - which do frequently happen once they start school as it is a daunting new environment - is to bring spare pants and tights or trousers and a plastic bag and keep it in their book bag. If they are still not great at wiping, maybe slip in a little pouch of flushable wipes that they can use if they need to.
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