The countdown is on and I still can not believe it! Ethan will be starting school in September (it's called reception class here in the UK but it is the equivalent to Kindergarten in North America and other parts of the world.) And Ivy is going to start settling into nursery school in September as well. So it's all about change for us this autumn and it's so important to make sure that our two are as prepared as we can possibly get them for starting school.
Before Ethan started nursery school I did a lot of research to find a great nursery school for him and then did as much as I could to prepare him for the change in social surroundings and for the separation from us.
Then we moved to a new house and Ethan went to a different school for his preschool year, which we also had to prepare him for and now we're getting ready for primary school!
- Preparing for Preschool
- Getting Organised for School
- Preparing for a Home Visit from the Teacher
- Back to School To Do List
- After School Routine
And then it came time to research and apply for primary schools which was mostly a big step for me! But we were very lucky and go our first choice school, which is also our closest and we will be able to walk to every day.
To prepare the kids for any stage of school we find the most helpful things to do are read lots of books, do lots of fun activities and crafts and to talk about it whenever they want to (but not to overdo it!)
Do you have school aged children? How did you prepare them for starting school? Or if you're in the same boat as us and doing all the preparation now, then let me know what you're worrying about and we'll figure it out together!
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16 comments
We read quite a few books and talked about it, but not too much as didn't want to make too big a thing of it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good point Erica, I think it's easy to overdo it and give the kids more anxiety about it!
DeleteSuch a great idea to make children as prepared as possible for the big changes ahead. I love your junk modeling bus and memory game. I hope the new term goes smoothly.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, I'm trying to do lots of fun activities to get Ethan ready, but really I don't think anything is going to prepare him for how exhausting it's going to be!
DeleteWhen my son was starting primary school in 2014, my mum and dad took him to clarks to buy his school shoes. At the shop they gave him a little booklet all about going to school and it was very sweet. Now he is about to go into Primary 3 and he is ready to go, me, I could cry lol
ReplyDeleteWow that's really sweet! We haven't gone to buy Ethan's shoes yet (he grows so fast I'm trying to leave it until the last minute!) but we'll definitely have a look at Clarks to see if they have the booklets, they sounds great!
DeleteBooks and research are exactly what we did before school too. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many great books about starting school, we might go to the library today to look for some more :)
DeleteAww this brings back memories! Mine went to nursery from the age of 2 1/2 so she was absolutely ready to start school and it didn't feel like too much of a transition for her.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great way to go, Ethan only does 2 mornings a week at preschool so I think that the change to five days a week will be massive for him! I'm expecting to be picking up a very tired boy every day!
DeleteAwww hope he settles into school well, Doesn't seem two minutes ago since Bugs started and he is going into yr 2 this year x
ReplyDeleteThe time goes by so quickly Sonia, I feel like he was just a newborn baby the other day :)
DeleteThe best thing I ever did for the boys was a list on the door to remind them of everything they needed to do and one for their bag too!
ReplyDeleteTime really does fly when they're little doesn't it. My youngest is just about to go up to secondary school x
ReplyDeleteWe made my son a picture for his wall with all pictures of his new school on it :)
ReplyDeleteSebby starts nursery this year and he is excited to be going where his brother and sister go to school
ReplyDelete