Starting primary school

Welcome to Reception class!

Starting primary school is an exciting time for both children and parents; it can also be a little nerve-wracking too! We work hard to give your child a warm welcome and to help them settle in comfortably and quickly. Before you know it, your child will be making friends, learning new skills, and becoming increasingly independent.

Families will receive a welcome pack by post, which will include key information, as well as forms to be completed by parents and returned. We will also invite parents into school for a welcome meeting in May. There will be several events over the coming months, including a teddy bear’s picnic, further details of which can be found in the Key Dates section below.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch, call 01422 430480 or email primary@thehalifaxacademy.org

Key dates

Home visit

June/July – date confirmed on your introductory letter

Two members of the team will visit your family home at a prearranged time. The visit will be relaxed and informal. Any questions are answered, concerns eased, and every effort is made that parent and child feel confident and happy to start school in September.

Storytime!

Let’s get to know each other. Listen to a bedtime story read by a member of staff – new stories will be uploaded regularly throughout the summer.

Getting ready to start school

How can you help your child prepare for this big step?

Building independence

To help your child get ready for school, you can build their independence by making sure they are comfortable doing simple tasks by themselves; such as:

• Going to the toilet – including washing hands properly
• Getting dressed – including practising putting on P.E. kit
• Putting on shoes and coat
• Eating – including using a knife and fork, opening their lunchbox, and being able to open everything in the lunchbox

Building social skills

Children learn in school by playing and interacting with other children and staff. They will make better progress if they are confident mixing with other children and adults. You can encourage this by:

• Organising play dates

• Practising conversations – teaching them to listen to the person speaking, as well as speaking themselves and thinking of questions they could ask in conversation
• Encouraging sharing and turn-taking

Be School Ready Bingo!

Complete the challenges on our Be School Ready Bingo card to get your child ready for school. You can download it here: Be Ready Bingo

ParentPay

We will be sending out ParentPay activation letters over the summer holidays, so please keep an eye out for these – they will be posted to your home address. You will need to activate your ParentPay account to enable you to pay for school meals, trips and other items.

Find out more about ParentPay:

Useful resources

Click on the buttons below for information and advice on starting primary school.