How to Prepare Your Four-Year-Old for Reception

• Attend all open mornings, fêtes or events happening in the new school to familiarise your child with their new environment.
• Support your child with preparation for phonics by playing games such as ‘I spy…’ to encourage them to hear the initial sounds in words.
• If your child is a “picky eater”, opt for packed lunches rather than a cooked lunch (at least for the first term).
• Familiarise your child with dealing with containers, drinks and thermos’s in their lunchbox by using them on outings, picnics or family and friends’ houses.
• Reception classes expect children to be independent and manage their own belongings, which makesit essential that everything is clearly labelled! Make sure your child is aware of what they have with them each day.
• Get children used to the contents of their new uniform or PE kit by laying them out and practicing changing in and out of them a few times. Make it fun by using a timer and suggest a reward for changing before the buzzer goes!