Working Mum - A warm reception

My DD1 (Dear Daughter 1) is now a schoolgirl. She looks so grown-up in her uniform and is loving being a 'big girl' in reception. I've got the staff at her day nursery to thank for helping to make this important step in her life so smooth.

There were no tears on her first day. She continued to sing as her dad and I kissed her goodbye and left. Rather than regarding the change as daunting she has chatted about it excitedly. The practitioners at her nursery have always spoken positively to the children about school, telling them how much fun they will have and how good it will be to learn new things and make new friends. A friend has made the transition from nursery to school with her which has also helped.

As well as working with DD1, the nursery also interacted with her new school and sent a record of achievement detailing her development and ability, both academic and social. But I've been surprised at how little the school has done to prepare her for attending, perhaps because the majority of children were already going to the attached nursery school.

PHASED START

Some of DD1's nursery peers received personal visits from their teachers. Friends have reported taking their children for settling-in days before the summer holidays, followed by a gradual build up of hours before they stayed for the whole day. DD1 did visit the school for an hour before she started but her teacher had not yet been assigned and we didn't even go into the classroom. It was only the day before she started school that we were told that she had, thankfully, got a place at the breakfast and after-school club (see www.nurseryworld.co.uk/ nursery-world/feature/1145923/mum-club-rules).

There are pluses to being the child of working parents. I feel that DD1 did not need a phased start. She's been in childcare since she was ten months old and she's well used to being away from home for long hours during the day, so there was no separation anxiety. Her new teacher greeted her warmly and by name when she arrived and that's all she needed.

PERSONAL INTERACTION

As a parent, I'm having to adapt to having less daily personal interaction with the people that care for my daughter. I'm used to having informal chats with her nursery practitioners twice a day. Now we are expected to remain outside the classroom door and when she attends out-of-school club I won't even see her teacher. This is something that friends whose children attend other schools are finding hard, too.

While the focus has been on my eldest starting school, it's been a strange time for DD2 who has always had her big sister with her at nursery. Her key person flagged this up with me and said that she might need some extra reassurance. After DD1's first day of school she walked proudly into her old nursery in her uniform to be greeted like a returning hero by all the staff and her bouncing little sister. It was wonderful.