Transition Information For Children Starting Reception In 2021

Dear parents,

We are very excited that you have chosen to send your child to our Reception class in September.  We can’t wait to meet them and you, if we haven’t already.

We had hoped to be able to provide you with some of our usual transition activities; unfortunately we are currently waiting for updated advice from the government, so this isn’t the case just yet. So we would like to begin some transition work with you and your child.

 We intend to provide you with all the information you would receive during the new parents meeting in short e-books, in the form of a PDF, which can be kept for reference. These will be posted here on the website, in the Early Years section at www.westend.northumberland.sch.uk  and also emailed out to you via Teachers2Parents.  There are 6 in total and will be made available, two per week after half term. The first will be Wednesday 9th June. 

We would also like to start building a learning partnership with you, which will support your child to make the best progress. Therefore after you have received your e-books you will be invited to short drop-in sessions to meet Miss Costello in Reception. This is an opportunity to bring your child to the setting if you wish, and for you to ask any questions or raise concerns.  We will be emailing this information out to you after half term then you can contact school by calling the office on 822328 or emailing admin@westend.northumberland.sch.uk to select an appropriate time.

During the drop-in we will be providing you with an activity pack, full of ideas and resources for supporting your child’s development. We will also be providing you with the admissions paperwork to complete. You may want to look at the e-book about the paperwork in advance then you will have the opportunities to have any questions answered.

We will also be sharing some information for your child in the form of a ‘Welcome to Reception’ PDF e-book. We would be grateful if you could share this with your child in order to support their transition.  It will introduce the staff, the learning environments and the routines of the day.

In the current climate things may change at relatively short notice. If there are any changes you need to know about we will contact you via Teachers2Parents.

We will be having some transition activities, where we will be meeting your child face to face so they can get to know us, and us them.  We also intend to use Tapestry, an electronic learning journal, as a tool to support our transition process. If you are not already set up, we will be doing this before you start to support the process too.

We are keen to work with you during your child’s transition and hope to make it as smooth as possible for everyone. If you have any questions and concerns, which can’t be answered in the e-books you can always give us a call.

We look forward to seeing you during the drop-ins and in September.

Best Wishes

Miss Costello and the Reception Team.

This next e-book is to welcome your child to Reception. It has pictures of the inside and outside as well as information about the daily routines. Please could you share it with them and talk about Reception over the holidays. This will help them become familiar with the setting.