Induction Procedures for Nursery and Reception Pupils

Once a place has been offered:

• Parents/Carers are invited to attend an induction meeting in the term before their child starts school
• Home visits from the class teacher and another member of the Early Years team
• Stay and Play sessions

Home Visits

It is practice at Parkhill Infants' School to visit families at home before children start at school. It helps to begin forming the relationship between parents, staff and children and starts the process of sharing information.

Parents and children often feel more relaxed in their own home, it is useful to see how a child behaves/responds in a familiar environment and parents appreciate having time to talk about their child. It helps to develop a relationship and build trust in a more relaxed environment. After a home visit, parents often feel more confident in approaching staff with comments and questions.

Home visits can help us gain knowledge about family practices, cultures and histories; all children are individual and all families are very different. Having greater knowledge about a child's home and family also enables staff to tune in to the child and engage in more meaningful conversations. This is particularly useful for children who have speech and language needs or who are in the very early stages of learning English as an additional language.

During a visit, which usually lasts about half an hour, two staff will visit you. They will play with your child and complete an information booklet with you. They will ask about your child, their health/dietary needs, their likes and dislikes, favourite activities, outings, toys/books and these can then often be used to help settle them in school. They will of course answer any of your worries and concerns.

Children always remember and talk about a home visit long after the event; it is a special occasion in their lives and definitely enhances the relationship between the child and school staff.

Stay and Play Sessions and Starting School

We want all children who start Parkhill Infants' School to have a positive experience. Before their starting date, all children and parents are invited to the school for a taster session. 

 When the time comes to admit children into the Nursery and Reception Classes, we have an hour's staggered Stay and Play session so that all children have the chance to get to know the staff and their classroom in a small group.

 When children start Reception they stay for the full day from day 1, unless a transition plan is agreed.   Some children may take longer to settle and we may ask them to attend for shorter sessions until they do.  

When children are admitted into school other than the beginning of Nursery/ Reception they are given their own individual induction.