Starting In Reception

What can you do to help your child?

• Encourage them to dress and undress themselves. You could use dressing up clothes to make it more fun. Allow them time to put their own coat and shoes on. Choosing elastic waists and easy fastening shoes, without laces, can help.
• Encourage them to go to the toilet by themselves and wipe themselves clean. It is important that children are dry and not wearing nappies or pull ups when they start school.
• Start to get your child to recognise their own needs, for example, when they need to wash their hands and when their nose needs wiping and encourage them to do these things themselves.
• Encourage them in friendships by talking about being kind to the other children, playing nicely and sharing.
• Promote independence. Encourage them to do things for themselves. They will learn through choosing, trying and doing.
• Play with them and have fun together. Children learn through play.
• Where safe to do so, encourage them to make their own choices. This promotes self-confidence but also helps them to learn about the consequences of making negative choices.
• Use plenty of praise and encouragement as this will help make your child feel proud of their achievements.
• Reward success and good behaviour. What we pay more attention to is more likely to be the behaviours we see more of.