Guest Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Hi, This year is the first year that I have done preschool visits to the children who will be starting school with me in September. At the moment i am just saying hi to the child, and spending about 20 mins playing/chatting to the child and their friends (most of my preschools only have one child transfering). I am also asking the child's key workers if there is anything I need to be aware of and what the child is like. I am spendign roughly 20 mins to half an hour at each preschool. As preschool workers: is this what you would expect from a visiting teacher? what else could/should I be doing? This seems to be working for me - especially as I have 2 ta's covering my class whilst I am out - but I am concerned that maybe preschools are expecting more from me. As I am the only foundation stage teacher in the school I have no-one to bounce ideas from. I know I am properly over worrying, but I just want to get the transistion process right for these children (I should add I do hand their key workers a letter with dates on when the child can come to the school for visits) Thanks for all your help Emily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 that is exactly what we wanted . It allowed us to give any information about the child we felt relevant, and also you to see the child while in another group, I would also suggest a bit of time watching before you join the child in play to see their behaviour in the group..Our local school said this was important for them . They were lucky in that we usually sent about 15 children to them each year, so they spent a day with us. Unfortunately the second school we sent children to never visited despite me inviting them every year. What was also good for us was that the school invited us to visit them once the children had settled to see what the children were now doing. Children loved this too as they were encouraged to show us their 'work' and show us around. I know the school invited all settings to visit on one day so that it was supposed to be like an open day for pre-school staff, but we were the only ones who went... Inge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 well done you................ i am hoping for this we have one school to visit but otherwise it is sadly not the norm. i do feed about 9 schools but i feel that transition is well worth spending time and effort on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 when the teachers visit our setting, they read the children a book, then joins in with the child's play, getting to know them and they also brings in a little visitor from the school which is a teddy bear dressed up in his school's uniform, which the children seems to love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 when the teachers visit our setting, they read the children a book, then joins in with the child's play, getting to know them and they also brings in a little visitor from the school which is a teddy bear dressed up in his school's uniform, which the children seems to love. What a good idea! I have a teddy with our school uniform on and I never thought to take it with me! Think I might borrow that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I think what you are doing sounds fine. Whenever I have teachers visit I show them round quickly, explain how we operate and then introduce them to the child(ren). I then leave them to play with the child and their friends for a short while before speaking about any concerns, needs, etc so the teacher can get their own impression of the child first. Our teachers usually stay about as long as you although we did have one last year who stayed much longer, but she had come much further and was delaying her return to school so she didn't interrupt the class by barging in just before lunch! That was lovely and by the end of the visit you could see the child had really taken a shine to her as she had spent the whole session, almost, playing with her and her friends. On behalf of pre-school staff can I say thank you to you for taking the time to do the visits and to worry about them too. We spend a lot of time worrying if the children we care for will be ok at school and visits like yours really help to put our minds at rest. Or it might just be me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Hi, I agree 100% with Holly, i feed four school and really wish they would come and visit with the children before they leave, so far we have only had one We get attached to our children and miss them when they go and parents don't always have the time to pop back in and visit as we hope, so to meet their teacher and to know they are going to be cared for when they hit the big world of school is great so well done! Niki x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luluj Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 The input that you do at Pre-School is very much valued indeed to me as a Reception teacher. Without you and the input you give,coming to school would be a very different experience and as someone who never had that opportunity you do the most amazing job! I have very much taken 'on board' the comments posted particularly having the opportunity to visit 'your' children once they have started school. Many thanks. luluj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynned55 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I think what you are doing is great. We feed around 2/3 schools with usually 20 odd going to the one school and the 1 or 2 to two different schools. The one that we fee the majority to have visited us for around the last 10 years or so, the reception teachers and the 2 NN or TA's now come into do exatcly what you have doen. Take notes on the children, observe for a while then chat and play to them. They usually do 3/4 visits between them over the last term and stay for most of the morning. However the other 2 schools that we occasionaly send the od child to has never visited even though we always ring and invite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I'm in reception and we contact every setting that we get children from to visit. I'm doing visits in the next 3 days! I always start by talking to keyworker/supervisor about the children then spend the rest of the time with the children - observing/interacting. For the larger groups I'm there when they are picked up so that the parents see my face as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Thank you to everyone for your replies. I have almost finished my visits now - next the children come to visit me. I must just echo what has been said about the support pre-schools give. with one exception all the preschhols have been brilliant, and so supportive and helpful, and are geared up to getting the children ready to attend school which is fab. I love the idea of an open day for pre-schools to visit their old children, and will set something up for the autumn term. Emily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Visits already! Our authority haven't even told us who the children are who are coming to us next year let alone where they are coming from! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Just thought I'd share my lovely visits I've had today. This morning I went to the pre-school where at least half of our intake come from. I walked in to be told that an Ofsted inspector was there. I had a chat with her telling her about all the transition stuff we do - she seemed impressed and I thought it showed how well we work together Anyway I felt a bit bad as there was also an assessor there for their student! So I decided I wouldn't do much of the talking to the staff about the children I would just play. I played with one girl who was playing with lego who picked up a yellow bit and said that's the colour of the sun she then picked up a red bit and said some of the sun is this colour! I then was talking to a boy who told me he had a map and explained some of the places on it - one of them being dinosaur land. He took me to dinosaur land and could see different dinosaurs. In his words - We can go near that one because it's a herbivore. We then talked about what that meant and he knew. He pointed to the t-rex and said that's a meat eater. I said is that called a herbivore - he said no a carnivore! I said that I was a bit scared would he look after me - he said it's okay it's just a baby, it won't hurt you! I also shared a book with a girl that was initially very shy and she really came out of herself! Then this afternoon I went to a nursery where 5 of our intake go. The manager talked to me about the 5 children briefly. The children were excitedly waiting to meet me - one had come to nursery especially to meet me! We then went and sat on the sofas and I ended up reading 4 stories and had really good chats with them while doing so. It was such a lovely day having the chance to spend time with those children - my class wanted to hear all about it when I came back bless them - they are ever so caring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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