Induction Program

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm just wondering if anyone can share their induction program for their new Reception children. After Easter I have to sit down and revise the program as neither myself nor the Head was entirely happy with the way it happened this year. (I was new to the foundation stage in Sept and so followed the program in place)

 

We have an intake of 15 and this is how we did it in September

 

Wk 1 - Group A (oldest 7 children) 9 - 12pm

Wk 2 - Group A 9 - 1pm staying for lunch

Group B (younger 8) 9 - 12pm

Wk 3 - Group A All day

Group B 9 - 1pm staying for lunch

Wk 4 - Everyone all day

 

I felt that Group B didn't have any time on their own and it was all a bit quick!

 

Just wondered how everyone does it?

 

Beckster xx

[mundia]

hi there Beckster.

There are so many ways to do this and you may find trying different ways will work depending on the children. You may want to look at where the children have come from, is there are a school nursery or have the children come from a local playgroup, pre schoool or from home?

Most of our chidlren come from our own nursery and are full time, so we are under quite a bit of pressure to take them all in very quickly.

So we do things the other way round from you. We take in those children who we know are a bit 'wobbly' along with those who have not been to any kind of pre school provison (after first doing a home visist), or those who are newly arrived from overseas. Then we take in those who went to other settings (again after a home visit) and finally the more confident (and noisy) children from our own nursery. We find this works well for those 'wobbly' children getting more adult attention with less children around and helps them to setle in more quiclky.

We do this over a period of about 3 weeks, they are almost always full time by then.

[Magenta]

For some reason at our school we have always admitted all children full time on day 1!!

The vast majority of chn. come from our own Nursery. Last year, as we had just set up our FS Unit, all Nursery staff were working in the Unit so there were a few familiar faces. We had 54 children - about 5 of them were upset at lunchtimes for the first week or so - FS staff stayed with them on a rota basis.

After that there were no problems, so all children were full time and settled after 2 weeks!!

[Rea]

Why do school stagger the intake? In my experience my children were dealt with differently due to their ages when they started. The first one did mornings only for one week, and then am and pm but home for lunch. It was a nightmare, once he'd had lunch he didnt want to go back, I had a real battle every day. the second one went in at full time from day one and he settled much quicker. He knew what each day would be like and got on with it.

[Guest]

We have always taken the oldest (Sept-Dec birthdays) full-time from the start. We used to have the rest part-time until Christmas. Last year, we had the oldest full-time from day 1, with the rest part-time for two weeks. These were in two groups, one am one pm, swapped over after one week. We had an intake of 15 and they were all full-time after the two weeks. Nobody took up the option of keeping their child part-time!!! This year we are taking in 20 and will probably keep things the same.

[Guest]

We offer two induction clubs in July where all new Reception children come and spend an hour in their class and meet the teacher and TA, whilst most of the parents stay in the hall and receive all sorts of useful info from the head. The children are encouraged to borrow an activity pack which they bring back at the subsequent club.

In September there is one final club in the first week of term. The rest of the week is taken up with home visits, In week 2 the children start coming into school (youngest first) - a third of the class on day 1, two thirds on day 2 and all on day three. The autumn born children stay to lunch on day 4 and then go home. On day 5 the classes are up and running normally - autumn born children staying all day and the rest staying only for the morning. After Christmas everyone comes full-time.

It seems to be a very good system and I didn't have any problems with children crying

[Guest]

Most of our children come from our nursery so they are familiar with the building and our faces! The last two years we have had

 

Week 1- Group A am Group B pm

 

Week 2- Group B am Group A am

 

Week 3 - all full time

 

It seems to have worked well, no tears and not too tired either. Not sure what we'll do this year, as I will have a class of 12 reception and 10-12 Year 1. Does anyone have any experience of good systems wiht a mixed age class for induction?

[Guest]

Hiya,

This is how we did it this year and it worked really well,

There was 2 induction days for the children in the summer term.

Then in september the children were split into 2 groups A and B.

For the first week group A came 9.30-11.30

Group B 1-3

the we changed the following week so A came in the afternoon,

Week 3 & 4 all the children came 9-12.15 and had lunch.

Then week 5 was full time for everyone.

Hope this helps!

It was really useful to have the afternoons to get everything ready for when they came fulltime.

[Guest]

Hiya,

This is how we did it this year and it worked really well,

There was 2 induction days for the children in the summer term.

Then in september the children were split into 2 groups A and B.

For the first week group A came 9.30-11.30

Group B 1-3

the we changed the following week so A came in the afternoon,

Week 3 & 4 all the children came 9-12.15 and had lunch.

Then week 5 was full time for everyone.

Hope this helps!

It was really useful to have the afternoons to get everything ready for when they came fulltime

[Guest]

That's how we did it too shootingstar... I agree, it work well and the afternoons are great for prep!

[Guest]

Thanx for all your help. I will be able to speak with my head with a lot more options now! I like the sound of your system shootingstar and paulparkie especially as it seems to work for both of you. I also think having some time in the afternoons is great as we have so much to prepare!

 

Thanx again!

[mundia]

As you can see beckster, lots of ways of doing things.

 

Just to get back to Rea for a minute, you asked why do school stagger their intake?

As you can see from the replies, we all do it in different ways, some of which relate to age and some don't. Unless you are in a position like Magenta to be in a unit where the transition is really smooth, childern of potentially just 4 do need some sort of adjusting period. Many children cant just make the transition from home or previous setting to a classroom of 30 children possibley with only 2 or maybe even 1 member of staff. The staggering gives them and the staff time to allow them to adjust. Personally I would like longer to settle in, particularly for the 'just 4s' but many of us are under pressure to take them all in full time asap. I think its always toughest on the last group in, which is why we take the more confident children in last, as they will settle quickly.

 

In your situation, I would agree the going home for lunch seems a bit of a nonsense unless there was a meals issue (which we have had in the past), I really cant see any justicaftion to do that. Perhaps other members have experience of that?

Does that answer your question Rea?

[JacquieL]

In the summer term they all do 3 half-day visits. Most come from our Nursery and as we have a free flow time several times each week they know the staff. When we have 30 we take half in the morning and half in the afternoon for 2 1/2 weeks. Last year we had 17 so they all came in the morning. Then they all come in the morning for a week staying for lunch and then playing in the outdoor play area and going home at one o'clock. They first stay full time on a Thursday so that they don't start with a full week. It works well.