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We at Head of the Hive have had the pleasure of taking part in a ‘Ready for Year 1’ masterclass offered by Jen, from Jen Teaches Reading. We found it very informative and helpful, providing practical tools on how to approach the next milestone for our child. Therefore, we wanted to share the wisdom that Jen has to offer for any other parents/carers who are soon to be going on the journey from Reception to Year 1, the biggest transition they will face until secondary school, in September. But firstly, a little introduction to Jen herself:-
Let’s Get Started!
Year 1 is, hands down, the best year of school. Yes, I’m a little biased, as it’s the year I love the most, but after 10 years of teaching (and I’ve been in every Primary school year group!) it’s where my heart is. So many amazing things happen in Year 1. Our kids enter just starting to learn to read, just starting to do maths, and they leave, confident, independent learners, ready to take on everything education has to offer them.
However…
The transition from Reception to Year 1 is the largest your child will face until they go to secondary school. So much changes over the course of the year and it can be really intimidating, both for our little ones, and for us!
In this blog, I’m going to highlight a few of the major changes and what we, as parents and carers, can do at home to support our little ones.
Facing Change
For many of our kids, they’ll have taken time to settle in to Reception. Starting school can be scary, whether your child was in Nursery or at home with you. But over the year, hopefully, they settled in. They got to know their teachers and their classroom and they loved it!
Now, at the start of Year 1, they’re facing a lot of change. From realising that, yes, they have to come to school every year for the next 10 years (at least) to changing the way they’re taught from ‘free play’ to tables, it can be very daunting, and even confident children can have a bit of a wobble.
Some simple things you can do to help with some of these changes are:
• Talk about your child’s new teacher. Use their name at home and talk about how many amazing things they’re going to learn in Year 1.
• Practise the walk to school. If your child is going to enter through a different door to last year, explain this to them. Do the walk a few times as a dry run and talk about what they’ll do on the first day. This can help them feel prepared and ready for when they have to do the real thing.
• Talk positively about Year 1 and school in general. If you have an older child who’s already done it, ask them questions and encourage them to talk about all the things they loved about Year 1.
The National Curriculum
When your child starts Year 1, they move from the EYFS framework (which focuses on foundational skills like speech and language, physical and emotional development) to the more well known subjects of English, Maths, Science etc.
There’s a very big jump in expectations from Reception to Year 1. Our kids have to learn so much, so quickly and this tends to be done in a much more formalised way than they’re used to. They have to concentrate for longer and have less time to ‘blow off steam’.
This can sound really daunting, and I know for many it feels really sad that our kids are playing less, but there are some really good positives. Our kids are in a position where they learn so much more, so much faster. This is where we really see that ‘love’ for learning start to flourish and kids become more independent and resilient in their work.
Lessons are designed to be engaging with several ‘hooks’ throughout the sessions to keep kids excited about the topics and ready to learn. For example, one of my science lessons at the start of the year involves kids creating their own life-sized skeletons by drawing around their partners. Yes, they have to write labels for the body parts and bones, but we also then use those skeletons in our doctors role play, so they’re writing for a purpose. It allows our kids to engage more deeply with their play than they might have done in Reception, broadening their understanding rapidly.
The other amazing thing about Year 1 is that our kids can physically see their progress. The difference from the start of the year to the end is HUGE and our kids can flip back in their books and see that themselves, leading them to have more confidence in themselves and pride in what they’ve achieved.
When we’re thinking about how to support our kids with this, a massive one is to focus on the positives. Talk about how much they’ll learn, how proud you are of the effort they’re putting in, and what subjects they’re most interested to learn about. All of this will help to build excitement for this next stage of their lives.
From Play to Tables
The final area I want to talk about today (and if you want a more full break down, you can watch the entire masterclass here) is probably the biggest difficulty you’ll hear about - the move from play to tables.
Before I start, I do just want to clarify a few things:
• Few schools move to tables straight away. There’s usually a ‘transition period’ where kids have a mix of tables and play, and this is adapted over time until the ‘free play’ stops all together (usually around Christmas, though this varies from school to school).
• In most cases, children will still be doing lessons on the carpet before going to tables to complete the activity and as I mentioned, lessons are designed to be short and engaging, with lots of 'brain breaks' and 'hooks' to help kids find it fun and be engaged in what they're doing.
• In most classrooms, it's not the stereotypical kids sitting in rows on their own, not being allowed to talk. Instead, kids tend to sit in groups, with a lot of collaborative or conversational work. In fact, in my classroom, it's always noisy. It's when it goes quiet I worry, because that means the kids aren't working!
At some point through the year, you are likely to hear the phrase ‘Why don’t we get to PLAY anymore?’ (I always feel like such a villain when I hear this!)
It can be frustrating, especially for active or younger children, who’ve suddenly moved from doing what they want when they want, to being much more structured, particularly when they have a lack of understanding of ‘why’ this has happened - something that I often question myself, but unfortunately, with the level of work and requirements, it's something that does need to happen.
As the year goes on and the work gets 'easier' (it doesn’t, it actually gets harder - our kids simply get better at it and more used to it) this complaint tends to drop off.
Having said that, there are a few things you can do at home to help:
• Over the summer, encourage your child to build independence in their work and play. This could be leaving them to play by themselves for a period of time each day, or encouraging them to think about how they can solve problems on their own by saying ‘how do you think you can fix that?’. Obviously, I’m not saying don’t help at all, but encouraging independence and resilience will help your child when they start school and they’re back in a class of 30 with 1 adult!
• When your child is back at school, give them a bit of ‘down time’, both at the end of the day and for the first few weekends after they re start. Chances are, they'll be knackered and may be more boisterous or lack concentration, because they've been trying so hard at school. Giving them a bit of extra play time at the end of the day is a great way to combat this and help them feel like they’re still getting that free time they may be missing at school.
• I also suggest not doing too many after school activities for the first half term. It's a big change and I often find the kids are exhausted already. It's not uncommon for one or two of them to fall asleep on the way home (or even during story time at the end of the day!)
• Taking some time to talk positively about their day, what they've learned, how hard they've worked etc is invaluable too. Encouraging them to be proud of themselves will build up resilience over time so they're able to become more independent and confident, as well as help them to view all of these changes in a positive light.
Ready for Year 1?
So, what’s the biggest take away from all of this?
Change is scary, but it’s also exciting. Your child will learn so much in Year 1 and you’ll be amazed by their progress.
Supporting them at home by being positive, talking about these changes and preparing them for the start of the year will set them up for the best possible start for one of the best years of the school career!
If you’d like to watch the Ready for Year 1 masterclass, which goes in to more detail than I was able to offer here, you can do so here. Equally, I re-run the live Ready for Year 1 Masterclass regularly over the summer, so if you’d like to come along you can sign up here and be notified of the next time I run it!
And if you’re ever feeling a bit overwhelmed yourself, please reach out! I’m always happy to help and I love a chat.
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