It is hard to predict what to expect the night before the start of term. Most other teaching staff will have a vague idea of the class that is coming to them, but in reception the beast is an unknown quantity.
I may open the door to 25 smiling faces, excited and ready to learn, who skip through the door leaving Mum surprised and a bit emotional. I may also come face to face with 25 tear soaked faces and 25 bedraggled looking mothers who cant wait to 'dump and run' (not sure that is the technical term but you get the idea!!).
I did get the opportunity to meet some of the children at the end of last term, some coming from the nursery attached to the school and others I was able to pop out and visit in their previous settings. This is some preparation, but as I am sure parents and other child care professionals could testify, a four year old can be quite unpredictable if the mood takes him/her.
In my experience the biggest challenge on the first day is in fact once the children are in and settled, trying to get the parents back out the door!
I will blog again tomorrow, after the first day, with an account of this process, how it went, how the children are and most importantly of all - how well I was able to get rid of the mothers!
No comments:
Post a Comment