Once offers for Reception places are made in April, we send out a Welcome Letter with information and details of the events and activities that we have put in place to help you and your child through the process of starting school. Once you have accepted the place, we send out a welcome pack including admission forms.

Our first event is a coffee morning and curriculum presentation. This is for parents only and is an opportunity for you to meet the class teachers, other parents, find out about the curriculum and how to prepare your child for school. Please see below for the slides from this year's presentation (pending).

In July, there is a taster session for your child where they visit their new classroom, meet the teacher and teaching partners, and familiarise themselves with their new school environment in a group of 15 children. During this short session, your child will have the opportunity to meet some new classmates, play with some of our lovely resources and listen to a story read by their new teacher.

We also arrange individual parent/carer and child visits to the classroom in September. This is a chance for you and your child to meet the teachers and teaching partners, ask any questions and look around the classroom. This will help you and your child feel more confident on their first day.

Finally, the PTA organise a welcome evening in Term 1. This is an informal get together so you can get to know other new parents.

Information on start dates, part time options, school uniform and the PTA are also included in the Welcome Letter/Welcome Pack.

We will provide you with information about September start dates and times. This includes information about the transitional start in September and the rationale behind it. Please see this link for September 2025 information.

We produce a short booklet 'Welcome to Claremont' designed to be shared with your child to ease their transition. These will be given to each child at their taster session in July and we will add a link here in due course.

A typical day in Early Years:

• Welcome and settle
• Listening activity / phonics
• CIA - Child Initiated Activity (where the child chooses what they want to play with inside or outside
• When the children have been in the setting for longer we then do a short session which is a focussed teacher directed tasks
• Lunch - in the hall and then play outside
• Afternoon - Story
• Longer session of CIA - children can choose to be inside or outside
• Story/singing/poems

We go to the school woods once a week and there is an outdoor classroom as well as the school field. We also do lots of maths games, stories, poems etc, as well as a lot of getting to know each child and their interests interwoven throughout the day. 

Mrs Bird reads a story:

Mrs Gammage reads a story:

Miss Oliver reads a story:

Welcome Morning presentation 2025:

This will be uploaded following the Welcome Morning on 18th June 2025.

Some words of advice from Reception parents:

Our son is August-born and we did wonder (and worry a little) how he would get on when faced with a full school day. However, so much care and thought goes into the peer dynamics of the classroom, and we really felt like we were in safe hands from the beginning because of the wonderfully supportive, kind and experienced teachers in Reception. We also knew that having a shorter school day could be an option if needed. Our son has been bouncing into school happily and leaving with a smile every day. He absolutely loves Reception and we are so grateful to Mrs Gammage and the Acorns teachers for giving our son such a positive and confidence-building start to school life.

The 'hug button' idea that parents are using to help children nervous about starting school - Manchester Evening News

School Readiness

To give your child the best possible start at school, it is essential that they are 'school ready'. Please see the following guide to prepare your child for starting school: