Nursery Prepares Your Child for Primary School:

Meet Nicole, mother to a 2-year-old and 4-year-old, and member of our fantastic Parent Panel; a diverse community of Bright Horizons parents sharing their experiences of raising happy, thriving and confident children.

My daughter started primary school this September, less than a month after her 4^th birthday; having been at Bright Horizons since her 1^st birthday.

I was really nervous, as she is so young, and she wasn’t going to a school with any of her nursery friends. Thankfully, she has thrived. I’ve come to realise just how important her time at Bright Horizons has been in preparing her for “big school”, and I don’t mean the reading and writing (that’s the easy bit!). Her key worker went above and beyond to ensure she was ready for school, and to help us know how we could support her. I’ve highlighted some of the key game changers for us.

Self-Care

Knowing my little one would start school able to go to the toilet independently, use cutlery (when she fancies it at least), put on her shoes and socks, and get changed for PE (with a little help – they’re not just left to it!), really put my mind at ease. In the months leading up to the children starting school, at home learning focused on this and helped to prompt us as parents – I’d never really thought about how we have to learn how to put on a coat, zip up that coat, clear your plate after lunch or wipe your own bottom, especially when as a parent in a rush, it can just be easier to do it for them. By practising these skills, I had faith my daughter would cope with being more independent within the bigger ratios of a school setting… even if when I’m around she’d still rather I dressed her (wouldn’t you like someone to do that for you?!).

Academics

School has continued with learning through play, just with a little more structure and a stronger emphasis on embedding that phonics learning as she starts to learn how to read and write and numeracy skills to grow on that basic knowledge formed at nursery. Carpet and story times were brilliant in teaching her how to get her wiggles out and sit (relatively) still, turn on her listening ears and follow instructions. In her time at nursery, she learnt to walk, talk (a lot), recognise her name, count and form letters. This has sent her to school with a really solid foundation, confidence and an enthusiasm to learn.

Social Skills and Emotions

The biggest gift Bright Horizons has given us is helping our daughter to find the joy in friendships, play and demonstrating compassion, fun and resilience. The work around emotions and the colour monster really helped us in the lead up to school, and the nerves around this, enabling us to label emotions and support each other through such a big change. Her nursery felt (and feels) like a family. The fact she still loves coming along to pick up her little sister to show the staff her uniform and tell them about her day, shows just how important they have been to her story.

All you ever want to hear is that your child is happy, kind and fulfilled. At our daughter’s recent parents evening that’s what her teacher said. When I asked what we could do at home to support her, the response was “She’s perfect just as she is, the phonics and numbers will come, just keep doing what you’re doing”. I don’t think we can take much credit for that; her wonderful nursery really did set her up for success.