Reception Starters: The Ultimate Parent Guide to Getting Your Child Ready for Reception

Simple ways to support your child’s confidence before Reception begins

Practical tips from a phonics tutor and early years specialist to help your child feel ready for Reception.

Getting Ready for Reception: Help Your Child Feel Confident and Prepared

Practical tips from a phonics tutor and former Reception teacher to guide your child’s first big step into school life.

Getting ready for Reception is a big milestone, and it's completely normal to feel a bit nervous, yes, both of you! Whether your child is bouncing with excitement or feeling a little unsure, there are simple, confidence-boosting steps you can take this summer to help them feel calm and prepared.

As a phonics tutor and former Reception teacher, I’ve supported hundreds of children through this important transition, and guided just as many parents through it too. I know how overwhelming it can be, especially with so much conflicting advice out there.

That’s why I created this practical, gentle guide to getting ready for Reception.

It’s full of small, actionable wins to help your child feel capable, confident, and excited to start school.

Let’s make this next step a positive one for both of you.

1. Start talking about school in a relaxed way

It helps to gently chat about school now and again, so the idea becomes familiar. Talk about what their classroom might look like, what teachers do, and how many fun things they’ll get to try.

📚 Reading books together is a great way to open up the conversation. A few lovely ones to start with:

• Harry and the Dinosaurs Go to School

• Charlie and Lola-I am too absolutely small for School

You don’t need to overdo it, just little chats here and there will make a big difference.

🏫 2. Visit the school (if you can!)

If your child’s school offers a transition day, stay-and-play, or even a short visit to meet the teacher, grab it! Seeing the classroom, the toilets, and the coat pegs makes school feel real, not scary.

🚶‍♀️ Try practising the school run a few times too, walk, scoot or drive past the school to build familiarity.

Even a peek through the school gates can help.

Got a friend or cousin starting at the same time? Let the children play together this summer; it’s lovely to see a friendly face on day one.

⏰ 3. Ease into a routine

Reception brings structure, and that’s a big change for some children.

⏳ A few weeks before September, start shifting bedtime and wake-up times so mornings feel smoother.

Some things to try...

⌚Getting dressed around the same time each day

🥣Having breakfast together without rushing

🕛Packing a lunchbox for a pretend ‘school morning'

🎒 4. Encourage little moments of independence

These don’t need to be perfect; the goal is progress, not perfection.

Things to practise:

✅Putting on their coat and shoes

✅Using the toilet independently

✅Washing hands and tidying toys

✅Opening their lunchbox or snack pots

Every time your child does something all by themselves, they build confidence for what’s ahead.

👫 5. Support their social skills

Reception is full of teamwork, turn-taking, and learning alongside others, all through play!

🗣️ A few simple ways to build those skills:

• Set up playdates or park meetups

• Practise turn-taking games at home

• Chat about how to ask for help or say how they feel

You can even role-play “What if…” moments like:

“What if I can’t find my coat?”

“What if I feel shy?”

Give them the words before they need them.

💬 A final note from Kara

You’re already doing an amazing job, just by reading this, you’re showing how much you care.

Starting Reception doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. With a bit of gentle prep, lots of love, and a sprinkle of play, your child can head into school feeling ready, excited, and confident.

Every child is different, so go at your own pace, follow their lead, and focus on the small wins that add up over time.

💡 Looking for support with early reading or phonics?

Hi, I’m Kara, a qualified teacher and phonics specialist with 24 years of experience. I run friendly, online phonics mini-groups for Reception and KS1 children who need a gentle boost with early reading and confidence.

💛 Every child deserves to feel ready for school. If you’d like gentle, expert help with phonics and early reading, I’d love to support your child’s Reception journey.

👉 Book a Phonics Taster Session or Schedule a quick call

🎁 You can also grab my free reading resources and parent-friendly tips from my website to make learning fun at home.

📌 Save this guide or share it with a friend whose little one is starting school soon!

👋 Let’s stay in touch:

Follow Me, Like & Share!

LET’S GET SOCIAL:

💻 My website & blog: www.karaprimarytutor.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/just2imaginetutors

📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/just2imaginetutors 🎥🎥You tube: @just2imaginetutors

6 Helpful KS1 reading and spelling tips for supporting your primary or early years learner at home

Reading and Spelling Support for parents of primary children

Early Years and KS1 Reading and Spelling Tips

There are several simple and practical tricks to support your child’s reading and spelling at home without it feeling stressful. Here are 6 activities that work well for parents of primary school learners and will help make reading and spelling tasks easier for your child.

These alternative ideas for literacy support offer solutions with a more encouraging and calming outcome. As all children learn differently, you can alter these to fit your own child's learning, ability, and interests. Try them out and adjust them to fit.

1. don’t insist on reading aloud

It’s usually very effortful for children to read aloud if they struggle with reading. If asking your child to read aloud causes any kind of anxiety or shame, then it’s better not to insist on it.

If you want them to read at home, do some tandem reading where you read one part and they read the next part - whatever part is comfortable for your child. You can take turns and make a fun game of this. Use the time to expand the meaning of what is read.

Some other great tools to help children become very well-read are audiobooks, which your child can listen to while following along, and graphic novels which are often easier to read because they have pictures to support their understanding.

2. use a reading ruler

Some children have what is called tracking difficulties - it’s hard for their eyes to move smoothly over a page and they often lose their place. If you spot that in your child, a reading ruler is a simple tool to help keep their eyes on the line they are reading and make it a bit less effortful.

I offer a set of free reading rulers which your child can colour and then use in their favourite books when you sign up for my KS1 reading and spelling tips and tricks. They double as bookmarks and can be laminated for durability and long time use.

3. look critically at word “games”

Those fun puzzle-type games like word searches, unscrambling the word or identifying the incorrect spelling are often anything but fun for some learners.

Over-designed and cluttered pages are often visually stressful too. It’s best to look critically at “fun” word games and activities to really check your child will enjoy them.

Why not make your own interactive word game with letters so they can move them around?

An extra tip - some learners find bright white pages very glary so buy some plastic transparent wallets in different colours. Insert bright white pages into the colour folder to see if a coloured overlay helps.

4. alphabetical order might be difficult /choosing a dictionary

Sequencing skills are hard for some children who may be on the dyslexia spectrum, so learning the alphabet can be tricky too.

Telling some children to “use a dictionary” if they can’t spell a word is sometimes not the helpful suggestion it is intended to be. It’s best to just spell it for them if they find using a dictionary difficult.

Online dictionaries are also a good alternative as they have drop-down menus for alternatives, so it might help to provide the beginning of the word if the child isn’t sure. Being able to click to hear the word is brilliant, and extra helpful if English is not your child’s first language.

The best online dictionaries for upper primary learners are for learners of English as a foreign language because the definitions use a limited vocabulary, making them easier to understand. As a good example, check out the Advanced Learner’s dictionary from Oxford University Press.

5. pen grips

If your child has reading and spelling challenges, there’s a chance they may also have motor skills difficulties which makes it challenging to hold or control a pen. Larger, triangular pencils or rubber pen grips can be a great help.

It’s not worth insisting on beautiful handwriting if your child has weaker motor skills. If possible, learning joined-up handwriting might also be helpful to create muscle memory that makes writing, and particularly spelling, more automatic.

But if writing is too problematic, then learning to type might be the most helpful thing for your child. Check out the typing club a free online tool to help teach your child how to type.

6. practical homework help

The best homework help for primary school children with a lot of text to read is to read the text to them.

Read comprehension questions to them and check they understand the question before answering.

Younger learners often have challenges developing strategies for answering questions and tend to dive into the work without structuring how they are going to go about it. Helping them to organise their thoughts, and structure how to complete their work is effective.

And finally, the golden rule is to help for as long as it’s not stressful. If either you or your child is losing your patience, that’s a signal to stop. No successful learning takes place in stressful situations when tempers are running high. Pace yourself! Look after yourself. If you would like more tips like these, sign up for my weekly email list where you will also get a free toolkit to support your child.

And remember, you don’t have to do it all. I’m a qualified teacher and tutor with lots of experience supporting children who need to boost their learning. So, if you’d like some help, please let me know! You can book a free discovery call with me or contact me via email at hello@just2imaginetutors.com.

#just2imaginetutors #jigsawphonicstutor #jigsawphonics #readingsupport #spellingsupport #literacysupport #parentsofprimarychildren #strugglingreaders #primarylearner #onlinetutoring #primarytutoring #homeschooluk #homeschooltutor #homeschooltutoringonline #homeschoolteacher #homeschoolblogger #homeschoolmum #homeschooldad #homeschoolfreedom

Welcome to my Phonics blog!

Expert tutor blog with hot tips for supporting your KS1 child's phonics, reading, writing and tutoring.

Kara-Primary Tutor

Hi, I'm Kara! As an expert phonics tutor, reading specialist and experienced primary teacher, I'm passionate about helping children unlock the joys of reading and writing.

Here on my blog, you'll find tips, insights and activities all focussed on phonics, early literacy, and nurturing confident readers. Stay tuned for more!

Join here to get creative ideas, fun activities and expert tips delivered straight to your inbox-everything you need to make reading with your

little one a magical and confident adventure!

Yes, give me 5 ways to help my child to read!

.