Northampton primary schools put together fun packs to help parents prepare younger children for reception

Six Northampton primary schools have put together a series of fun and engaging activities to help parents prepare their younger children for reception.

The schools, all part of the David Ross Education Trust, developed their 'ready for reception' pack to help ease the pressure on families to come up with practical activities during the coronavirus lockdown.

Kings Heath Primary Academy head teacher Kim Duff said: “We appreciate how difficult this announcement will be for parents of young children who will now, in many cases, be without childcare services once again.

"We have plenty of experience and knowledge about how best to prepare for reception, and we wanted to share our knowledge in the hopes that it could be beneficial for local families struggling for ideas.

"We are proud to support our local community and we hope that these activity packs will prove both useful and fun for parents and children alike.”

While nurseries and day-care facilities can remain open during the lockdown, they may be offering a limited service and some parents may prefer to keep their children at home.

The digital pack has been specifically designed to help keep young children on track with their learning and prepare them for the challenges of entering reception in September.

These fun, exciting activities range from star gazing to making rainbows using CDs and bubbles, making it easy to encourage young children to be curious and enthusiastic about learning – the perfect way to pass long days in lockdown and prepare for a smooth transition into reception.

The packs also provides parents with more time to engage with their children by reducing their workload in finding things for their little ones to do.

Briar Hill Primary School head teacher Janey Cooksley said: “The announcement of further school closures comes as a huge blow for families across our community and indeed the country, and we recognise the challenges that it will bring.

"However, we are determined to continue to look ahead and prepare our next generation of young learners for the start of their school journey, which means providing parents with the resources they need to do that.

"Our activity pack is designed to be easy and effective, not to mention fun, and we hope that it will provide some comfort in an otherwise turbulent time.”

The 'ready for reception' packs have already reached almost 10,000 parents across Northampton, and more than 1,000 parents were using them before the lockdown was announced.

David Ross Education Trust chief executive Stuart Burns said these resources will be vital for parents who either cannot access childcare or are choosing to keep their children at home to protect loved ones.

“We are delighted to be able to offer this activity pack to local families at this challenging time," he said.

"As a trust, we believe that every child deserves the absolute best education on offer, and we strive to provide our pupils with that every day.

“We know how much pressure families are under, and we hope that providing this digital pack will help ease that by providing some fun and engaging activities, whilst also helping nursery aged children start to prepare for primary school.”