Induction

At Honilands our normal entry point into school would be at the beginning of the Foundation stage. However, we have many of our pupils join us at other stages of their learning and it is important to us that they are properly inducted into school. The purpose of induction is to avoid the challenges that come with such a big change:

• Changing schools can impede academic learning and social relationships. Making new friends and settling into a new school can be a daunting process. 
• Parents worry about disruption their childs education and are unsure of how they can help. 
• With new pupils their needs are not always immediately apparent to the school. 

Through a careful induction process we hope to minimise the difficulties listed above and to help children arriving at the school to quickly settle into school life and to start to make good progress with their learning. 

Prior to Admission

Parents are always encouraged to visit the school with their child prior to admission. 

Our school staff will contact the child's previous school to gather information informally to see if there are any particular ways in which we can support and ease their transition. Requests for pupil records are made once the admission is decided upon. 

When visiting the school a member of the Senior Leadership Team will meet with the pupil and their family. They will usually be accompanied by our Lead Learning Mentor who will help to assess their needs and plan for any additional support if needed. 

During this visit families will get a guided tour of the school and will be given and induction pack with all the information they will need to support them to admit their child into the school. 

Initial Visit

The initial visit will usually be on an afternoon where there are less transitions, to allow for an extended period of time with the class. During this visit routines will be shared and a 'buddy' will be allocated to support them initially in class. At the end of the day the child will be collected by a member of the learning mentor team who will join them on meeting their parents and discuss how they felt after their first session. 

Ongoing

When starting on their full timetable, our new pupils will have opportunities to meet with the learning mentor team to discuss with them how they are feeling.

The pupils year group Teaching Assisstants may take them out of class in the afternoons to make some intial assessments of their learning so the school can quickly identify whether any additional support is needed.