The Best Of Both Worlds

Reuben's school have been amazing - from about a year before he started really - and probably before when he used to come and visit Esther (big sister) at school and have a look around for his favourite toys, he was allowed time to get to know the school and was given lots of encouragement and friendship by all the staff who met him and everyone got to know him really well. Lots of preparations were put in place for him to attend, lots of meetings, new staff, courses attended for SLT, helping with allergies and lots of other things which were beyond what we could have hoped for in order to settle Reuben in and we are so blessed that Reuben can attend, we can't praise them enough.
In September he started school, he was introduced slowly the same as the rest of the class, first a couple of hours per day and then building up to a full week all day. By October when all the class had settled into full time school it was apparent that Reuben was struggling and so we decided with the teachers that Reuben would do mornings at school and then bring work to do at home the same as the class were doing. This worked really well, Reuben was settled, calm and enjoyed the routine, he looked forward to coming home and eagerly wanted to sit and do his reading and work, and I loved it too! Afternoons of cutting and sticking, colouring, maths, writing whatever it was we were doing, Reuben was engaged in the quiet environment of home and it was lovely having that time with him.
After Christmas we tried to increase the hours slowly towards the goal of being in full time by the end of half term, we tried an extra couple of hours Mondays, then trying to add on an extra day, Tuesday then Wednesday and hoping by the end of half term it would be 5 full days but again Reuben struggled so at the moment we are going back to just mornings again and getting him settled and enjoying the routine of mornings at school and home in the afternoons. The staff at school have been incredible and it's only because they work so closely with parents and everyone involved that we are able to do what is best for Reuben. The teachers have always had time to speak to me each day and we've ben kept informed of everything that is happening - we couldn't wish for a better school. We'll just have to see how it goes when we try and introduce more hours but for now he has the best of both worlds, enjoying a time at school and then time at home!

Reuben has just had his 5th birthday a few weeks ago! He was really excited, he had a calendar and counted the days until his birthday, it's the first time he has understood the idea of birthday presents, and only asked for 2 trains - that was all he wanted so he chose those and was really happy with them, he got a few other things too, but he trains were his favourite and he loves playing with them :)

 

Reuben and his Paddington bear, he went to see the movie and loved it! 

 

One day he will have grown into his uniform! This jumper is for age 3!

 

Reuben's personalised birthday book with his name through it and Esther's name too!