What Happens at School? – A Wonderful Day in the Classroom
Join the fun of a typical school day in this warm animated classroom story! Make friends, learn and play in this reassuring and educational adventure for children aged 2–7.
About This Video
From the moment the bell rings and children hang up their coats at their own peg, through morning registration, maths with counters on the carpet, outdoor play in the rain with yellow wellies and a very determined quest to catch a worm, story time in the reading corner, a pasta-and-paint art project, lunch with three best friends who have developed a complicated theory about the best order to eat different foods, to the final song at home time — this story follows one warm, realistic, reassuring school day from sticky-peel morning sticker to final wave goodbye.
Essential viewing for children aged 2 to 7 starting nursery, Reception or a new school. Watch in the days before starting school to make the unfamiliar feel familiar in the warmest possible way. Reduces first-day anxiety by showing exactly what a school day looks and feels like. Free.
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Parents' Questions
What school day activities does the What Happens at School animated story show?
This school day story follows a complete day: breakfast club, morning registration with the register and the attendance sticker, carpet time for maths (counting colourful cubes), the creative writing session where children decide what the dragon in their picture should be called, outdoor play (featuring the worm-hunting expedition in the rain that the class agrees was the best part of the day), the art project involving pasta shapes pressed into paint, school dinner in the hall with the slightly too-loud hall sound, afternoon phonics, and the final song before home time. Every detail is warm, realistic and reassuring.
How can this school story help children who are nervous about starting nursery or Reception?
Nervousness before starting school is almost universal — it is caused primarily by uncertainty about what to expect. This video resolves much of that uncertainty by showing a warm, detailed, accurate school day from a child's eye view. Children who have watched it know that school has: a specific place for their coat, a morning routine that is predictable, a teacher who is kind, outdoor play every day, lunch with friends, and a song at home time that signals the day is ending. The known is far less frightening than the unknown, and this story replaces 'I don't know what school will be like' with 'I think I know what school will be like now'.
What age is What Happens at School designed for?
Specifically designed for children aged 2 to 7 starting nursery (ages 2 to 4) or Reception (ages 4 to 5). The story follows a Reception-age class but the emotional content — the first day feeling, the new friends, the home-time wave — applies from nursery upward. Most effective when watched two to three times in the week before starting school, and again on the evening before the actual first day. Children who have watched this story consistently approach their first school morning with more curiosity and less apprehension than those who have not.
