What should a reception aged child know?

[HouseQueen101]

So my daughters 3, going to school next year. She isn’t in nursery.

What should a child already know before starting reception?

She can recite the alphabet (gets lmnop muddled up) can count to 20, and recognise a triangle and square. We’re currently teaching her to recognise the alphabet with letter flash cards.

Should she be able to write her name ect by reception? Don’t want her to be behind because we made the decision not to send her to nursery.

Thanks

She needs to be able to use the toilet and put her shoes on. I wouldn't worry about the academic stuff

IME school readiness is about being able to self care, get changed for PE, toilet, choose a lunch, open a packet of crisps or more school appropriate snack and the school will teach the rest. That said my DD could read pretty grown up stuff, write fairly well and attempt spellings, and knows some simple addition etc. However she is one of the oldest in the year and really chose to focus on these things.
Her friends are excellent at drawing and dancing respectively. I don't think it means much at this age, it's all about letting them do what they love and encouraging them to be confident, follow instructions, and try new things out

Get dressed for PE, put shoes on, locate her “stuff” at the end of the day. They need survival skills more than academic skills because the teacher won’t have time to help them with everything.

It’s a good idea for them to be able to recognise their name so they can read their name tag on their clothes to identify them from other people’s. My son couldn’t do that so I got name tags with a picture on so he’s know it was his!

That said practising writing and letter sounds and numbers and shapes can only be a good thing! My eldest could read before he started school and, as I said, my youngest can’t recognise his own name so there is a huge variation at the beginning on that front!

Didn’t think of the self care side, thank you! She can go to toilet on her own and get dressed. Will work on in dressing (for p.e) and getting shoes on

Social skills, the most important thing in my opinion

Agree with self care, wiping bum, doing up a zip etc. Tbh, my year 1 girl still isn't good at dressing herself and couldn't in reception. She is August born and hypermobile. It was fine, the more capable kids help her dress for PE which is sweet.

How are you teaching the alphabet? Make sure it is phonics before letter names or she will be confused when learning phonics. They usually push name writing in pre-school but there are alwuas some that can't do it yet and it's fine.

Definitely the self care element is important. How to get dressed and undressed for pe, how to put on and do up their coat and put on their shoes, recognise their name (writing it is less important). How to work a book (turn the pages) and be able to sit and listen as part of a group. Be able to go to the toilet by themselves.
Another aspect is to be confident to leave you when they go in. There are two ways to look at this. One way, is that when they start school, they will be older, so more ready for this stage and separate easily from you. The other way is that by having gone to a childcare setting, they will be used to leaving you and so this will be normal for them.

I am in no way crisitsing your decision not to use a nursery, but when your daughter starts school, she will be in a group and that can be hard for children who aren’t used to that kind of environment. Would you consider using a childminder so your daughter is used to being in smaller groups of children before school. Or are you wanting to keep her at home with you completely until school.

My almost 4 year olds can't do any of the self care things listed above, or count independently past 11, or recognise any written letters, even their names nevermind write any. (They were very prem though so developmentally delayed, I honestly cant see how they'll be ready and their nursery are already talking bout putting assessments into place for a deferral attempt)

In saying that, I think social and emotional skills are really very important. They soon learn all the other "little" skills that they need.

Other things that nursery helps with is stuff like sharing, waiting your turn, cooperating with other children. They learn how to form relationships with other children at this age. Apologies if you already do this but if not I'd try to enroll her in a class that she can do independently of you to help her to do some of this. If you don't want to use a nursery then something like tumble tots is quite good at this age as the parents sit and wait once they are 3 and they do circle time, songs, listening, turn taking etc.

My daughter's nursery do the following to help them to practice self care -
Put slippers on when going inside and shoes when going back outside
Fetching their own coat from their peg and putting it on and then hanging it back up on their peg afterwards
Getting changed for pe
Going to the toilets by themselves

In terms of learning they have just started learning letter sounds phonetically and also practice writing the first letter of their name. They talk about things like their families and what they have done at the weekend etc to help them develop socially too.

Please not alphabet letters by flash card. Developmentally this has no purpose for your DD. (Are you teaching her letter names or the sound they make...must be the sound)

There is so much before this. Please google Phase 1 letter and sounds if you want to give her the best start. Auditory discrimination, rhyme and rythme, action songs, etc etc. This makes all the difference in teaching children to read (from phase 2) ( trained teacher here!)

Maryann1975 The leaving me aspect really worries me. I think she’ll struggle with that. I take her to playgroups where there’s around 20-30 kids and she’ll run in and not even look back, throughout the 2 hours she’ll ask me about 3 times to come and look at what she’s made but that aside she’s not fussed about me, however I’m sure that’s because she’s comfortable knowing I’m sat a few meters away.

I haven’t found a nursery I’d feel comfortable leaving her in, have checked a few local ones. We’re in the middle of moving 100 miles away so didn’t want to put her with a child minder, her form a bond ect then have to move her when I’m sure it’ll be difficult enough. When we eventually do move I plan on joining some mum groups in the area and hopefully meeting up with mums with kids going to the same school and class so she atleast will know a few people

www.gov.uk/government/publications/letters-and-sounds-principles-and-practice-of-high-quality-phonics-phase-one-teaching-programme

This is the document which define all areas of development .
www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2012/03/Development-Matters-FINAL-PRINT-AMENDED.pdf

Successful children are those who are able to learn. The 'characteristics of effective learning' in the document are VITAL!

Op my dd is a summer born who has just turned 3. Your description of your dd at playgroups is exactly what my dd was like. She's just started nursery and is absolutely fine without me. In fact, I'm a little concerned as to how she isn't bothered about me not being around - I'm a sahm and she has rarely been left with anyone other than me and DP (first world problem I know!).

My son just started reception. A few months before starting his school sent out a letter about what to practice in the summer holidays before they come to school.
The letter was very clear that they go to school to learn, so don't worry about drilling alphabets etc before then.
The things on the list to practice included:
Dressing and undressing
Unwrapping their food
Eating with cutlery
Putting on a coat and zipping it up
Going to the toilet on their own
Washing hands
Sitting down and Listening to a whole story
Working/playing as part of a group

It wasn't expected that every child would be perfect at all those things, but that those were the principal things that would help them settle into school easier, and ready them for the learning part.

Nelly that’s reassuring! I’m praying she’ll be fine going to school. We’ve been trying to sell our house for just over a year so kept putting nursery off as we didn’t want to put her in to pull her out again, now regretting it

It's the practical stuff that helps. Dressing, toileting, eating with cutlery, handwashing, etc. Recognising her name will help for finding her peg.

We were "told off" by our daughter's preschool because she knew letter names rather than sounds. We hadn't taught these but she does have a couple of toys that sing the ABC song so I guess she picked it up from there. It's all about phonics these days. You really don't need to teach anything. IMHO 4 is more than young enough for learning. I'd prefer that we followed some European countries and saved formal schooling for 6 or 7 tbh.

To reassure you, my DD hated toddler groups, and usually refused to leave my side. She started nursery three mornings a week (free hours!), and settled OK, but really didn't find it easy. It took her about 4 months to play with other children. However she was fine by the time she went to school, she'd just grown up a good bit. Might you be able to look at nurseries/preschools once you move?

Sheepyfun to be honest our house sale is quiet likely to full through, buyers are messing us around, if nothing has progressed in a month we’re guna pull out and stay put, (secretly I’d rather this) if this does happen we’ll enrol her into a nursery attached to a school, we’ve viewed it and the reception classroom is attached to the nursery class so would be minimal transition stress. How did your daughter cope at first with nursery? When we viewed it she was very apprehensive and said a few times that she didn’t want to stay on her own, not sure I’d cope with leaving her when she was crying for me, she’s my eldest so not been through this before...

Thanks everyone for the advise regarding the alphabet, I was trying to reach her to recognise the letters but will instead look at phonics

Like PP have mentioned it's not the academic stuff you should be worried about but the ability to function in a class of up to 30 without too much adult help for self-care. Can she sit and listen to a story. Can she ask for help when needed? Can she wait her turn? Is the noise of 30 other children going to be scary for her?

Honestly I'm sure she'll be fine OP.

If you could get hold of the Jolly phonics video on YouTube then you could teach her the sound of the letters, which is way more important than the name of the letters. The ability to rhyme is super important, too. Read rhymes to her and let her finish the rhyme, or let her make up rhymes herself. Play games that teach her to listen really carefully, e.g. place different instruments (maracas, shakers, tamborine, two wooden spoons etc) under a sheet and softly play only one and your dd has to say which one you just played. Board games for counting. Lots of reading to her for vocabulary. Letter formation is not essential at this stage but if your dd is keen get her some material to trace or copy small letters - don't teach her capital letters at this stage. All the social skills mentioned are v important, of course, but some more formal skills are helpful, too. Teaching them should only require 10 to 15 min a day, so doesn't interfere with lots of play.

Don't force academics on her if she isn't interested. Theres no point

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Don't worry if she cries when you leave her. A lot of children do but the moment you are gone they are fine and genuinely enjoy nursery. The teacher will let you know whether she has settled, or if she needs more support. As the majority of children are in nursery and as there is a legal framework (Early Years Foundation Curriculum) for teaching and assessing certain skills, it's unfortunately not advisable to not bother with phonics, rhyming and listening skills, as she will be behind many others. Some schools are great at helping children catch up, but budget cuts see lots of schools struggle to offer extra help and as a result I know many good schools which could not close the gap between children who entered ready to learn reading and writing and math, and those who had to start phonics etc from scratch.