I’m a Reception teacher AMA!

[Rycbar]

As we’re heading towards the end of another school year and lots of parents are preparing to send their little ones off to school in September. Ask me anything you want to know or are too embarrassed to ask about reception!!

So many questions!

• how do you objectively know that your child is one the correct reading level?
• what are the best things I can do to support my 5yo's education?
• which extra curricular activities do you think are most worthwhile for child development?
• what would you change about education in UK if you could?

Thank you!

Is it true that many children in England are starting school in nappies and unable to speak properly? I am in NI and actually find the expectations of my pre-school son extremely high - ability to write his full name/ able to wipe his bum/ asking classmates about their weekends and what they got up to, it seems very contrasting to what I’ve heard about English schools.

What does your school teach about gender/sex?
Are kids at your school taught - you have a penis.....that means you are a boy. Congrats!
Or are they taught........"when you were born, your parents assumed you were a boy but actually, seeing as you like to play with dolls......... you can be a girl if you want to"
Or the reverse - your parents thought your were a girl but you like to play with trucks, wear camo, climb trees - you are actually a boy!

I gather new regulations have been brought in to stop such stuff being taught to kids? But is that the sort of thing that your school would teach given a preference?

And what about "furries" etc - are there kids at your school who've decided they are cats/dogs?

Also, what proportion of your class achieves "expected" in all the EYFS goals?

Thank you for all your hard work. It's not a job I could do.

Reading levels are a tough one because each school will use a different phonics scheme and within those the levels and expectations will be different. A child should be sent home with a book that is easily decodable for them. This means they have been taught all of the sounds in the book. When reading with your child, over the week read the same book, if they are starting the week decoding it and at the end (when reading daily) reading it more fluently and seems ‘easy’ then they’re on the right track!

if I had to pick one, it would be reading with your child. It’s key to everything else they will do in school. Read their reading books, story times, literally any reading you can do!! As well as that, giving them experiences and talking with them. Children who are read to and talked to have a huge advantage over children that don’t. I don’t have the statistic on me right now but if I remember I’ll post tomorrow when I’m at school.

Extra curriculars at this age - swimming (key life skill) and something they enjoy! Don’t over think it too much.

I would want early years pedagogy to be taken further up the school. Learning through okay is so vital and key I wish that it carried on longer.

Do you feel late summer borns are noticeably disadvantaged?

Yes it’s true.
I’m lucky, I teach in a small rural school and haven’t seen much of this but I know other schools in my trust are experiencing this. I have completed more speech and language referrals though this year.
We do have children who meet the expectations you describe but the numbers of children who need extra support does seem to be growing!

This isn’t something that is touched on really. We certainly don’t touch on it in Reception. We talk about how our parts are private etc but we don’t discuss gender etc. we haven’t needed to and no we have no ‘furries’ or anything like that.

I was going to ask this too as I have an almost 2 year old and it's on my mind as I'll have a decision to make in just over a year

It varies year to year! A few years ago I had 33% this year it was 85%

It really does depend on the children and cohort.

On the whole, yes. They are ‘assessed’ on the same benchmark as someone nearly a year older. At this age a year can be huge. However it really does depend on the child. I’ve had summer borns who’ve exceeded above everyone else and my lowest strainers this year was an Auyumn baby!

Trust your gut. Not all summer borns struggle. If your child goes to a nursery they will be more than happy to chat with you when the time comes!

I'm in NI. Don't kid yourself that children here are superior. Covid has affected us all in ways we can't even fathom yet.

I wish learning through play carried on longer too. My DD loved Reception to the point she was disappointed when half-term came around. Whereas in Year 1, she was far less keen, despite liking her teacher.

I wonder if primary school teachers miss their class when they move on, or if they’re too busy with the next class to think like this. Do you remember them well enough to enjoy seeing them progress through the school?

@Rycbar thank you this is interesting

I also have a summer born and I’m not sure she is emotionally ready. How will I know what to look out for or how do I know there is a problem? I’ve heard sometimes it actually can all fall apart in year 1?

Yes!
it’s our leavers assembly on Friday and there will be tears. I teach in a small school so it’s very much a family and community feel.

I’m in an English pre-school, so 3-5 we expect this from our 4’s but not so much from the 3’s. But there an emphasis on learning this.

I have found this to be true, the jump form Early Years to Yr1 is big and the change is big too. Less play and more formal learning (no matter how much teachers wish it weren’t so).

How is she with other children? Does she play with or alongside? Can she share with support? Is she okay being left without you? Is she independent - puts own shoes and coat on? How resilient is she? Does she understand language well? Follow instructions?

What has been your craziest parent encounter? Some of the threads on here from the view of parents make me really feel sorry for the teacher that has to deal with them.

I actually can’t say because it’s genuinely too outing!
We’re fortunate that most of our parents are fairly normal although we’ve had our fair share of crazy too!

All I can say is, I just wish parents would think about their email before they fire it off. We understand that they’re upset about something but we’re also humans at the other end and receiving nasty and sometimes abusive emails as we’re about to start teaching or Friday before we leave for the weekend is just awful.

What do you think makes a good EYFS teacher? Have you met any colleagues you feel didn't have the right qualities for the role?

@SacreBleugh oh definitely don’t think they are superior at all more that the expectations are very high. My son wasn’t allowed to start pre-school until he was toilet trained never mind reception. We have actually just deferred him because I felt the expectations of what he should be able to do when he has only just turned four (summer baby) are not in line with a lot of children’s realities. I actually taught in England (secondary English) and had heard anecdotally from colleagues about primary aged children being very behind on milestones so was interest to see if it was true

@GlennCloseButNoCigar perhaps where the age difference plays a part then, my son has only just turned four so for the majority of his pre- school year he has been three and I have found he has only started to master these skills recently and has no desire at all to write or colour! I’m a secondary school teacher so he still seems like a baby to me 😂

What’s your ideal end of year present? 🙂

Do you think it benefits children who are starting reception to be staggered in, doing phased in sessions. So doing a few half days before starting full time?