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!!

Coats and shoes on.
Sit and listen 10 minutes.
Focus in adult led.
for the rest I’ll rephrase them for you on what I’d hope to see:
recognise name - if they want to write it make sure proper letter formation but writing isn’t a must.
Dont focus on letters and sounds - that’s our job. Focus on phase 1 (rhyming, alliteration, oral blending, initial sounds)
holding a pen correctly is great but some children aren’t developmentally ready so don’t worry if they’re not doing it.
the maths stuff is great if they can but don’t worry. We start very basic in Reception - we do numbers to 5 until Christmas (a deep understanding)

No. There’s so much more to do in reception than just reading and maths. Her teachers will challenge her - if she’s blending already then they’ll work on fluency and comprehension. They should focus on numbers very deeply so looking at things she doesn’t know or understand yet!

Yes we’re very aware of the summer borns.

It can take a while to even out yes but it does tend to eventually. From what I’ve seen by the end of year 1, the ones who struggled have started to catch up.

Not all summer borns need to though, all of my summer borns achieved their writing ELG this year!

We always tell parents don’t worry we won’t always believe what they tell us about home if you don’t always believe what they tell you about school!

Children love to embellish or outright make up things all the time!!

Im sorry to hear that, it’s so hard when a child suffers with anxiety.
I would try to work out exactly what causes him the anxiety and where his resilience is lowest - is it not getting his own way? Is it lack of confidence in his ability? Does he have friends and play well? Does he not want to try because he thinks he can’t do it?

Does he have children at home? Play dates? Extra curriculars?

My child is stating reception in September. She has had wee accidents, several per week, throughout school nursery. She is accident free at home/ out and about / on holiday. At school nursery she will be encouraged to use the toilet and then at some point she'll be wet. She won't tell anyone she's wet. So I often find her in wet pants at pick up.
She can change her own clothes completely but needs the prompt to get changed.

What would it be like in reception for a child like this?

It could be similar to how nursery is, they’ll remind her but the chances are there will be 30 children to 1/2 staff so her wet accident being missed is a probability. However, if school are aware of this and it was in my class I would be putting things in place to ensure I checked on her - could just be a timer to remind me to ask her if she needs the toilet or if she’s wet. Have nursery mentioned why they think this is? Does she feel wet? At home do you prompt her to the toilet or will she go completely independently?

1. Do you judge parents? (I would)

1. Do you do home visits before the kids start and do you love them? (I would).

Do you know how to do a numbered list? (I clearly don’t 😂)

At home she is 80% independent and other times she is far too busy and doing a wee wee dance but then she does go. From what I've asked of other parents the out of school toilet Training seems pretty age appropriate.

Unfortunately nursery seem pretty unaware of why she might be wetting there and no where else. They are very much of the thinking "well she hasn't said anything, so she's fine". It is very difficult, as so many children and she doesn't say anything when it's happened.
She can literally go to the toilet and 15 mins later be wet. It's not a puddle on the floor situation but enough that her knickers and trousers are visibly wet at the back.
I worry that she'll wet in the morning and wet all day and get sore.

She struggles with her social and communication skills so probably all inter linked. Will have 1st child development centre assessment over the summer.

My son going to start reception this September. He is gifted. He can read like adult. Proper reading book not graphic book. He can do fractions like times and division. Is he going to be bored in reception? Is there any different curriculum for gifted children?

Are you taught to look out for different signs of autism and ADHD for boys and girls? Or is it blanket signs for both sexes?

Is live to know what the most bizarre things children have told you which turned out to be true, or things which sound so mind-boggling you genuinely try to figure then out for ages before the penny drops and it's something competed different, and what's the biggest secret you've been told.

The nursery teacher used to come out laughing at the things my daughter told her, all were true, most were detailed descriptions of our naked states, it turned out all the teachers knew when I'd either had a pedicure or waxing session🤦‍♀️. I dread to think what else!!

Do you expect more from the taller children who look older than their age than from the tiny cute ones?

Do they give you magic powers in teacher training so you can control 30 kids? I remember hosting my first group playdate without parents present (four 5yos) and it was like a mini-riot 😬.

How much do I need to decode the school report? If it sounds positive, is it likely to be positive?

Is it normal for a child not to have any best friends in reception?

My daughter loves reading but has never enjoyed reading her school reading book more than once. Should I push it or can she just read lots of other books?

Also, do you have any hints or tips for helping with anxiety in new social situations- she worries a lot about parties/ playdates in advance and when we first arrive but then seems to settle.

Thanks!

@Rycbar Lack of confidence. He has friends, playdates with school and non school friends, swimming, etc.

@Rycbar I'm thinking of a career change and I would be particularly interested in teaching reception. Do you enjoy your job genuinely? What bits do you love and what bits do you not like?

The nursery teacher used to come out laughing at the things my daughter told her, all were true, most were detailed descriptions of our naked states, it turned out all the teachers knew when I'd either had a pedicure or waxing session🤦‍♀️. I dread to think what else!!

This made me chuckle!
Until fairly recently, I was a TA in an infant school and I heard many a tale over the years!

I read with interest your replies about not trying to teach your children phonics etc because it probably won't be done well. My child is 4, so if we were in the UK she'd start school this year, but in the country we live in she will only start proper academic school at 6. She's in a preschool but they will have very little reading or writing for the next few years.
My child has become interested in letters, and is experimenting with writing out longish words and sounding out words to read. I'd like to support her interest but now I'm worried I'll do it 'wrong', and because it's so long until she starts real school bad habits will be ingrained. She's also bilingual so trying to do phonics in both her languages which adds confusion. Can you recommend any tips or resources for me to help her? I don't want to put her off somethings she's excited about! Thanks

Haha your second comment made me laugh. No I don’t either!

In answer to you other questions, yes we judge. In the same way other humans judge other - we would never let it affect how we treated a child though. We could think a parent is absolutely loopy and we’d still adore and treat the child the same as everyone else.

No, we don’t do home visits - we do visit nurseries if they are in one before coming to us though. This is always really interesting!!

Hmm it’s a tricky one because you really don’t often get children like your son. I could be way off the mark with your situation but generally, in my experience when a child is gifted in this way then there are gaps in other areas of their development - particularly PSED. The teachers would find where the gaps were and aim at plugging those.
if there are no gaps and your child is generally all round gifted then they will challenge him appropriately. Reception isn’t all about academics either so I’m sure there will be plenty for him to learn!

We’re not taught to look out for ‘signs’ of autism. There is no tick list of behaviours you look out for. We will highlight when a child is struggling in a particular area. We will discuss their behaviours and what we notice with our SENCO and this can lead on to further exploration and talks with specialists that might eventually lead to an autism diagnosis. I will say that after 15 years in early years you spot them early and you’re usually right (I’ve never been wrong yet actually). It just takes time from noticing them to actually getting official support (you do what you can before of course)!

We’ve found out about mums being pregnant, dad sleeping on the sofa, mummy and daddy arguing, mummy cries because daddy shouts.
One family took their child out to go on holiday for two weeks and lied to us. Child told us when they got back exactly where they’d been!!
Not had anything too outlandish although we didn’t know a child could speak French until they told us and we asked dad - turned out he was fluent!!

I personally don’t but I can see why some teachers might!

I think it’s something you’re born with to be honest! My class is small now but I used to work in a day nursery pre school that had 50 children a day! (Obviously more staff though!)