Starting Reception

[MiaSparrow]

Hi all,

DD's way too young for any proper G&T labelling, of course, but I'm just interested about her starting a new school in September (she's changing from the current preschool one), and at what point they'd pick up on her ability. They do have an 'able and talented' register, but am I right in thinking that wouldn't come into play until later on? In which case, what do they do with kids that come into Reception fully able to read/do sums in their head etc.? Will she be terribly bored?

TIA.

Reception is so much more than counting, reading and writing. She'll be busy learning all sorts of social skills and becoming independence that she won't be bored at all.

Reception still follows the eyfs curriculum so is much the same as preschool, lots of play based learning with some formal lessons thrown in. They don't start formal lessons till year 1

Can she share? Follow instructions? Go to the toilet by herself? Dress herself? Hold a pencil? Be kind to others? Those are the skills they'll be focusing on in reception. Preparing for Oxbridge doesn't start until year 1

I don't think you can be bored in reception, mine didn't really do any formal work until y1 and then comes the shock of y2.
I really wouldn't worry at this age, it's more about teaching a bit of independence and social skills.
A label of G&T or parenting a child beyond their years can be demanding, hard work and relentless but very rewarding for them.
It's not a label I like tbh.

Thanks for the replies! Yes, she's very good at the social side of things too. But they do all the 'academic' stuff too, don't they. The preschool she's in now is laughably like proper school, in that they're given homework every Friday and they're already in ability groups for phonics/numbers etc. Just wondering what to expect, really.

DS is in reception and he never says he is bored. He enjoys playing and socialising. Most of the time he is free to make up his own projects or sometimes he will pick a book and curl up and read. The school were happy for him to be a free reader from Christmas. He has just finished first Harry Potter, currently reading wombles and lots of non- fiction. He hasn't done much numeracy at school but we do some with him when he wants to, he enjoys playing on dragon box and doing sums.

I anticipate that if there are problems then they will come later on when the teachers are setting more formal work for them which he might find too easy and get bored but not be allowed to do something different. Having said that by that stage some of his classmates will have caught up/ overtaken him so it might not be a problem.

Thanks muggling That's good to know. The 'free reader' thing, especially.

She will get a reading book to take home (but maybe not for a few weeks), she will have the opportunity to do writing, maths and reading. But lots of reception classes don't have regular homework. The children will learn through play, have continual access to outside activities and will get to pick and choose their own activities for most of the day (from a range of activities set up by the teacher, and some activities will be working in small groups with an adult).
If you google EYFS then you'll find lots of information on the curriculum and expectations for children in reception.
And still they manage to come home talking about digraphs, number bonds and other technical stuff that simply wasn't mentioned when I was that age.

At the school my children go to, most of the day is free play. Your daughter might spend her day making models, writing books, designing an obstacle course with friends, learning to do cartwheels, creating an elaborate role play...

The staff will watch what she can do, and will set up opportunities for her to develop her learning, eg introducing toy money, a purse and a shopping bag in the home area, blank books to write in in the mark making area, measuring jugs at the water table.

She will only do formal learning in a few brief (10 minutes or so) sessions. If she is significantly ahead of the other children in her class, she might do some work with children from a different class, or by herself with a teacher, but they will also make sure that she understands the basics (eg not just that she can read, but that she knows what a split digraph is), and she will be given reading books at an appropriate level.

There is a whole load of stuff being assessed in early years like forming relationships and self-care, so there are probably a few areas where she might need a bit more support.

After the first term there are likely to be a couple of children who have made very rapid progress and who she can work with.

Goodness, homework and setting in preschool! Yikes!

I know! I really feel like she's in Reception this year. And we've been told she's pretty much a year ahead in most areas - oh yes, we have formal parents' evenings too(!) She has her book bag and gets a new story book and a reading book every week to take home. Although she's reading the one we're supposed to be reading to her. The other one's 'for babies'.

Free reader will vary though from school to school. Other schools near us still tell their yr 6 what to read. We went onto free reader because some of the books they sent home weren't great (yeah I know he's reading Harry Potter), with themes of bullying, lying to the teacher, fart jokes etc. He just likes to read things that interest him not some random book from the school. He was already clearly reading fluently. There are still words which he doesn't know due to being beyond his vocab but he always asks as opposed to dd1 who will just read on through regardless . He is also very good at questioning meaning too.

You will need to see how the school she goes to approaches it. We have just been lucky and I guess they are more concerned about the 29 other children still on the reading scheme.

He is I think in the top group for phonics but they also do a lot as a class. He was a bit puzzled at first when they went back to sounding out s, a, p etc and being encouraged to blend words that he could already read but reassurance from us and the teacher that if he knew the word he could just say it was fine to get beyond that. I had originally taught him using phonics but it had become fairly automatic by the time he started school. Hopefully your dd will have a similar positive experience.

Thank you. It does seem like a really lovely, friendly school - more so than the one she's in currently. She's constantly shocking us with what she can do and yes, you're right - of course they're concentrating on the other 29 - but sometimes they'll be like, "wow, she can write her name", and I'm thinking back to her 2nd birthday when she got a felt tip out and wrote her name, perfectly, on every balloon.

I've become a bit frustrated with the pace of development of DD in reception as she could read and write and do basic maths before she joined (we didn't even get a reading book until after October half term)....BUT I have also seen what else they are doing, how she is encouraged to think in a variety of ways and try out all sorts of skills and explore all sorts of things. If she'd have just done 'the 3 Rs' she'd be even further ahead by now but at the expense of the person she is becoming.

A good teacher will be able to keep her interested and included and develop all the skills that are so fundamental in early years.

Have you told the new school she can read? When we went to look round schools we asked what would happen to a child who could already read and then picked a school where the response was that they got split up for reading into ability groups.

Also, reception started well, but it was later we had problems. In English she went from 3a at the end of year 2 to 3a at the end of year 4. I used to teach her maths and we continued this even when she started school. Hence she was always doing maths she had done 2 years previously, but since the school did not teach her at that level, they had no evidence she was working at that level so refused to do anything about it.

Reception is all about learning a wide variety of skills, but it is worth keeping an eye on what she is doing academically. I had a friend who paid for private education and there the emphasis was much more on learning maths and English.

No, we haven't told them yet but I guess we'll have a home visit before she starts. Her preschool teacher has offered to ring ahead to the new school to let them know about Little Miss Clever Clogs but even she has no idea what DD can do at home.

I do feel like I'm constantly having to play it down, and it does sound so boastful coming from me! But at home she'll take herself off and draw a picture and then write a description in a six or seven word sentence like "This is me driving my new car". All spelled correctly. She only turned four in Feb. You can see my concern!

These threads always fill up very quickly with lots of people saying 'oh, reception is all about play'. And it is, and a good school will handle the situation well. A less proactive school may not, and the problems can be more subtle than being simply bored. DD entered school reading chapter books, and they did try to find her books at the right level quite early on (but with exactly the problems muggling described).

But DD often felt very overlooked (something which manifested itself as an obession with star of the week) and when we got to the bottom of it, it turned out that she saw other children getting praised for things she'd been able to do for ages, and yet her achievements were never noticed.

The other thing - and I am aware that I may be about to call down a storm of fury here - is that socially it can be difficult. DD at the start of reception had a far longer attention span than her classmates, and wanted to play far more complex games, when they just wanted to run about. She'd just be getting into a game, and they'd wander off to do something else.

So I'd say, if it is a good school it may all be fine, but it very much depends on both the school and the individual teacher.

Oh, and the g&t register is no longer a requirement, and frankly isn't much use at the best of times. What's much more important - and what they do have to demonstrate to OFSTED now - is that your child is making appropriate progress. (And, just to warn you, many schools will massively underestimate your child's level at this stage, just to make their lives easier later on when they have to show progress)

Gosh, thank you. That's all food for thought. It makes me think that when I do speak to her new teachers I really ought to stress how ahead she is and make sure they understand. Obviously there's going to be all sorts of things going on psychologically, and I can well imagine DD getting upset if her achievements aren't noticed. By all accounts it is a really good school, so hopefully she'll be just fine.

I think in reception (Certainly within my experience of a school that does learning through play well) then there are plenty of times for a child to show what they can do. For example, after they have been outside playing DSs class came in and had to fill in their "What I did" Diary. At the beginning of the year children would just be expected to draw a picture but they would also be encouraged to write something too. It wouldn't take many days before a child who could write in long sentences to be noticed.
The one thing I might be concerned about is that your DD doesn't appear to be showing what she can do at the moment in nursery. The key thing about early education is seeing what the child can do 'off their own steam' so if she isn't choosing to go the extra mile then she may be overlooked. It doesn't really make much difference to a teacher that a parent says my child can read the encylopedia and write 10 page essays if they can't do it at school with no supervision, as the teacher cannot sit over child whilst they are working in the same way a parent can give one to one supervision and encouragement.

Actually I can relate to both points tenderbuttons not so much for ds but for dd2. She found it hard to explain her complex games of fairies and goblins to her classmates. It got better later in reception and in yr 1 when they all seemed keener to join in and she was able to explain her plans. She also was often overlooked for star/ queen etc then she started to misbehave. Her teacher and I quizzed her about it. She pointed out that the teacher was rewarding naughty children when they then did something good so she had decided to be naughty for a while and then become good to gain a reward. The teacher did seem to notice her a bit more after that.

I think that the other thing to consider is what your plan is for their education. We are in a grammar area. I am quite happy for ds to just make sufficient progress to pass 11+, although I am fairly confident that he will exceed those expectations and I will be supporting him at home to widen his understanding. School is for me convenient child care. We would consider independent at 8 if he is really bored but would probably plan to go back to state at 11+.

If you have plans to get your child into a good independent school then my muddling along approach letting them make progress alongside the rest of the class won't necessarily be enough. We are lucky where we are having a choice of about 5 outstanding state secondaries that he stands a realistic chance of getting into. I guess that is why I am not too bothered about his progress as long as he makes enough to stay ahead.

Madaboutmaths is right about needing her to show her abilities independently. Sometimes you need to prompt them 'oh maybe you could show Mrs X how you managed to add 34 and 53 together'. Bear in mind too that there has been an incentive for schools to underestimate the level of a child at entry so that they make above average progression and so it seems as if they have made more progress than they have. I am not sure how this will change when they stop using NC levels etc.

I should say that sounds as if I don't care, Iodo, but our window is fairly broad (top 25%) and not until 11. Even if he didn't pass we would get a place at other not academically selective schools which also send children to oxbridge, and I don't know whether he will be wanting to go to Uni there - his ambition is to be a singer. It would be different if you were hoping for a top 2% scholarship somewhere at 7+ or 8+.

Stupid phone - I do not Iodo!

In what way does she get upset about her achievements not being noticed?

Does she know that children are often praised for things she might find easy, but that are a big achievement for that child?

We've had quite a celebration in school over a child managing to write the letter "O" after two terms of trying

The usual procedure would be for the preschool to pass on your dd's file to the new school. It should include evidence of the things that your dd has been doing at preschool.

If you feel that dd hasn't been showing what she can do, you could ask the preschool to include some of the things that she's been doing at home with you. This should give the Reception teacher an idea of dd's ability without you having to be the one to mention it.

Good luck.

I'm not in the UK so it may be a bit different but we did have issues with one of our DCs in the first year of school. They were pretty subtle and she's a socially skilled, enthusiastic child but she became a bit babyish and silly in the second half of the year. Lots of tears and silly little attention seeking behaviour. The class spent most of the year counting to 30 whereas she could count to 100 by 2 years. She's "into" numbers generally - synaesthetic with them and finds them relaxing. The following year her new teacher gave her harder maths every lesson and she thrived and started showing her skills in other areas too. We did go the IQ test path a few years later but only so we could advocate for ongoing extra maths. In her first year she'd come home and hunt down her big brother's maths workbook and do his homework herself but all that stopped once the school stepped up.

She taught herself to read before school as well but this didn't cause her the same level of frustration as she could read chapter books at home. It was the maths that frustrated her, I think it's probably harder to extend.