entering reception

[quornmummy]

Can anyone offer any reassurance? My DD is just 4 and has a year until she goes into reception. She is regularly assessed at preschool on letters, numbers, colours. (I'd rather have pictures come home) I know they need to work out where she is etc.to move her on. What can "most" children do on entering reception regarding letters and numbers? I know there is no such thing as an average child but I feel I've for too long listened to lots of people exaggerating their child's abilities and am unsure. My DD is happy,toilet trained, eats well and is social and is coming along with letters and numbers. If any early years professionals can answer that would be helpful.

Most children can do very little on numbers and letters on entering reception. Most teachers assume they can do very little.
Recognising their name (including surname is helpful), maybe writing first name, count to 10 is probably pretty much it.
The key things are toiletting, answering questions, talking to adults, getting dressed and undressed, being able to choose between two options.
Your child will be among the oldest so should cope very well.

Other parents lie ("my son is reading himself to sleep with Harry Potter" child aged 7, this child couldn't read at all really at that age). Some children are very advanced, a good school will quickly pick this up and help them develop in all areas.

Reception and pre-school are part of the same Foundation stage curriculum, it is quite complex but it should just help you to see that regardless of where your child starts they are making progress.

She sounds like she will get on really well.
As a mother of 4 i think you need to close your ears to the loud parents. Every school has them, best ignored.
My sil is a reception teacher and has always said she would rather children entered school being able to do things such as , listen when being spoken to, be kind, take themselves to toilet, undress etc rather than being able to recite the 3x table.

My son has just started. He can't read or write and at the moment he has no interest in trying - he's very happy for us to just read to him. He can barely count to five! He is however very sociable and will listen to his teachers. His teacher hasn't raised any concerns yet.

A friends daughter is in the same class, she knows all her letters, can write them all, has started reading, can count and knows her numbers. However she can't settle in the class room, finds it hard to be with a large group of kids, doesn't listen to the teacher, won't go into the dinner hall. Her mum is regulary called in to discuss her behaviour.

My experence is that at the start of reception social skills are far more important than academic skills.

I'm a reception teacher. I really wouldn't worry, children all start at different levels. I would say the average child can recite numbers to 10, but not always recognise or write the.numbers to 10, maybe recognise a few letter sounds, recognise their name, get changed for pe with just a little help eg inside out clothes, buttons, and manage toilettimg themselves. There is then a huge range either side of that, and will depend on previous nursery/home experience. The beauty of early years is flexibility! Hope tgat reassures you

DS1 (summer born) started school able to read, count into the hundreds and bore people stiff with his knowledge of the Tudors and the Romans, however he has high functioning autism and spent the first two years of school hidden under a table, throwing a tantrum if forced to come out.

DS2 (winter born) knew no letters until the summer half term before he started school, when he suddenly got interested overnight. He could probably count to about 20. By the reception October half term he was in a literacy group with the Yr1s, and by the end of the year was in a maths group with the yr1s and in the top Yr1 literacy group.

DS3 (winter born) will start next year, knows a few letters and can count to 15, can break words out into the phonics so has started writing simple words (where he knows the letters).

Thanks all for your honest posts. They are reassuring.

My DD will be 4 next week and seems a bit like yours. However, I know nothing about her pre-school's assessments, I do want to see that though as well as her pictures. DD seems absolutely fine to me, counts accurately to about 10, gets muddled after that, recognises and writes her name and is recently very interested in letters. She is very sporty, initially very shy with adults but sociable with children. The best thing I feel is that she has a very good attention span. She listens well, she loves being read to and pays attention - that will help her when she starts school.

She seems very advanced in comparisson to DS (now 7 1/2). He started R at almost 4 1/2 and wasn't interested in drawing or writing, let alone maths! I feel what held/still holds him back is his poor attention span, he would only listen and pay attention if he was interested, otherwise he would dream or look for other entertainment (e.g. initiating silly behaviour) - and we are still working on that now.

Academically DS is 'average' - however, his poor concentration and listening skills hold him back.

Very helpful post. I was on tears today after my hubby was called in by the teacher at school pick up, after our little boys first full Reception day. He is good with letters, can write his name well etc but has selective hearing! He was given time out by teacher twice in one day! :( He is generally a well behaved boy but concentration poor and I think the day was too long (?) Hoping for an improvement after a weeks long tv and treat ban, accompanied by stronger diScipline by mum and dad. Perhaps little brother arriving 5 months ago is also playing a part in his recent increased naughtiness (?!)