Exceeding in all areas in reception?

[HTK]

My son is just finishing reception, he is my oldest so no experience of this. Now obviously, to me my DS is the brightest and most special boy on G-ds green Earth but with my realistic head on he seems an on-the-bright-side of average 5 year old. He is reading at level 5, has a great vocab but seems atrocious at Maths. Lots of friends etc.

We have been to two parents evening and at both have been given the impression he is a lovely bright boy, but no comments made on him being in anyway outstanding.

Anyway, his report has come in and he is Exceeding in all areas. I was surprised because I would have thought we would have known in some way if he was above average in every area. Like maybe we would have to DO some unspecified something. Is this common? Or could it be our NQT class teacher being a bit over enthusiastic? And do I need to do anything with him now?

I think it will vary a lot. Obviously age as a factor some are finishing reception only 5/6ths of the age of others. But also due to age dd for eg had 3 terms of nursery compared to 5 for the sept borns. If she had spent ages 3-5 in preschool they would have evidenced dressing using buttons etc. So less evidence needed on getting to yr R.
If she had another yr now to do say the maths i think she would be doing x and / etc.
A lot of children would do better if asked directly 'how far can you count', or in effect tested.
and as pp said it depends on the effort the teachers go to to collect the evidence.

I have no idea what dd will get, though i cant imagine many exceeding as the evidence seems to all be groups of children doing things.
I think dd is exceeding in reading (reading purple at home and most picture books), but i have no idea what they will mark her as.
Imo they need a tick list completed by parents on entry to yr R.

On a normal distribution curve, 2% outstanding is the norm, like on a bell distribution curve
It's within normal range.
That doesn't make it common. People are confusing statistical norms with commonality.

Interested in this as my sons reception report has him exceeding in all areas too. Which is surprising as he's the youngest in his class and not even 5 yet! He never went to nursery and until he started the reception class in September he had been at home with me. I just assumed all children would be exceeding at everything? Or maybe I've underestimated him?!

Why would all children exceed everything?
Even with a low bar to exceed expectations in every area is uncommon

Come on, 2014newme; we were not talking about normal distribution.

We were talking about how common it was to get 17x Exceeding.

You originally said "Totally normal, the expected level is actually quite a low bar."

You were not talking about normal distribution at this point either.

It's not common/normal/average/uninteresting/no big deal. It's 2% (2016 figures). Well done to OP's son and those others that were among the 2% that couldn't have done any better against the early years framework!

My own dd is in the 2%. It's within normal parameters but uncommon. As I've said many times. It's not anything to be concerned about.

It's totally normal for a child to exceed in every area, it may not be common but it's normal. It's within the normal range.

Rubbish. My DD (yr 1 now) is on lime books about to become a free reader, is unusually articulate and appears to possess a photographic memory amongst other things.

She got 3/17 exceeding in reception. I reckon to get all 17 must be exceptional.

Pinkpineapples I disagree, as stated upthread my not yet 5 year old got exceeding in all areas and (without wishing to do him a disservice!) I would not describe him as exceptional, he is what I would consider a pretty average reception child.

Does it really matter if it's only top 2%? Op didn't ask for opinions on where on the genius scale her ds is. Maybe he's a late developer that will hold a PhD by y6. Maybe he's just incredibly bright and an early developer. Nobody knows as top 2% covers a huge ability range. Either way it's still something to be proud of.

If she had spent ages 3-5 in preschool they would have evidenced dressing using buttons etc. So less evidence needed on getting to yr R.
Our school started from scratch in R, whatever was previously evidenced. DD's first R report had less ticked off in some areas than her EYFS report from childminder more than a year earlier, which was itself pretty conservative as there weren't many reading and writing opportunities in her setting.

OP I'd say they need to be top quartile at ability consistently across the board, the teaching needs to be good allowing opportunities to show off all exceeding properties, they need to be confident and keen to join in everything available in the reception classroom not too focussed on their favourite things, and teacher needs to be on the ball collecting evidence. Altogether that makes it pretty rare to get all 17 from what I've gathered. DS didn't even get exceeding in maths which he is now marked G&T in. (Though he did in writing, which is distinctly average... go figure.) I'd also think being able and confident across the board like that is a fantastic foundation for going into year 1, so well done your DS!

Both my children have been marked as exceeding in every area. I thought most of the children got it (although haven't been asking in the playground but mainly as I rarely do pick-up or drop off - just as well it would seem!) (Reception and Y1). The expected levels didn't seem high to me. I think its "normal" too, not "exceptional". Perhaps I need to revisit.

My DS got exceeding in everything except the self care one! He is September born so I think it is as much to do with that as anything else, he finds it much easier to sit down and concentrate for a few minutes than he would have done a year ago.

I wouldn't say he was gifted, he asks good questions (don't all children though) but I would say he is bright. But their school careers have only just begun.

The need to be resilient as mentioned upthread is so important and I'm not sure how to help DS with that.

I went to Oxford and the people I knew who struggled and dropped out were the ones who had sailed through school as top of the class and then suddenly were in a university full of people who were top of the class. Just anecdotal, but I've always found it interesting.

Asparaguswee, if your child has not been in nursery/preschool, perhaps you have not had ample opportunity to compare him with a wide range of other children of a similar age (other than family/friends who may have children with similar capabilities to yours!).

There is, of course, the possibility that his teacher has been a little generous (as I felt my DD's teacher was when she gave her 'exceeding' for gross motor skills!). However, even though he may not turn out to be 'exceptional' in any one area, it is surely pretty unusual for a 4-year-old boy who has not had prior exposure to a (pre)school environment to get 17 exceedings.

Good point ginmummy, he's not my only child but it's years since the eldest was in reception and I dont remember this kind of report back then. All friends/family children are much older too so the opportunity to compare to peers has indeed been absent this time around! I think I just assumed he may have some some struggles being the youngest in the class but that doesn't seem to be the case.

My DD got this a few years ago. She is now in Y4 and in top 1% nationally for English and top 2% nationally for maths according to standardised assessment tests she has just done at school. I think, across the board exceeds like this, it is an indicator of having the potential to achieve at a high level in future. My DD is a Spring baby too so not old in the year. I think your DS has done very well and you should be proud. :)

I can't work the new system out at all, it seems that nobody is clear whether there is consistency of application of criteria from school to school (or even class to class within the same school) and from reading other threads on here it is not immediately apparent to me whether the expectations against which they are measuring the child are objective ones for their year group, or based on expectations of the child made at the beginning of the school year (so against their own progress) or even whether there is some element of comparison against their peers factored in.

DD got 17 "exceeding expectations" this year in reception but I have no way of knowing if this is "normal" for her class or not as I am definitely not bringing it up with the other mums... however you worded it it would end up sounding like a very unsubtle stealth boast. She is, as PP have described their children above, a bright/curious average reception kid, she is Spring-born so no great age advantage, very independent so imagined she would get high marks for the self-care elements... I think we will just keep on presenting her with opportunities to try new things or learn about different areas and see what happens. I was super bright at her age and was moved up a year as a result at school, it faded away as I got older! While I got good A Levels and a degree/post grad I certainly didn't set the world on fire so I'm not getting too excited, plus - they're 5 years old

My middle son got exceeding in all elgs in reception in 2015. If I remember correctly the statistics were something like 1.6% of children do, so not the norm.

He is October born and super confident and enthusiastic about learning. I don't think it's a sign of giftedness necessarily. My son is a bright spark and an all-rounder if that makes sense?! He isn't gifted as far as I'm aware.

If it was a summer born then I'd be thinking that they were really advanced though!

It is the objectives in the eyfs curriculum.
Not against targets set specifically for them by teacher.
I guess there is an element of teacher experience determined by the peers and previous year groups.
It is particially a judgement on personality/behaviour/lack of sen.
As i assume it would be hard for a child with ADHD to achieve exceeding in listening.
I think it would mean a child getting all exceeding has a personality that makes learning easier.

My daughter's just got 17 exceedings. I would be interested to know what proportion of the class got the same as it obviously becomes less meaningful if it's lots of them. No way of finding out without seeming to boast though.

Say it is 2% as quoted above, that is 1 in 50.
So in a 2 form entry school you would expect 1-2 children, and in a 1 form entry 0-1 children on average.

So 'normal' in as much as you can expect an experienced Reception teacher to have seen a number of children like this before,
but not 'normal' as in 'most children do this'.

Not 'exceptional' as in reception teacher going back to staff room saying 'I've never had a child like Johnny in 15 years teaching'.

I think extremely exceptional you would have had it mentioned.
For example both DS1 and DD have got exceeding for literacy (we are in Wales so just get a category for maths, literacy and Welsh, it isn't broken down into 17 like some people here have had)
DD I would say is normal, clever but in the normal range. She is a summer baby so is doing very very well as she's doing better than some September classmates so even though she has got exceeding in literacy I've not had much feedback except that she is doing well etc etc
DS1 on the other hand also gets exceeding but he is so far past exceeding I get a lot of mention about him, he was assessed as haveinf a reading age of 14+ when he started reception and he comes home telling me he had to go show his story to all the teachers in the school/head teacher/visiting head teacher who happened to be there etc. Teachers at his school regularly stop to tell me how amazing he is. He is that top 1%

All but five for my son in exceeding but the ones missed are because of his SNs (multiple issues)
Tbh I'm more proud that he got all the other five at expected though as those at what he struggles with and in terms of academic subjects he picks up skills with ease and no real work.

Not necessarily brie. Dd's didn't really say anything that wouldn't apply to any high achiever until further up the school. And even then in the context of explaining what she'd done/ would do next.

Just to add, there will have been lots of moderating so you can compare with other teachers/schools to some degree

Only to a limited degree I think Otter. They can only moderate the evidence the teachers have got down, and that depends heavily on opportunities offered and how good staff are at capturing stuff.