What's the typical level for Reception education?

[Adriana87]

Hi all
My son just started school and is currently doing settling in days. The teacher mentioned to myself and other parents some very basic achievements such as: being able to count to 20, recognise shapes and pronounce the alphabet phonetically.

My son turned 4 in April and has a speech delay but can read an entire book (basic words of course) and do addition and subtraction. He also recognises all numbers up to 1,000.

I was taken a little back as I thought they would be teaching stuff a bit more advance. Am I wrong?

There will be a wide range of abilities and skill levels in reception. Some children will still be learning the alphabet and how to count while others will be reading fluently and know their times tables. There will be others on a similar level to your son , probably a few who a bit ahead and some who are not there yet.

He's well ahead of what is expected. A good reception teacher will work with that, though. They'll be doing some baseline assessment, but it's perhaps worth mentioning to the teacher what he can do, particularly if it may be masked by the speech delay. Mine was already reading fluently, and the teacher found an opportunity fairly quickly to hear her read and assess where she was at. The teacher would often work with a small group at a time, and so she had the ones who were reading together and moved them on.

What do you mean by recognise numbers up to 1000 and read a book?
It's very unlikely by the age of 4 that he has a conceptual understanding of those things, and is simply repeating things back to you. I know many youngsters who can 'read' familiar stories - they've simply learned them by heart and aren't actually reading at all

I agree with @KidneyBeans I work with children and no 4 year olds can read an entire book. But they can repeat words or phrases from a familiar book that's read over and over. So if you showed him a number 984 he'd be able to look at it and say it's 9 hundred and 84?

It’s not just counting to 20-it’s manipulating those numbers and understanding what makes them with number bonds etc. Reading is about more than knowing the words-it’s about understanding and inference etc. I’m sure your son’s teacher will do a full assessment and go from there. There are loads of early learning goals and it’s not just about academic stuff-the new curriculum is very much about speaking and listening/communication skills so I’m sure he’ll have lots to learn as well as having fun with friends.

It's very unlikely by the age of 4 that he has a conceptual understanding of those things, and is simply repeating things back to you. I know many youngsters who can 'read' familiar stories - they've simply learned them by heart and aren't actually reading at all

Really? I have a just turned 4yo. We subscribe to Reading Chest. She routinely opens the parcel of books (that she hasn’t seen before), chooses one and reads it, with some occasional stumbling or delay over a book. Currently they are sending us Green book band ones. It’s ahead but I don’t think it’s that unusual.

Of course some 4 year olds can read!! My eldest was reading books like The Witches aged 4 and had a good understanding of number too. He isn’t some kind of genius(age 10 now and probably about average for most things) It is definitely ahead of what is expected but not impossible!

OP there will be a huge variety of abilities in the class, a good teacher will assess where your child is.

(And I’m on this thread precisely because I’m interested in how teachers manage this kind of thing.)

What kind of book? DD1 learnt to read RWI books at the end of nursery but the words were made up of set 1 phonic. Technically she was reading but I wouldn’t have said she could read a book.

In reception (during pandemic so may have been reduced) they learnt RWI set 2 sounds, how to write a sentence, learnt read and to spell some of the KS1 words which aren’t decodable, simple addition and subtraction up to 20 as well as loads of other stuff I’ve forgotten.

You can easily google EYFS learning goals.

I’m sorry, what 4 year old is a free reader?! The Witches?! That’s a book for upper primary 😂 c’mon! I was an advanced reader but I wasn’t reading my fav Enid Blyton books the week I started reception. I was free reading chapter books by the end of yr1 age 6.

Not many 4 year olds can read books OP. I’m an ex reception teacher. They might be able to recite a story but not read the words phonetically. Maybe some at the very top end might be reading basic words like cat, dog, ran, fun, sun etc. And counting to 1000 is very unusual as well. Would he be able to say 999 is nine hundred and ninety nine? Or just 9,9,9. As that’s completely different.

A good teacher will spot all this from assessment, so no need to worry. Work will be differentiated accordingly!

@MondeoFan

I agree with *@KidneyBeans* I work with children and no 4 year olds can read an entire book. But they can repeat words or phrases from a familiar book that's read over and over. So if you showed him a number 984 he'd be able to look at it and say it's 9 hundred and 84?

They may be a small minority, but there are definitely children who are able to read an entire book at 4. There were three in my DD's class - she was on the cusp of moving on to chapter books (having turned 4 in August), and the other two (who were nearer 5) were already reading rainbow fairies and the like. She could also read and use three digit numbers - for instance finding hymns in a hymnbook.

@Bobholll

I’m sorry, what 4 year old is a free reader?! The Witches?! That’s a book for upper primary 😂 c’mon! I was an advanced reader but I wasn’t reading my fav Enid Blyton books the week I started reception. I was free reading chapter books by the end of yr1 age 6.

Not many 4 year olds can read books OP. I’m an ex reception teacher. They might be able to recite a story but not read the words phonetically. Maybe some at the very top end might be reading basic words like cat, dog, ran, fun, sun etc. And counting to 1000 is very unusual as well. Would he be able to say 999 is nine hundred and ninety nine? Or just 9,9,9. As that’s completely different.

A good teacher will spot all this from assessment, so no need to worry. Work will be differentiated accordingly!

I mean, you can disbelieve me and attempt to belittle but I have zero reason to lie. He didn’t learn to read using phonics either, I’m sure you will think that is impossible too. As I have said he isn’t a genius but still adores reading now. Luckily being home educated meant he could learn at his own pace and wasn’t exposed to mocking teachers like yourself.

Ha ha, yes, The Witches at 4 is a classic case of a child who certainly isn't going to be understanding what they're 'reading'. Definitely even an upper primary kid would need some of the context for that book explained!

OP kids are wildly different. I have an MEd, and the main thing I looked at is literacy development. Parents underestimate the importance of inference as a skill, or information retrieval. Comprehension is different, and significantly more important, than just being able to read the phonics. A lot of that is age related, to be honest, and will require an understanding of the world a 4-year-old might not have.

Reception is also about developing a lot of other skills- VERY important ones. The hidden curriculum, if you like. Things that will underpin their education- so social skills, team work, compromise.

It's not an exam factory. As well as introducing the ideas of maths and English, they're also teaching the kids about a positive attitude towards education and do so many other things. They're probably not all ready for War and Peace and calculus.

Oh look here’s another one.

I'm a teacher (older than reception) and have seen parents say their child can add and subtract three and four digit numbers, but actually they cannot.

If the parent writes a sum fir the child using columns, for example, 426 - 113, the child can get to the answer.

But the same child cannot reliably say which of the two numbers is larger and by how much, they cannot tell you how what needs to be added to 3 to get to 6, they cannot set out the sum themselves unless both top and bottom numbers have the same amount of digits.

In other words, they have been taught a party trick.

The good teacher will not want to offer extension activities, but quite the opposite. Instead they we'll need to go back a few stages to learn the fundamental concepts of numeracy.

My daughter is 3 and a half, she can definetly pick a book of her shelf and read it out loud, with some stumbling.

I don’t know why some posters are being so sniffy - IME as a teacher there is always at least one fairly fluent reader in each reception intake. Also a few who have advanced maths skills for their age.

The teacher will assess and differentiate their work.

My eldest could read when he was 4 and before he started school. I have a video of him reading a new library book. The only word he asked for help with was snow. It was a basic young kids book, not a chapter book or anything but he could certainly read it by himself. No idea how that happened, he just really enjoyed books and picked it up quickly! He still enjoys reading now (nearly 10) and just devours books. He was also well ahead with numbers too. His teachers soon picked up on this and he was given work at a level that interested and challenged him. As pop’s have said though there is a big difference between having learnt by rote numbers to 1000 and being able to do maths!

Op we’re not even 2 weeks in though. Give the teachers a chance. They have 30 kids to learn about and I’m sure they will soon recognise his abilities and adjust work accordingly.

There is a huge range of ability in reception, your experience sounds like it’s what it should be. Addition and subtraction aren’t taught in the way we are used to, maths education is completely different to what you’re probably expecting, so just give it time and take the advice/information you’re given as it comes.

It sounds like your ds will do well with his work, but that doesn’t automatically mean he will instantly do well with all the other skills children need at school. You have the opportunity to focus and build on the other areas as you feel your child will be ok with phonics and maths.

My dd has an A* in A-level maths but couldn't count to 20 when she started reception. She was year 1 before she understood that a hundred and one was 101 and not 1001

@MondeoFan

I agree with *@KidneyBeans* I work with children and no 4 year olds can read an entire book. But they can repeat words or phrases from a familiar book that's read over and over. So if you showed him a number 984 he'd be able to look at it and say it's 9 hundred and 84?

That’s not true. It’s unusual but not extraordinary. At 4 my daughter was assessed by her teacher to be at level 8 on the Oxford reading tree. She could sound out any word so she was at that level rather than being higher based on her comprehension ability of the text. She is at an academic private school and there were multiple children in her reception class capable of reading books though at different levels.

Op your child is very advanced and many of those skills aren’t taught even in year 1. Again, at my DD’s school there were a number children who could already add and subtract within 20 and recognise numbers to 100 or more.

Two of my friends’ sons could do much more mathematically than this before starting school. All kids develop at different rates though and hopefully the school will be able to differentiate work for him. Reception is mostly play based so it can be easier to do so sometimes.

As you can see from the posts, his level is unusual
but not unprecedented. I’d guess about top 5 percent of the ability range or higher depending on what level of reading and what exactly he can add / subtract.

The number of people on here that think that no 4 year olds could possibly be able to sight read a book just because they’re little darlings couldn’t Of course some 4 year olds can read!

Blimey! My son just started reception he can write his name (kind of) , count to about 49 with some prompting, he can recognise his own name. Can’t do any maths

My son was bored shitless in reception, it was part of the reason I pulled him out to home educate him. The Y1 stuff he'd have been doing this year is also too easy. He's doing Y3/4 stuff in most subjects.