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?

I taught my DD to count to ten the week before she started Reception. She has trouble remembering the order if lists, spellings time tables etc. Symptom of her dyslexia... which wasn't on our radar when she four! So yes, there will be a wide range in Reception class.

(She's above average in general Maths now... but not in mental arithmetic)

My eldest was reading books like The Witches aged 4

Presumably you haven’t read it if you gave it to your four year old. It’s fucking terrifying…

@Rosesareyellow

My eldest was reading books like The Witches aged 4

Presumably you haven’t read it if you gave it to your four year old. It’s fucking terrifying…

Isn't it just! I started reading it to my 3 year old, as she saw it on the bookcase and loves witches//halloween type things but I couldn't even get past the introduction chapter, I was paraphrasing so much to cut out the scary bits I stopped!

Having worked in schools for many years I can well believe that some 4 year olds can read . They may also show a very good comprehension of what they read but there may come a stage where their lack of maturity, life experience etc means they do not always get the deeper meaning of the text or be able to compare and contrast the text with other texts, characters etc
Maths -,being able to recognise numbers to 1000 is good but does he understand the value of 900 ? Does he know that this means 9000 ones or nine lots of one thousand? That 900 is 10x smaller than 9000 , that 90 is 10x more than 9?
That 9000 can be made up in many ways?
It’s more than recognising the numbers , it’s understanding their value .
Does he know number bonds to 10? How does this help when doing number bonds to 100 ? 1000?
Teachers have to assess every child in their class, this takes time. While assessing your child they also have to introduce the school system, expectations , ensure the other children are safe , playing happily, sharing, communicating well with each other .
You will not be the only parents with concerns- some children may have special needs , need help with speech and language etc
It’s a big step for many of the children and parents . Teachers are working hard to assess all pupils while helping them settle in.
Reception is not just about academics either- social skills, ability to be independent etc are equally important.
Keep an eye out, if you think the teacher has not seen his full ability , do raise it with him/ her - at the end of the day a good teacher will want your child to do the best they can . It should be a partnership between home and school , not a battle.

Any decent teacher will be differentiating, so the Reception teacher will be assessing and planning adaptations for the children in the class.

Give them some time to work out which children can and can't do what.

Reception is not just about academics either

Phew! I want my 4 year old to be playing and making friends for most his reception year! They’ve got the rest of their lives to try and count!

I actually think British primary education does a pretty good job of simultaneously asking too much of children and also nowhere near enough.

My son's reception teacher (who we still speak to) was lovely but it's just not feasible with a class of 30 to properly cater to different abilities and personalities.

Early years teacher here 🙋‍♀️ The very best part about teaching FS 1&2 is having the freedom to scaffold a child’s play into a learning experience without them even realising. What this means is that we are constantly differentiating in the moment with each child. Teaching and learning objectives are driven by the child’s current interests, schema and level of development.

We could watch a child counting out three teddies in a bed. We might ask one child to show us three on their fingers. We might ask another to show us the corresponding numeral on a number fan. Another child might be asked to write the number three and predict what will happen if we take another away. That child’s friend might be asked how many more bears they would need to make ten bears, and the bright spark eagerly watching on from the sand tray might be able to tell me what would happen if I keep adding in three’s. Same observation different outcomes.

Regardless of a child’s level moments like this are very play based. The teacher/TA will be verbalising their thought processes out loud to encourage independent exploration and a thirst for learning.

Your child will be getting a deeper and wider learning experience than they would if they were learning in a linear fashion.

Obviously some schools are better than others, you would do well to pick one with an SLT who understand EYFS and don’t try to foist restrictive schemes of work on them which reduce quality child led learning opportunities. Pathways to Write is one such travesty.

Also, whilst having the pleasure of teaching a great many wonderful children, some of whom were little geniuses. The first question I always want answering when I hear “x can read fluently and knows all of their numbers up to 10,002” is “how are their social, emotional and communicative skills?”

I am always amused by the confident way some PPs state totally wrong opinions!
My (now adult) DD has an IQ of over 160. She recognised every letter of the alphabet, upper and lower case, presented in random order, at 18 months. She was reading at 2, and was fluent by 3.
I brought home 18 kids’ library books a week, on three tickets, and she read all 18 to me from scratch each week, by the age of 4.
When she started reception she was writing her own stories, reading Dickens with the headmistress, and working on arithmetic designed for children 2 years older.
She sat her high school exams early and graduated with a maths degree.
There are plenty of gifted 4 year olds who very definitely DO function far ahead of the curve. It is silly to deny this just because you haven’t personally met one!

@Babdoc are you Matilda's mum?

@Bobholll I was reading Malory Towers when I was 4. (I learnt to read by having Heidi read to me by my sister, 5 years older.)

@TheWayTheLightFalls

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.

I think it's perfectly possible for the two scenarios we each described to be true at once. They aren't mutually exclusive

@Babdoc

I am always amused by the confident way some PPs state totally wrong opinions! My (now adult) DD has an IQ of over 160. She recognised every letter of the alphabet, upper and lower case, presented in random order, at 18 months. She was reading at 2, and was fluent by 3. I brought home 18 kids’ library books a week, on three tickets, and she read all 18 to me from scratch each week, by the age of 4. When she started reception she was writing her own stories, reading Dickens with the headmistress, and working on arithmetic designed for children 2 years older. She sat her high school exams early and graduated with a maths degree. There are plenty of gifted 4 year olds who very definitely DO function far ahead of the curve. It is silly to deny this just because you haven’t personally met one!

I'm amused by posters who think a child reading dickens at 4 (it'd be interesting to unpick her conceptual understanding of that) is vaguely representative of the average level of reception children. Which is what the OP asked

And from the teacher comments on this thread I doubt there are plenty of 4 year olds doing that.

different dc have different abilities & some start school miles ahead in reading & writing & language but they may have less social skills or their fine or gross motor skills might be less well developed or as op says with her little dc spoken language issues
BUT
like some dc who physically grow tall at first they may slow down (because other things interest them as above) or they may keep going on steadily. Other dc may catch up & even surpass them
As long as dc are happy at school don't get bored continue to learn & want to learn that is fine. You can support what they do & add enrichment of whatever they are studying - when they do a bit of history - take them to a museum (especially the open air ones!) do plenty of art & talking & listening do cooking take them to cubs/brownies swimming theatre groups watch & listen to music & most of all -let them play. let them write stories & suggest something they can build an idea on ... & enjoy it with your child
Which is what you have been doing op & good on you -
DD2 had some educational needs & I use to walk dc to & fro to school doing tables adding up & subtracting with her - her little brother got very good & started answering - the first time this little voice from the pushchair did this it was a "pardon???" moment but it was a game & I think board games are ace for helping dc without them realizing it - I think learning from fun & no pressure or judgement helps dc of all abilities (gets off soap box)

My DS has just started year one. He started reception able to read simple words and short sentences (with good comprehension) so could read short stories, could count to 100, do simple addition and subtraction. He was bored shitless the whole year. It took his teacher a term to realise he could read. He can now read fairly fluently, manipulate numbers up to 10000 well, do multiplication and division, understands simple fractions, knows times tables up to 12. His (allegedly excellent) school seem unable to differentiate work for a slightly above average 5 year old and he spends a lot of the day playing on his own or doing maths games on the iPad whilst the others get taught. He has gone from a child eager to learn to one that doesn’t want to go to school because he’s so bored. So I would say be hopeful it will be ok, but don’t do what I did and leave it a whole year before speaking to the teacher (not that it’s done much good).

As someone who has previously taught reception, I think much of the curriculum is within the grasp of able children well before school age, if they are exposed to it (my child is just 3 and is well on her way to meeting many of the 40-60 objectives, just through general exposure to numbers and letters. I certainly don't think she is unusually clever). But that's not to say that I think the curriculum should be any harder than it is! Reception is about laying really good foundations for learning and, as has been pointed out, developing social and emotional skills. These are so very important and yet very often overlooked.

My 20 month old can do all the things mentioned in your first paragraph now so that makes me think she must be quite bright. I have had 3 older kids but I never remember what school expects at different stages.

Dickens is in no way suitable reading for a 4 year old.

Some strange bragging goes on here. My goodness.

You may find your child needs to back track through the phonics programme to ensure that they have been correctly taught, supporting them to move on. Phonics teaching is very specific and prescribed, any gaps will hold them back as their learning is expected to move on.

The DfE is very keen that no phonics is taught in nursery so that a structured, verified programme can be implemented from the start of reception.

(I can't help but wonder which book of Dickens -or maybe it was one of Monica's [grin)

@MeredithGreyishblue

Dickens is in no way suitable reading for a 4 year old.

Some strange bragging goes on here. My goodness.

I agree! Even if they can actually read it, it’s not suitable subject matter surely?

There were three girls in DD1’s class who were free readers - Roald Dahl standard - with comprehension too. It happens. Others take longer. Children develop at different rates, and it means nothing in the end. I’m a bit puzzled by posters denying it ever happens despite people’s lived experience to the contrary.

Fuck me, my daughter must be thick as shit or I'm a crap parent from reading some of these replies

Link to the new reading framework. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/1000986/ReadinggframeworkTeachinggthefoundationssofliteracyy-_July-2021.pdf

Does he have ASD?