Is the reception curriculum implemented and paced largely the same across schools?

[thelastallosaurus]

I'm not concerned about the curriculum at DDs school but I am trying to compare schools to get an idea of what the differences there might be in when and how they teach the curriculum, especially private and state, especially with regards to things like opportunity to read to an adult. We are considering moving house and a school move is also likely at that point so it would be interesting to have more information with which to compare. If it is much of a muchness then I would probably prioritise making new friendships in her new local area and moving her school over staying where she is. We were going to take a look at both state and private schools but appreciate that the curriculum is only be one part of the decision.

I have older children but I cannot remember what they were doing at this age!

Is this standard stuff for the autumn term?
Most of the time they are just playing but formal work is largely comprised of:
A main topic, this term is called 'ourselves'.
They have learned to write their names correctly (or are learning to, depending on the individual child).
They have weekly spelling exercises on a friday (simple words like 'to', 'in' that they are meant to practice at home each week too).
They are learning individual phoneme, a different group each week, and have starting introducing consonant digraphs i.e 'll'.
Practicing forming letters and numbers correctly.
They read twice a week, once with the class teacher and once with a TA and bring a book home at the weekend too.
The class is learning numbers to 20.

They have a french lesson once a week with another teacher, a music lesson (singing usually) a short I.T lesson once a week and forest school once a month (do some schools do it more? My dd loves forest school!).
They have 15 minutes of phonics and maths homework to do at home on the computer each week.

Fairly standard for schools everywhere?
Do reception classes typically move along all at the same pace even when some children in the class can already read numbers beyond 20 and add/subtract etc? Or do they start streaming / setting individulalised learning goals during this year? I can see from the curriculum guide the school gave me that a lot of the curriculum is based on getting them used to being in a school environment and PSHE.

Sorry I should have edited that! My english skills have failed me today, I have friday afternoon burnout!

I only have experience of 2 schools, but my experience is it can range hugely. In our case it was obviously based on how play based versus formal an approach each school wanted to take, as intakes were similar as far as I can tell.

One school started almost immediately teaching 5 letters a week, the other delayed for a month or so and then only covered 2. Yours sounds more academic than either, DD is in the more academic of the two and currently in reception. She won't do spellings this year at all and is working on numbers up to 5 in class (she knows higher). She only reads once a week in school but brings books home 3 times a week, and they don't start a foreign language until year 3.

From what I can tell from friends with DC in private they move faster, and also don't have to follow the national curriculum - so don't e.g. necessarily have to take a phonics first approach.

Could you go and visit a few schools in the area you are thinking of moving to?

Reception teacher here.
That’s sounds quite formal for this stage of the term.
I’d expect S A T P I N letter sounds
Lots of play
Focus on classroom routines and making friends
Definitely no spellings.
Being listening to read twice a week is good going, most schools aim for once a week

Mine was in reception last year. She had a new book every day, forest school every 2 weeks, no other homework. We generally had a helper come in even with covid for reading and seems like and adult will hear them every week with teacher every 2 weeks.

Having done a fair bit of home schooling last year, there seemed to be 2-4 new sounds each week and the teacher seemed to differentiate a lot. Eg some children might be using magnetic letters to spell aword, others might be writing a sentence. I was a bit eye rolley at first about the focus on 1-5 but it is quite a deep focus eg looking at number bonds, counting backwards so it isn’t like they’re just sitting there learning to count something they could do at 2.

It varies depending on the school irrespective of sector. Reception though is definitely mostly play everywhere which is how it should be.

A more academic private school covers all of year 1 math in reception as standard though in my experience. Also, by this point in the year they are starting to write in sentences and have covered a letter sound a day rather than a week. They read 3 times a week with teachers and have forest school every week. Two french lessons and the same for music plus 3 PE lessons.

There is less homework though than you describe!
A reading book everyday and some optional math games is all.

The faster pace though isn’t inherently better. The national curriculum has been designed to be the appropriate pace for the vast majority of children. Going faster is only appropriate for kids who benefit from doing so as they learn very quickly and don’t want / need as much repetition and are ready cognitively for higher level concepts.

State schools will differentiate work but mastery and greater depth of understanding are key. They’ll want to ensure there aren’t any gaps in understanding.

The main focus for all schools is settling in, learning routines, etc at first

It varies depending on the school irrespective of sector
Yes. I agree. I've worked in countless schools as a supply teacher. At the moment I'm in two reception classes in two schools and they could not be any more different from each other.

How long does it take the teacher and then the TA to listen to every child read once a week? Are the other children rattling around with only one adult during that time or are there three adults?

It definitely varies school to school but I agree with a previous poster that your child's current school seems exceedingly formal in comparison to the many many schools and early years classes I've worked in.

I think it's much more likely that if you moved to another school your child would spend more time learning in the environment rather than having weekly spelling tests and it lessons.

How often children are heard read has little to do with the curriculum and everything to do with class size and number of adults, which will vary between schools and is likely to be quite different in the private sector.

The new EYFS curriculum started this year, and yes what’s covered will vary from school to school. Overarching early learning goals are the same but how they are to be met will be up to each setting. Assessment will be purely on a met or not met gauge and no more exceeding/greater depth. There’s a big focus on focus on strengthening language and vocabulary development to particularly support disadvantaged children. strengthen literacy and numeracy outcomes to ensure all children have a good grasp of these areas of learning in preparation for year 1. ELGs are based on the latest evidence in childhood development.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/919681/Early_adopter_schools_EYFS_profile_handbook.pdf

www.eyalliance.org.uk/changes-eyfs-2021

So for example in numeracy-whilst counting to 20 is the aim, it is numbers to 10 that is the core and the manipulation of those numbers for a greater depth of understanding. All schools have to do this but the delivery of it will be up to the school.

It is similar within phonics and how that is taught. Some schools use read write inc and some do jolly phonics for instance but they are all teaching phonics.

@Missmissmiiiiiiiiisss

Reception teacher here. That’s sounds quite formal for this stage of the term. I’d expect S A T P I N letter sounds Lots of play Focus on classroom routines and making friends Definitely no spellings. Being listening to read twice a week is good going, most schools aim for once a week

This is pretty much identical to my school. I wouldn't be happy with a reception child being made to do spelling tests every week, and i'd much rather they have more time outside than IT lessons.

Schools vary loads. In Receptionast year DD:

• Read once a week with mostly the TA (probably once a month it was with the teacher instead)
• Bought home up to 3 books a week, as long as she had read them at home twice by book change day (Mon Wed Fri)
• Information given about reading, phonics and maths apps to use if you want but no specific homework set
• IT lessons roughly once a week but not all year and not this early
• PE once a week
• No forest school (no facilities) but some trips to the school pond
• Half termly topics with specific topic learning each week
• No specific music lessons
• Lots of free play

For reference this is an outstanding state infant school that has decided to focus on free play and reading imo. Her friends at the neighbouring Catholic school do it differently e.g. less reading books but more other homework. It has a reputation for being more academic (not sure it actually is any different) and desirable amongst lots of the middle class families.

There's a massive variation at this point in the year as each cohort is different.
My current class took longer to settle, and need more support managing feeling and behaviour in a classroom setting. I suspect much of this is covid related as many of them missed out on nursery, stay and play sessions, and just spending significant periods of time around children and different adults.

We teach 4 sounds per week, 5 maths lessons and 1 pe lesson. The curriculum has changed which has more of a focus on mastery skills, and following children's lead in learning.

In EYFS we often refer to the learning environment as the third teacher, so while it may look very informal and slow paced, plenty of learning is done through purposeful play set out by the teacher. We've moved away from formal table work and reading with the teacher to give ourselves more time to join in with the children and guide their learning.

Reading is a BIG push right now so you're bound to hear lots about it. And maybe even get some home reading books that were written in the past decade. (We did a clear out recently and found some books that I remember using in the 90s when I was learning to read)

For the teachers commenting, I’m quite curious around the differences between school on home reading frequency. All of the local schools seem to be slightly different. Eg we get a new book every night, one of my friends gets one book that has to be read 3 times each but has had spelling homework from reception. Why is there so much variation on the ‘how’ of supporting leaning?

It varies largely between schools. Even within state and independent schools. Our daughter's state school had no homework for reception and year 1. While I know several state schools, where homework is given from reception. All oftsed outstanding schools as well so doesn't depend on ofsted rating as well. Similarly, what is taught and how it is taught can also be quite different. Like in our daughter's school they started with cursive in reception and didn't do print. While none of the other local state schools did that. Even extra curriculars can be so different. So you really need to visit schools to find which one suits your needs.

Bunnycat I work quite a bit with schools, but I'm not a teacher, so this is just my take on it. I think the head teacher and senior leadership will have a view on what works best and that will set the tone for the school. There is disagreement on the value of homework for young children and different teachers will hold different views. I suspect demographics may come into play a bit too. If you feel your population of parents don't read much with their kids or have many books, you might focus more heavily on reading books.

Our year 1 DD gets lots of reading books (change it after reading twice, so usually 3 a week) but no other homework. Her friend at the nearby school had homework in Reception but less books (one a week).

Also changing books in Reception (where they need supervision) is time consuming, which is presumably why some schools prioritise it less.