Reception year at school is actually part of the Early Years Foundation Stage. That means it is a bridge between nursery and school. There are things we do at nursery to get children ready for reception year but most of the ‘school readiness’ happens while they are in reception year.
Before children start reception they do not:
– need to be able to sit and listen for long periods of time. If they can sit and listen to one story in a small group that is fine!
– need to be able to write their name. If they are interested then that is great but it doesn’t matter if they can’t. The writing magic happens in reception year.
– need to be learning phonics (first steps of learning how to read). In fact many schools would prefer that they definitely didn’t because they all use different methods of teaching this.
What children will be doing at nursery to get ready for reception
- Practicing putting on my own coat, shoes etc.
- Lots of physical activities – by strengthening my muscles, coordination, and balance I will find it easier to sit and listen and learn to write later on at school.
- Listening to stories in small groups and taking part in activities relating to them
- Talking a lot! I will be encouraged to have conversations with adults and my friends, listen to what they say and responds, ask questions, answer questions, describe what is happening, talk about what I think will happen next, talk about what I am proud of or what I am still learning how to do, talk about what I can see, what I did in the past and what I want to do in the future.
- Exploring words all around me, spotting signs in the nursery, looking at logos that are familiar to me, looking at road signs, words in books and learning to recognise my own name.
- Focusing on the numbers 1-5, and maybe 5-10 if I am ready. Learning to count each object with a number for each one, knowing the last number is the amount I have, recognising the numbers, matching the numbers to the objects, representing the numbers on my fingers, beginning to know which group has more or less.
- Developing my fine motor skills through activities such as playdoh, learning to use scissors, threading, drawing/painting.
- Learning how to play with my friends, listening to them and taking turns.
- Learning to focus on what I am doing, keep going, trying again if something doesn’t work and find solutions to problems that arise.
How you can help them at home:
- Help me learn how to take off and put on my shoes, coat, jumper by myself.
- Make sure I can attend to my own toileting needs by myself (including wiping my bottom – teachers won’t usually do this!)
- Read stories with me and talk about them afterwards.
- Talk to me about what school will be like, things that might be different.
- Go to all the meetings I am invited to at my new school and make sure I can go to any visits they organise.