Nursery

Have a look at the Development Matters document. It’s non-statutory guidance for the Early Years curriculum so will give you an idea of what children will be learning at each stage of early years 😊

The main concerns when leaving nursery and starting school are being able to use the toilet, wipe themselves, wash hands and be able to get dressed/undressed (to an extent). With regard to reading, writing and recognising numbers they tend to come in at different points and level out over the year. My little girl starts school in September this year, she’s been writing her own name for over a year, knows letters and their sounds, knows her numbers and basic maths (2+2 etc). But a friend of hers started school last September (he’s 8 months older than her), showed no interest in any of that while they were at the childminders together, could recognise but not write his name, didn’t know many phonics sounds etc but his mum said that he was already reading in the first few months of starting school and was really surprised.

I went to visit a school recently and asked them exactly this (not sure if differs per school). They told me he needed to be able to dress and undress himself (for PE). Put shoes on. Be potty trained. Use a knife and fork. Recognise his name when written down and count to 50. Tbh I was quite shocked that that was all that was required!

I teach nursery and have taught reception before, my biggest things as a reception teacher were: Self care like going to the loo independently and cleaning themselves afterwards independently Putting on own shoes/socks/coat etc and general independence in getting dressed and undressed-that first PE lesson is hell when it's just a teacher and TA up against 30 children who can't do this! Feed themselves at lunch, especially if they have hot lunch-again, there just isn't the manpower to feed 30+ children Sit on the carpet and follow a story, talk about characters etc or follow a general conversation, for example making on-topic contributions Sequence/recite numbers to 20 (if beyond, amazing!) and recognise some numerals Recognise their own name-if they could write it too, amazing but if not, no problem Don't worry about the academic stuff too much like reading and writing, teachers will be so much more appreciative if they have self care skills down, as there's just not the manpower to teach this in school.

Oh also maybe a little fine motor work-lots of playdough play, using tweezers to transfer objects etc as this will build muscles needed for writing and drawing and will also help them to develop an effective pencil grip. If you look up Montessori Practical Life activities you'll get lots of ideas that you can do at home to build this skill

Thanks for your help ladies! We have three children and our first starts school in September but due to our own personal decision we decided not to send them to nursery so I just wanted to get an idea of what she should know! She knows so many words already (trust me on that one lol) and can write and recognise her own name, she can count to independently and recognise shapes etc but I was worried that was all stuff they learnt at a younger age etc! Feeling much more confident now.

My eldest has been in reception since last September and they're only just moving on from the numbers 1-5! They offer the work at varying levels because some kids haven't done very much with numbers at all and others are already doing times tables. So it's a real mixed bag. I'd focus on the self care side of things like going to the toilet, washing hands, dressing and undressing themselves (PE) and things like using cutlery.