What will my child learn in Reception?

What's new this year

Reception is the final year of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which runs from birth to five. Most learning happens through play, songs, stories and conversation, with short whole-class sessions for phonics and maths that grow a little longer as the year goes on.

Teachers plan around seven areas of learning. Three are "prime" areas: communication and language; personal, social and emotional development; and physical development. Four are "specific" areas: literacy, mathematics, understanding the world, and expressive arts and design.

• Reception baseline assessment: a short, one-to-one set of practical tasks in the first six weeks. No score is given to you or used to label your child.
• Early learning goals: 17 goals describing what most children can do by the end of Reception.
• EYFS profile: in the summer term (April to June 2027) the teacher records whether your child is at the expected level for each goal or still "emerging". You'll hear about it in the end-of-year report.

Being ready to learn matters more than early academics. Putting on a coat, going to the toilet alone, listening to a story and asking for help are the skills that make the rest possible. Children arrive at very different points, and a summer-born child may be almost a year younger than some classmates.

Maths in Reception

• Counting objects, actions and sounds, and knowing the last number counted tells you how many.
• Spotting small amounts up to 5 without counting (called subitising).
• Number bonds to 5 and some to 10, including doubles such as 3 and 3.
• Comparing amounts (more, fewer, the same) and counting past 20 out loud.
• Noticing patterns: odd and even, sharing fairly, and exploring shapes, size and position through play.

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Counting Objects, Actions and Sounds: Count with Ollie

Learn counting objects, actions and sounds: say one number for each thing and find out how many. Count ducks,… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 4–530 min ♡

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Subitising to 5: Spot It Quick with Dotty the Ladybird

Learn subitising to 5: seeing how many there are without counting. Spot dot patterns, dice, fingers and tens… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 4–530 min ♡

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Counting to 10: Tens Frames and Pebbles with Dotty

Learn counting to 10 and match numerals 0 to 10 to amounts by counting pebbles, filling tens frames and loadi… Ages 4–530 min ♡

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Number Bonds to 5 and 10: Dot the Ladybird's Garden

Learn number bonds to 5 and 10, take-away facts and doubles by growing flowers, sending bunnies home and fill… Ages 4–640 min ♡

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Shape Puzzles: Turn, Fit and Build with Bea the Bee

Learn to turn, fit and join shapes with these shape puzzles for Reception: build pictures, cut shapes apart a… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 4–540 min ♡

Reading, writing and talk in Reception

• Phonics: a short daily lesson, learning the sound each letter or letter group makes and blending sounds to read simple words.
• Tricky words: a few common words, such as "the" and "was", that can't be fully sounded out yet.
• Talk and stories: listening, retelling stories, learning new words, rhymes and songs.
• Writing: forming recognisable letters, spelling simple words by their sounds, and by the summer writing short phrases or sentences.
• Hand strength: play dough, threading and drawing build the control needed for a pencil.

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Letter Sounds and Blending: Read Words with Bip the Robot

Learn letter sounds and blending: match letters to sounds, hear first sounds and push sounds together to read… Ages 4–640 min ♡

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Phonics Digraphs: Two Letters, One Sound with Pip

Learn phonics digraphs such as sh, ch, ai and igh. Drag letters into teams, tap sound buttons and blend words… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 4–635 min ♡

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Tricky Words for Reception: Read with Pip the Robin

Learn to read the tricky words the, I, to, no and go, spot the tricky part of each, then read sentences and a… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 4–535 min ♡

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Letter Formation: Trace and Write with Squiggle the Snail

Learn letter formation: where each letter starts and which way to go. Trace, then write lower-case and capita… Ages 4–550 min ♡

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Nursery Rhymes and Rhyming Words: Sing with Ruby the Robin

Learn nursery rhymes and rhyming words: hear which words rhyme, feed rhymes to Freddie the frog and learn Twi… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 4–535 min ♡

Understanding the world and creative play

Through play and outings children talk about the seasons, plants and animals, people who help us, and how life was different in the past, often through stories. They explore their local area and learn about festivals and celebrations, for example. Art, music, dance and role play sit in "expressive arts and design".

This year's topics, subject by subject

The roadmaps below show the order in which topics usually build up through Reception, subject by subject. Schools teach in different orders, so treat them as a guide to what's coming rather than a timetable.

How you can help at home

• Share a book every day, even for five minutes. Talk about the pictures and ask what might happen next.
• Practise independence: coats, shoes, opening a lunch box, washing hands.
• Count real things together: stairs, grapes, red cars. Ask "how many altogether?"
• Ask the teacher which phonics programme the school uses and how they say the sounds, so you say them the same way. Our guide to phonics at home explains more.
• Play simple turn-taking games such as snap or a board game with a dice.