Reception: age, curriculum and assessments
Reception is the first year of primary school, and the last year of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
The answer
Children in Reception are 4 or 5 years old. Reception is in the Early Years Foundation Stage, and every child turns 5 during the year.
Reception at a glance
Reception is the final year of the Early Years Foundation Stage, which runs from birth to the end of Reception. Reception follows the Early Years Foundation Stage framework rather than the national curriculum. Most learning happens through play, talk and stories, with daily phonics and early number work.
- Age
- 4 to 5
- Key stage
- Early Years Foundation Stage
- Where
- Primary school
- National assessments
- Reception baseline assessment; Early Years Foundation Stage profile
What children learn in Reception
Taken from the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (the early learning goals for mathematics and literacy).
Maths in Reception
- Understand numbers to 10 well, including how each one is made: 5 is 4 and 1, or 3 and 2.
- Subitise up to 5: see how many there are without counting.
- Recall number bonds to 5, including the subtraction facts, and some number bonds to 10, including doubles.
- Count out loud beyond 20 and notice the pattern in the counting numbers.
- Compare amounts up to 10: more than, less than or the same as.
- Explore patterns in numbers to 10, including odd and even numbers, doubles and sharing equally.
English in Reception
- Say a sound for each letter of the alphabet and for at least 10 digraphs, two letters that make one sound, such as sh or ee.
- Read words by blending their sounds, and read simple sentences and books that match the sounds they know, including some tricky words.
- Retell stories in their own words, guess what might happen next, and use new words they have heard in books.
- Write letters that others can recognise, most of them formed correctly.
- Spell words by hearing the sounds in them and writing a letter or letters for each sound.
- Write simple phrases and sentences that other people can read.
Tests and assessments in Reception
- Reception baseline assessment
- In the first six weeks of Reception
- A short, practical check with a teacher, covering early maths, literacy, communication and language. It is not a test to pass or fail, and no score is given to you.
- Early Years Foundation Stage profile
- Completed by 30 June
- The teacher judges whether your child is at the expected level, or still emerging, in each of the 17 early learning goals. The school reports this to you.
Book bands by school year
Most Reception children start on lilac, pink and red books. See what each band means, and the reading age most often printed against it.
An interactive example loads here in your browser.
Is your child in Reception?
Enter a date of birth to see the year group today, and the dates that matter from Reception to Year 7.
A school year finder loads here in your browser: enter a date of birth to see the year group.
How to help at home in Reception
- Read with your child every day, even for ten minutes, and let them sound out words using the sounds they are learning at school.
- Ask which phonics programme the school uses, so you say the sounds the same way at home.
- Play with small numbers: how many apples are in the bowl, and how many are left if we eat one? Spot the dots on a dice without counting.
- Give writing a real reason: a shopping list, a birthday card, or labels for a drawing.
Other year groups
Questions parents ask
What age is Reception?
Children in Reception are 4 or 5 years old. Children in the same year group are born between 1 September in one year and 31 August the next, so each child turns 5 at some point during Reception.
What key stage is Reception?
Reception is the final year of the Early Years Foundation Stage, which runs from birth to the end of Reception.
Is Reception compulsory?
No. A child must be in full-time education from 31 December, 31 March or 31 August after their fifth birthday, whichever comes first. Most children still start Reception full-time in the September after they turn 4.
Can a summer-born child start Reception a year later?
Children born from 1 April to 31 August do not have to start school until the September after their fifth birthday. If you want them to start in Reception then, rather than going straight into Year 1, you must ask the admission authority for a place outside the normal age group.
Planning ahead for the junior years
The early years are about sounds, stories and number sense, not tests. When your child reaches Years 4 to 6, our free diagnostic checks maths, English and both kinds of reasoning and shows what to practise next. No card is required.