This document outlines the end of year expectations for children in Reception class. It discusses the Early Years Foundation Stage framework which sets standards for early years providers. It describes the seven areas of learning that children are assessed against, including personal/social development, communication/language, physical development, literacy, maths, understanding the world, and expressive arts/design. It provides examples of common struggles children have with early learning goals in literacy, communication/language, and maths, and suggestions for what teachers can do to support children's learning in these areas.

1. End of Year Expectations in
Reception

2. In Reception we use the Early Years
Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework.
This statutory framework:
*sets the standards that all early years
providers must meet to ensure that children
learn and develop well
*ensures children are kept healthy and safe
*ensures that children have the knowledge
and skills they need to start school

3. Assessment
During the Summer term we have to complete an
EYFS profile for each child. We assess them against
the Early Learning Goals (ELGs) set out in the
EYFS framework.
There are 17 Early Learning Goals we assess in
seven areas of learning.

4. Areas of Learning
Prime areas:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Specific areas:
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design

6. Early Learning Goals
We have to make a judgement for each child against
the 17 ELGs.
They are assessed as
• 1 - Emerging (has not yet reached national
expectation)
• 2 - Expected (has reached the national expectation)
• 3- Exceeded (has gone beyond the national
expectation)

7. Common struggles
Literacy
ELG - Writing
Children use their phonic knowledge to write
words in ways which match their spoken sounds.
They also write some irregular common words.
They write sentences which can be read by
themselves and others. Some words are spelt
correctly and others are phonetically plausible.

8. What can we do?
ELG - Writing
They write sentences which can be read by themselves and
others.
Children in Nursery should be encouraged to give meaning
to their mark making to teach them that their ‘writing’
means something and should be read.
In Reception we work hard with RWI techniques to
encourage sounding out for writing and segmenting and
blending for reading. Taking pauses after words (and
eventually sentences) to read back through what they
have written.

9. Common struggles
Communication and Language
ELG – Understanding
Children follow instructions involving several
ideas or actions. They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’
questions about their experiences and in
response to stories or events.

10. What can we do?
ELG – Understanding
They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their
experiences and in response to stories or events.
Children in Nursery should be questioned appropriately by
adults during their play. Children should be expected to talk
about what they have been doing.
In Reception we develop children’s reasoning and encourage
them to extend their answers where necessary.

11. Common struggles
Communication and Language
ELG – Speaking
Children express themselves effectively, showing
awareness of listeners’ needs. They use past, present
and future forms accurately when talking about
events that have happened or are to happen in the
future. They develop their own narratives and
explanations by connecting ideas or events.

12. What can we do?
ELG – Speaking
They use past, present and future forms accurately when
talking about events that have happened or are to happen
in the future.
Play partnering with children and modelling use of correct
tenses. If a child uses the wrong tense, repeat what they have
said back to them using the correct tense so they can hear it.
Questioning about weekends and holidays etc so the children
are able to hear and use the language needed.

13. Common struggles
Mathematics
ELG - Numbers
Children count reliably with numbers from one to 20,
place them in order and say which number is one more
or one less than a given number. Using quantities and
objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers
and count on or back to find the answer. They solve
problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.

14. What can we do?
ELG - Numbers
count on or back to find the answer.
Children in Nursery should be exposed to lots of counting songs and
rhymes (forwards and backwards counting), and counting
forwards/backwards from different starting points (once counting is
secure). Making this practical and visual is of great benefit. Children
should be able to count objects using one to one correspondence.
In Reception we continue to work on this knowledge and apply it
with addition and subtraction.