# How different is year 1 to reception? (UK)



## Bevziibubble

My daughter goes back to school tomorrow and she's dreading it. She's not too keen on school at the best of times although she's coped well mostly but she's scared of assemblies as she finds them too busy and noisy. 
Reception was very much play based although she did learn how to read really well and do maths too. I am concerned about how big a transition year 1 is going to be as it seems much more serious and focused. 
How did your children cope with the transition? Did they find it a big difference?


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## pinkstarbinks

We found reception and year one identical, year two there was a shift and it ramped up


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## Bex84

My daughter much prefered it. She liked the structure. It depends on teacher a bit. There should be play but is more sitting down. Dd school had reception go to assembily so didnt change there. There is more sitting but can honestly say my daughter much prefered year one. When i taught yr 1 it was more learning through play though obviosly doing stuff to record like writing and maths questions. Lots of learning through doing like using coins, using books to build topic etc....


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## Eleanor ace

I find Reception and Year 1 quite different, although it does differ school to school, teacher to teacher. Holly may well like it as it tends to be calmer and quieter and there will be more of a routine, but they're still given free play time.


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## babyjan

Oh my son starts year 1 tomorrow! His dreading it too and is really nervous


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## Bevziibubble

It went terribly this morning! She was crying before we even got to school and by the time we got to school she was in such a state, crying so loudly and had to be carried in by her new teacher :(


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## AnneD

Oh poor Holly, reading this made me tear up. You must be so upset, too. No child should be in such a state going to school at this age, it's just not right. I do feel that it all starts too early. A lot of children are perfectly happy to go, but some just aren't ready. Mine is a year younger and is looking forward to going (we start tomorrow), but at the same time she is devastated because she can't be with me.


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## Bevziibubble

I too think think that they start school way too early. She was more upset today than she was when she started brand new last year :(
I hope all the LO's starting school have a good day :)


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## sequeena

Oh poor holly :(

I've been told that the shift from reception to year one is quite large. It's more work based than play based.


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## rebeccalouise

Oh no, poor Holly! I hope it gets better for you as the year goes on. Bless her. :( Amelia isn't back until next week, but she's dreading it! She said she wants to be in reception again. :( x


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## kirstybumx3

Oh Holly! I hope she's ok when you collect her. Heartbreaking. I am dreading Thursday! X


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## Bevziibubble

Her teacher said that she settled down. She asked for us a few times and was asking how many minutes it was until we came to pick her up. She came out of school happy and said she had a great day though, so I'm so happy and relieved! Fingers crossed for tomorrow! :)


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## AnneD

I'm glad she had a good time, I hope she doesn't get so upset tomorrow!


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## Eleanor ace

Oh, bless her heart! :(. That must have been horrible for you both. I'm glad she was happier when she came out, hopefully as she gets used to it and there isn't such a build up she'll settle in. What's her teacher like?


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## Bevziibubble

Her teacher seems really lovely and caring, so hopefully they will build up a good bond :)


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## c1403

Poor girl. It is far to young. My daughter starts year R next week and even though she's the eldest I'm worried how she will copy or how it will change her.


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## Bevziibubble

Today she was a bit better. She only cried at the last minute and clung onto me. She let her teacher take in and seemed to be less resistant to going in than yesterday. Hopefully she'll have a good day again today.


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## Midnight_Fairy

I found year 1 a big shift and more sitting based work. Matthew struggled and his autism became more of a struggle but Ruby coped fine xx


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## Natsku

Glad she had a good day despite the upset start, hope it gets easier for her soon.


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## babyjan

Ok so today was his first day so so far I can already see big difference when it comes to learning. He came home with reading diary which says they should read 5 pages a day, fill in the diary and talk about the book. Monday -Friday they get different book and must fill in something about the book for each day. They will also get a spelling test every Wednesday.

With reception they had one book for every week and I had a sheet to fill which was for parents only


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## Bevziibubble

That sounds like a lot :(
Holly got quite a lot of homework in reception but she hasn't received any this year yet.


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## Natsku

babyjan said:


> Ok so today was his first day so so far I can already see big difference when it comes to learning. He came home with reading diary which says they should read 5 pages a day, fill in the diary and talk about the book. Monday -Friday they get different book and must fill in something about the book for each day. They will also get a spelling test every Wednesday.
> 
> With reception they had one book for every week and I had a sheet to fill which was for parents only

Eek that's a lot of homework for such little children! Maria has only had two pieces of homework - one to choose and colour in suitable items to take on a forest trip from a list of pictures, and the other one was to finish a piece of work she was supposed to do in class but didn't finish.

On Friday one of the parents is going to teach the class orienteering - brilliant!


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## Bevziibubble

Maria's school sounds amazing! :D


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## Natsku

It really is. I'm wondering whether I should offer my services to teach the class English!


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## Bevziibubble

That would be great!


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## Midnight_Fairy

My secondary kids do not even have daily homework!


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## Zephram

My jaw just dropped at the amount of homework they are giving 4 and 5 year old kids in the UK!! Holy moly.

My son is starting at a primary school at the end of October that has a no homework policy right the way through until they leave at age 12. There are even some high schools in NZ that have a no homework policy. I think there's some research that shows it doesn't really help all that much and it's more valuable for kids to have time to just be kids after school.

Even when I was at school back in the day, I don't think we had homework until probably age 10 and even then it wasn't much.


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## Bevziibubble

We have far too much homework here. After a day sitting still at school, I think they should just be able to be kids after school and run around and play. I didn't get homework until high school and I don't think it made a difference academically.


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## Natsku

They get more homework later after the first couple of years here but it still isn't huge amounts and as the school day is short (and broken up after every lesson for a 15 minute break so they're not sat down for hours) its not too much, they still have plenty of time to be kids and play. High school (16+) is when there can be a lot of homework but high school isn't compulsory here and the learning is very self-directed so its good preparation for university.


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## sequeena

I feel so sorry for the children who have so much homework :( Thomas doesn't get homework. He's only just started bringing a reading book home (level 1). He's year 2.


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## Bevziibubble

Holly seems to be having less homework so far than she had in reception, which seems strange! I'm not holding my breath though as I'm sure the homework will increase soon..


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## babyjan

Bevziibubble said:


> Holly seems to be having less homework so far than she had in reception, which seems strange! I'm not holding my breath though as I'm sure the homework will increase soon..

Hmm maybe they still settling in? My sister in law daughter hasn't had any homework from year 1 so far too. We got some number homework on Friday (we get homework every Friday) as well as our reading every day :)


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## sequeena

Still no homework here but he does hAve reading books now and they've sent some flash cards with words as he struggles with get, the, we etc.


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## Bevziibubble

Holly is just getting reading homework at the moment. We also complete a journal every week where she writes what she's been doing outside of school and then they talk about it at school :)


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## CaptainMummy

Aw Paige has been bombarded with homework since she started school (she is in p3 now) and it has always been the same. Her reading books are getting harder/longer and still got her usual words/strategies/maths as well.


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## Bevziibubble

Holly finally went into school for the first time this school year without crying! :happydance:


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## sequeena

Go holly!


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## minties

Starting school at 4 is so young, it always makes me cringe when I read about it on here :-(. Kids start at age 5 here and it seems to be some sort of right of passage - they don't actually have to be enrolled until age 6. Lots of kids just aren't ready at 5, let alone 4.

Sophie is ready, but Thomas took until now to be able to cope OK with school. He still hates it but doesn't cry now.

He doesn't get any homework really, just reading.


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## babyjan

Yay well done holly! Must be a relief for the both of you :)


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## Natsku

Well done Holly!

Got parents' evening tonight, really looking forward to it and finding out what they've been doing (and asking why they are visiting church on Monday and if it'll be religious focused or just about the building as DD is supposed to be opted out of religious stuff)

As they're not learning to read yet there's no reading homework but I've been doing reading eggs with Maria and she's starting to learn - read her first Chip, Biff and Kipper story last night!


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## Bevziibubble

Well done Maria! :)


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## sequeena

We're reading biff chip and kipper here too :happydance:


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## Bevziibubble

We have them too :)


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## Natsku

Went to parents' evening last night - I love her classroom! Its not just a classroom, its a whole complex of rooms just for their class - main class area, play area at the back that can be divided off with concertina doors, little classroom for doing art and group work, another little classroom with a big comfy sofa (called the sofa room...), teacher's office and three toilets just for the class so they don't have to go wandering down corridors looking for the loo. They have a special needs teacher/speech therapist that visits the class once a week and assesses all the children for extra help and works with the ones that need it - she was very interested that Maria is learning to read in English at home and we did an activity matching pictures to the starting letters and she didn't get too confused between English letter sounds and Finnish letter sounds so that's good.

Biff, Chip and Kipper are so boring though - are there any better first level books? I was wondering about Songbirds, anyone know what they are like?


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## Boozlebub

Natsku: im interested in the fact you're teaching Maria to read English at home, I plan to do the same with my two. If you don't mind my asking did Maria speak English or Finnish first and if English when did the second language start? DS speaks a English and understands all Finnish but doesn't speak too much in Finnish yet even to his Dad. He is 3.5.


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## Natsku

She spoke Finnish first, didn't start talking English really until she was 3 but picked it up quickly and was quite fluent by 4.


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## luci and bump

We've read some of the songbird books, we borrowed them from our local library as evies school use the biff, chip and kipper books. I loved the songbird books. We've borrowed a few "6 in 1" books, and a few individual ones, and she always seeks them out when we go to the library. They follow the same stages as the biff books, but are a little more interesting :flower:


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