I often hear people say when embarking on their first year in Reception Year “What should I be doing in the first few weeks?” I recommend the first thing to do is to read the Development Matters Document (non mandatory) and The Early Years Framework (mandatory) outlining the Early Years Curriculum to get to grips with the expectations.

Before the children start in Reception it is ideal to visit them in their Nursery/Pre-School/Childminders (if they are in a setting) as well as at home. Home visits can be daunting, especially if you have not done them before, but they are a fantastic way to fast-track assessments and begin building those all important relationships. We provide a form to complete for home visits in our resources section. This will start the conversation and remind you of the details you need to know. There is also a risk assessment there which all staff completing home visits will need to sign.

As Reception teachers, we need to understand where children are developmentally, to show progress later. Therefore, we need to baseline children.

It is ideal to spend the first few weeks in Reception just getting to know the children; play with them and ask them questions. To help baseline the children we have recently created a ‘Starting School Book’ designed to be used alongside observations for the first four weeks which can be found in our resources section.

The child doesn’t need to use the workbook themselves. Where possible update the book form observations by using real resources in the environment during the child’s play. The book’s activities are simply a guide and prompt. Key parts of the development matters document are used in this baseline book. However, development matters should be referred to when making judgements, as it is a best-fit assessment. We also have this book available for 0-3 baseline   3-4 baselines  and year 1 baseline.