What your child learns in Reception

Children in Reception Year will just begin to learn about numbers and how to work with them in basic calculations. Your child will probably bring home a number line that will help them add, subtract and count in twos, fives and 10s. Your child should practise counting forwards and backwards and recognising numbers to 20.

Your child will also be taught to describe and recognise 2D shapes, 3D shapes and the location of objects, as well as form patterns and describe events in a chronological order.

Our parents' guide offers a detailed look at the Reception maths curriculum.

Help your child remember the skills they've learned in the classroom with these Reception Year maths worksheets.

Your child will get a foundation in literacy through communication and language activities such as role play, listening exercises and show and tell. They will also learn the alphabet and high frequency words, and begin to be taught phonics blends.

In addition, children in Reception will begin to write; you can help them with this and practise handwriting at home. They’ll be shown how to hold a pencil, form letters and, eventually, sentences. Basic grammar is taught at this point, but this will be continued in Year 1.

Read our Reception English introductory guide for more information.

Use these Reception English worksheets with your child.

While your child is learning key listening and communications skills in their English lessons, they will also learn how to observe, reason and discuss in Reception Science classes. They will often be asked to present information in charts, which is a simple activity to practise at home. They'll receive their first instruction in ICT as well.

Understand more about the Reception science curriculum to help support your child's learning at home.

You can download these Reception science worksheets.

Find out what your child will learn throughout the rest of their primary education in Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6.