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Group 3 : Luke, Nathan, Keira

Again introductions included each of them telling me how they can spell their name. Luke is 4 and is in reception, and the others are a year older. Health warning: these are young children and will tell it exactly as it is (as if you thought the others hadn’t!!!)
So OK Luke, let’s start with you. What do you like about Reception?
“Going outside playing.”
Do you play football?
“Yes, and I get four goals”  (I note that learning to count starts on the football pitch!)
Nathan chips in, “I get a hundred goals.” (I remember that exaggeration is typical of this age) and then he adds, “and I support West Ham.”
I feel Keira needs bringing into this. She agrees she doesn’t like football.
So what games do you like playing? “I like playing cowboys.” (Wow,I didn’t see that coming.)
So OK (to all of them) apart from going outside, what do you like about school?
Nathan: “Playing inside.” He sees further explanation is necessary: “Because when you play outside you get wet but when you play inside you don’t get wet.”
Keira says she enjoys playing inside as well and adds, “It’s a good class.”
Nathan comes back in: “It’s a good school as well!”
I ask, why is that?

Nathan ploughs on, “Because we’re so good and Seahorse and Hammerheads are good. We’re all good boys and girls and we’re a good school.” (I sense the making of an Ad Agency Executive in the making).
I need to clarify something here: Do all your classes have different names then?
Nathan: “Yes, and we’re Octopuses and ...”
Keira adds, “Seahorses are over there (pointing) and Hammerheads over there.”
Nathan: “There’s lots more us in Octopus.”
Luke: ”There’s hundreds in Octopus.” (I remember I’ve seen the classes on the school’s website)  So how many legs or arms has an Octopus got?
Two, ten and eight, come back, but we won’t say who said what! (but Nathan got it right).
They each proceed to tell me when they have seen real octopuses or sea horses.  I feel it’s time to move on. Let’s try something different.
Turning to Luke: do you have any brothers or sisters.
Luke: “I have a brother called Matthew.”
Nathan: “I have a sister called Jasmin. She’s nine years old.”
Keira: “I have three brothers. One of them is four, I’m five and Jack is seven.” (I fail to pick up on the third brother)
And you all live round here?
A discussion follows about who walks and who comes by car. Time to move on.
You’re too young to have favourite colours aren’t you?
Nathan: “My favourite colour is green.”
Luke jumps on this one: “I like green.”
Keira: “I like yellow.”
I ask them can they tell me things that are their favourite colour and for the next few minutes they are very capably describing their colours or pointing out things and telling me things that are those colours.

So to the mums, thank you for letting us have time with your children. It was fun. Perhaps it might be fun to follow them through the school each year and see how they are getting on. A different sort of report? And if we didn’t cover your child, well, perhaps another time.