What is Excellence in Reception Teaching?

It’s for teachers who are currently teaching Reception, or preparing to do so soon. It’s the first Department for Education-funded professional development focusing specifically on the Reception year.

This programme will deepen your understanding of child development and help you build expertise in supporting the children you teach. You’ll learn practical, evidence-informed strategies that you can apply in your classroom straight away, so that you can support children to make excellent progress towards the early learning goals.

Who is the programme for?

Excellence in Reception Teaching is for experienced primary school teachers who have completed their Early Career Training. It’s suitable for:

• Teachers currently teaching Reception.
• Teachers preparing to teach Reception soon, or who have recently started.
• Experienced Reception teachers who want to deepen their knowledge and develop their practice.

Multiple teachers from the same school can do the programme at the same time.

What will you learn?

The programme starts with a unit on the foundations of excellent Reception teaching, which includes understanding the unique child, inclusive teaching, and the learning environment for continuous provision.

You’ll then do a unit on each of the three prime areas of child development:

• Communication and language development – how children learn to express themselves and understand others.
• Personal, social and emotional development – supporting children’s confidence, relationships, and wellbeing.
• Physical development – supporting children to lead healthy lives and build co-ordination and self-care skills.

You’ll explore high-quality teaching, inclusive practice, and working in partnership with colleagues and families within each of these areas. There are units on early literacy and early maths too.

What will this programme help you with?

Reception teachers are unique in schools because they deliver the early years foundation stage, which is taught differently from other year groups. Teaching in Reception is based on continuous provision, high-quality play and a strong understanding of child development. This programme recognises Reception teaching as a specialist area.

It will help you ground everything you do in a strong understanding of how four-and-five-year-olds develop. You’ll learn teaching strategies that directly support the three prime areas, giving you practical ways to help every child thrive in Reception.

You’ll also be supported to meet the increasing range and challenge of children’s needs as they come into Reception, including children who arrive without some of the fundamental skills and development that might be expected for their age. The programme helps you prepare children for the transition to Key Stage 1 too.

How will you learn?

You start off with a diagnostic activity to help you identify areas to focus on as you progress through the programme. There’s a live online event too which explores why Reception teaching matters, what to expect from the programme, and the key things to know before you get started.

Each of the four units start with a one-hour online taught session to cover the foundations of the topic and to get you ready for the self-study units that follow. The session is led by a facilitator and combines content delivery with opportunities to take part.

Each week, you’ll read a rich, concise evidence summary then put it straight in to practice with an application task to try in your classroom. Your reflections on this task will then feed into the next week’s unit. Self-study is designed to fit into typical PPA time, taking no longer than 45 minutes a week. If you are not currently teaching Reception, you can choose tasks such as further reading, observing a colleague or adapting a task to try out in your own practice. You’ll also do a guided reflection on each application task.

At the end of each half term, you’ll take part in a live sense-making session. Here, you’ll discuss the key principles you’ve learned, share experiences, and work with a partner to reflect on the strategies you’ve used. These sessions help you embed your learning and make it meaningful in your classroom.

Attendance at live events and completion of tasks are tracked, and you’ll get a certificate at the end of the programme.

What’s the time commitment?

The programme lasts two terms. You can expect to spend 20 to 22 hours in total learning and attending online live events.

What funding is available?

Excellence in Reception Teaching is fully funded by the Department for Education for teachers in state-funded schools in England. If your school is not eligible for funding, you can pay for a place. See the programme page for prices.

How does this compare to the National Professional Qualification for Early Years Leadership?

Excellence in Reception Teaching focuses on improving your everyday classroom teaching practice and deepening your expertise in the children you teach. The NPQ for Early Years Leadership is a leadership programme which develops your expertise in delivering high-quality early education and care through leading early years provision more widely.

Read our explainer for a detailed comparison: Excellence in Reception Teaching and the NPQ for Early Years Leadership: which should teachers choose? | Ambition Institute

Why is this programme needed?

Children develop more in their first five years than at any other time in their lives, and this development is critical in shaping their futures. Reception teachers with a strong knowledge of child development have been shown to be crucial in determining the quality of early education.

The disadvantage gap starts early. National statistics show that disadvantaged pupils in Reception already begin to fall behind, and that gap widens as they move through school (Education Endowment Foundation, 2026). Supporting Reception teachers to deliver high-quality provision is vital for helping every child make strong progress towards the early learning goals, especially for children facing disadvantage or who have additional needs.