High-quality interaction in Reception is vital as it supports children’s language development, thinking skills, and emotional wellbeing. When adults engage meaningfully with children, by listening carefully, responding thoughtfully, and extending ideas, they help build vocabulary, deepen understanding, and foster confidence. These interactions go beyond simple conversation; they involve tuning in to the child’s interests, asking open-ended questions, and modelling rich language, which lays the foundation for future learning.

In Reception all staff are trained in using the ShREC approach and understand the importance of high quality interactions for developing and extending learning.

The ShREC approach provides a practical framework for achieving this. It stands for See what the child is doing, Hear what they are saying, Respond by joining in and adding language, Expand their ideas with new vocabulary or concepts, and Connect learning to prior experiences or future activities. For example, in the block area, instead of saying “That’s nice,” you might say: “I can see you’ve built a tall tower. How did you make it so strong? Could we make it even taller?” This uses ShREC by observing, listening, responding, expanding with words like “strong” and “taller,” and connecting to problem-solving. Such interactions make learning purposeful and language-rich.