This small-scale interpretative study, carried out in the reception classes of three English primary academies, examined educator perceptions of summer-born children, their expectations of children on entry to reception classes and whether those expectations were age differentiated. It also investigated the support and intervention strategies used for children in reception classes. The findings showed that the children were viewed in terms of a whole cohort and expectations of the children were not age differentiated, raising equity issues. Educators were pressurised by the 'school readiness' metanarrative so that although they spoke of a focus on children's personal, emotional and social development in practice, their focus was on children's acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills in whole-class activities and intervention groups, resulting in a conforming, instrumentalist pedagogy at odds with their assertions of a play-based curriculum.