EYFS Assessment
Heading- EYFS Assessment
Assessment is the bridge between teaching and learning and focuses on supporting children’s progress towards learning of knowledge, concepts and skills. In order to provide teachers with meaningful, useful insight into a child’s expected progress, teacher’s need to make a judgement based on their professional knowledge of what a child knows, remembers and can do, day to day. Through our play based curriculum, adults work together to make holistic observations in order to support pupils to build their knowledge and to apply that knowledge as skills.
Assessment in EYFS follows the guidelines set out in Section 2 of the EYFS Statutory Framework, which focuses on more adult interaction and less paperwork. It also reflects what we believe is right for our children.
Statutory Framework 2021 “Assessment should not entail prolonged breaks from interaction with children, nor require excessive paperwork. Paperwork should be limited to that which is absolutely necessary to promote children’s successful learning and development, practitioners should draw on their knowledge of the child and their own expert professional judgement and should not be required to prove this through collection of physical evidence”
At Eldwick Primary we recognise that assessment plays an important part in helping the school to recognise children’s progress, understand their needs, plan activities, and assess the need for support. Our curriculum is taught and assessed in order to support pupils to build their knowledge and to apply that knowledge as skills.
The school ensures that EYFS staff actively engage children, their parents and other adults who have significant interaction with specific children in their assessment processes to provide a well-rounded picture of their development and attainment.
Assessment in EYFS is a mixture of formative and summative methods, which recognises the things that the children do well and informs both future planning and areas to develop.
Assessment outcomes are moderated within EYFS, and by the EYFS Assistant Head, at the end of each assessment window and this information is discussed with SLT at Pupil Progress meetings. The head teacher also moderates EYFSP data. All of these procedures ensure assessment outcomes are robust and correct.
The school ensures that EYFS staff actively engage children, their parents and other adults who have significant interaction with specific children in their assessment processes to provide a well-rounded picture of their development and attainment. One of the ways we do this is to use the online Learning Journey platform, Tapestry, to nurture two-way communication about the children’s achievements and experiences. We also encourage parents and carers to share their child's achievements at home through ‘Wow Moments’ and regular invitations to come into school.
Parents are kept up-to-date with their child’s progress and development, and the Class Teacher and/or EYFS Assistant Head will address any learning and development needs in partnership with parents.
The school will ensure that assessment processes do not prevent teachers and practitioners from spending as much time as possible interacting with children and directly supporting their learning and development. Teachers will not be required to document a certain amount of evidence to prove children’s level of development; however, they may decide to record particularly noteworthy achievements in order to plan teaching and where this is beneficial for building knowledge of children.
Teacher Assessment is based on a holistic view of what a child can demonstrate against each ELG and the majority of this is observed during play. When assessing children against the ELGs, teachers should look at the whole description of each goal to determine whether this best fits their professional knowledge of the child and apply a ‘best fit’ approach to their judgement.
Our children’s starting points
Most of our children enter our setting working at age related expectations, we know this from our school agreed Baseline Assessment. It is vitally important that their prior learning and experiences are recognised and built upon. Everything we do saturates the children with language with oracy and reading being the golden thread running through everything we do.
How we assess our children and ensure our assessment process is robust and accurate.
The way we carry out assessment in EYFS has changed, as of September 2021, to ensure more adult interaction and reduced paperwork. It also reflects what we believe is right for our children. Assessment in EYFS is a mixture of formative and summative methods, which recognises the things that the children do well and informs both future planning and areas to develop.
Assessment outcomes are moderated within EYFS, and by the EYFS Assistant Head, at the end of each assessment cycle and this information is discussed with SLT at Pupil Progress meetings. The head teacher also moderates EYFSP data. Regular moderation meetings with our network of local schools, along with ongoing training and Pupil Progress meetings ensure assessment outcomes are robust and correct.
Formative Assessment
“Ongoing assessment (also known as formative assessment) is an integral part of the learning and development process” (DfE, 2021).
Ongoing formative assessments are used to assess the day-to-day learning and development of children in the EYFS. It is predominantly observational through spending time with, and having quality interactions with, the children. Practitioners interact and observe children to understand their interests and learning needs, and will use this information to inform practice and provision for each child. Teachers assess and teach children by observing and assessing their individual next steps within provision. Information from observations and assessments are then used to inform planning, shape provision and direct teaching and learning. In addition to this, teachers make notes in their ‘feedback booklet’ to help with identifying successes and individual next steps for children. Practitioners and parents/carers are made aware of these next steps so they can support the children with their learning. This may take the form of a planned intervention, or in provision support.
Summative Assessment Points in EYFS
Statutory Summary Assessment
The following three summative assessments are all Statutory expectations.
Reception Baseline
The Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) – a short assessment is carried out within the first six weeks of a child starting the Reception year. This provides information for the government that they use to compare children’s progress against when they leave Primary School.
EYFS Profile
The EYFS Profile is completed, and submitted to the local authority, for each child in Reception by the end of June. It identifies whether a child is at the Age Related Expectation (Expected) or working below the expected standard (Emerging) for a child at the end of Reception.
The expected standard is GLD (Good Level of Development). This means a child has achieved the ELG’s (Early Learning Goals) in all of the aspects except Understanding the World and Exploring Media and Materials.
The school reports EYFS Profile results to the LA when these are requested. The LA is under a duty to return this data to the relevant government department.
Reasonable adjustments will be made to the assessment process for children with SEND as appropriate. This may include the Early Years Development Journal or the Engagement Model.
School Agreed Summative Assessment
We use the online platform, Tapestry to record children’s learning experiences, at home and school. There is a strong focus on capturing the pupil’s interests, ‘Wow’ moments, their use of vocabulary and the Characteristics of Effective Learning. Its predominant purpose is to provide continual communication between home and school, but it also forms part of our overall summative assessment judgements.
Summative assessments are made at four points in the year: Baseline, End of Autumn, End of Spring and End of Summer. These are entered onto the school Pags and Progress excel document . A wide range of evidence is used to support these judgments, including practitioner knowledge and observations of each child. Class teachers use professional discussions amongst colleagues, feedback notes on planning, parent/carer comments and Learning Journeys to support their judgements. In addition, work in books, practitioner knowledge and the use of carefully researched, and school created, ‘checkpoint’ documents. ‘Assessment Checkpoint’ statements are also used to support this along with RBA and Nursery on-entry observations. Teachers actively engage children, their parents and other adults who have significant interaction with specific children in their assessment processes to provide a well-rounded picture of their development and attainment.
Progress will be assessed through:
- Observation, questioning and talking to children in an informal way within provision, whole class inputs and small group work.
- Regularly reviewing children’s level of understanding in specific tasks
- Continually assessing and observing in all areas of learning
- Talking to parents about achievements at home.
- End of year expectations
- Agreed end of year points with Year 1 and 2.
- Assessment checkpoints founded on research but adapted to reflect the high expectations of our children.
Progress will be recorded in the following ways:
- Making brief notes about the children’s learning through play on planning or Tapestry.
- Regular ‘Next Steps’ which are shared with pupils and parents and are displayed in the classroom
- Taking photographs and videos
- Tapestry observations
- Parent/carer contributions to Tapestry observations
- Recording attainment on Arbor at the end of each assessment window.
- Comparing children’s attainment to Age Related Expectations/Checkpoints at the end of each assessment
- The Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)
- The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile.
Progress will be reported in the following ways:
- Parents Evening meetings with parents
- Annual written reports to parents.
- Tapestry observations
- Pupil Progress meetings at the end of each data window
- Two Year Old Learning and Development Progress Check.
- Early Years Foundation Stage Profile.
- Transition meetings between Nursery and Reception and Reception and Year 1.
- Transition documents and conversations from/with previous settings.
- IEPS’s, EHCP Annual Reviews and other SEND reports
Assessment information is used to identify:
- Whether an individual child is ‘on track’ to meet end of year expectations.
- Curriculum priorities for the next term.
- Any changes needed to the provision (environment, enhancements, direct teaching etc) to meet the needs of individuals or groups.
- Identify individuals for targeted intervention. We aim to identify children with special needs as early as possible and provide appropriate intervention and support. This may include support from outside agencies.
This approach enables us to make a triangulated, overall best fit judgement about where each child is working in each of the seventeen areas at the end of each assessment point, and identify gaps and next steps. It also informs practitioners whether individual children are ‘on track’ to reach end of year expectations and enables them to plan relevant interventions.
How we identify next steps and improve pupil outcomes.
We recognise that assessment plays an important part in helping the school to recognise children’s progress, understand their needs, plan activities, and assess the need for support.
Our robust and accurate assessment procedures enable us to identify where each child is currently working and their next steps. Analysis of this data provides information about whether an individual child is ‘on track’ to meet end of year expectations and identifies individuals for targeted intervention.
Our formative assessment, supported with notes in our weekly planning, help with identifying successes and individual next steps for children. Practitioners and parents/carers are made aware of these next steps so they can support the children with their learning. This may take the form of a planned intervention, or in provision support. Children, and parents, are encouraged to be an active part of this process and time is set aside, within Stay and Play to support this.
We aim to identify children with special needs as early as possible and provide appropriate intervention and support. This may include support from outside agencies. The class teacher/SENCO/EYFS lead is always proactive in discussing any cause for concern in a child’s progress with the child’s parents, especially where this concern relates to the prime areas of learning. A strategy of support will be agreed upon and consideration will be taken as to whether the child may have SEND which requires additional support (see Inclusion Policy and SEND Information Report for more information)
Our assessment information drives our future curriculum and provision planning, identifying changes that need to be made (environment, enhancements, direct teaching etc) to meet the needs of individuals or groups.