How we assess in EYFS
Assessment informs parents, carers and teachers and other practitioners of children’s progress and attainment. It enables the right support to be identified to meet children’s individual needs and to plan for their learning. Ongoing, formative assessment is an integral part of the teaching and learning process in both Nursery and Reception. It involves staff working closely with and observing children to understand their level of attainment, interests and learning styles, and to then shape learning experiences for each child reflecting those observations. Parent and carer views on children’s progress are extremely important to us and help to ‘build a full picture’ of the child. Each child’s learning journey is documented using the Seesaw App. New learning and highlights are shared with parents and staff to inform them of individual children’s development.
There are many opportunities for staff and parents and carers to share information and celebrate children’s achievements. These include:
- Conversations at the beginning and end of the school day
- Termly activities with parents and carers
- Class email
- Parent/Carer consultation meetings
- Termly Foundation Stage Newsletters
- The Seesaw app
- Marvellous Me app
Assessment in Nursery
When children enter Nursery, staff complete a baseline assessment to gain and insight into children’s level of development across the Prime and Specific Areas of learning. Children’s development is tracked at specific ‘checkpoints’ that inform practitioners of children’s individual progress. This information is shared with Reception teachers as part of the children’s transition to Reception. It is used to plan for learning in the Autumn Term.
Assessment in Reception
Within the first 6 weeks of starting Reception, we complete the Reception baseline assessment which we have a statutory duty to administer to all children. This is an age-appropriate assessment of early mathematics and literacy, communication and language. The purpose of this assessment is to create school-level progress measures for primary schools which will show the progress pupils in school make from Reception until the end of Year 6.
- A child’s progress is formally reviewed every term and is regularly discussed with parents.
- Parents/carers are invited to attend parent consultations in the Autumn and Spring term. A written end of year report is then provided towards the end of the Summer term.
Parents/carers are always welcome to discuss their child’s progress with their key person/class teacher at any time throughout the year. In order to make accurate judgements of pupil progress we:
- Ensure that we have a deep and thorough knowledge of the child gained through observations of the children within the environment
- Create an environment which enables the children to become independent, curious learners
- Moderate our assessment judgements across the EYFS team
- Moderate our judgements with EYFS staff from other schools – both within and outside of our Multi-Academy Trust
