15 replies to this topic

[aliroberts]

On top of everything else we have to do at this time of the year my head has asked me to produce and set targets for all my children. I have done this is my previous school but this is a brand new school, only 1 class (it will build year on year) and I haven't done targets for foundation stage before. Does any one have a proforma I could look at? I guess it will have the Stepping Stones points in it somehow? Do any of you use them successfully, are they visible for the children to see? or do they just have things like I can count to 10, I know my letter sounds, I can do my coat up? Any thoughts anyone? I can sit here and devise something but wondered whether anyone else could help.
Thank you sooo much

[Susan]

Hi &welcome
you don't say where youare teaching exactly.
If you are in a Reception class as I am assuming then could you use your profiles to set targets?

I cannot come to terms personally with using them at the beginning of the reception year but at this stage surely it would be appropriate to use the knowledge you have already collated!

If these are targets that the children have access to they need to be child friendly! So your "I can " statements sound good to me.

I'd be interested in seeing/ hearing what you decide.

[Sue R]

Me too, interested, that is! Was a bit shy here as I'm not a teacher.... :)

but I try to be encouraging!!!!!!

Sue :D

[mundia]

Hi there Ali, and welcome on board.
I have looked for the proformas I useed in my last school, but can't as yet find it (you should see my office!!!).
I wasnt clear from what you said which year group? If you are in a nursery which is what I assumed, the children will be reception in September? Is that correct.

Like Susan, I think its hard to target set fro the start of the reception year, but when I have had to do this in the past, we have chosen only personal and social, and kept them realy simple, such as settling in to school, putting on my coat, using the stepping stones for PSE. We went through them with the children, giving smiley faces next to them, and noting what the children thought against what we thoight (thats quite interesting to see the levels of self confidence). We were adamant not to include literacy and numeracy at least in teh first term, and when we did introduce those, we kept them simple, like turn the pages in a book, read my name, count to .....

What we didnt want was to set children up as failures, so they had to be really manageable, especially for those children with low self confidence.

Ther is a company that makes stickers for literacy and numeracy for each year group from year R to year 6- I have used those in the past too, but I wouldnt use them until at least the second term in reception, but that would depened a lot on your children. they were very popular with the children.

[catma]

Do you have contact with the FS advisory team in your area? It might be an idea to find out what other settings around you are doing. Is the Head completely clear about what they are expecting you to produce or is it a knee jerk reaction to the Primary strategy and him/her being told that FS is a part of this (Which it is, but in it's own unique way)?

We don't target set for the children but we track progress termly. Using the colour bands (Yellow=1, blue=2,green=3 grey/elg=4) we give the children a point according to progress. That way in performance management we can see if particular groups are making progress particularly in the yellow/blue bands. Of course some children will stay in bands for longer than others but I have my observations to show progress within a band if required . I also have a very nifty document that puts the stepping stones in progressive order along with other linked statements that were added by our advisory teacher, e.g. "can pedal a trike" in physical. This is what I use to level the children and record attainment. It's a best fit model. I also then use this to see what areas a child needs to work on next = my targets. But they are linked to the individual not the cohort. Targets for children at this age cannot be as generaised for the groupl as they can be for KS1/ks2 children. I think the idea of focusing on PSE is a good one, but heads do like targets to be curricular as they can monitor something they understand and it links to their overall profile of progress and attainment in a school. Hope this is of use!!

[Susan]

HI Catma
that sounds like a very useful document, any chance of sharing with us please?

[Dianne]

Don't know if it's what you're after but at my last school I had to set lit/num targets from the Spring term and I got some from a website which had stickers, but I just saved the page showing the targets, and then chose one for each group of children. I wrote them out on a picture balloon and stuck them on the wall. Actually it was very little use, but they were visible & kept people happy!

The website was called targeteers, I think you'd it that if you put that into a search engine. It does have specific yr targets, but I really do have my doubts about how useful it all was, and I'd resist it if possible. Even when you tell the children about them, it's not really very relevant or interesting to them. Now if the target was to catch and identify 10 minibeasts over the next half term it might be a different story!!!

Dianne xxx

[catma]

I'll try and get an electronic version, the one i have is a paper copy and it's a bit hard to scan.

[Susan]

Thanks Catma!

Dianne I'm not in favour of target setting as such as I think our targets are already laid done in the form known as the profile!
But I seem to be on a quest for something more manageable than than the tracking system I was required to use so thanks for that I shall try a search later.

[aliroberts]

Thank you everyone!
Sorry it has taken so long to respond but I couldn't find my post whilst all the enw site was being changed around! Found it now obviously and glad I did!
I am teaching reception.
I am also using Sims Assessment Manager 6 for my profiles which has a target section in it but I want something for the children to see and use so may go for the sticker option mentioned. Thanks so much.

[Susan]

Dianne website is superstickers.com
looks quite good, if only as a starting place!

[CRESTACAT]

Hi Ive just become a fully paid up member and have just read these discussions on target setting .I have some reservations ,especially for Nursery and Receprion but Catmas document sounds really interesting and I wondered if there would be any chance of looking at it please.I have been asked by my head to set targets for Reception this year-especially for writing and would really appreciate some input from FSF members

[catma]

I'll try to get it on disc so I can attach it here. I've tried to scan but it doesnt convert to a text document very easily!!
Have to get it from our Ey's advisory teacher but she owes me a favour so shouldn't be too hard! :D

[CRESTACAT]

Thank you Catma and thanks for replying so quickly I appreciate it. :)

[catma]

Hurrah. I can now attach stuff. :D :D

This is not the document mentioned above but is something we developed in line with the whole school target setting for Literacy work last year. The idea is that the children have the card handy when doing guided writing and the targets are dated when reached. In KS1 they stick them in their books but in R we had them on card in a folder along with the group record sheets for reading.

hope attachment works.....................

Oh and I have the other document mentioned but it's too big to post here so if you are interested message me direct and I'll email on. (If thats possible........so much to learn!!)