Hi All,

Am sure this topic will have been discussed previously - so apologies!

Does anyone set targets for their Reception children? If so, what are these based on? And, how often are target set, e.g. termly?

I don't particularly agree with setting targets in Reception, and why set them a 'literacy' and a 'numeracy' target when the 6 areas have (or should have) equal weighting ... but to put it into context when Ofsted came to our school (Jan 2009) they gave the school satisfactory overall, with a number of 'goods' and an outstanding for behaviour. All areas of EYFS were judged good.

One of the targets for improvement that Ofsted set the school was something along the lines of 'more meaningful target setting' which was shared with children and parents. Therefore our Head has been on a bit of a target setting mission for the past year. She is good in that she respects the professional judgment of the early years teachers, so wouldn't say to us 'you must do it like this ... ' buuuut she does want us to come up with some way of setting meaningful targets for the Reception children that can be shared with the children and parents!?

I don't think I can stall it any longer!

What I have been doing is - the children have 'Letters and Sounds' folders, which I update every week with what we have been doing in Phonics sessions. I have added a sections for 'Number Work', where I explain what we have been working on/will be working on the following week. I also always have a section 'Ways to support your child at home'.

If anyone does have a sensible and meaningful way of setting Reception targets, please could you share? Also, I am interested if anyone has a resolute argument against target setting in Reception (as I do feel Ofsted's school target of target setting wasn't aimed at EYFS).

Many thanks for listening to my ramblings!

x

Hi ,
I have (hopefully) attached some of our targets. We have to send some out termly - it's a whole school thing. I am reasonably hapy with these. We send a letter asking parents to send them back with comments on, and the returned ones get stuck in the child's learning story. We had a few back, and I think parents were pleased to know what was expected in reception. Some children got an individual version if these targets were inappropriate for one reason or another. Your weekly updating sounds hard work!

I agree with you that we shouldn't set targets for children in EYFS. What I do is a PLOD (possible lines of development) for each child termly. It is an individual plan for each child based on their next steps - these are formed from observations of children so mainly relate to what they are interested in. As the year has gone on I have added things where there are gaps in the profile but try to put it in a way that can be delivered through their current interest. These are shared with parents at parents evening. So they are targets in a way but are more used to inform my planning - so I will enhance the provision to support these next steps or target specific children who have similar next steps. I hope this is making sense! It has worked well for us. x

Thank you for your responses!

And thank you horsechestnut for sharing yours! I like the sound of giving something to parents that they can comment on.

Thank you KST - I have read another of your posts where you talked about PLOD ... thank you for explaining. This sounds like a good idea.

You have given me more food for thought, thank you x

Although this is pre EYFS framework and therefore will talk about SS and ELGs it may still be of use in principal. It developed out of the ISP work when many schools were asking FS staff to write targets and can help bridge the link between EYFS curriculum and the whole school. Might be worth a look.

Cx


http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/85207

This publication aims to clarify what is meant by target setting in the Foundation Stage for maintained schools, and is aimed particularly at settings where the Foundation Stage is in the early stages of development.

The aim of the publication is to:

* support schools in improving outcomes for children in the Foundation Stage
* support the effective development of the foundations of curricular target setting in all schools
* develop a process for using the stepping stones and early learning goals (and from 2008, Early Years Foundation Stage) to promote progress through Assessment for Learning
* support the use of observational assessment and other evidence of children’s early learning and development to identify their next steps in learning
* help practitioners and settings to use this information to strengthen continuity across the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, and to establish a deeper understanding of how the conditions for learning enrich learning and development opportunities for young children
* provide summary guidance for LA colleagues to illustrate how careful attention to early learning and development opportunities supports Foundation Stage Profile outcomes for children at the end of the Foundation Stage
* illustrate the most effective ways of improving outcomes for children at the end of the Foundation Stage through the 15 LA case studies
* show how these approaches were founded on improving the conditions for learning by setting process-based targets for practitioners as indicated by the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) research.

Hi
We have to set targets also but we asked our LA advisors what should be done for early years- they advised a class target in each AOL that is linked to a main ELG you will be teaching that term. Her argument was that the chn will meet that target on their own particular level- this is the example she gave:
Target for NLC- To count up to 10 objects and match to correct numeral.
"Some chn will meet this exactly- read nad ocunt numbers up to 10, others may just do it to 5, the lowest might just do it to 3- as the CT you will know where you want the chn to be but it doesn't set a ceiling on it, as soon as some chn have done it to 5 then they can continue working to 10"

Not sure I agree with it completely but wanted to share with you what she had to say! WE have done it this way for 2 yrs and it does have an impact but we don't have parents who are particularly pushy or involved so it might not work for some schools. This year we are having a new system which is a kent scheme about sharing progress, which we will extend to include next steps/targets linked to the progress already achieved. This is my schools version:
Click to view attachment

I create group/cohort targets, every term these are reviewed and revised. These may vary from year to year depending on the children. I find that this helps me when considering children for early intervention time with my TA i.e. fine motor support, name writing, phonics, basic maths skills etc. I may also include some personal, social and emotional targets. I find this system managable and more appropriate to FS.
NikkiMac

Thank you for the link Catma and for sharing your template missc.

I think I'm getting there now! x