Using Progress Matters To Plan And Assess In Reception

[Guest]

Hi all,

 

I'm an NQT in reception and, since I trained in primary and mainly had placements in KS2, I have had no previous experience in reception and have been learning as I go....I was starting to feel like I was getting to grips with EYFS but now, once again, I'm very confused....

 

I've been setting my learning intentions based on the scale points set out in the Foundation Stage Profile, which I have also been using as assessment criteria......but have been reading a lot about Progress Matters and am now worried that I should be using this as a basis for planning and assessments instead, or even alongside the FSP scale points???

 

Please help I am so confused!!

[Susan]

The profile is your assessment tool. You should be looking at the ELGs and differentiating them for your learning intentions.

[catma]

Primarily the EYFS framework is going to help you plan your curriculum, and as Susan says to differentiate the pitch of the targeted activities you provide. Good use of the dev matters column and the look listen and note column can aid planning, and the other 2 can really help you get the learning environment/adult role right to support the learning you are enabling.

 

Using assessment criteria ie the EYFSP scale points isn't really the best thing to plan from because they are too broad and in the case of CD, KUW,PD are actually several aspects all grouped into one scale point!! They are summative assessment criteria so I would always use them as that!!

 

Progress matters is modelling a system for using your summative assessment data once you have compiled it. From this analysis you will identify gaps and areas for development, which I would then use the EYFS framework to plan my next steps from depending on ages/stages of children.

 

Cx

[Guest]

Thankyou for your help.

 

So just to clarify - I should be setting learning intentions based on the ELG's in the EYFS statutory framework, and Development matters to aid what I am planning. Then use the profile scale points as assessment criteria and Progress matters to aid this and next step planning. ???

 

Sorry to be a pain - I want to do this right but it's really hard when Im having to learn everything myself

 

We use the Edison schemes for foundation subjects and then Abacus for CLL and PSRN, which would be fine if I followed them strictly, but as I am trying to go along with what the children find interesting, I am finding that most of the time Im planning from scratch. Just want to make sure I'm using the correct materials to plan and assess!

 

Thankyou x

[Guest]

well said catma, very clear to understand i bet youve just reassured lots of people x

[Susan]

Im not familiar with the Edison schemes and Abacus is for PRSN is it not?

 

If you have soem published materials, is there no way you can use them a basis for development to meet children's interests?

 

The EYFSP is a statutory document against which you must report progress at the end of the school year. As far as I am aware Progress matters is a tool to aid you and not statutory. If your LEA supports the eprofile I would use that for recording and storing your data.

[mundia]

Hi dudette. I would not worry too much about Progress Matters at this point, get your head around the EYFS and profile, thats quite enough for your NQT year. Once you are comfortable with using those, you can worry about Progress matters late on, as Susan said, it isn't statutory and if you are expected to use it, your LA should have provided some support and/or training to guide you.

 

As an NQT you are entitled to support, ask your mentor iof you can access training on the EYFS or visit nearby schools to support you.

[Guest]

Thankyou for your help everyone.

 

Susan, I only have the termly overviews for Abacus which are split up into weeks, and they cover both CLL and PSRN...I haven't been given any other scheme for CLL so just assumed that I was supposed to use that... At first I was using the LO's in Abacus and progressing through them as and when the children were ready for the new LO's, but now I have realised that they learn so much more when I plan activities based on what they want to do and what they enjoy (and not when I desperately try to find an activity which goes with a specific LO and has no relevance to what the children find interesting at that point in time). When I don't follow it week by week, the activities I do don't always match up with progressive LO's in the scheme, so then I have to write my own LO's......and that's where I was getting confused with what I should be using to get my LO's from.

 

I think I might be worrying a bit too much but I just really want to get this right! But after all the advice it is a lot clearer to me how I should be planning and what I need to use! And I agree that it will probably help alot of other people!

 

Thankyou again