Baseline

[Guest]

Hi All,

 

I have to show baseline for all areas. PSRN and CLL are presented in MAGS but the school don't really have any other way to present remaining areas. Do you present the remaining areas as a whole eg - KUW as a whole or do your break it down into the 4 strands of KUW and have individual baseline ages. As an NQT I'm not sure and school haven't done it before so they are leaving it to us.

Just wondered what others in reception do :-)

 

Net xx

[Susan]

I dont know what MAGS are but you will find it hard to break the other areas down into component parts as many of the profile statements are inter related and cant be distinguished in that way. You need to think EYFS curriculum and not NC.

[Guest]

Hi Susan,

 

I personally am EYFS having spent the last 18 years being a part of it through nursery and preschool - unfortunately a total different kettle of fish now a teacher. My school isn't as EYFS BUT are trying hard but find it difficult to let go of NC.

I have to give an age bracket for the areas of learning but not sure how to do it - for example - I have a child who is 30-50mnths in 2 of the strands of KUW but 40-60 in 3rd and scoring on profile on 4th strand of KUW. Without doing it individually, how do I ascertain an overall age for my baseline?

 

MAGS are mapping attainment grids.

[catma]

Hi.

What you are trying to do is really unecessary for reception - you can simply use the EYFSP scales and get a judgement on where a child is working below the ELGs or just in or securely. The scales are inclusive of all the aspects.

 

As you've got to use the EYFSP at the end anyway you might as well start with it as the next issue would be comparing progress!!

 

Cx

[Froglet]

I have to give an age bracket for the areas of learning but not sure how to do it - for example - I have a child who is 30-50mnths in 2 of the strands of KUW but 40-60 in 3rd and scoring on profile on 4th strand of KUW. Without doing it individually, how do I ascertain an overall age for my baseline?

 

MAGS are mapping attainment grids.

 

I agree with catma and tend to use the EYFSP for myself. However the initial assessment form my LA has uses DM bands. In the situation you describe I go for a best fit option and err on the side of caution. If they're meeting lots of the 30-50 month statements just aren't quite secure in it I would probably go for 40-60 months overall. If their general PSED is higher that might push me to the higher band or vice versa. Basically I just go with the 'feel' for the child I've gained in the first few weeks.

[catma]

mixing EYFSP and dev matters isn't straightforward tho and you need to be able to explain the developmental match of the scale points to the framework if your data is to be interpreted accurately against national expectations for this point of the academic year.

 

It boils down to:

Are they secure 30 - 50, emerging 40 - 60+?

 

If yes they are where you would want them to be for a reception child to make the progress expected in f2 to achieve within the ELGs, ie 6+ points (which refelects secure 40 - 60+ by definition. This applies to summer born children too as at 48 months they should typically be securing the 30 - 50 months band.

 

You could see which age band descriptor across all the aspects is the best fit - don't consider each aspect but look across all of them vs the chronological age. So a summer born of 50 months I might start with 30 - 50 and then go up or down depending. A 5 year old of 61months I would start at 40 - 60+.

 

The development matters statements are not statutory assessment criteria like the ELGs or the EYFSP scales. They are a descriptor of the typical skills you would see in a child at that stage of development so are not all needed to be seen to decide what stage of developement a child is. You might decide that the child is broadly working at 30 - 50 but has some marked development in one partcular aspect where they are stronger.

 

 

 

It's all going to change soon so that will confuse HTs even more.

[chocisgood]

We have been given a form to use which utilises the data from nursery and our own judgements. I have filled it in but am unsure of where it fits in to the e profile. However it does provide a good overview of this years cohort.

[catma]

The fit is where the skills identified are the same. The words may well be different unless they are ELgs of course.

 

Cx

[Guest]

I record my baseline against the EYFSP not the development age bands. (rightly or wrongly?) I take the transition documents from the playgroups that feed me and record where they are as best fit on the EYFSP. I count the transition documents from the playgroups as 1 form of evidence and then collect evidence of the child in our setting too and arrive at a baseline EYFSP judgement in terms of points by Oct half term. I don't split KUW, I choose a best fit points wise.

Deb

[Guest]

I have always done EYFSP as baseline, our authority asks for it to be entered baseline, autumn, spring, summer, which I did on paper anyway to keep on top and aware of where the class was operating. I used this as progress towards the summative end document, looked at how many points progress each term. Have now been 'advised' by authority that EYFSP only shows attainment NOT progress and have now been recommnded (Ofsted due this year) to use dev matters - E,D,S at whichever ageband, to show progress over year. So I am trying to do both, doing my head in - haven't actually got out to my garden yet as some lucky people seem to be doing this weekend, though we did pick all apples off tree before first frosts!! Teaching reception - the best job in the world, have done it for over 30 years - is being made so complicated now.

[catma]

Well, technically they are correct. it is only for the end of reception. However from a practical sense it works well to record scale points as they are achieved because once a child is achieving any points labelled 4 -8 then by definition they are secure in 40 - 60+ in whichever skill set is covered in the point anyway. It's the skill set not the stage at that point.

 

There is nothing to stop you doing it your way if that works better for you really.

 

Cx

[Rufus]

I record my baseline in developmental months within the first few weeks, a quick snapshot of where my obs and pre school records show they are.

After this baseline I then record in dev months and scale points, I don't feel that it takes too long as I am so familiar with them, it is just an additional reference.

At the end of the year my LA say that you can compare dev months baseline and EYFSP data to show progress. I look at the percentage of children that were 'age expected' on my baesline in terms of dev months and compare that to the percentage of children that are age expected (6 points) at the end of the year in terms of EYFSP.

That seems to satisfy heads and LA

[Guest]

THANK YOU ALL for your replies.

 

I apologise for the length in time of my thanking you but paperwork seems to keep getting in the way of everything at the moment. I managed to get my baseline approved using the EYFSP - so yay.

 

Net :-)

 

xx