Eyfs Development Matters

[Guest]

Hi,

 

I am firstly not sure if I am posting this in the correct post and secondly unsure if I am being totally dumb! :blink:

 

I have recently got a new job as an FS leader in a fantastic school with lots of passionate people all looking forward to change, however it is in a different authority to the one I was in before.

 

In my old school we had a full time Reception and Nursery both planned from the EYFS profile, and assessed against it using the EYFS profile grid and learning journey scrapbooks to file evidence.

 

In my new school the Nursery (currently part-time) and Reception run differently. The Nursery and Reception both plan using development matters however Reception assess to the EYFS profile and Nursery to the Dev.Matters.

 

I recently had a visit from an EY advisor to support my move to a new authority and she said that Nursery should plan and assess against the Dev.Matters and Reception should start their assessment from SP1 of the EYFS profile in Sept. However I am confused by this as in my old school the Nursery children were expected to have achieved SP2/3 by the end of Nursery and begin Reception working on 3-9.

 

I know there will be all change as of September due to the new framework but there is a revised Dev.Matters which the advisor says our authority will continue to use.

 

I am in the process of trying to implement changes to planning, assessment and observations plus learning environments and I am thoroughly confused by this way of working. Plus my Reception children are all achieving 7,8's on the profile so how can i plan to Dev.Matters when they are ready to move on to NC?? We become a full time Nursery in Sept and therefore thought consitency across the foundation stage was important?? But I don't know whether it matters if one does dev.matters and one does EYFS but the advisor said under no circumstances must Nursery be working on SP1,2,3??? they should just be assessed against Dev.Matters!

 

I dont know if I am being really stupid and over complicating things but I really need some help!! :unsure:

 

Please!

 

Thanks in advance. :1b

[Guest ShelleyT]

Our Nursery plan and assess using the Development Matters and our Reception plan from the Development Matters and assess using the FSP. We begin the profile in September. I was hoping that our Nursery teacher would begin the profile assessment during this term but as it is changing we decided there wasn't much point. We also have children from other pre-schools so I would start from scratch with them in September anyway. I hope that helps!?!

[Susan]

EYFSP is the assessment proforma for Reception. If a Reception child reaches point 9 they can be assessed against the NC, as I am sure you are aware. In the same way, children in Nursery with exceptional development might be assessed as already meeting some early profile points and for continuity as your nursery is attached it may be reasonable at this point to do so. Nurseries should not on the whole be using the profile unless they have children attending who are in their reception year.

At least that is my interpretation!

[catma]

I recently had a visit from an EY advisor to support my move to a new authority and she said that Nursery should plan and assess against the Dev.Matters and Reception should start their assessment from SP1 of the EYFS profile in Sept. However I am confused by this as in my old school the Nursery children were expected to have achieved SP2/3 by the end of Nursery and begin Reception working on 3-9.

 

I think it's all moot now given the current EYFSP won't exist after August 31st and there will be no scale points!! Not sure what EYFSP your adviser is referring to!!

 

The profile is not a tracking system for nursery, nor is it a curriculum. It's a statutory summative assessment at the end of the EYFS!

 

With the changes to a more summative form of profile, the use of EYFSP for assessing in nursery becomes even more impossible - it would be the same as assessing all year 1 children using level 2 as your criteria!!

 

Cx

Edited May 3, 2012 by catma

[millhill]

To put it simply. Your EY advisor is right. Your current school assess and plan correctly. Your previous school were assessing incorrectly for nursery.

 

As the previous posters have stated the EYFS profile is used to assess a child's achievements at the end of Reception. Nursery staff should not be using it to assess a child's development and should definitely not be planning from it.

 

If you are required (as I am) to assess children's attainment on entry against the EYFSP, then it is your responsibility to look at the evidence provided by the nurseries/pre-schools/parents/carers and your first few weeks of observational evidence, and then make a judgement as to what scale points each child has achieved. I would not be expecting any nurseries/pre-schools to provide me with scale point judgements just information on where the child is in relation to DMs.

 

With regards to the 7s and 8s that all children are already achieving in your class. I think you might need to look at the evidence for each child and just check to see that these judgements are really accurate, possibly do some moderating with a knowledgeable colleague.

If you feel that every child has already achieved all 117 ELGs, then you might have to look at planning using the NC.

 

Is it absolutely necessary for you to start making changes to the observation, planning and assessment system now? You only have 13 weeks left until you have to change it all again to be ready for the new EYFS in September.

Edited May 6, 2012 by millhill

[Guest]

Thankyou so much for all of your advice. You have made it much clearer for me

 

In response to MillHill-

 

Is it absolutely necessary for you to start making changes to the observation, planning and assessment system now? You only have 13 weeks left until you have to change it all again to be ready for the new EYFS in September

 

I am asking ready for September I wanted to make sure I was clear on current provision before I implement change in Sept.

 

Thanks

 

Emie

[millhill]

I am asking ready for September I wanted to make sure I was clear on current provision before I implement change in Sept.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about it right now. I'm sure you will have LA training on the new EYFS in the near future, hopefully you will get some advice on how to plan and assess. And as Cait said, there will be no scale points and we might not have the new EYFS profile to refer to until after we start back in September, so planning and assessing with the DMs will probably be the case in both Nursery and Reception.