Have You Finished Base Lining?

[Guest]

In FS2 our children have been full time for 2.5 weeks now we have only finished baselining about a third of a group of 42 children. Our head of eyfs for our LA is coming in tomorrow and wants to see all of our baseline data. Should we have finished baselining by now because we haven't!!!!

[Guest]

Personally I would say no you shouldn't have finished base lining it's only 3 weeks.

We've had ofsted this week and we haven't finished ours and they didn't have a problem. We've made a start because we took data from nursersies but we are still getting to know them and are taking all this term to decide whether we agree with them or not.

Obviously each area is different but thats my feeling.

Becs

[Guest ChunkyMan]

Our LEA want our baseline by half term...

[Froglet]

Yes, but I've had them in full time for 4 weeks. I couldn't have done it last weekend.

[Madmum]

Personally I would say no you shouldn't have finished base lining it's only 3 weeks.

We've had ofsted this week and we haven't finished ours and they didn't have a problem. We've made a start because we took data from nursersies but we are still getting to know them and are taking all this term to decide whether we agree with them or not.

Obviously each area is different but thats my feeling.

Becs

Don't suppose you can enlighten us as to what Ofsted focus on in Reception ( or a maintained nusrery) in relation to the new EYFS?! Info seems very thin on the ground!!

[Guest]

Well we had three inspectors and they all observed us over two days! I lead three reception classes.

 

The main things they commented and complimented on were:

* consistency throughout the three classes - in terms of expectations, teaching, classroom environment and behaviour management.

* questionning skills by all adults to move the children's learning on

* PSED - this was really talked about - how well the children had settled in, were getting on, coooperating with each other and respecting the environment eg. not leaving toys all over/ shutting the door after them.( the tough love paid off!)

*also children being confident to take their own learning forward by selecting resources

* learning zones/activities provided for the children as well continuous provision - children's interests being catered for.

 

They all spent time outside observing as well as inside and at playtime.

 

They talked to the children about what they were doing and what they liked. One of our girls told the inspector to 'sshhh' when she spoke after the teacher had told the children to tip toe like mice to the lunch hall!!

 

In my team leader discussion she asked about baselines - we had taken them from our 15 feeder settings but are taking this term to make our own jugdements against them. She looked at our learning journeys from last year( I had kept some with parents permission for this very reason!) and I talked about the changes we had made this year and why. I talked about my action plan for this year and why the objectives were on there. We have a teacher who is new to reception and she wanted to know what I had done in terms of training/support for her already and what the future plans are and actually one of the inspectors only asked the new teacher the questions before speaking to me so I guess she was checking up. They looked at the planning but didn't really comment on it. I think they were looking at adult interaction more. She asked about transition and parental involvement. They didn't really ask me about data but then we have an assessment coordinator so I guess they asked her to ensure other members of SLT know what's going on in EY. They asked about what training we had on the new EYFS and if we had any support from county over the last few years. They also asked about moderation and the outcomes of that. They also asked to see the policy on camera/mobile phone use because that is a criteria in the new EYFS. Ours is in the CP policy.

 

My phonics lesson was observed so that is still a high priority. He did say that there was a good balance between active involvement and focus on the main teaching because some people go all bells and whistles which detracts from the main objectives.

 

Hope that helps! If I think of anything else I will let you know!

 

Becs

[Madmum]

I think this will be incredibly useful.

Thank you so much!!!

[dragoncheese64]

Becs, can I ask how you are recording your baseline pease. We are all being left to decide ourselves which is a nightmare.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Susan
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[catma]

Don't suppose you can enlighten us as to what Ofsted focus on in Reception ( or a maintained nusrery) in relation to the new EYFS?! Info seems very thin on the ground!!

 

Everything in the Ofsted section 5 schedule and the subsidiary guidance basically. All available on the ofsted websiite.

Cx

[Madmum]

I have read all of the Ofsted stuff but little of it is EYFS specific and there is very little mentio of the new EYFS. There seems to be far more detail avalable about what is looked for/ at in othere settings. I found Bec's answer really interesting! Now that EYFS in school's doesn't get it's own Ofsted grading the focus seems to be far more on the end of KS1 and 2!!

[Guest]

Our baselines consist of each child having a sheet with the 6 terms plus on entry mapped out in the different areas. We write in the age/stage and then high light in pink, yellow or green depending on how much they have achieved for example as an average pink for 25% of statements, yellow for 50% and green for 75%. They obviously don't have to achieve all statements to move on an age/stage. We felt that we needed some way of showing achievement within an age/stage because children make small steps all the time.

We are also high lighting the statements in each child's learning journey in orange for autumn, green -spring and pink -summer. We are using it more to show children's next steps/gaps rather than a ticklist if that makes sense.

 

We weren't given any guidance on how to track progress at our training events therefore we looked around for ideas and then came up with our own. It probably isn't everyone's cup of tea but at the moment it's working for us. We will review it at the end of the year if not before.

[Guest]

Hellow. Having another sily moment. In Reception and just trying to finish off my baseline assessments and give HT a grid to show this (he needs numbers). Will try to put on a spreadsheet so he can make graphs. Reading through recent posts everyone seems to be just recording using 30-50 and 40-60 months - a few of mine are coming in at 22-36 months - I wonder if I am being too harsh (though am using Pre-school transition forms as well as first obs. What is the 'average' , usual or expected level of entry into Yr R (know all are different etc etc). I have several who are already five and many very young summer borns. If they are five and within 30-50m are they below age expected levels? Do you think that the age band levels have become harder - I think the 30-50 months in some areas does expect a lot? Would the 30 - 50 months be about the same as levels 1 - 3 on the Profile?

[Guest]

I too have a few children coming in at 22-36 and even one who has a 16-22 months baseline (in one area only). I've looked and re-looked constantly at these children but I can't assess them as working any higher. And I do agree that some of the statements are harder to achieve. I had transition reports from preschool settings that I assessed the children against firstly as I was more confident using the old statements. I did this to assess the reliability of the reports and to see if the children might be struggling to settle. Then I started to look at the new statements. Even some of my higher ability children were not as high as they had been when I used the new statements, and it did seem like it was in certain aspects across the class. Sorry I don't know if I've helped there or not!