Expected on entry assessments for reception class

[pooh]

Can anyone help me out, the Ofsted guidance I have been given states expected on entry level to be all 30-50 month dm's completed. Realistically is this where people find their children are? Thanks

[Guest ShelleyT]

No! Many of my children are still working in 30-50 or below!

[Guest]

No not in my class either. I asked about it at a LA meeting and I'm still not sure what the answer was, except to make sure they show progress, but again no one could clarify for me what expected progress was going to be.

[Guest]

I was told that on entry, expected was children are secure in 30-50 and achieving a few 40-60 statements. I have very few children achieving this most are working within 30-50

Deb

[catma]

No not in my class either. I asked about it at a LA meeting and I'm still not sure what the answer was, except to make sure they show progress, but again no one could clarify for me what expected progress was going to be.

 

Until the STA/DfE define what a good overall level of development is in the new framework/EYFSP, then none of us are really clear.

 

The difference between progress and attainment however needs to be understood in this context. Children are expected to be attaining the ELGs by the end of the EYFS (this is clear in the statutory framework), but their progress at any given point along the way may be satisfactory or outstanding depending on their relative starting points. There is no real equivalent to the progress expectation that you have in primary, ie 2 sub levels a year to maintian progress from level to level. Instead the national expectations give bench marks as to where children need to be within the ages/stages in order to get to the expected level by the end of the stage, but these are described in terms of transitional times.

 

cx

[Guest LornaW]

The subsidiary guidance September 2012 for Ofsted inspectors states:-

The Early Years Foundation Stage: nursery and reception

1. A new Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage will commence in September 2012 and the current six areas of learning become seven. Children will be assessed in relation to the revised early learning goals against three levels. These are: ‘meeting expected levels of development’, ‘exceeding expected levels’ or ‘not yet reaching expected levels (‘emerging’)’. The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile will not reflect the new seven areas for learning, or the three levels, until July 2013. Children in the reception year in 2012-13 should be working across the seven areas of learning from September 2012, though guidance for assessing these areas will not be available to schools until towards the middle of the autumn term. Inspectors should take this into account when evaluating children’s achievement.
   
2. Inspectors should familiarise themselves with the new ‘Development matters[1]’ and the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’[2].
   
3. There are no national data for attainment on entry. Inspectors should make a professional judgement about children’s attainment on entry by taking account of the proportions of children meeting expectations in the age-related bands of ‘Development Matters’ in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Remember to avoid using the term ‘average’ and ‘standards’ as there is no ‘national average’ for three- and four-year-olds on entry to nursery and reception.
   
4. If a substantial number of new children enter the school in reception or leave after nursery (age 4), establish attainment on entry to reception as well as to the nursery. Also take into account children who enter reception part-way through the year. If many children enter reception without pre-school experience, this might mean that attainment on entry at this point is lower than, or similar to, the expected attainment on entry to nursery (at age three). Check arrangements for ‘staggered entry’ and part- and full-time attendance, as the amount of time spent in school may affect both attainment and progress.
   

Attainment on entry to nursery at age three

1. Most[3] children are likely to be working within the ‘Development Matters’ band for 30–50 months, having shown competence in the preceding band for 22–36 months. This may be referred to as the age-related expectation at the beginning of nursery. Attainment on entry is likely to be below age-related expectations where a substantial proportion[4] of children in a school do not demonstrate all of the elements in the 22–36 month band.
   

Attainment on entry to reception at age four

1. Most children are likely to demonstrate some of the elements of skill, knowledge and understanding within the development matters band for 40–60+ months, in addition to all of the elements in the preceding band for 30–50 months. This may be referred to as the age-related expectation at the beginning of reception. Attainment on entry is likely to be below age-related expectations where a substantial proportion of children in a school do not demonstrate all of the elements in the 30–50 month band. The statutory early learning goals establish national expectations for most children to reach by the end of Reception Year. These are the statements in bold in the 40–60+ month band.
   

Attainment at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage/entry to Year 1

1. For children in the Early Years Foundation Stage assessed on the Early Years Profile prior to September 2012:
   
   • compare school data with national results, rather than local, to evaluate attainment. Take into account all six areas of learning
     
   • check how many children score six in all of the personal, social and emotional development and communication, language and literacy scales. This indicates children working at a good level of development
     
   • check the data against the proportion of children scoring six or more in each of the assessment scales. Results very close to the national figures are likely to be described as broadly average. If results in any area fall below, but not close to, national figures, it is unlikely that attainment would be judged to be above average.
      
     

[*]In small schools, the attainment of different cohorts may vary greatly. Take this into account in evaluating current standards attained, clarifying differences in the report. If accuracy of judgement or the quality of records are inspection issues, it may be helpful to check work or observe and talk to children jointly with a member of staff to inform the achievement judgement.

Judging progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage

1. Where children make progress from age-related expectations at the beginning of nursery, to age-related expectations at the beginning of reception and the end of reception (where they can be compared with Early Years Foundation Stage Profile national figures) this is likely to represent expected progress during the Early Years Foundation Stage.
   

 

 

 

[1] Development Matters, Department for Education (DfE), 2012 http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/d/development%20matters%20in%20the%20eyfs.pdf

 

[2] Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, DfE, 2012 http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/e/eyfs%20statutory%20framework%20march%202012.pdf

 

[3] ‘Most’ means the majority of or nearly all children. Ofsted’s definition of ‘most’ is 80–96%.

 

 

So it is NOT whether your children are in the same band as a colleague in another school it is knowing what percentage of children are secure in a band and working within a band. They are where they are!

 

The red bold is my highlighting so I would tell anyone Ofsted etc this is where they are and as you go through the year you can show how they are progressing!

 

Lorna

[Guest]

Thank you both for that. I feel more confident about making my case now. It fits a lot more with how I view progress too and my experiences in preschool.

[Guest]

We (in nursery) were Ofsteded as part of the school about 3/4 weeks ago and the inspector asked during the observation time where we felt our children came in at development level wise.

 

We answered honestly and said some are achieving strands of 30 -50 months but the majority are working at 22 -36 months.

 

During the feedback she said that she had felt we were spot on with this judgement

 

HOWEVER despite this accurate picture of where the children are when they come in, Ofsted, the LA, everyone expects miraculously that they will have reached national avergae when they take their SATS at 7.

 

They achieve big things and progress well but for some there isnt enough time to becomje a national average at 7 because when they hit nursery they werent a national average then!!

 

I think it would be more useful to track children from 3 in nursery and see if they are progressing. Rather than say somehthing isnt working because their SATs results werent good enough!!!!!!!!!!!

 

OK. Sorry but it does wind me up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

But it is Friday and so I need to chill!!

 

Happy Children In Need Day everyone!!

[catma]

I think it would be more useful to track children from 3 in nursery and see if they are progressing.

 

That is what happens, isn't it - at least in all the school EYFs settings I know! And if children are at expected levels at one transitional point they ought to be at least at the expected level at the next one, or the teaching and learning in the mddle has not sustained their progress (ie inadequate or requires improvement) so children getting a secure outcome in EYFS should get a secure level 2b+ in KS1.

 

But the other part of this is the role of the practitioners to identify and support the acceleration of those who are at risk of not achievieng that outcome...what we in schools would usually call the target groups, the children just underneath those on track. With a bit of targetted input these children can be supported to catch up with their peers and so in data terms more children are on track when they leave to when they came in. This would be good or better progress.

 

Without benchmarks we have no idea if children are doing as well as they need to to be able to attain the things they need to attain along the way to GCSE and future economic stability. We are just part of that journey.

 

Interestingly, Lorna the Ofsted stuff still says most children and the DFE now say all children should make the expected level.

Cx

[Guest LornaW]

 

Interestingly, Lorna the Ofsted stuff still says most children and the DFE now say all children should make the expected level.

Cx

 

As always Catma the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing!

 

Lorna

[Guest]

Hi all

 

I did some moderation of attainment on entry judgements with my YR team last week and something came up in the discussion which I didn't have a definitive answer for. There seems to be a conflict between the 'best fit' approach to deciding which DM age band a child may be in and the fact that the Ofsted Subsidiary Guidance stipulates that ALL elements of 30-50 (or 22-36 for nursery) along with some of 40-60 (or 30-50 respectively) must be demonstrated.

 

Apparently a fair number of children were only one statement away from demonstrating ALL aspects of 30-50, and if this could be ignored (ie best fit rather than 'ticking' every statement), it could well make a difference to how many are regarded as working at age related expectations. I haven't analysed the data in enough detail to know whether this would actually make a huge difference to the percentages but before I do I wondered whether we were just overthinking this. Does anyone have any thoughts? We have a SIP visit this week and possibly Ofsted sometime in the coming year, so I really want to get this attainment on entry data nailed.

 

Thanks.

[catma]

Well I'd say an age/stage is a general description of the things a child might be doing rather than a checklist and is not exhaustive. Nor is Development matters statutory so you could by rights be using any other thing you wanted to track progress.

For me, I read the whole of the age/stage descriptions to get a feel for the "expectation" or pitch for the age I'm considering (some statements like communicates needs can mean very different things at different ages). Then I consider everything known about the child and see if this matches the same degeree of skill etc I am comparing it to. Then I decide how securely that may be.

Ofsted usually will not be looking at your individual records in any kind of detail, in all the inspections this term in the schools I support they are more interested in how tracking is used to identify and close the gaps between the more vulnerable groups and the rest ie the quality of teaching and learning.

 

Cx

[Guest]

Thank you Catma for confirming my belief that checklist ticking is not the way ahead! Will stick to what I spent the last four years advising.....

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