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On-entry Data - advice needed


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Congratulations to green hippo for her successful Ofsted inspection and thanks also for sharing her experience! :1b

In view of the importance of on-entry data, I for one, am really concerned as I use my own 'baseline' assessment. After reading green hippo's post, I don't think that this will be adequate :( so would like to know what others do! We complete the initial assessment within the first 4 weeks of a child starting; it is a simple assessment, not necessarily using the wording in the DM statements e.g.

PSED:

I am happy to leave parent/carer, I talk confidently to adults and/or children, I am shy/quiet, I am confident in new situations, I am confident to explore all areas of the nursery

C&L:

I speak clearly, I use single words only, I can follow directions, I can concentrate during group activities, I can recognise my initial/name, I can write some letters of my name (left/right handed)

etc.

The 'statements' also allow for children who start at 4 years or for those who are working above their expected level.

What do others do? I don't feel that it would be easy to assess against all the DM statements for each child within 4 weeks to provide the on-entry data that I believe Ofsted expect :( - (could be 6+ children for each key person) . Furthermore, it is usually 3 months before the staff give me the progress record to put onto the school tracking system; so when Ofsted arrive, I will not have up to date information which can be printed off in pretty colour graphs for them!

I have begun to put together a new baseline assessment using 2 statements from each aspect of the 7 areas of learning - this amounts to over 30 statements per child which I don't see as being manageable! I would do one baseline using the 30-50m statements and another for the 40-60+m statements (I have had twins start this term who are 54m).

Any thoughts?

 

 

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we do our best to assess on DM statements, as mid-year and end of year are against these and we want to show progress. takes 4 weeks -ish too and some not assessed till later when we play letters and sounds games, e.g. recognises and responds to familiar sounds. as long as we have not 'taught it' we give some longer to allow for progress to be measured accurately and be fair to the children, giving a true reflection of their starting point. we each have 8 to 10 children in september in our key groups. it is hard!!!! we also have started baselining at the home visit - speech, inset jigsaws, interest in books, mark-making, pen hold etc. has worked well as they are very confident in their own home and it's MUCH easier than in a class of 25-30!!

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Unfortunately we do not do home visits - we have intakes throughout the year (children can start from their 3rd birthday), so it would not work for us - I am assuming that you close for the first week in the autumn term?

You must be really organised to be able to assess against the DM statements - do all of your children attend 5 sessions per week? Mine attend anything from 1 session to 10 sessions!

Thanks for your reply sooty.

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we spend however long it takes! depends how many are starting. some have already started in jan, so they won't need another visit. yes we are lucky that all choose to come for whole week. occasionally have a part-timer. it is really tricky as we are also trying to train them up in using the areas, using aprons, wash their hands especially when covered in paint! - most have no idea what to do, blowing nose and NOT PUTTING THE DIRTY HANKY BACK IN THE BOX!!!, using our snack bar independently, sharing toys, speaking to peers/us, finding their coat, attempting to put on their coat!, not just dropping their coat on the floor when they come back in!, etc etc etc etc and that's why baselining takes 4 weeks .....don't know how we could do it in less ....

i feel that if we designed our own i would be worried that they could appear better than they are. we do post-its and date DM statement it shows evidence of. then look at areas/aspects and chat about each child to decide where we think they are on entry. it is time-consuming, but SLT say baseline in nursery essential to be accurate, as ofsted look at entry to nursery, then exit in year 6 to judge progress through school. some of ours appear quite articulate and it would be easy to say they are more able than they actually are.... and of course my performance management targets are challenging, so i do not want to do myself a disservice!!

i feel for you, it must be tricky managing with all the different sessions etc x

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I feel you can only make a judgement when you know your key child and it has to be a snap decision .

 

Difficult to make when children sometimes only attend 2 mornings.

 

Also remember DM's are a guide

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We used to do them sometime within the first half term but our local LA have said we must do them they day they start so that we can show progression.

This we now do and sit down with the parents but explain that it a snapshot of their first day and gives us an idea of what they can can not do. It's actually surprising, if you look hard enough, what they can do!

We have started using Orbit and can just fill in the various sections against the DM.

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