Are EYFS fair ? and relevence in year 1

[sky21]

I am likely to be flamed for this but just wanted opinions really. My ds finished year R with 7s and 8s on his EYFS which is great i know. Another dc in his class finished with all 9s - i know this because his proud mum showed me his scores. At the time this made me wonder a bit as this dc has had ongoing behavioral issues since the start of school so i didn't get the 9s in the PSE bit. Anyway roll on year 1 and my ds is 3 book bands ahead of this other dc, can fully use non fiction books(as he could and did in year R), does his phonics and literacy with the year 2s (other dc in peer group). The other dc continues to be disruptive and on sad cloud most days.
The year R teacher is said to have favorites and i think this other dc was one of them. Also my ds started year R much lower on the EYFS the other dc as he could already read a bit but my ds didn't know the alphabet.
I know none of this is important and i really feel happy with school this year but wondered what you think - don't want to ask mums as school.

[Bramshott]

I think you should worry only about your DS and whether he is engaged and challenged by his work at school, rather than worrying about other people's children. Sounds like your DS is doing very well.

[NoahAndTheWhale]

I really wouldn't worry. No one is ever going to be asked for their eyfs scores on their cv. As you have seen it hasn't made any difference to what your DS is doing in year 1. If the other mum hadn't told you what her DC's eyfs scores were, then you wouldn't know.

I never found out what DS's eyfs scores were (he's year 2 now) and it really didn't matter

[redskyatnight]

I think Early Years goals cease to be relevant about 2 seconds after entering Y1. Honestly, they are a record of how your child was doing at a specific instant in time, which no one will care about in years to come.

I also think you should stay clear of trying to compete with "overly proud mother". Will only end in tears

[muddleduck]

"I know none of this is important and i really feel happy with school this year"

well there you have it

EYFS scores are (IMO) usually a "fair" reflection of what a child has been observed doing by the teacher. They are not necessarily an accurate measure of their current ability or their future potential and so are of very limited use to parents.

But you know that don't you

[sky21]

i am not worried about his scores but just thinking they are a bit unreliable. I wonder if there sre teachers who mark the children so it looks like they have made a certain increase
ie. to make them look good.

[redskyatnight]

I would expect schools to be more likely to mark children down - so they can show an improvement with KS1/KS2 results.

[sky21]

but don't reception teachers have to show a certain increase in eyfs to meet their targets?

[Runoutofideas]

It may be down to what your child chose to do in class - much of the EYFS is scored based on what the teacher observes the child choosing to do independently, not whether they are capable of doing something if asked to do it. My dd scored low on the one about construction and building things, as she will not play with lego or make a junk model while there is the option of colouring in or the book corner. She's quite capable of building something if asked to do it though... I agree with the others - don't worry about it. Your ds seems happy and doing well, so no problem!

[sky21]

You are all right that it is irrelevent in the scheme of things. For some reason though i find it a bit galling, probably because i didn't think a lot of his teacher last year. The difference this year is amazing.

[muddleduck]

I agree with some of your concerns, but I honestly can't get my head around why you should find this 'galling'.

the fact that things are going well this year shows that the teachers have a good grasph of his ability. So why on earth does it matter?

(and BTW I am a mum of a very very clever boy who did not straight 9s and whose scores did not really reflect his abilities)

[muddleduck]

and FWIW I think you need to figure out why this is so important to you.

[muddleduck]

sorry,
that sounded stern.

wasn't meant to

[sky21]

I am cross with myself for being bothered by this. I think it may be because the whole of last year i felt the teacher did not seem to recognise my ds abilities, whereas this year the teacher really seems to.

[mrz]

The government state there is no correlation between EYFS profile score and NC levels so they should not be use to predict future attainment as any links are purely spurious. I'm not sure what you are trying to compare???

[mrz]

sky21 Tue 05-Oct-10 10:42:00 but don't reception teachers have to show a certain increase in eyfs to meet their targets?

as a reception teacher my target were never linked to profile score always to how many children would be reading at "x" level and able to write "Y" number of sentences ...

[sky21]

That's interesting mrz. I had always thought a childs projections for KS1 sats were based on EYFS. I think it is good that they are not.

[mummyloveslucy]

Where can I find out what these scors mean? My daughter has moderate learning difficulties and her scors were mostly 4's with some as low as 2. She did get a 6 for social and emotional though which I was pleased about.

[sky21]

You can download a eyfs profile grid from www.derby.gov.uk.

[taffetacat]

Its good to hear you feel your DS's teacher suits him better this year, this has certainly been the case with my DS. Some teachers suit some children better than others.

FWIW, our school has introduced streaming from Y1, based on ability and social and emotional development. Some children who are very able have been put in the "lower" streams based on social and emotional development. It sounds like this other mother's DS may have issues that need addressing in this area, so I wouldn't be feeling anything other than sympathy for her, tbh.

[sky21]

Thanks taffetacat. Interesting about the streaming, but i can see that it is really important to tackle social problems.
The other dc mum is absolutely lovely and i think worried sick about her dc.