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Preschool education

Preschool End of Year Report

13 replies

JAB67 · 29/08/2018 16:16

Hi there.

I have a three year old little girl who is currently in pre-school. She joined the pre-school in September last year so completed a full academic year and I received a report at the end of the year. She has another year of pre-school to go before starting school.

I was expecting a really nice, positive report with a few paragraphs about what a friendly, polite, bright little girl she is but I actually got a really dull report which consists almost exclusively of statements lifted directly from the Development Matters Framework of EYFS, few of which actually seem like current achievements. E.g. X can tell us if she is hungry, thirsty, wants to play or wants to rest. As she's a very confident communicator and has been since before starting pre-school so this seems like a really odd statement when you consider the child it is talking about.

The key worker comments are equally as dull - basically lists a few things that she enjoys and says they look forward to seeing her progress through school. The only lovely part of it is the statement from the head of the pre-school which sounds enthusiastic and caring.

Is this normal or is this a lazy report? I'm finding it really difficult to put it out of my mind and I wonder if they key worker really doesn't have much of a bond with her. At three years old, I want the people who look after her for part of each day to actually care about her.

As a related issue but not the main issue, the boxes ticked for EYFS are far lower than I would have expected. She was 42 months old when I received the report. She was graded as developing for 30-50 months in everything except four areas graded as emerging / entering, one of which was reading. To any normal person, that looks like she is average or below average in everything. I was actually really shocked as when I read the requirements that age group, they seem very low - reading literally contains statements relating to holding the book the right way round, which implies they think that is something she is just beginning to do. She is actually a very able reader and can read and understand beginner reading books such as Bob Bug by Julia Donaldson with no assistance so it seems like our experience is poles apart from what the pre-school thinks. I expect there to be some differences between what we think she can do and what they see but not to that degree.

When I spoke to the school about it, they said that the reports were written in May half term, so two months before being issued. That effectively took away my ability to have a reasonable discussion about the differences as they used that excuse for every question I raised. They waived a completely different format of report in front of me which I couldn't take away as it also had other children in it but it showed her as 'green' across the board. They said she is doing really well and they would not have any concerns even if she were to be about to start school (which she is not). That's obviously great to hear but I'm really disappointed by the tone, quality and content of the written report to parents and I'm finding it hard to move on.

When I was a young child, my reports were just a few simple sentences that said lovely things that made my parents happy. Have early practitioners now got to base all reporting directly on EYFS language or is this a badly written report?

Apologies for the length of this but grateful for any comments.

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Ivalueloyaltyaboveallelse · 29/08/2018 16:35

Yes reports do need to based on EYFS and their stage of development. Of course they can write nice things and this is usually put under PSE or key worker comments. However all other areas tend to focus on if a child is emerging achieving or working towards EYFS milestones. Did they show you the child’s learning journal? That’s normally the nice part seeing pictures and activities your child has been undertaking.

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JAB67 · 29/08/2018 21:02

Thanks for your message.
We are shown the learning journal just prior to meeting the key worker at parents evening twice a year (October and February) - literally for the 5 mins before you chat to them. I agree its a nice document and it is nice to see pictures and things my daughter has written.
They did put three photos of my daughter in the year end report and she looks miserable / unsmiling in them. A photo of my daughter having fun and some kind comments in the key worker comments box would have made a big difference to the overall feel of the report.
I am puzzled by the whole reporting back to parents structure to be honest - the parents evenings seem too early in the year and to provide parents with an EYFS grid for the first time in the last week of term just seems odd. There seems to be far too much structure and too little sensible communication with parents for my liking.

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Ivalueloyaltyaboveallelse · 29/08/2018 22:38

If your really not happy your always within your right to request a change of key person. Tbf It doesn’t sound like a lot of effort has gone into creating the report and that’s a shame. I know key workers have a few key children to write reports for but it’s nice to make them person centred and inform parents on the child’s next steps.

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IGiorni · 30/08/2018 07:45

End of year reports are not a requirement so I wouldn’t expect more than the bare minimum to be honest. They take ages to do and many nurseries can’t afford cover staff so they may be stretched for time. 30-50 developing is good for a child who has another year left before school and they can only assess based on what they have evidence for and their professional judgment. Maybe mention that she is starting to read at home to her key person? If she hasn’t shown any interest in recognising letters or sounding out words then they won’t know. To be honest, it’s not common for pre-school children to be reading so they likely haven’t looked for it. My son could read when he was at nursery and his key person didn’t believe me, she thought he must have just memorised the books I’d read to him. She wrote down some words for him and he read them all, she was very surprised! Honestly though, I really wouldn’t read too much into the report. Chances are the teacher won’t even read them when they go to school as they prefer to make their own judgments.

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InDubiousBattle · 30/08/2018 09:56

My dd has done a full year and has another to go at pre school same as your dd (my d's is just starting primary). We didn't get an end of year report and they don't do parents evenings. We have an on line tracking system (primary essence) where they include some pictures and a very short description of something she has done along with the EYFS level for whatever is was she did. She was exactly 36 months when she left and was in the 30-50 months secure or developing for all but one category where she was entering 40-60. So exactly where she should be.

The way I see it she was there 6 hours a week (going to 12 this year), they can only see so much so as long as they are happy that there are no causes for concern I'm not really bothered about what exact EYFS level she's at. It doesn't really matter, sooner or later she'll tick the box so when is unimportant to me right now. What is important to me is that she's happy to go, she tells me all about the activities, she comes home covered in mud or paint, she talksabout the other children, she's thrilled when she see's the staff both in and out of pre school and she is generally very content there. I really don't expect staff (especially those on pretty low pay) to do lots of extra paper work as I'm pretty sure they have enough already! They do a quick 'she's been great' on pick up and are happy to talk through any concerns (I had way more with ds and they were great)if there are any so I think that's fine for a child developing as expected. I'd rather they spent the time with the kids!

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JAB67 · 30/08/2018 19:22

Thank you for your comments. I don't disagree with any of them and generally do find myself conflicted between the 'its only pre-school, who cares?' school of thought and worrying about the fact that she has spent 15 hours with them every week for the last academic year and the child described in the report sounds nothing like the child I know.

I certainly don't want them to do more admin. I actually wish they had sent a much shorter document which simply said something lovely about my daughter and perhaps some next steps. (This document doesn't say anything about next steps). I.e. quality, not quantity.

I think if I was otherwise very happy with the setting, I would have brushed it off. I've actually had my doubts about it since Christmas as both of the main staff members left at Christmas after only one term, and one of the replacements has also since left. She had a lovely bond with the first key worker she had after only a few weeks which was very obvious. She has never got to that with the replacement key worker after two terms which is such a shame.

Its a pre-school attached to a school, which is just around the corner from where we live. Its supposed to be Outstanding (although has not been assessed for a very long time). We don't really have any viable options for going elsewhere unfortunately so I think I need to make my peace with it. She is not unhappy there but she doesn't love it.

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itsaboojum · 01/09/2018 09:30

I’m afraid this sort of thing is increasingly the norm, simply because it’s what Ofsted are looking for. EY settings are often criticised or downgraded by inspectors if child progress reviews don’t comprise a list of these prescribed 'normative criteria' (even though we are told that documents such as Development Matters, Early Years Outcomes, and similar 'tracking tools' must not be used as tick lists.)

It’s the insidious process of ranking/grading/sorting which has trickled down from school into the Early Years.

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itsaboojum · 01/09/2018 09:41

It’s not at all uncommon for a child to display different behaviours or even a different persona in different settings: Home, nursery, school, with friends, etc. Face it, it’s something most of us do: we’re can be an entirely different person at work to what we are like at home or on a night out.

That’s why I’d never complete a child review without first talking to the parents to get an idea of what the child can achieve when they’re not under my watchful eyes.

It’s just possible this might be a cultural thing that stems from the Preschool being attached to a school. It seems to be connected with the institutional idea that "school knows best" and that parents' views don’t count unless you’re "supporting" (ie blindly agreeing with) them.

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Katinkak8 · 17/09/2018 23:13

I can completely understand your point of view. My DD is 21 months and currently attends nursery for 2 days a week. We were sent home a EYFS tracker last week and I honestly felt like the keyworker had wasted her time. I really want to know if there are any problems and what the next steps are, not what they just happen to have spotted in the two days that she's there! I just take them with a pinch of salt now and feel sorry for the staff who just have to do all of the admin involved.
It sounds like your daughter is doing really well though. You must be very proud of her! Smile

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spinabifidamom · 20/09/2018 20:50

I read them objectively as it was written by a stranger. Whenever I read inspection reports on schools in the area I remember that they are there to essentially judge a school. Most of them are so depressing to see.

Which is fine theoretically.

She seems to be doing well so far you should be impressed with her.

After all a lot of those inspection reports are typically not proactive enough for my liking.

A lot of empty headed talk but hardly any real attempt to actually help the school improve their weaknesses. You’re better off speaking directly with the preschool teacher. Ask for suggestions on what to do next to help her make progress.

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JustMarriedBecca · 14/11/2018 09:03

I was told by the preschool when she started there was some pressure by the attached school to give 30-50 as a baseline rather than 40-60 as the school received its awards based on the jump in the child ie the school looked better if they had 30-50 incoming into reception and then achieved level 6 in SATS etc.

They did say they would occasionally award 40-60. My daughter can count to 100, multiply X 2, do odds and evens, add and subtract and write and spell phonetically without assistance, read level three books (I forget the colour) and is still 30-50 in some literacy categories. She is mainly 40-60 for literacy and maths.

Providing you know what your child is doing and the nursery are bringing them on appropriately then I would say the score is just not important. Go in for a parents evening and see.

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HSMMaCM · 14/11/2018 17:08

We were told by our LA to keep them out of 40-60 bracket before school. I know schools need to show progress, but some of mine were 59 months when they left for school and were in 40-60 without a doubt.

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JAB67 · 19/11/2018 22:24

Hi there
As an update, I did have chats with her preschool. I originally asked to change key worker but that request was rejected (which I don’t think they were within their rights to do but couldn’t face challenging at the time). I then decided to reduce her preschool hours as they clearly weren’t doing anywhere near as much with her as I thought and my daughter wasn’t keen to go. However, more positively, she has apparently now ‘mastered’ 30-50 so is being assessed in 40-60 (she is now 47 months old) and they have started her on the reading scheme so she gets books with words in to read herself. They are still well below her level but I’m really pleased they are moving towards supporting the level of learning she is at. It is obviously daft that they have jumped her up so much from pre-summer holidays to post-summer holidays and it’s clearly mainly because I objected to it.

I really think the EYFS grading is silly. It’s too much based on observation and I don’t see how they can possibly know whether they haven’t seen something because the child can’t do it or because they just haven’t done it at the time they are doing observations. The report was terribly structured and badly written and, while have had sympathy with underpaid staff doing admin, it should never have been written and should definitely never have been sent home in the last week of term with no parent discussion.

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