Am I overthinking this? Nursery's 2 year EYFS check

[brogueish]

My son went back to nursery 2 days p/wk at the start of this month. He turned 2 during lockdown, so has gone straight into the pre-school room with most of his little friends and has a new key worker. I have some issues with nursery around general communication etc so I'm not sure if this is skewing things, but yesterday I was handed a "2 year EYFS check" form. No context and not sure what to do with it, but I don't recognise my child in their assessments.

I've read the EYFS descriptors for each area and it looks as though they've just circled the age he is and copied the words from the EYFS. Eg, he talks constantly at home and forms sentences like "white van chasing mummy's car" or "where's the cat gone?" but they've indicated he can put two words together max. It's similar in almost every area.

Is there normally a big difference between what children will do at home and at nursery? I'm concerned that either they've not noticed what he is able to do, or he's much quieter at nursery and not himself. Either isn't great.

First time mum here and post-lockdown it's impossible to actually speak with anyone there.

[BendingSpoons]

I wouldn't worry too much. It is essentially a screening tool to pick up children who are not on track and might need extra help e.g. children should be joining 2 words together. They can only record what they have evidence for. It can be trickier to hear everything 2 year olds say, and they might not be as vocal as with a familiar adult. Also nursery have had to do this on how he has been over a few weeks, rather than on observations from a longer period of time.

Hopefully they will get to know him better and communication with the nursery will get better, but for now the assessment box is ticked and they know he doesn't need specific extra help.

[Di11y]

it's normal to be quieter at nursery as so much is going on. also I believe they might have to see the behaviour a couple of times to mark that level. if he's only there a couple of days just might not be displaying it.

[Thecazelets]

As Bendingspoons says, joining two words together is an age expectation for 24 months, so it sounds as though they've just indicated that he is meeting expectations and there's no cause for concern with his development. It's great that he's forming longer sentences at home.

[gonewiththerain]

There are considerable differences between what my DS can do at home and what he does at Preschool. In his case it’s due to delayed speech and at home we can understand a lot more of what he says so we know he can count to 10, name the colours. Also we ask in different ways such as pick the blue one up. He also does thing a at preschool that he doesn’t do at home.
It’s an excellent preschool he goes to but reading his reports always gives me the rage as I go through it saying he can already do that, etc.

[lorisparkle]

Ds3 did not talk much at preschool or even school. When it was 'pets week' at school I went in and took his cat. The teacher was amazed as he stood at the front and talked all about his cat. She said she had never heard him talk so much! It is quite common for children to talk less at school and now DS3 is quite confident to chat at school exactly how he does at home.

[brogueish]

Thank you, that is reassuring. I didn't know what the form was used for, but if it's just to pick up children that aren't where they "should" be then that's fine. The group he's now in is much bigger than baby room was, so that all makes sense. Thanks.

[ThickFast]

I had the same with a three year review. Seemed like he did loads less at nursery.

[brogueish]

@gonewiththerain Reading with growing rage, ha - yes that was me, exactly! It's just so frustrating at the moment that he's in this new setting with new staff and I can't speak to anyone. It feels very alien and disconnected.

[CremeEggThief]

Assessments are usually kept 'low' too, as it can be hard to justify/find enough evidence if the children are borderline or higher.

[Tumbleweed101]

Those kind of forms are designed to be quick and easy to complete and will show the expected ability of the age group. Many children can do far more in some areas, it's the children who aren't meeting those milestones that need to be kept an eye on and given appropriate support.

For a more detailed assessment you could ask your child's key person to have a chat (over the phone at the moment I'd guess) but they would contact you if they felt your child had delays in any area.