Foundation Stage 'points' - can someone please explain

[SoHowDoesItWork]

We have received dd's Reception file home today and it is more than a little confusing (quick aside, but what is wrong with the old-fashioned 'doing well in ...'/'needs to improve on...' etc )

There are lots of separate parts and numbers in the file, but to be perfectly honest it doesn't make an awful lot of sense to me.
I have parents evening tomorrow, so will ask her to explain the body of the file then, but just for now, can someone explain what the following statements mean: -

Working within points 1 and 2
Ready to work on point 3
Ready to work on points 4 - 8

Also, what is the 'expected' level for the first term in Reception, and is this adjusted for summer-borns, or are summer-borns 'graded' the same as the older children?

Thanks in advance

[RueDeWakening]

You can find a grid of all the EYFS points here. Does that help?

Also bear in mind that they can only score on what the teacher/TA has observed her doing - she may not be doing everything she's capable of at school just yet.

There isn't a weighting for summer born kids afaik.

[SoHowDoesItWork]

Yes, that's helpful Rue, thanks.

Can you please tell me, what 'point' are the children expected to be at, at this stage in Reception. I know it will vary wildly, but what is the average?

"Also bear in mind that they can only score on what the teacher/TA has observed her doing - she may not be doing everything she's capable of at school just yet."

That's very reasurring - thank you.

[RueDeWakening]

From memory (not a teacher, just had presentation about it all last year at DD's preschool...) an average child will score 6 across all areas by the end of reception so score 78 points or more. Points 1-3 are development goals and lots of kids will have done these in preschool/nursery. 4-8 are reception I think. 9 means working consistently beyond EYFS in that area (ie working at year 1/year 2 level already).

HTH.

[SoHowDoesItWork]

So, ready to work on points 4 - 8 would be average for Reception.

Thanks for your help

[bananasatsuma]

I vaguely remember my dss reception teacher saying they expect them to enter reception at about 3 points.

[iloverainbows]

It would be interesting to hear from teachers but my recommendation would be to not even think about the EYFS points. This is a tick box exercise for the teacher and they only note what they see. I would decide what is important to YOU and your CHILD e.g. having lots of friends, enjoying going to school and playing with their friends, grasping phonics and showing an interest in books and learning to read. These scores vary greatly from school to school and please bear in mind that a school may use them to show 'value add' on their own scores so in some instances there is incentive not to give high marks. Lastly I would say for some areas especially maths and reading these are very limited because there are many children who are beyond what they specify but this isn't even noted on the report.

[bananasatsuma]

Totally agree with iloverainbows. The EYFS score my ds received in reception did not represent what he could do at all, and this was confirmed by his year 1 teacher. Ignore them.
iloverainbows, I had never thought of the teacher using value add on their own scores. What does that mean?

[SoHowDoesItWork]

Thanks all

[iloverainbows]

Sorry bananasatsuma only just seen this. What I mean by using value add is that that if they say that a child is 'behind' on entry and through reception and then comes out well/really well in Year 6 they can show on their scores that they have worked with this child to make the improvement however in reality they havent. Sorry I am a very cynical about EYFS and SATs scores as any type of indicator of how a child is doing.

[TheTenantOfWildfellHall]

Hi

Yep, we generally expect children to have gained points 1-3 in pre-school/nursery, points 4-8 are the Early Learning Goals that are worked on in Reception, and 9 is Beyond the Early Learning Goals.

An 'average' child will have a score of 6 in an area of learning. So this basically translates as points 1-3 (which are hierarchical) and then 3 more from points 4-8. Points 4-8 aren't necessarily hierarchical - so point 4 won't necessarily follow on from point 3 and point 5 won't necessarily follow point 4. IYSWIM. In order to get profile point 9, a child has to have achieved all of points 1-8.

As will all targetting/assessment in primary school, it's largely a tick box exercise for the teachers. I'm surprised they've given it to the parents in point form, they usually steer clear of this and do give more general statements about what the child can do.

The EYFS is supposed to also take into consideration evidence from other settings (including home) so if you have witnessed your child doing something that the school seem to think she can't do yet, tell them.

HTH