AIBU to be pissed off at child's nursery?

[Ka2017]

I received my 2 and a half year olds report this week and was surprised by what I received.
I am very familiar with the EYFS working in a nursery within a school.
They have used 'emerging' 'developing' and 'secure' for each area. My son is very good physically and as expected got secure in the relevant age bands for the areas in physical development. However I was surprised to see that in all the other areas he is has been marked down as developing even in age bands as young as birth-11 months. He is in no way at this level, I am under no illusion that he is gifted and talented but he is where he should be for his age. When I questioned this with his key worker and then the manager I was told that unless they see children doing something 3 times they cannot mark them as secure in an area. They then said that my son is where he should be and they haven't got any concerns, they just haven't got the evidence.
AIBU to feel that more of an effort should be made (set up adult initiated activities) to gauge a proper understanding of his development?
AIBU to believe that this report is a bit half arsed and pointless?
It is a real injustice to my son and my argument is, how can I see areas he may be struggling in and see where I can support him if he is marked down as developing in birth- 11 months in all areas bar physical development (Where they have lots of evidence and observations).
To me if a child in my care was developing in these areas at an age band much lower, I would first make sure that I am enabling scenarios where I can see if they need extra support. I made the point that the report reflects a child that is SEN or one that refuses to join in with anything but they then talked about the evidence again and that they know he isn't at that level.
I am fully aware of time constraints and pressures in environments like this, particularly working in one, but I would never give someone such an unfair and inaccurate report. If eveidence was missing I would take time out to make sure i have it.
How can I and future key workers see where my son needs extra support?

He has been at the nursery 8 months doing 1 and a half days. Also the nursery is an outstanding setting.

Yes, we had a parents evening for one of my children who attended nursery in a school, I don't think that's unusual. He was three and a half, four by the time we had the parents evening. Does your nursery do parents evening for babies? If they did, I would expect to just hear how they are settling in etc, not a report on whether they are in a par with their peers. I would find that a bit concerning to be honest, to think someone was spending a lot of their time analyzing my child's development. Honestly, I think this thread would put people off using nurseries.

Tabby did you read the link I put, early years progress is looked at and recorded from birth in early years settings - it may be done and shared with parents in different ways (your lovely collage and learning journals and parent evenings and patent sharer sessions etc).

The fact that the op's setting had made such inaccurate observations would worry me, which was why I said the op was not unreasonable, and think she should have a conversation with them about why. It doesn't mean the whole system of early years looking at a child's progress is wrong.

You are right in that the practitioner could have used their professional judgement rather than sticking rigidly to ‘we need to see it 3 times’ but I don’t get your point about not being able to help him in areas where he is struggling if you don’t know about it. You’re an EY professional yourself and know exactly how he is developing in all areas so I don’t see how it’s an issue for you personally.

OP could it be a PA way of trying to get you to up his sessions?

I don't think "just" being a nursery is any reason to have low expectations. And yes we had a 2.5 yr report from childminder, and a handover one when DD started preschool. They were very detailed and professional. After all CM had DD as one of 3 not one of 30.

Tabby it only caused upset because it hasn’t been done correctly. As you say common sense has not been used. The EYFS checks are just routine observations that are carried out and are in no way police-like. The child doesn’t know they’re being observed. It helps the practitioners plan activities if they know the areas of learning that need particular attention and the things that interest the child. It also helps them pick up on those with possible delays and no the parents don’t always catch on.

My friend is very intelligent but it was the preschool that identified his speech delay and subsequent checks found that it was a hearing problem. This was addressed and the preschool had him school ready by the end of the year. Three of the permanent staff have Early Years Teacher Status and are educated to degree level. They work in early years because they need work that fits into school hours. Please don’t be so dismissive about the work these people do. It’s important and valuable when it’s done right.

We didn't realise DD2 was so behind on her motor skills until a Reception teacher nagged us to get her assessed.
The reason we didn't realise she was so behind, was she was better in many respects than DD1 who we knew was a bit behind but there were extenuating circumstances. It turned out they were both in bottom1%.

Tabby - yes nursery does parents evening for babies (private nursery, not a school nursery).
They also cover how well the baby/child is settling in but they discuss milestones too. It’s handy if they notice some areas in which the child is lagging behind. I guess if you didn’t want to know you could opt out of being told also opt out of parents evening. But most people find it useful and reassuring that their child is being assessed so they are as “school ready” as possible when the time comes.