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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Did anyone's child NOT get those EYFS points in their Reception reports?

75 replies

blisterpack · 07/07/2012 10:25

I am confused because mine didn't. I thought it was the norm to give them out? The report just had comments about what the DC is or is not doing.

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TheProvincialLady · 07/07/2012 15:36

It is useful information in the sense that it tells you whether your child is achieving the expected level of attainment/understanding or whether they are working below or above that level. That can be reported without referring to the specific levels for each category but I found it useful to see the numbers as well. Nothing wrong with either method IMO as long as you feel that the teacher has told you everything about how your child is doing socially, academically etc.

StealthPolarBear · 07/07/2012 15:39

X post thank you

mrz · 07/07/2012 15:41

The raw score doesn't tell you whether your child is achieving the expected level.

The DfE says

A child is said to have reached a Good Level of Development when he/she achieves a score of 78 points across the 13 assessment scales with at least 6 or more points in the communication, language and literacy and personal, social and emotional development scales.

Note "a Good Level of Development" not expected level ...

and the National Assessment Authority said

Point scores are levels of achievement and not the points in the profile, i.e. a score of 6 does not mean profile 6, it means point 3, plus 3 aspects achieved of sections 4-8. Children with the same points score will therefore probably have a different level of achievement.

WavingLeaves · 07/07/2012 15:54

"A child is said to have reached a Good Level of Development when he/she achieves a score of 78 points across the 13 assessment scales with at least 6 or more points in the communication, language and literacy and personal, social and emotional development scales.

Note "a Good Level of Development" not expected level ... "

Well, over-complicated though it seems, even knowing that your child has scored more or less than 78 points is some kind of information, surely?

Is 'expected level' measured in a totally different way?

mrz · 07/07/2012 16:05

No it means there isn't an expected level
and perhaps you missed this part (from the people who produced the profile)

"Children with the same points score will therefore probably have a different level of achievement"

Original poster

blisterpack · 07/07/2012 16:06

I didn't think the numbers would be useful in isolation of course.

I thought similar to Stealth, that a number means that everything below that has been achieved.

OP posts:

mrz · 07/07/2012 16:07

Which means that your child could have a score of 78 and be working at a higher or lower level than another child with a score of 78

WavingLeaves · 07/07/2012 16:08

thank you Mrz - the reason I queried it was because when you said "Note "a Good Level of Development" not expected level ... " I thought you were implying that they were two different things, both of which exist.

Tiggles · 07/07/2012 17:53

I was very pleased because DS2 (Receptions) report didn't contain any level information. It was a couple of pages about things that he had achieved, the list of targets he had been given after assessment in October and how he had achieved them, and his next set of targets that he had to achieve.

Doesn't really matter if he is or isn't working to the expected level - it says he is working hard and enthusiastically and concentrates well, so it isn't like he could do more than that even if he was 'under par' with the actual results. I know what he is going to be working on next, and therefore what I need to be encouraging him to do in his homeworks.

Perfect!

Original poster

blisterpack · 07/07/2012 18:56

I think that is great that you've got a report like that LittleMiss, "a couple of pages about things that he had achieved, the list of targets he had been given after assessment in October and how he had achieved them, and his next set of targets that he had to achieve." sounds perfect to me too. My DC's one was the list of comments from the EYFS profile, word for word, but without the numbers. Yours sounds much better, because it is specific to the child.

But, wouldn't you want to know if your DC is working at the nationally expected level or not? Even if you feel that there is nothing he can do to improve (which is quite a defeatist attitude to take, though I realise we are talking about Reception here!) don't you even want an indication as to how he is generally? Not better or worse than any specific child/ren in the class but at least if he's reaching the minimum targets set by the government?

OP posts:

Tiggles · 07/07/2012 19:03

Well I have to be honest, I know he has been working with the year above for both literacy and numeracy so know he is fine in those! Would it make any difference to know exactly how high he is within the year1 group, not really, other than possibly for my ego.
As to the other things - PE, Welsh, geography etc (sorry I know they have different names in EYFS) the fact he is working hard - he comes home telling me facts he has learnt, speaks Welsh in his everyday life, recognises London when it appears on the television etc. I am quite happy, even if he is below level (no idea if he is) as he is obviously learning.

Original poster

blisterpack · 07/07/2012 19:08

Ah I see, so you do know that he is doing well :).

OP posts:

Tiggles · 07/07/2012 20:48

I know he is doing well compared to his peers, I wouldn't actually like to say against national averages - he is at a small village school with 15children per class. Within EYFS they tend to do a lot of split year teaching, so next year he is technically in a year 1 class, but could very easily be working with the reception class, yr1 or yr2 for different subjects. It makes it easy to know how he is doing to his peers. But because the cohort is small it isn't necessarily indicative of say a child in a large school having to be taught with an older age group iyswim. I would imagine in a larger school say 2 or 3 form entry that there would easily be other children in his year working at his level.

MigratingCoconuts · 07/07/2012 20:56

It seems too me that, if your relationship with the teacher is all it should be, you should know if s/he is doing well before the report comes out. There really should be no surprises at all in the report.

I am well aware that the written comments and cut and paste jobs. Within ours though, is an attention to detail about what DS has done and what he needs to work on in the future. I get a real sense that the teacher knows our son.

That's all I need to know at this stage. Not what number he is or how he compares to any sort of national expectations, to be honest.

Haberdashery · 07/07/2012 21:52

I get a real sense that the teacher knows our son.

Yes, that's how I felt about the report we received, too. It was very clear that it was written by someone who has really got to know my daughter - and also, which is lovely, by someone who likes her and appreciates the good in her (while also obviously recognising that there are some areas where she really doesn't excel). The teacher is a really lovely woman and a good teacher and I suspect she likes, at some level, every child she teaches. She's fabulous and I am so grateful for her kindness and commitment this year. I don't think there is much at all that was cut and pasted on DD's report. A lot of effort has gone into it. I'm even more impressed, given that the teacher is about six months pregnant.

StealthPolarBear · 07/07/2012 22:06

Actually there was a surprise. I got a verbal report from the dinner ladies who told me that while he had very specific dislikes he would try lots of things and was one of the best eaters. Which came as a bit of a shock. A nice one though - and it was nice to meet them and see the interest they obviously had in the children, they were a long way from the ladle wielding meanies of the 80s :o

fuzzpig · 07/07/2012 22:22

We didn't, though I'm sure she wouldn't have got 9s anyway. It had a well-written paragraph in each area and each ended with "j is at the expected level of development in this area" and a suggestion for things to work on. She's happy and well behaved. S'all I need to know really

fuzzpig · 07/07/2012 22:24

I can quite envisage the sneaky "so what did your child get" interrogations at the school gate if they had been given TBH! :o

WavingLeaves · 08/07/2012 15:05

fuzzpig - believe it or not, some parents are interested in their child's education for reasons other than playground comparisons of 'scores'.

fuzzpig · 08/07/2012 15:11

I know, I'm one of them.

WavingLeaves · 08/07/2012 19:33

I haven't EVER noticed parents comparing scores in the playground. And they do start getting grades from Yr 1 so there's potentially a lot of scope for it.

I would still say that the EYFS numbers (if properly explained) actually help to give a bit of meaning to the grid. Otherwise it's just a lot of sentences saying what your child can do, most of which you are probably well aware of already.

WavingLeaves · 08/07/2012 19:41

btw the EYFS reports I have had didn't give numbers - just the c&p sentences and whether my DC were 'working towards' or 'had achieved' the goals in each area.

Without being able to see the grid to see what it was on about, I found it fairly meaningless. Fortunately I still had the EYFS grid that they had provided us with in pre-school so I was able to make some sense of the report.

And what are you supposed to make of 'working towards'? You could say I'm 'working towards' cooking tea by sitting here on my arse and MNing, and vaguely thinking about what I might get out of the fridge in a minute. That's not the same as being just 2 mins off serving it up. Silly eg maybe but just trying to illustrate that 'working towards' isn't meaningful unless you give some sort of measure.

mrz · 08/07/2012 19:43

Working towards means they can't do it without help

WavingLeaves · 08/07/2012 19:53

"Working towards means they can't do it without help"

But what is 'it'? And are they one step along the way or nearly there? That is the info that is missing unless you show parent the grid and explain it.

mrz · 08/07/2012 20:04

just the c&p sentences and whether my DC were 'working towards' or 'had achieved' the goals in each area.

The goals in each area?

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