What's normal to achieve by the end of reception?

[Myst97]

I only ask as I have been told nothing about dd's progress all year other than 'she's fine'.

[mrz]

Definitely questionable practice

[sleeponeday]

I agree.

I may be remembering the scores wrongly then Mrz - they were scored, and it was against a set framework of three options, but I couldn't tell you if it was age or number 1-3 related. Nor, to be honest, do I think it makes any difference to my point, which is that grading children that small, as happens, seems a little questionable at best.

[BarbarasDrySand]

No problem, it all bemuses me to be honest. I'm more concerned that ds is behaving and making friends. The school work can wait til Y1! I hadn't thought about it the way you explained it though, so it's helpful.

[mrz]

Sorry if I've given that impression but that wasn't my point ... I was merely stating that there is no expectation for children at the end of reception (5 year olds) to use full stops and commas.
Children in Y1 aren't expected to use them accurately 100% of the time.
Obviously without knowing your child I can't comment on whether he should be awarded exceeding but as people have said its all pretty subjective and if the teacher doesn't see enough evidence in independent work they won't award it.

[BarbarasDrySand]

Mrz, I take your point about a 5 year old not being expected to be able to use commas etc hence not being considered exceeding, I think I was just surprised because she said he had met all the other criteria for exceeding but that was holding him back. I mean, I know adults who struggle with commas

[mrz]

At any level unless it's a test where there is a clear right or wrong answer assessment is going to have a degree of subjectivity. One teacher's expected could be another's emerging or another's exceeding. Even with the exemplification examples it isn't clear

[mrz]

You should only get the scores at the end of the reception year prior to that settings should be completing formative assessment to help them plan for your child's learning (and would be looking at the development matters age bands) not to award scores.

[poppy70]

Yes in most cases it is a judgement call. Just got to hope the judgements are an accurate description of the child.

[saadia]

It is impossible and pointless to grade children in this way. I am a Reception teacher and have just finished writing up assessments for my class. I have done my best but in the end it is mostly a matter of opinion, unless a child is at one extreme or the other, and children develop at different rates so some of them could very well show progress even in the last two weeks which will not be reflected in their final assessment.

[sleeponeday]

I don't know, I'm afraid - I don't have a background in early years. It was originally a community playgroup, is now effectively a preschool (takes kids the two years prior to school). His learning journal had a final page with scores against the EYFS targets, as did his Reception school reports (he moved school in year, so had two).

[poppy70]

The exceeding guidelines do not mention fullstops and commas. A child should get exceeding in eyfs writing if they can use form correctly I.e story language, use sophisticated language is increasing amounts of 2 syllable words. I have certainly given it to children who don't use fullstops consistenty because the writing is sentence structure and is above and beyond what would be expected. Writing in receptions gradings is unconcerned with much of the mechanics. That is the latest guidelines

[mrz]

Then why were playgroup completing using profile scores? Sorry I'm confused?

[sleeponeday]

No, mrz, he attended fulltime from the off. He was in preschool three days a week in his second year there, and 2 mornings and one day the first. I love his current school, and the preschool were great. The first school is/was just a shockingly bad one, with the only apparent priority impressing OFSTED. The children (and teachers in fact, other than the head) were collateral damage to that end. Hence my jaded tone.

[mrz]

The whole point is that full stops and commas aren't expected at age five which is why he isn't exceeding age expectations

[SluiceSloosh]

My ds report is graded by months of age and then met eyfs goals and exceeded efys goals. We had a meeting with the teacher and she said ds wouldn't achieve exceeding for writing because he wasn't always using full stops and commas!!! At 5! The world has gone crazy

[mrz]

At the end of reception year, parents should receive a written summary reporting attainment against the ELGs. Practitioners may use the information provided by EYFS profile assessment as a basis for their reports to parents. Reports should be specific to the child, concise, informative and help to identify appropriate next steps.

Did your child attend receotion part time sleeponeday?

[sleeponeday]

Sorry, that sounded doubtful when I meant it to sound surprised - I don't for a moment question the accuracy! Just the desirability, in an ideal world.

I suppose I am a bit of a hippy when it comes to young children. I like them being allowed room to grow and explore, and tracking applies pressure to schools to achieve set targets to a set timetable. We are lucky in that his playgroup and current school allow for a child to be a child in learning at a pace that suits the individual, but OFSTED seem to place enormous weight on charted levels of attainment, so the settings fall into line as far as I can see.

[sleeponeday]

Really? That surprises me, because the playgroup and both primaries my son has attended provided scores. I think they led to a lot of insecurity/varyingly stealthy boasting, tbh. And when a child is that young I doubt it tells you much unless they are dramatically at the end of either spectrum.

[mrz]

The school must provide parents with a summary they may choose to provide scores but they don't have to.

[sleeponeday]

The school report will have a list of early years targets, and the child given a score from 1 to 3 for those. 1 means below the average for the age, 2 as expected, 3 above the average.

I really don't think it matters much at this age as long as the child is happy, unless there are SEN of some kind. Happy children will learn long-term, and thrive. I actually wish they wouldn't rate them in this manner as I think it just tends to set up anxieties for the parents.

[whereismagic]

Thank you. Really interesting. I think they learn digraphs. Just checked and DC has a Rigby star (level 13?) book in his bag.

[Myst97]

Thanks a lot for that link mrz. It was most enlightening.

[mrz]

A simple blend (noun) is learning 'br' 'st' 'fl' etc as whole units whereas in phonics they would be taught to "blend" (verb) the two separate sounds /b/ + /r/ +/ow/ /n/ to read brown (blends are part of onset and rime and add a whole additional level of complication to learning to read).

Not sure if I dare ask which ORT books the school uses ...

BM /ch/ /sh/ /ay/ /or/ etc are digraphs - two letters but only one sound.

[BarbarianMum]

Im not a teacher so may have used the wrong terms. To me, a simple blend is knowing that certain combinations of letters give certain sounds. So things like th, ch, sh, ow plus some vowels combinations oo, ee. No direct relationships bw phonics and ORT that I found cause the ORT books we had were not phonetic, although they were banded with other books that were.

[whereismagic]

Sorry, one more question. What is simple blends? What is it in relation to Oxford reading tree?