Emerging in EYFS

[user1496620816]

Just got my 5 year olds report from reception and I'm very upset he's got emerging in 15 out of the 17 areas. I know he has issues with concentration and sitting stil at school but have been told by his teacher over the school year that acedemically he's been doing fine. We had a parents evening in November and she showed me a sheet showing he was average in reading and writing and above average in maths and another parents evening told me how good his knowledge of common words were and his handwriting was really good too. I'm so confused as if I had known he was struggling I'd have spent much more time at home helping him. Now feel like there must be something really wrong with him and he must be below average IQ. He spends a lot of time with his cousin whose in the same class but 7 months older and when I ask maths questions, how to spell and look at their writing they seem similar to me but he got mostly expected and some exceeding. I feel like he's already 'recorded' as failing at school and he's only 5 thanks for any advice, greatly appreciated

The Reception teachers at our school gave us an information meeting about the EYFS report.

One thing they said, was that in order to tick things off (checklists for emerging/expected/exceeding apparently), the child has to demonstrate that they can do each thing without being prompted.

So writing - the child doing the required writing for "expected" as part of an adult led classroom activity doesn't count. The child has to choose to do some writing spontaneously as part of their free play time for it to count.

Also, they said a child has to tick off everything in "emerging" before moving to "expected", even if they can do loads of stuff in the "expected" box and there's only one thing missing in the "emerging" box.

So short version - it's a pretty crude way of assessing a child that doesn't give a full picture of the child's abilities, and the teachers know that just because a child is marked as "emerging" , it doesn't necessarily mean that the child can't do things that are "expected".

Have you looked at the criteria for emerging, expected and exceeding
If you read what they have to do to be in each category you might get a better feel for it.

Sometimes children don't demonstrate the skill at school so the box doesn't tick
Often learning isn't linear so your child might have raced ahead at the start and be in a plateu at the moment just when they did all the tick boxes.

I've seen it somewhere that child need to show what they can do independently, rather than asked to do.
Also it's a tick box, so even if he is missing on one tiny portion of what's required, teacher needs to report as emerging rather than expected?
And you can't really compared it to the peers, they are checked against national target, so even if he was top of the class, if he isn't meeting national target, he would be marked as emerging.

Thanks for your replies, I've read through it all and I know he can do all the things in the expected area for reading, writing and numbers but as you said he has to do it independently at school without being asked to do it, that could be the problem. He does have extra help with the TA and I feel in some ways that he's become a bit lazy always thinking someone will show him how to do stuff without even trying and I find at home he does say he doesn't want to do things like writing, reading but when coaxed is great at it. I think school has knocked his confidence a bit he always used to try anything, big rides, jumping off things always up for anything but now just says he can't do anything and is scared of everything, he whinges and cries until I get a bit stern then he does it, I guess at school if they don't do it first time they don't have time and can't sit there waiting for them to do it. I'm going to speak to his teacher to see how I can help him over the summer but I am considering moving him as I think a smaller class would benefit him but I'm really torn as he does enjoy going to school and has some good friends there. Why don't kids do come with a manual!!

" but as you said he has to do it independently at school without being asked to do it, that could be the problem" he can be asked to do it.

Yes he CAN be asked to do it! mrz is correct in saying this. Writing is NOT assessed solely on a child initiated activity. If so, 90% of children in a class would be assessed as 'emerging' as at that age not many do do writing of their own free will!

if you are concerned, I would go into school and have a word. That's what I did last week when I was concerned my child was, in effect, coasting at school with his reading and the book he was supposedly reading at school was very far behind his phonic capabilities. I had a successful meeting in which my child was 're-assessed' and they concluded exactly the same as me, that my son was in fact on the wrong reading book.

Take action and don't hold back (but me polite!) with what you want to say. It could be that he is almost at 'expected' and likelihood is, he would have caught up by the end of Y1.

Is there a checklist then for each category and if so where is it?

The EYFS Development Matters section (used to be 'Stepping Stones') to the early learning goals states that they should NOT be used as a checklist, it is a best fit judgement so what you've been told MsPassepartout is incorrect and I'd be questioning the teacher's basic knowledge of the curriculum they are teaching.