Is EYFS preschool/nursery AND reception?

[thisisnotwhoyouthink]

Or is reception KS1? Am confrugled!!!

I have my ds1's levels in front of me, well, what I think are his levels, and just wanted to know a little more about them.

Is it just that they progress overall, or that at the end of reception they are meant to be at 9, or have reached a certain level, or do they have to reach 9 by the end of preschool/nursery and then go on a new sheet for reception?

I am from a totally different education system and as we are changing schools (due to house relocation, not school issues) I just wanted to know how he was going before we meet with the head of his possible (state) school on Tuesday.

If I posted the levels would it make more sense? Could someone tell me if he is going ok?

Sorry for all the questions, I just have no idea at all

EYFS goes through to the end of reception as do the levels - I think "average" is about level 6 or 7 by the end of reception but not sure on that.

KS1 is Y1 and Y2 and KS2 Y3-Y6.

EYFS is reception year too.

But I can't remember the details about the levels, and what children 'should' be achieving during their time in Foundation Stage. I don't think there can be too strong guidelines about it actually as there is no obligation to have your child in any educational establishment during the Foundation Stage at all.

By the end of reception your child should have a 'learning diary' that will show, with massses of evidence (usually observations on sticky labels and photographs) what they have achieved in all the various areas.

Yes re EYFS & KS1:
direct gov EYFS linky and National Curriculum linky

Not sure about the attainment targets, the second link has info on this but I'm not sure I understand it, someone with actual knowledge and not just google thumbs will hopefully come and answer you in a mo

ok. So there is a sheet labelled "transition at spring/summer term of profile year: there is sound evidence of learnings and development against the following PROFILE POINTS"

Is that the levels people refer to???

The profile points are in 13 sections such as Disposition and attitude, social dev, emotional dev, linking sounds abnd letters, reading, writing etc.

Also, what do I do if I dont agree with the levels? Cause they have left off a whole bunch of stuff that he can do, and I have 'evidence' of. Do i include these 'evidential materials' in his folder fo rthe new school? Is it just maybe that he didnt do it where they saw it? (i know kids often do more at home)

For a setting to say something is evidenced it has to have been observed consistently by the child at the setting so you are right, it may be things that are done at home (and maybe have been for ages) but are not seen at nursery/pre-school.

Ok. cool. so where is the average child at? A PP said 6, is that right as she wasnt sure?

Yes 6 is average

Children should be a 3 on entry to YrR (I think). 6/7 is considered average and anything above that (I believe) is regarded as G&T

hmm. ok.

So I think they have assessed him at end of spring term, as he doesnt go to reception until September. So he still has a term of nursery/preschool to go...

Do his levels sound on track? I think he is doing ok?

Disp. and attitude - 8
social dev - 5
emotional dev -5
language and commication for thinking - 5
linking sounds and letters - 7
reading - 5
writing - 4
numbers as labels and for counting - 7
calculating - 6
shape, space and measure - 7
knowledge/understanding of the world - 5
physical dev - 7
creative dev - 6

So I think he is ok? With a term to go , to get his 6's in his areas lacking?

But again, I am not definately sure I am looking at the right thing!! LOL

TBH, I would be surprised if he was reaching 7's and 8's this early on. You don't tend to see these levels until really near the end of the reception year. I'm not doubting how bright he is, because it is obvious he is bright, but I think the nursery are perhaps being a tad overgenerous with their scores. This is just my experience though, a teacher may come along shortly and tell me to shut up lol.

I'm also a tad confused as to why they are assessing him against the profile at this stage, when it is something that is carried out by a reception teacher towards the end of the reception year (the end of the EYFS).

His scores atm are better than those achieved by some of the children I worked with in YrR at the end of the EYFS.

I think they did the assessment as we are moving to a totally different borough? Not sure. It is just in his folder with the relevant bits highlighted. Nothing was explained. Thats also why I asked as I got confused as to where EYFS ended and when they get their profile done and where they should be etc. Am I looking at the right thing?

The preschool is not very good tbh, they do nothing vaguely academic, although he does it at home,s o i have no idea how they got the scores they did. Whether they are being generous or not, I mean.

They also havent said he is bright or anythign like that, so ?? I just didnt want to look like a twit with regards to where he is at when we go to the new school on Tuesday. It is all a bit of a complicated minefield this profile stuff, isnt it!! I think I will have to stay right out of it in future!!

I don't even think it would be worth mentioning tbh, only because each school tends to (again in my experience) base their scores on evidence they have collected within the school.

I know that we received learning journals from various pre-schools/nurseries and all of the observations within them were discarded and the school started again.

Ok cool. Was just worried we would be asked. Will stay out of it if I can!! I wasnt going to mention it unless they did, btw, just give them the folder.

Thanks for all the info!

That's ok, but like I say, I'm not an expert on it from the schools POV. I'm sure one of the teachers here will be better placed to advise you.

I work in pre-schools and nurseries and have dabbled a bit in YrR so my experience might just be typical of my LEA/school.

Good luck with the meeting and be proud of your son's achievements so far!

secretslattern, are these levels that have been discussed the same as "benchmark assessment" levels? I have queried this before but dont have a firm yes or no answer.Do you know? thanks in anticipation.

I'd like to point out that the assessment levels are just that - for assessment of pupils progress by the teachers. Teachers can then plan the work they give to children in order to stimulate and stretch them as individuals. When children move from their nursery setting to reception, the assessment levels are useful for their new teacher to understand how to meet the childs needs.
They are also used to assess if the school is adding value by helping the children move through the assessment levels.

They are not targets which children must reach or be labelled as failures. They are not exams.

lovecheese, i'm not sure tbh. Maybe one of the many teachers here can help??

I've never heard of "benchmark assessments" but then my experience is largely in private nurseries/pre-schools and we definately don't do any of this kind of assessing.

Children's records from other settings are supposed to be used by the new setting but I would very much doubt the new setting would take scores of 4-8 in a pre school child as accurate without evidence. To be honest pre schools shouldn't actually be using profile scores as they are intended for the end of reception year.
I often get completed profiles from day care and discover the child can't actually do any of the things without adult help.

Ah, see I knew Mrz would be the one in the know! Glad I wasn't too far off the mark with my comments Mrz and therefore glad I haven't give 'rubbish advice' to the OP!

Thanks guys for all your help! Sorry for the late reply - have been travelling all day to the new location!!

Does a low score 4 in knowledge and understanding suggest special needs? Z has a Jan birthday, she is scoring well in other areas except writing and independence - she is slow and tends not to keep track of her belongings - some hope of her achieving that I long past 5yrs and I still loose everything!!!

Well I'm a reception teacher and tbh, i'd be a bit sceptical of those scores.

It's not an exact science and the profile points don't map exactly onto the national curriculum levels, however...

a child that gets 6 profile points in an area of learning at the end of the Reception year is considered to be working at age related expectations and would (reasonably) be expected to be assessed at level 2B at the end of KS1 and a 4B at the end of KS2 (the government targets). As a rough guide, a child that achieves 9 points at the end of YR would be said to already be working at a level 2 in that area. But that's only a rough guide and nothing more.

The points in each area aren't equally weighted in that it's easier to gain a higher score in numbers for labels and counting and dispositions and attitudes than it is for space shape and measures or knowledge and understanding, primarily because of concepts in SSM and the amount of evidence required in KUW.

Not all nurseries/pre-schools have had training in the EYFS and any school would definitely look at these scores closely.

Age related expectations for a child entering reception would be profile point 3. Of course there are always children who score higher and lower than this - but just to put it into context for you