EYFS profile

[vickigroth]

Hi
I wonder if anyone can help me... my son (sept birthday) has just finished reception and on his profile they said that on entry to reception he was a 1 in several area's (including physical) This is a bright child who has no physical problems, in fact could ride his bike without stabalisers at least 6 months before starting school. I believe they have made up his entry assessment to make themselves look good.

Having read teh statements for the EYFS profile I would have easily put him at a 4 or 5 for physical and no lower than a 3 for anything.

Does this sound right????

Oh vickigroth

we had this at our previous school. They said they hadn't observed my DD doing some of these things so they had to score her lower. But in my eyes it made the whole thing a joke and it gave a completely fake picture of my DD's progress.

That was one of my reasons for moving her tbh, as lots of parents complained about it and it really gave a bad name to the school.

(Lots of us thought that the kids had been marked ludicrously down to make them look good....)

This happened to us as well and led to us moving our child from the school. Frankly the profile confirmed to us that they hadn't engaged her and didn't know her despite a class of 14. We did meet with the teacher and head to try and understand however, as we suspected they would, they defended their scores and were actually very negative.

The whole thing is a bit of joke in my eyes. A friend of mine whose son at this age would think nothing of kicking another child whilst lining up or constantly call out in class (still does) evidently scored 9 across the board.

I can't see how these profiles are in anyway helpful as all they seem to do is document when a child does something and surely this is at the expense of interacting with the children.

A score of 2 or 3 on entry to reception is normal with some children slightly higher 3 or 4 and some lower.
Think about it the school will normally assess in the first few weeks when your child is still settling in and may not display all they can do at home where they feel happy and secure which is one of the reasons some schools do home visits pre starting.

It seems that Ollie was given a 1 for at least 6 area's which doesn't seem right for a child who is physically active, can write simple sentences, read write and order numbers to 20 and is confident to talk to peers and adults alike. I could understand that he might not have a score if they hadn't had information from preschool but I have been assured that the data is based on the info from preschool and from what I have read on his preschool report he should have at least achieved a 3 in all area's. I have also phoned preschool today and they have confirmed this to me. I am going to write to the head.

On a sepearte note, he got a target in maths of being able to read, write and order numbers to 20 when a month ago he got a sticker for writing all his numbers to 100. What planet is she on. Not sure what I can actually do though

doesn't give a good impression of the school really

hope you get a decent explanation, but I'll bet they make you look like a pushy parent

to be honest I've bitten my tongue all year with the incompetence and lack of commuunication. This is the icing on the cake and I'm going in all guns blazing! The only reason he's still there is that all the decent schools in the area are full and he's actually happy and has lots of friends. I've just been teaching him in my spare time (evening's and holidays) in order to challenge him as he's clearly not getting this at school.
I agree with learning through play but that doesn't mean that children can't be challenged.
I'm not the only unhappy parent either.

What were his scores on leaving Reception?

mainly 8's with 1 9 (reading) He did have a 7 in numbers as labels though, which is mad and clearly she doesn't know what he can do.

Actually vicki I misread your original post. If his profile at the end of reception is mainly 8s etc then I would leave it. What does it matter what he was at the beginning. My DD was given a 3 at the end of Reception! As I understand it these scores don't go anywhere, don't link into the KS1 curriculum and won't need to be quoted on his CV.

However I do believe that schools are manipulating these scores to make themselves look good. My DD is a good example of this, good scores in the areas I can prove ie maths and english but a couple of low scores in the wishy washy areas.

To my mind the real problem is that children should not be at school at 4 or 5 they should be playing at home with their family and friends not being scored by a teacher.

I agree and my inital though was to leave it, but I do not like being lied and I am very concerned that his targets are ones that he achieved over a year ago which means they have no clue as to his ability. Its worrying that the head of Early years knows so little about the children in her care despite being in the profession for many years. Surely a little accuracy is a necessity and not a bonus?

for you OP.

so do you feel your DS has actually made any improvement over the year? at school I mean - as you've said you're supplementing his learning at home.

I find it so worrying that lowering scores to give the impression of greater improvement is actually a recognised issue!

He has made progress but not much in maths, its the lying and the target that is much lower than his ability (indicating she doesn't know what he can do) that's annoyed me.