Any Reception teachers able to help?

[Oldowl]

Baseline Assessment

I am the EYFS lead at an independent school.

After much investigation, it was confirmed to me today via email and then phone that independent schools cannot have access to the new baseline assessment!

This seems ridiculous to me, as we still have to follow the framework etc but I argued this vehemently on the phone to no avail. I explained that we would be happy to pay for it but the answer was still no.

Are you a Reception teacher who was part of the Baseline pilot in state schools? What format did the Baseline Assessment take and how was it scored?

Tbh I'd be glad about it if I was you. I took part in the pilot and it was time consuming and unhelpful. I did it alongside my usual baseline and it did not inform my planning or how we were going to support children's next steps. For example children we asked to identify numerals 4,7,9 but I still had to do my own separate assessment to see if they what other numerals they knew.

It also took around 20 minutes per child which meant that an adult was taken away from the room/majority of the class during the period of settling the children in, supporting play, building relationships and supporting children with the rules and routines.

I would agree with every word jjejj said!

Yes me too!

Does your school opt into the Y6 Statutory assessment progress with the LA, OP?

The only reason for the statutory baseline is to be able to give schools a value added measure from Reception to Y6, calculated using SATs for reading and maths, and moderated teacher assessment for writing.

No one, including the DfE, seems to know how this will be calculated or whether it will have any meaning, but the first results will be in summer 2028, if we all can curb our excitement until then.

I agree with pp; thank your lucky stars and carry on with your normal entry routines. It was boring and told us nothing.