EYFS ASSESSMENT
Assessments are the decisions you make using what you have observed about a child’s development and/or learning.
One type of assessment, often referred to as assessment for learning or formative assessment, is what you do every day when you observe children and note their interests or abilities.
As a Childminder you will be doing this already.
Let’s look at an example:
Sarah is 2 years old. You have noted that she likes to do puzzles; you have observed that when you take her to the groups she always goes straight to the puzzle table and she often gets them out when in your home. You are sitting with her whilst she is doing a puzzle with 12 pieces and observe that she can now do it very quickly with no support. So how do you use this information? You provide Sarah with a different puzzle with slightly more pieces, maybe 16 thereby keeping the activity challenging but still achievable.
This shows the complete cycle, observe the child, note their interests and abilities, assessment for learning and then plan how to move the child onto the next stage of their development. Then the cycle begins again observing the child.
Another type of assessment is used to give a summary of a child's achievements at a particular point in time so that their progress can be tracked. This is known as summative assessment. The EYFS Profile is a summative assessment of each child’s achievement at the end of the EYFS.
It is unlikely that many childminders will be that involved in the EYFS Profiles, unless they are accredited and have delivered the Early Education and drawn down the Nursery Education funding for that particular child.
The Profile can be found on www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/eyfs/resources/
downloads/5824_handbook_web.pdf
The EYFS Profile is the summative assessment completed by practitioners at the end
of the EYFS. It summarises children‘s progress towards the early learning goals.
It can also be formative in that it informs or guides the long-
And it does refer to childminders:
Previous practitioners
Earlier parts of the foundation stage may have been spent in a nursery class, within the setting, or in a different setting, for example a nursery school, playgroup or day nursery.
Some children will have experienced a range of settings during the year and may have had a number of carers, including members of their extended family and childminders.
In the case of some of these settings, written records of progress, including photographs, examples of what children have produced and information provided by parents, such as a baby record book or development diary kept by the family, may be received or be available on request. Practitioners should take account of such records, and of any formal or informal discussions with those involved with children in the previous year.
Some childminders do provide parents with a Summative Assessment or termly report on their child’s progress.
Here are a few suggested ways that you may like to download and adapt for your own
use:
Summative Assessment using the EYFS Principles
Summative Assessment using the 6 Areas of learning
Basic Childminder’s Termly Report
Detailed Childminder’s Termly Report
You may be involved in contributing to the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) for a child who has additional needs. The CAF is a standardised assessment which gives a full picture of a child’s additional needs at any stage. It includes information from the child and their parents and covers all aspects of a child’s development including health, education and social development.
See the BCMA webpage everychildmatters for further details and a link to the CAF website.
Further information on observation, assessment and planning can be found on the following webpage:
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/eyfs/resources/
downloads/3_1_ep.pdf
