Good Practice Guidance for gathering on-entry data into the Reception year

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1 Good Practice Guidance for gathering on-entry data into the Reception year Introduction The reception year in school forms part of a child s experience within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The EYFS is a statutory framework setting out the legal requirements relating to learning, development and welfare. It is a comprehensive document and contains extensive good practice guidance and information. The EYFS sets standards to enable early years providers to reflect the rich and personalised experience that many parents give their children at home Every child should be supported individually to make progress at their own pace. ¹ Careful consideration needs to be given to points of transition into, within and from the EYFS. We have identified five vital sources of information that will support practitioners in ensuring that the needs of all children are met. These five sources are: Information from parents/carers Information from feeder pre-schools Basic data sets Information from a multi agency team of professionals for children with additional needs and/or disabilities Observational information leading to formative and summative assessment Ofsted inspections will include a focus on outcomes for children in the EYFS. Inspectors will take account of how well children learn and develop in relation to their starting points and capabilities.² Collating on-entry data with reference to these four sources of information should ensure that the needs of all children are routinely met, recognising the uniqueness of each child. ³ ¹ EYFS Statutory Framework P ² The Evaluation Schedule for Schools Ofsted 2009, p.57 ³ The Evaluation Schedule for Schools Ofsted 2009 p.66

2 Information from parents/carers Parents and practitioners have a lot to learn from each other. This can help them to support and extend children s learning and development. ¹ There will be a variety of ways in which schools can ensure that parents feel valued, welcomed and well informed. Investing in creating positive relationships at transition points will yield many benefits to children s well being and learning outcomes. A well planned, flexible induction programme will need to be in place. ¹ EYFS Principles into Practice card 2.2 Case Study: Information from carents/carers Shelley Corrigan Eggbuckland Vale September Home visits December Open evening March June Pre-school/nursery visits Induction evening Transfer meetings for SEN/HI children October Parents evening January April Open Evening July Open evening End of year reports/fsp to parents November February Parents evening May Assembly for parents August Above is a timetable of the more formal points in the school year when there are planned opportunities for parents and practitioners to share information and discuss each child s individual needs, learning and development. This process begins in the summer term before we have met any of the parents of the children who will be starting in September. This is when messages often get passed from parents through pre-school practitioners during the pre-school visits. This happens because we are yet to meet the parents of the children but this initial information is very valuable in beginning to build a picture of each child. For those children not attending one of our feeder pre-schools (we had children coming from 22 settings last year), each child is invited to visit the school on a number of occasions. The children are brought to the school by their parents and so again there is an opportunity for information to be exchanged. This term, transfer meetings also take place for SEN/HI children and those involved with other agencies. The parents are an important part of these meetings. Following the pre-school visits is the induction evening for parents. After the meeting in which members of staff introduce themselves and pass on information about the setting, parents have an opportunity to meet the members of staff who will be working with their children. Parents are also invited to sign up for a home visit in September (we choose September so that the children are familiar with practitioners just before they join the setting). Home visits are so valuable for finding out the particular needs of each child but is often an opportunity for parents to voice any concerns that they may have about their child starting school. Parents evenings are individual appointments in which parents are given an opportunity to discuss their child s progress and any concerns that they may have with practitioners. It is also

3 an opportunity to look at their child s Learning Diary (Learning Journey). Parents are encouraged to write in the Learning Diary and add to it as much as they can. Some Parents are not comfortable with this so the Practitioner will record they comments and add it to the Learning Diary on their behalf. Parents are encouraged to come into school once the end of year report and report about the EYFS Profile has been received to discuss the contents if they wish. Open evenings are when each child s Learning Diary is available for parents to look at, at their leisure. At this point in the year a summative assessment has been created and added to the Learning Diary. There is a space on the assessment for parents to add comments. As with parents evenings, they are encouraged to write in the Learning Diary and add to it. Of course, our doors are always open and we encourage and are available to meet with parents at any opportunity. We make a note of significant conversations and add them to the child s Learning Diary. Notes are also passed through the child s home/school books. Information from feeder pre-schools Effective communication between settings is key to ensuring that children s needs are met and there is continuity in their learning. ¹ Plymouth Transfer Document The original Plymouth Transfer Document was revised by a group of local authority staff and early years practitioners in It is now in line with the four principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The four principles of the EYFS which guide the work of all early years practitioners are grouped into four themes and are as follows: A Unique Child every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. Positive Relationships children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person. Enabling Environments the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending

4 children s development and learning. Learning and Development children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and inter-connected. Completed by pre-school practitioners, the Plymouth Transfer Document gives a holistic picture and summative information about the child s individual interests and learning styles. It includes the voice of the child and the parent/carer. Schools should use this information to support the provision of an appropriate learning environment. The Plymouth Transfer Document summarises the breadth and depth of evidence contained within a Learning Journey. A Learning Journey is a chronological collection of different types of evidence illustrating a child s learning and development progress. Learning Journeys belong to the family. However, during one of the initial meetings, it is good practice to invite the parents and the child to share it with the Foundation Stage (FS) teacher. Pre-school providers are required to complete a Plymouth Transfer Document and send it on to schools. Good links with the school s feeder pre-schools will facilitate this exchange of information. There may be a rare occasion when parents/carers are unwilling for this document to be passed on. The development of a trusting relationship with parents is crucial to a successful transition. The Plymouth Transfer Document should capture all the information required by schools. Feeder pre-schools In addition, visiting feeder pre-schools is a valuable opportunity to talk to a child s key person and to observe children in a familiar environment. Some schools receive children from a large number of pre-schools. However, it should be possible to identify two or three main feeders to visit. ¹ EYFS Principles into Practice card 3.4

5 Basic data sets Children need sensitive, knowledgeable adults who know when and how to engage their interests and how to offer support at different times. ¹ It is good practice to develop an accurate picture of a cohort. It should be possible to identify key characteristics of a cohort as early as possible. Some characteristics may indicate children s potential vulnerability to low achievement. The following information is on the school s admission form. Month of birth Gender Ethnicity Post code you need to know whether the child lives in an area of socio-economic deprivation Looked after children Service families Additional needs Free school meals EAL Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families Refugee and Asylum seeker families The following information can be gathered from the Plymouth Transfer Document: Date of entry to setting days/hours of attendance Health information Additional needs and if another service is involved Other factors such as a low birth weight and the level of the mother s education can also indicate children s vulnerability to low achievement. The development of a supportive and trusting relationship between FS practitioners and parents is key to the discussion of such sensitive information. FS staff will need a high degree of sensitivity when finding out this information. If there is a concern the FS staff will also need to know how to signpost parents to additional support e.g. adult community learning. It is important to ask, Have we got the partnerships in place to find this out? Clearly this type of information is of a very sensitive nature. Positive relationships with parents built on trust and respect take time to develop. Practitioners will need to use their professional judgement in determining if and when to discuss these contextual matters. Careful consideration also needs to be given to the storage of information shared by parents to ensure it complies with the Data Protection Act. Once contextual information has been gathered, it is important to consider how it will be used to shape provision. ¹ EYFS Principles into Practice card 3.2

6 Case Study: How does having high levels of EAL shape Mount Street s Foundation provision. Jayne Freeman With numbers of EAL children rising at Mount Street we have really concentrated on improving our practice within all four themes of the EYFS. A Unique Child A complete understanding of each child, their family and their cultural beliefs are essential for us to support that child in their learning in the Foundation Stage. Home visits are always arranged as this allows us time to find out about the child and their family. The questions and information we find out about beliefs and culture are fed back to all staff in the setting to ensure that we follow the parent s requests. We check sensitivities regarding celebrations and discuss if there is any food that they do not wish their child to eat. Positive Relationships We celebrate all children s languages and culture. When the children start they have their photo taken and with help from the parents they write hello in their home language, to form our welcome display. We have developed a curriculum where multicultural differences are embedded and celebrated constantly and are not just bolt on activities. Parents are invited in throughout the year to cook, story tell and dress up! We have to ensure information is presented to families in a simplified and visual medium. Our visual prospectus contains essential information for parents e.g. important times. We use the Communicate in Print picture system to support the written words. There are photos of the school uniform and PE kit. We have a Welcome to Foundation Stage course that runs for 12 weeks for all our new parents. It is run by the Plymouth Parent Partnership and this has been very popular for our EAL parents who have enjoyed getting to know each other and learning about the English school system. Often the parents, who took part last year, come again to translate to new parents for us. Parents learn a range of things such as how to make play dough, how we teach phonics and how to encourage the love of books. Enabling Environments The free flow timetable at Mount Street allows the children to learn in an environment without pressure and expectations to speak in English. This leads to lower levels of anxiety which improves learning capabilities. The free flow timetable allows an adult to observe and assess the children and then discuss Possible Lines of Development at staff meetings. It allows time for adults to focus on and praise achievements in all six areas of learning. We have a clear visual timetable and a wide range of visual posters to support children s understanding of the boundaries and routines within the Foundation Stage. This ensures that the children feel safe and secure.

7 Learning and Development When the children are settled, we often put them in a BLAST (Boosting Language, Auditory Skills and Talking) group. We have found that BLAST is especially effective with EAL children as they enjoy being part of a special group. It gives them repetition and a structure to construct their own sentences. It also contains a high level of sound discrimination and listening activities which promote language development. We have allocated one session a week where we have support from an additional Teaching Assistant (TA). Children with EAL are invited to join this TA for activities based around simple stories or games. These are specifically chosen to support vocabulary which directly relates to the topic or are of mathematical language which is being covered in the setting. The activity is usually repeated three times throughout the morning so the less confident EAL children gain the confidence to join in the fun! Some children even choose to participate in more than one session during a morning. Early years settings that work positively with difference and welcome and retain these often excluded families can ultimately contribute to community cohesion and to narrowing the gap for children. Work on improved systems of data collection will be particularly central in this work. ¹ ¹ Information from a multi agency team of professionals for children with additional needs and/or disabilities Children requiring additional support into school through Early Years Action and Early Years Action plus will require increased monitoring during the transition process. These children will be known to the Early Years Forum and may require additional planning and liaison depending on their needs. The document: Early Years. Universal transition and transition plus. Developing a wellplanned transition programme for all children from Early Years Providers into the Foundation stage in Schools aims to ensure: that all children have a high quality transition experience which enhances their well being and performance as learners that all parents/carers fully participate in the transition programme for their children the development of a city wide transition strategy which all children, parents/carers, early years providers and other agencies can use to plan, do, review and evaluate. The document identifies different levels of vulnerability at transfer and four levels of transition which are: Universal: for most children. No additional support is required. Transition Plus one: an example of a child is one who is not known to the Early Years Forum but who will require increased monitoring. Transition Plus two: an example of a child is one who is on Early Years or Early Years Action Plus of the Code of Practice and has an Individual Education Plan. Transition Plus three: an example of a child is one who is on Early Years Action Plus or has a Statement of Special Educational Needs. The Early Years Transition document gives other examples of children who may require additional planning and liaison. It has guidelines on the starting points for transition and what activities should happen in the terms before a child starts school. All professionals involved with children at Transition Plus two and three are required to work

8 collaboratively with parents, pre-schools and receiving schools to develop a personalised transition plan and these guidelines are set out in the Early Years Transition document. Observational information leading to formative and summative assessment Ongoing assessment is an integral part of the learning and development process Assessments should be based on practitioners observation of what children are doing in their day-to-day activities It is expected that all adults who interact with the children should contribute to the process, and that account will be taken, or information provided, by parents. ¹ Observational assessment needs to begin as soon as children enter their reception year. By the end of term one (after 6 weeks), assessment data from the initial observations, for all children should be recorded on the EYFS eprofile. The eprofile is a computer programme based on the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP). Use of the eprofile from the beginning of the Reception year enables schools to monitor progress. It can be used to identify potential gaps in provision for both individual and groups of children. For some children, this initial assessment may best be described by making reference to Development Matters within the EYFS Practice Guidance. In order to show progress, this information could then be related to similar summary information at a later time, for example in relation to the scale points in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile when the children reach the end of the Foundation Stage. ² On entry to the reception year most children will be progressing towards the Early Learning Goals. Their attainment can be described in terms of EYFSP scale points one to three. Gathering on-entry data and then using it to ensure that provision meets the needs of the cohort is an important step in the EYFS planning process. Good planning is the key to making children s learning effective, exciting, varied and progressive. It enables practitioners to build up knowledge about how individual children learn and make progress. ³ ¹ EYFS Statutory Framework P.16 ² Association for Achievement and Improvement through Assessment (ASSIA) ³ EYFS Practice Guidance p12, 2.8

9 Early Years Advisory Team If you would like further advice and support regarding the on-entry data gathering process, please contact: Meryl Wilson, Early Years Adviser, Tel: