Early Years Foundation Stage:

Observation, Assessment and

Planning

Timetable Observation- 50 minutes Record keeping- 30 minutes Break – 15 minutes Demonstrating progress- 20 minutes Planning- 45 minutes Summary &issues to take forward -

10 minutes

An overview of observational assessment in the context of the EYFS A Unique Child

Babies and young children are individuals first, with unique profiles of abilities. Schedules and routines flow with the child’s needs. All planning starts with observing children in order to understand and consider their current interests, development and learning.

Positive RelationshipsAdults bring their own perspectives to an observation. Family circumstances and cultural contexts need to be considered in making assessments, particularly in Personal, Social and Emotional Development.

An overview of observational assessment in the context of the EYFS

Enabling EnvironmentsWhen you are planning, remember that children learn from even things not planned for – such as a fall of snow.

Learning and DevelopmentThis covers all themes of EYFS: If children do not communicate freely with adults you may need to ‘think outside the box’ rather than make assumptions.

A description of the eight principles for early childhood observational assessment:

1. Assessment must have a purpose.2. Ongoing observation of children participating in

everyday activities is the most reliable way of building up an accurate picture of what children know, understand, feel, are interested in and can do.

3. Practitioners should both plan observations and be ready to capture the spontaneous but important moments.

4. Judgements of children’s development and learning must be based on skills, knowledge, understanding and behaviour that are demonstrated consistently and independently.

A description of the eight principles for early childhood observational assessment:

5. Effective assessment takes equal account of all aspects of the child’s development and learning.

6. Accurate assessments are reliant upon taking account of contributions from a range of perspectives.

7. Assessments must actively engage parents in developing an accurate picture of the child’s development.

8. Children must be fully involved in their own assessment.

Assessment must have a purpose…

•to intervene, support and extend learning

•to inform planning for next steps

•to evaluate the effect of provision

Ongoing observation of children participating in everyday activities is the most reliable way of building up an accurate picture of what children know, understand, feel, are interested in and can do.

What it looks like… Systematic observations

Reflective interactions,which help us to understand each child’ achievement, interests and learning styles

A broad picture of children’s development and learning rather than narrow aspects

Observations made in a variety of contexts

Good observations are made when practitioners have…

A sound knowledge of child development and how of children learn

A sound knowledge of the curriculum and what the next steps in learning might be for individual children.

Practitioners should both plan observations and be ready to capture the spontaneous but important moments.

Observations are made when children are involved in… Child initiated Adult initiated Adult led activities

Observations Incidental /anecdotal When the practitioner notices something

significant he or she is not involved in. Participant When the practitioner is involved in play with

children and in adult led activities. Focused/narrative When the practitioner stands back to observe

children in independent, child initiated, play based activities.

Observation opportunities are more likely to occur when…

Practitioners organise resources and their time so they can capture the planned and spontaneous

Staff especially the key person are deployed to carry out good quality observations

Staff realise every interaction with children is an opportunity to learn more about them

Assumptions and Inferences

Objective anecdotes/incidental observations Focus on what the child did and said

Be factual

Be specific

Be brief

Format for anecdotal/incidental

Date each anecdote

Identify when, where and who

Describe what he child did and said, use quotes to document the child’s language

When applicable state the outcome

Guidelines for Narrative/Focused

Observations

Before the observation begins

Decide what you want to find out

Identify the child/ area

Identify the focus

During the observation… Find a spot close enough to the

child so that you can hear, but far enough away so that you are not intruding on the child’s actions

Write down an objective description of what the child actually does and say

During the observation…

Include the context

Include time markers

Develop your own shorthand

After the observation…

Link what you saw and heard to the focus

If you can, share the observation with your team

Identify the significant learning taking place and cross reference to other areas

Decide on support strategies and next steps

Judgements of children’s development and learning must be based on skills, knowledge , understanding and behaviour that are demonstrated consistently and independently

Consider a range of evidence displayed in different contexts and across areas of learning

Observe children in adult directed and child initiated activities

The assessment made is the best description of the child’s achievement

Effective assessment takes equal account of all aspects of the child’s development and learning

Tuning in to different skills children are developing e.g linguistic, physical creative etc.

Reflecting on all the dimensions revealed by the normal activities in the setting.

Accurate assessments are reliant upon taking account of contributions from a range of perspectives.

All adults who interact with the child,in the setting will contribute to the process

Assessments must actively engage parents in developing an accurate picture of the child’s development

Engage in a two way flow of information between family and setting, in order to meet the child’s needs and plan next steps together.

Parent’s Involvement

Support parents in describing their child’s attainment

Talk with parents and involve them in reviews of their children's achievements, including those demonstrated at home.

Children must be fully involved in their own assessment

Children are able to take ownership of their learning, when;

• they are encouraged to ask questions, make comments and share their own judgements about their development.

This is demonstrated when……….

Adults and children are involved in conversations about learning, when

they are involved in an activity. . .

...and when they review outcomes together

Children ask their own questions, talk about their thoughts and how they want to tackle a problem.

Adults ask probing, yet open- ended questions that encourage children to consider quality and processes of work and what to do next.

Record Keeping

It involves noting the most important elements of practitioners’, children’s and parents’ growing knowledge of what children know, understand, are interested in, feel and can do.

This is a continuous process, the record keeping documentation needs to be regularly updated.

Developmental progress tracking sheet, nursery profile and eProfile

Record-keeping must be meaningful and have a purpose.

The task of keeping records must be manageable and sustainable.

Records must capture the range of children’s attainment, achievement and progress.

My Journey through the Early Years Foundation Stage

Name: AR

Using ICT

Records will reflect the individuality of every child and the diversity of their backgrounds.

All significant participants in children’s development and learning should contribute to the information-gathering.

Records should be shared with the child.

Children and practitioners recording together

Link outcomes with the areas of learning

Learning Journey using ICT

All information from observations process will feed into the record keeping documentation.

Parents contributing to the record keeping process

Sharing their child’s experiences from home.What I would like to share.

Sheets available to parents. Examples of completed sheets could be displayed.

You may consider developing a record of milestones that the children have achieved while they are in the setting to give to parents.

Four principles for demonstrating progress:

1. Effective practitioners will be able to identify how individuals and groups of children in their setting have developed and progressed in their learning.

2. Effective approaches to assessment will generate information or data that can be used for a range of purposes.

Four principles for demonstrating progress:

3. Children’s progress must be identified and analysed through a range of appropriate evidence, the majority of this will be drawn from observation of child-initiated activity.

4. The complexity of young children’s development requires practitioners and managers to be able to understand a range of information in order to draw conclusions about children’s progress and the effectiveness of their provision.

This is demonstrated when practitioners adopt these strategies:

Identify and record a child’s starting points in the areas of Learning and Development, provided by observations and information shared by parents and other settings at times of transfer, or settings that also currently support the child.

Continue to build up individual pictures of each child’s learning and development primarily through observational assessment.

Review records regularly with the interested parties, including parents, to examine whether each child and group of children has made desirable progress.

Summarise records at times of transfer to describe attainment and to support appropriate planning for a child’s needs in the next setting.

Use the developmental progress tracking sheet,nursery profile summative sheet and eProfile to identify progress made during the year and to compare the rates of progress made in each area of learning and development.

Assessment, record-keeping and demonstrating progress in EYFS are not about assessing, recording and creating data sets designed to depress or enhance outcomes for ends such as improving added value.’ Creating the Picture pg.25

Information and data can be used to:

Reflect on assessments in order to support individual learning journeys.

Analyse their assessments to identify the needs of specific groups of learners.

Nursery profile, E profile data- use to track entry and exit.

Need to collate a range of evidence from observations and numerical data to demonstrate progress.

Reflect on their assessment data to evaluate the effectiveness of their setting.

KUW

Review and record changes in children’s attainment from starting points that capture the breadth of children’s involvement.

Name P.S.E.Development - Birth to 11months

Developmental MattersDisposition and AttitudesDevelop an understanding and awareness of themselvesLearn that they have influence on and are influenced by others.Learn that experiences can be shared

Evidence

Anecdotal/incidental

Developmental progress tracking sheet

Highlight developmental matters when achieved using observations, photographs as evidence.

How do we ensure that individual children make desirable progress?

Practitioners need a knowledge of child development and the areas of learning in the EYFS.

Practitioners need to be able to use resources, environment and themselves to appropriately support the child.

Practitioners need to be able to identify why some children are not making desirable progress.

Avoid tick lists and one-off tests as reliable demonstrations of progress.These do not create a well rounded picture of a child's attainment.

Judgements should be based on observation led evidence.

Remember….

Four principles for planning:

1. Planning puts the principles of EYFS into practice and ensures that children are given a full range of experiences across all six areas of learning and development.

2. Planning provides an opportunity to clarify thinking for all practitioners within the team and to come to common understandings about a philosophy and approach to children’s learning and development.

Four principles for planning:

3. Planning should be firmly based on observation of what has gone before and maps out how each child’s learning and development will or might progress

4. Planning should be sufficiently flexible to keep a focus on children’s individual needs and interests- children also learn from things which have not been planned for.

Planning pro formas and guidance

Suggestions only- but they cover all requirements for good practice

Different pro formas for 0-36 and 36+ to reflect different needs of children

Each plan has accompanying guidance

Plans will be sent by email to all schools and settings after they have attended training.

0-36 months Short term continuous curriculum

(resources/ environment)

Weekly Key person plan

Weekly Outdoor learning plan

Daily routine- no pro forma but guidance

36-60+ months Long term ( annual overview)

Medium term (termly) one for each area of learning and development

Short term plans weekly adult directed plan (for each area) continuous curriculum (adult initiated and child

initiated)outdoor weeklynarrative observation weekly

Daily routine- no pro forma but guidance

Completed planning are NOT EXAMPLERS• Not to be used in practice

• Planning pro formas are suggested formats

• Planning formats:• Must identify outdoor learning

• Must plan for CI & AI activities

• Must plan for focussed observation

• Must track children’s progress

• Planning can be annotated and may be changed to respond to children’s interests.

Please take time to look at the planning pro formas and

examples.

Questions and queries on post its

We will e mail:

Copy of the presentation Planning pro formas Developmental Record sheets

Future training

October 3rd - 1-4 pm Everything you need to know about the FSP October 17th 9-12 am Monitoring and Evaluating EYFS October 31st 9-3.30 pm Developing CLL Area of Learning and

Development November 1st 1-4 pm Creating an Outdoor Classroom November 7th 9-3.30 pm Developing PSE Area of learning and

Development