Pinderfields Hospital

Assessment

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

The EYFS Framework explains how and what your child will be learning to support their healthy development. It supports children from birth to the end of the year in which they turn 5 (their Reception year).

Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.

Children typically should mostly develop the 3 prime areas first. These are:

• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development

These prime areas are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning. As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

These 7 areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities. The professionals teaching and supporting your child will make sure that the activities are suited to your child’s unique needs. It is designed to be really flexible so that staff can follow your child's unique needs and interests. Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside.

At Forest Wood, we use an assessment tool called B Squared. B Squared breaks the assessment frameworks down into smaller steps of progression. Children in Reception are all assessed on the B Squared EYFS document. Where appropriate, they are also assessed using the Engagement Steps.

At the end of EYFS (Reception) it is compulsory for us to submit the level at which every child is working.

‘Practitioners must complete the EYFS profile for each child who will be 5 years old on, or before, 31 August 2020. Practitioners should make profile judgements based on; cumulative observational evidence recorded over the course of the year. The EYFS profile must be completed for each child and submitted to the Local Authority (Wakefield) no later than Friday 26 June.’

(Early years foundation stage assessment and reporting arrangements (ARA) October 2019)

Engagement Steps

All children in Year 1 and Year 2 are currently assessed on Engagement Steps. Engagement Steps are specifically designed for children where subject specific learning is not appropriate. (For example, their main learning foci are not solely English, maths, science, geography, history etc.)

The assessment is split into four broad areas. Each area is split into smaller groups. These are:

Cognition & Learning

• Responsiveness

Assessment of responsiveness should evaluate any change in a pupil’s behaviour that demonstrates he or she is being attentive to a new stimulus or reacting in a meaningful way. This type of assessment is important for establishing what differing stimuli motivate a pupil to pay attention. This is a prerequisite for learning. It is particularly relevant for assessing pupils with multiple sensory impairments who have reduced and/or atypical sensory awareness and perception.

• Curiosity

Assessment of curiosity demonstrates how a pupil is building on an initial reaction to a new stimulus, perhaps by reaching out or seeking the source of a new stimulus.

• Investigation

Assessment of investigation measures the extent to which a pupil is actively trying to find out more about an object or activity via prolonged, independent experimentation. This demonstrates a more advanced degree of autonomy than the other aspects of engagement and is important for ongoing learning.

• Discovery

Assessment of discovery provides information about the changing ways in which a pupil interacts with, or responds to, a new stimulus, sometimes accompanied by expressions such as enjoyment and excitement. Curiosity and discovery are closely linked. At a more advanced point of development they both help to demonstrate a pupil’s degree of interest in, and exploration of, activities and concepts. These both help to drive the acquisition of new knowledge and skills.

• Anticipation

Assessment of anticipation should demonstrate whether a pupil is able to predict, expect or associate a particular stimulus with an event. This is important for measuring a pupil’s concept of cause and effect.

• Persistence

Assessment of persistence measures the extent to which a pupil is sustaining attention towards a particular item or action and is therefore beginning to develop conceptual understanding. The ability to sustain attention is important for maintaining an activity long enough to develop the learning associated with it and for consolidating that learning.

• Initiation

Assessment of initiation demonstrates the different ways, and extent to which, a pupil investigates an activity or stimulus in order to bring about a desired outcome. It is an important part of developing the autonomy required for more advanced cognitive development and learning.

Communication & Interaction

• Expressive Communication

Assessment of Expressive Communication measures intentional and pre-intentional patterns of behaviour and communication which help the pupil get their needs met.

• Reception Communication

Assessment of Receptive Communication measures the extent to which a pupil comprehends simple verbal, symbolic and body language.

Social, Emotional and Mental Health

• Social Affection

Assessment of Social Affection measures the extent to which an individual uses the skills required in order to be able to get their needs met, co-operate with others and share understanding in their environment.

• Emotional Affection

Assessment of Emotional Affection measures the extent to which an individual uses the skills required in order to recognise their own feelings, control some behaviours and demonstrate their own emotions.

Sensory & Physical

 - Sensory Operation

• Visual

Assessment of Visual Sensory Operation measures the extent to which a pupil reacts to the sensation and perception of light.

• Auditory

Assessment of Auditory Sensory Operation measures the extent to which a pupil reacts to the sensation and perception of sound.

• Tactile

Assessment of Tactile Sensory Operation measures the extent to which a pupil reacts to the sensation and perception of touch.

• Olfactory/Gustatory

Assessment of Olfactory/Gustatory Sensory Operation measures the extent to which a pupil reacts to the sensation and perception of taste.

• Vestibular

Assessment of Vestibular Sensory Operation measures the extent to which a pupil reacts to the sensation and perception of balance and motion.

• Proprioceptive

Assessment of Proprioceptive Sensory Operation measures the extent to which a pupil reacts to the sensation and perception of one’s own body.

 - Physical Operation

• Fine Motor

Assessment of Fine Motor Physical Operation measures the extent to which a pupil controls the precise movements that use the small muscles of the fingers, toes, wrists, lips and tongue.

• Gross Motor

Assessment of Gross Motor Physical Operation measures the extent to which a pupil controls the bigger movements that use the large muscles in the arms, legs, torso and feet.

Each area has six stages of assessment, Engagement (E.) Step 1-6. 

Children who are engaging in subject specific learning will also be assessed for the areas they are accessing using the Pre-key stage 1 standards as set out by the government.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pre-key-stage-1-standards

Statutory Assessments and Key Stage One SATS

In the summer term of year one, pupils are expected to take the Year One Phonics Screening Check if they are able. The check is designed to see if pupils' reading skills are in line with national expectations. Almost all of our pupils have communication and language difficulties, and are often not learning at age related expectations. However, if pupils are able to access the materials we will support them to complete the test. There is also the opportunity to take the test in year 2 for pupils who might be able to access this. 

Pupils who have accessed academic material which is age-appropriate may access the end of year two assessments. Unlike those at year 6, the year 2 SATs are marked by staff in school and the results are not reported nationally. These tests are used to support the teacher's judgement about the attainment of a pupil. If your child is to take any of these tests, this information would be shared with you and we would discuss how we would support your child during the testing.

Other Assessments

The above areas are not the only ones in which a child will develop and make progression. Alongside the above, as appropriate to each individual child, we assess:

• The Stages of Play
• Intensive Interaction
• The Stages of Communication
• Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
• Stages of Development for Objects of Reference
• Attention Autism
• Significant Achievements

This list is not exhaustive and we will continue to develop it as required.