AnonyMouse_51722 Posted August 20, 2014 Posted August 20, 2014 Hello Just wondering how people go about initial assessments for new starters into Reception...what is the time scale for this? Thanks Pauline
AnonyMouse_3307 Posted August 20, 2014 Posted August 20, 2014 We advise within the first 4 weeks of the child's starting point. For Nursery class children in the same school you should just be recording the Nursery judgements (I would assume these would have been moderated and agreed as the outcome for the child at the end of last term in preparation) We also say it should be based on previous information from feeder settings, so you can focus on the children who have not been to anywhere or where records are not provided by feeder settings. Then it is about observing children and where appropriate adult focused activities to identify specific knowledge, e.g. security with conservation of number or specific awareness of speech sounds. For reception you need to get a sense of developmental stages in all the areas so where feeder settings don't assess outside of the Prime the specific areas need to be a focus area. Cx Cx 1
AnonyMouse_51722 Posted August 20, 2014 Author Posted August 20, 2014 Thank you...it was my 3.00am thought during the night!
AnonyMouse_3307 Posted August 20, 2014 Posted August 20, 2014 http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/are-you-ready-good-practice-school-readiness This is actually a very good read re transition into reception Cx 5
AnonyMouse_13453 Posted August 20, 2014 Posted August 20, 2014 Thank you Catma, that will be a useful read.
AnonyMouse_31469 Posted August 20, 2014 Posted August 20, 2014 Thank you for that document Catma it is really useful. I was pleased to see this post because I have been considering how we will collect our on entry data this year. I am in a new school in September. In my previous setting we used information from pre-schools, and observed for the first few weeks to gain evidence and to judge where the children were working within the development matters age bands.I hope this helps Pauline. My new school are keen for a more formal approach alongside this, using 1:1 assessments or focus activities to assess. Does anyone work in this way?
AnonyMouse_3307 Posted August 20, 2014 Posted August 20, 2014 My new school are keen for a more formal approach alongside this, using 1:1 assessments or focus activities to assess. Does anyone work in this way? We all will be come September 2016 I expect.
AnonyMouse_31469 Posted August 20, 2014 Posted August 20, 2014 Yes Catma I expect you are right we will be. I just wondered if anyone currently assesses on entry in this way as it is new to me and been left in my hands.
Guest tinkerbell Posted August 21, 2014 Posted August 21, 2014 We do more formal assessment .We have children from 7 different settings that join school in September with an assortment of assessments from their settings ,some children have even reached ELGs. I do look at the assessments and take them seriously but a confident child who has attended a setting from 6 months until ready for school may not be confident when they start big school! In my experience it is a big deal and they can be abit shaky and need lots of support....only natural. We have used the starting school baseline book from communication 4 all for many years now and if done in the first 2-3 weeks it gives a good basis for the first parents evening and a good overview of where the whole class is in terms of letter recognition,number recognition,confidence in speaking,talking about stories / rhymes,pencil work etc .....I know some people disapprove but the head teacher needs to know where the children start from and just observing their play wouldn't show all these elements. We also ask the children to bring in a treasure box (shoe box covered) full of their favourite things to share with us ....they will be collecting over the holiday...also a photo of their family to talk about.This always proves to be a success and talking about their things gives them confidence and pride.....we are able to build on their favourite things and plan activities and learning around them. As a cluster group in my LEA we have all decided to use the baseline booklet and the treasure box....at our first meeting we will discuss our findings....moderate! Tinkerbell
AnonyMouse_31469 Posted August 21, 2014 Posted August 21, 2014 Thank you for your response tinker bell. It's good to know what others do. We are also using the shoe box idea I hope it works well.
AnonyMouse_3307 Posted August 22, 2014 Posted August 22, 2014 I think whatever you do it's about recognising that just because the child is managing change, it doesn't delete their actual embedded (i.e. can do without an adult) skill set. Knowing what their "previous best" is is important so you can swiftly enable them to regain that confidence in what they can do. Cx
AnonyMouse_11485 Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 How do you move from the booklet to entering / developing / secure judgment in development matters, Tinkerbell?
Guest tinkerbell Posted September 1, 2014 Posted September 1, 2014 I would use the booklet in the first 2 weeks .I would use the booklet to give me a feel for where the children are in certain areas,it would support my initial assessments alongside lots of other activities in the classroomWhen the children work on a certain page eg recognising sounds I would chat with them about the sounds they knew ,eg is that sound in your name? Do you know a word beginning with that sound? Etc and using my judgement decide where they are in their developments.Last year I had some children who didn't recognise any letters and could not say the sounds they made and I had two little boys who could say all the sounds and some letter names I made a grid with children's names and letters and ticked off the ones they knew.This then helped me to plan activities for individual children and daily phonics sessions.It was also evidence for where the children started and if assessments are done each half term or term ,progress can be charted.
Guest Posted September 23, 2014 Posted September 23, 2014 We too have several pre-schools who feed into our Year R. We record the pre-school assessments by transferring them onto our own recording system, and generally find them very useful. However (there just had to be a snag!) one particular preschool has assessed most of the children as exceeding ELG's. The children concerned haven't shown themselves to be 'gifted and talented' in any area yet, though we are still settling. Please, I really don't want to upset people who are working very very hard to do the best for each child, but I am going to have a tricky conversation at some point soon. Anyone else done this? Any ideas about how to go about it would be gratefully received. I did wonder about inviting staff from feeder settings in to see what we do at this time of year as part of a transition project - would that be a way in?
Guest tinkerbell Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Sounds good Mary. Some sort of moderation would be good.Does your LEA have moderation meetings for nurseries and reception? Could you suggest it to them?
Guest Posted September 25, 2014 Posted September 25, 2014 We do, but this particular setting hasn't attended of late, nor did they respond to transition requests in the Summer term. I'm going to drop round tomorrow with my diary to invite them along to some joint training we're doing with a couple of other 'feeder settings' so I'll see how we go ourselves for now. Fingers crossed!
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