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This is "Embedding Assessment in the EYFS" by Norfolk County Council on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

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Unconscious Bias in the Observation, Assessment and Planning Process

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Observations are subject to unconscious bias because they are subjective – they are based on our interpretation of what we can see. Our unconscious biases are often rooted in the feelings, attitudes and beliefs that help us to navigate the world, and can led to prejudice and unfair treatment of o...

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Being an effective Early Years practitioner and educator is a complex process.

As we get to know and understand the children we work with, we are constantly reflecting on and adapting what we do to ensure every child makes progress in their areas of learning and development - becoming more knowledgeable, skilled, thoughtful and confident.

Understanding and being able to explain to staff, parents and carers, and the wider world how we do this is really important, and one crucial way of understanding the process is by recognising three key elements of Early Years practice - Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Assessment.

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What is the difference between curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment in the early years?

Although they are intricately linked, and all contribute to what we do, Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Assessment do have separate functions:

Curriculum is the content, the 'what' that we want children to know. We all have aspirations for what we want children to know and be able to do. This is usually a mixture of what an external 'prescribed' curriculum - such as the statutory framework of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in England - sets out as early learning goals or outcomes, and what we value as educators and know children need in order to be successful in the widest sense. You now can create, edit, improve, and document your curriculum in Famly.

Pedagogy is the process we use to teach children - or in other words to 'deliver' the curriculum. We adapt our activities, questioning, conversations and even our choice of resources to help shape a child's own way of gaining the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need.

Assessment is how we know this is working, and how we understand the children well enough to understand what 'curriculum' they need and what 'pedagogy' is likely to be most effective in delivering it.

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Who is the Curriculum for?

The recent (re)emphasis on the EYFS Curriculum has become an intense focus for debate, especially in Early Years where that curriculum has to be about more than just acquiring knowledge. It also needs to include the learning of key skills and behaviours and support social and emotional development.

This debate has rightly shifted to looking very carefully at a new, responsive curriculum that meets the needs and supports children who have found themselves in unique, unprecedented circumstances.

But still, the process of looking clearly at the content of what children need to learn, and ensuring that it is necessary, appropriate and meaningful is an important self-reflective task and one of our key responsibilities as educators.

As children return, settle and thrive, re-adapt to their environment and forge their identities while making sense of this changed landscape, we will need to continue reshaping and refining what we do. Because we need to make sure that their needs are being met and that their progress - in all the aspects we consider to be important - is being planned for and delivered.

As a key reference point to help you start thinking about your own curriculum, investigate the future and what children are about to transfer over to their next setting, class, or room and ask ourselves questions like:

What is it we want for these children in terms of their learning, development, and care?

What do we want them to know and be able to do?

How do we want them to 'be'?

How does our nursery curriculum support children's transition to reception classes?

Why your curriculum shouldn't stay the same

In order to do this, we need to remember that the curriculum doesn't have to remain the same - it is something fluid and constantly developing.

Children do not 'finish' the curriculum or complete the EYFS framework, but continually add new knowledge and skills and critically deepen their understanding of what it all means to them. That's why children should apply their 'ownership' of the curriculum content and then use it to further their understanding. Our role then is to provide opportunities to support them where appropriate, challenge them where appropriate and constantly assess it so that progress is ensured.

Our assessment of children will help us decide how and what this might be and in turn influence the pedagogy of how we can make it happen.

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The Curriculum and 'next steps'

This whole process is sometimes described as 'next steps' in learning but this must not be interpreted as a simplistic 'ticking off' of one statement of Development Matters after another. It is much more about developing a broad and deep understanding of how a child engages with the aspects of the curriculum that we have decided are important and how they progress and develop.

It's also how we ensure they can secure the knowledge and skills they need while also being confident that the child 'owns' and makes sense of them. As with the difference between assessment (knowing and understanding a child) and recording (documenting aspects of this), this understanding of 'curriculum delivery' is not a paper or electronic exercise but how we develop an intuitive, responsive and informed reaction to taking children's learning and understanding forward.

‍Let's take a look at this process in practice, in order to understand how our thinking needs to work and to be aware of how the decisions we make need to be taken.

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Curriculum example one

Specific area of learning: Mathematical development - counting

‍So if we start with a concrete example of curriculum intention, Mathematical Development - Counting, we can see how this concept develops and progresses.

The bullets below are not an exhaustive list, but should give you a simple overview as an example of what the progression and development of counting might start to look like in practice. What's important here is that it accumulates and deepens at each informal stage, but it remains a clear 'outcome' too. This is the nature and purpose of Curriculum:

Showing an awareness of different amounts of objects

Being familiar with the language of number

Knowing that numbers relate to amounts of objects

Understanding that numbers have names

Knowing the sequence of numbers

Counting small amounts of objects one at a time

Understanding that the last number is the amount in total

Counting larger amounts of numbers

So as educators, we should have these informal stages 'internalised' so that we are ready to see them in practice and make a judgement about how secure and confident a child is with it (assessment).

Then, we can make a decision on whether or not it's ready to be extended to the next informal stage - with new knowledge and skills, or whether it needs deepening for the child so that they are fully secure. At this point it's about considering how best this would happen, what activities, questioning, provocation and possible resources might help us to do this (pedagogy)

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Specific stage: Counting small amounts of objects

Let's try to understand this in action by taking a specific stage from the list above.

Take for example the statement 'Counting small amounts of objects one at a time'. A child might start doing this as a self-led activity, possibly wordlessly, arranging a small number of objects together.

As the adult you might notice this and model counting them out loud and encouraging the child to do so as well. Still exploring the concept, you know that it would probably not be appropriate to extend the amount of numbers at this point, so your next action would be to provide a range of additional opportunities to deepen the skill on a small amount of objects. You could try reinforcing this sensitively in different contexts, asking the child to give you 2 or 3 of something, and ensuring that during number rhymes or stories with numbers you're consistently reinforcing the idea and making it explicit.

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Following all of this support, challenge, reinforcement and rehearsal, you'll then be able to decide (through ongoing observational assessment and your knowledge and understanding of the child) when it would be appropriate to move the expectation forward, to the 'next step' of larger numbers.

This isn't a formal 'next step', as much of what I have described happens continually and alongside many other aspects of learning and development. Instead, it's a decision that the child's progression in this one area is ready to be extended. It's also crucial to acknowledge the importance of opportunities for 'deepening' their understanding before this and that knowledge of this concept isn't defined by a single activity that is 'completed' but a professional judgement made over time and with careful consideration.

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Curriculum example two:

Specific area of learning: Personal, social and emotional development - resilience

Although the principles I just described are the same across all aspects of learning, we need to be aware that some of the most important aspects of an Early Years Curriculum often appear to be less linear in nature and more about supporting critical learning 'behaviours'.

While the process and approach to teaching behaviours may be significantly different, it's still vital that we identify them within our own requirements of a curriculum. It gives behaviours the value and status they need, setting them alongside the equally important knowledge and skills required to be able to count as described in the example above.

On top of that, we need to be prepared that these aspects do also require a progressive development as detailed below - one that supports, challenges, and extends the idea, while reflecting and being informed by our pedagogy in an equal way.

Let us take, for example, the idea of 'resilience' - an attribute and behaviour that we all seek to introduce and develop in the children we work with. Essentially, resilience is the ability to cope with setbacks and 'bounce back'. It's about persisting in an activity, situation or challenge and remaining committed to completing or resolving it despite any unexpected difficulties that come about. We want children to persevere in what they are doing and utilise other knowledge and skills to continue their learning.

So how might this look as a progression in a curriculum context?

Motivation to move, explore, investigate.

Select the use of a particular resource or activity and persist for a period of time

Set individual goals or their own objectives and pursue them until they're achieved

Restart or modify self-led activities when challenges occur

Respond to external challenges - from adults or peers - and adapt activities and goals accordingly

Respond to questions and provocations from adults and peers

Be able to articulate how challenges and setbacks were resolved or addressed

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How do we support and challenge resilience with our pedagogy?

It is unusual for babies and toddlers to lack persistence in mastering physical skills and exploring the world around them, so if this does happen you need to respond by ensuring that there are ample opportunities for the children to do this.

In a secure environment with plenty of possibilities, children will motivate and manage themselves to achieve their self-led goals. As children develop, this behaviour becomes more sophisticated and complex, and they have a bigger range of knowledge and skills to draw upon. At this stage, you can start to help by setting up challenges that might nudge the child out of their 'comfort zone', into a 'manageable difficulty' that they will need to think about in order to resolve.

Again, as an adult who knows and understands the child, you need to judge success would look like, and extend thinking and persistence without making it disheartening and impossible. Careful scaffolding, modelling and above all encouraging talk to accompany difficult moments are key aspects of supportive pedagogy which will extend the behaviour.

Understanding Curriculum as the core part of everything we do and how the things it contains are seamlessly woven into our interactions and reflections, enable us to become more confident about describing the process and the impact of what we help children to achieve. Its objective of deepening a child's understanding and ensuring a proactive appropriate progression drives the imaginative, inspired pedagogy that makes this real and leads us to reflect - through assessment - on the difference we have made.

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How to Build Your Own Early Years Curriculum | Famly

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Get insights from Jan Dubiel all about how you can be an effective early years educator and the value of building your own curriculum.

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Thought provoking video about curriculum development

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Thought provoking video about curriculum development

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Curriculum and the problem with next steps - Julian Grenier | The Famly Interview

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Assessment beyond levels in the early years: improving learning for all children

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The DFE published the revised Development Matters in September 2020 so that the sector has a full year to get used to the new document b…

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Revised EYFS Statutory Framework from September 2021

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Revised EYFS Statutory Framework from September 2021

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Working with the revised Early Years Foundation Stage : Principles into Practice by Julian Grenier

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Working with the revised Early Years Foundation Stage : Principles into Practice by Julian Grenier

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Birth To 5 Matters - Guidance by the sector, for the sector

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Birth to 5 Matters is published by Early Education on behalf of the Early Years Coalition. Early Education is a registered charity in England and Wales (no. 313082) and in Scotland (no. SC039472) and a company limited by guarantee. View our Privacy notice

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Foundation Years LED events: Self-regulation in the early years -  Dr Suzanne Zeedyk

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Opportunities for reflection with the new EYFS reforms

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Forthcoming changes to the early learning goals and the new EYFS reforms provide teachers and leaders with the opportunities to really open the discussion around our practice and approaches to teaching, learning, assessment and the curriculum in early years. It’s important that we embrace this op...

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For you and your children

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Opportunities for reflection with the new EYFS reforms

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Forthcoming changes to the early learning goals and the new EYFS reforms provide teachers and leaders with the opportunities to really open the discussion around our practice and approaches to teaching, learning, assessment and the curriculum in early years. It’s important that we embrace this op...

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The new Development Matters with the author Dr Julian Grenier

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Lots of lovely ideas for calming children.

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Lots of lovely ideas for calming children.

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Nursery World article about positive relationships

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Nursery World article about positive relationships

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Relationships that are warm and nurturing are vital to children's PSED

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Revised EYFS - In focus... Personal, Social and Emotional Development

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Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates.

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David Whitebread - What is self-regulation? - Siren Films

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And that work has really made our understanding, of what Vygotsky meant by self-regulation at the individual level, much more clear and precise. Being self-regulated or being very cognitively controlled, turn out to be really, really important.

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A journal sharing evidence about the importance of self regulation and metacognition in the early years

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A journal sharing evidence about the importance of self regulation and metacognition in the early years

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In recent years there has been an enormous expansion  of  interest  in  the  development of self-regulation in young children. Research has provided clear evidence about the early emergence of self-regulation in young children, its crucial significance in all aspects of development, and the extent to which it is influenced by early experience. In this special issue, four examples are presented of areas of children’s activity in ECE settings which can dramatically influence the development of young children’s self-regulation.

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Practical resource effectively identifying common behavioural difficulties in early years

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Practical resource effectively identifying common behavioural difficulties in early years

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Common Difficulties In Early Years Children & Babies | Common Mental Health Difficulties Early Years | Anna Freud

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Early years children can experience a range of difficulties including agression, anxiety, and tantrums. Find out more about some of the common difficulties that arise and how you can help with them.

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Rethinking behaviour: a guide from Famly

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Rethinking behaviour: a guide from Famly

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Early years child behaviour expert Sue Cowley writes about self-regulation, self-reflective practice, and how to deal with extreme child behaviour. You’ll also read about how Leuven Scales can help from an interview with Dr. Sue Allingham

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Free Guide: Rethinking Child Behaviour In The Early Years | Famly

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How do you deal with behaviour in the early years? Sue Cowley and Sue Allingham help us explore self-regulation, behaviour, Leuven Scales and more.

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children's story about feelings and emotions

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children's story about feelings and emotions

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How can we help more people to understand what attachment is and how it works? The scientific community may talk a lot about it, but parents have often never heard of it - even though this information would be very helpful to them! Maybe what we need is a different language for explaining it? That's why I've taken to using the language of Sabre Tooth Tigers & Teddy Bears.

The phrase 'Sabre Tooth Tigers & Teddy Bears' is helpful in all sorts of ways. It makes us more curious about what is driving the children's behaviour. It gets us to respond more empathically. And it captures the underlying scientific theory. So whenever I am talking about attachment these days, I always draw on the metaphor of Sabre Tooth Tigers & Teddy Bears.

What is attachment?

Attachment is the biological need that all babies are born with that drives them to bond with their caregivers. The immature nature of human brains means that babies can't handle emotions on their own, so they need the help of other people. That's why brains are born immensely observant. Babies notice the facial expressions, bodily movements and responsiveness of other people. They are much more observant than most people imagine and certainly more observant than adults.

A baby's brain needs that power of observation. It is trying to work out the best ways of getting parents' help and attention. Babies feel like they need that attention a lot! And they really really do. They can't feel safe without it.

Babies have lots of strong emotions - fear, joy, frustration, disappointment, surprise, anger, boredom, discomfort, loneliness. Any of those emotions can become overwhelming for them. That's why they need a caregiver's help. The adult can help to 'contain' those emotions, so that the baby isn't left handling the feelings on their own.

With help, and over time, the baby's body and brain develop the capacity to handle strong emotions. This is called 'self-regulation'. Attachment is the process that helps a child to grow a strong self-regulatory system. Without the ability for self-regulation, mental health problems develop, as well as physical health problems and behavioural difficulties.

Why is the language of Sabre Tooth Tigers & Teddy Bears helpful?

The language of Sabre Tooth Tigers & Teddy Bears captures two key insights that the science of attachment has discovered over the past several decades.

The first is the frequency of babies' anxieties. Babies can be scared of all sorts of things that surprise grown-ups. They are scared of being left alone in the hallway. They are scared when a stranger leans in too close, even if she's smiling. They get scared if they can't find you because you are behind them, pushing the buggy. I could list hundreds of these examples.

Talking about 'Sabre Tooth Tigers' helps to remind adults of such anxieties. The fear comes from long ago in our evolutionary past, when predators like tigers roamed villages. Babies, who can't yet run away from predators, needed to be able to call on someone to come and help. That's what kept them alive! The ability to get someone to come and help when you are feeling scared is part of the baby's survival system.

The second insight from the science of attachment is the importance of comfort. That's captured by the reference to 'Teddy Bears'. All of us know that the whole point of a teddy bear is to provide reassurance.

Responsive attention from parents and other key adults helps a baby to grow an 'internal teddy bear'. It helps babies to develop a self-regulatory system that will last throughout life, which will be good at keeping them calm, even in moments when strong emotions are swirling. This capacity to remain calm will be important throughout their life! It will guard against mental and physical health problems, and will prevent relationship difficulties.

Who is now using the language of Sabre Tooth Tigers & Teddy Bears?

This language is proving helpful to all sorts of people. This includes childcare staff, early years workers, social workers, teachers, health practitioners, foster carers and many others, as well as mums, dads, grannies and granddads. Many organisations and local authorities have embraced it and use it in their training and even in their policies.

After becoming familiar with this language, people often remark that they had found the traditional language of attachment theory, such as 'secure' and 'insecure' attachment, to be confusing. This new metaphorical language helps them to feel more confident and informed. That's why I now use it whenever I am training people on the subject of attachment.

If you'd like to read more about Sabre Tooth Tigers & Teddy Bears, you might could read my Brief Guide to Attachment, available from the shop on the connected baby website.

If you'd like to hear others talking about this approach to understanding attachment, you can see that in this film.

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Sabre Tooth Tigers & Teddy Bears - Suzanne Zeedyk

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How can we help more people to understand what attachment is and how it works? The scientific community may talk a lot about it, but parents have often never heard of it - even though this information would be very helpful to them! Maybe what we need is a different language for explaining it?

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Tasks and activities for Starting Point Assessment training

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Tasks and activities for Starting Point Assessment training

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All five tasks in one easy document

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Discussion activity

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A journal sharing evidence about the importance of self regulation and metacognition in the early years

# data[].attributes.subject
A journal sharing evidence about the importance of self regulation and metacognition in the early years

# data[].attributes.body
In recent years there has been an enormous expansion  of  interest  in  the  development of self-regulation in young children. Research has provided clear evidence about the early emergence of self-regulation in young children, its crucial significance in all aspects of development, and the extent to which it is influenced by early experience. In this special issue, four examples are presented of areas of children’s activity in ECE settings which can dramatically influence the development of young children’s self-regulation.

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Information about the development of self-regulation

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Rethinking behaviour: a guide from Famly

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Rethinking behaviour: a guide from Famly

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Early years child behaviour expert Sue Cowley writes about self-regulation, self-reflective practice, and how to deal with extreme child behaviour. You’ll also read about how Leuven Scales can help from an interview with Dr. Sue Allingham

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Free Guide: Rethinking Child Behaviour In The Early Years | Famly

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How do you deal with behaviour in the early years? Sue Cowley and Sue Allingham help us explore self-regulation, behaviour, Leuven Scales and more.

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nasen is delighted to announce that we have secured further funding from the DfE to extend our work on the Early Years Resilience Development Pack for parents and practitioners.

The 58-page resource has been popular with parents and practitioners as it is useful for supporting all young children, but particularly those with SEND, in these challenging and uncertain times.

Over the next few weeks, we will be producing some brand-new materials to support the use of the pack, as well as creating 12 new webcasts which will be freely accessible via the nasen website. We have also scheduled 8 new webinars for practitioners to support their use of the pack within their Early Years settings.

The first 90- minute webinar on the 12th of March will be an introduction to the development of resilience and gives a full overview of the pack and how to use it to gain the best possible outcomes for children.

The following 7 webinars will then focus on one day of the week and re-visit the suggested activities in more depth. Find out more about 'Movement Mondays', 'Turn-taking Tuesdays', 'Well-being Wednesdays', 'Thoughtful Thursdays' and 'First Time Friday's'. There will also be an opportunity to put any questions you may have to its author, Julie Revels, who will be delivering each webinar.

And if you have already had the chance to use the pack in your setting, feel free to attend one of the sessions and share your experiences with us!

A selection of the Resilience Development Pack resources can be found below, to view all resilience development resources, click the button below.

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Early Years Resilience Development Pack '7 Days, Many Ways: Developing Resilience Through Relationships'

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nasen is delighted to announce that we have secured further funding from the DfE to extend our work on the Early Years Resilience Development Pack for parents and practitioners. The 58-page resource has been popular with parents and practitioners as it is useful for supporting all young children, but particularly those with SEND, in these challenging and uncertain times.

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Assessment for children who need more support to access your curriculum

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Assessment for children who need more support to access your curriculum

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EYFS Embedding Assessment Practices Session 2

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This is "EYFS Embedding Assessment Practices Session 2" by Norfolk County Council on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

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Early years foundation stage (EYFS) for group and school-based providers

Does Ofsted expect schools to use the government's non-statutory guidance, 'Development Matters', when developing and shaping their EYFS curriculum?

The EYFS 's educational programmes provide the framework for the curriculum. It is up to schools to decide how to expand, extend and broaden these. It is for schools to decide what guidance to use when developing and shaping their curriculums.

Ofsted inspects providers in line with the principles and requirements of the EYFS. Schools may find it helpful to use 'Development Matters', but we do not inspect against this guidance.

Will Ofsted expect to see curriculum maps for every area of learning in the early years?

We are clear that what children learn in the early years is incredibly important for their future success; it is the foundation of children's learning. But it is for schools to decide how to talk about the early years curriculum with inspectors. Some schools may choose to map this out, but others may present what they do in a different way. Ofsted does not have a preferred view on how schools design their curriculum in early years.

Inspectors will want to understand how schools design the early years curriculum to give children the foundational knowledge and understanding they will need for key stage 1 and for the rest of their schooling.

Our inspection handbooks for registered early years providers and for schools make it clear that curriculum planning does not need to be in any specific format. It is up to providers to determine the format of their planning, and it is up to leaders to justify these plans based on what they want children to encounter, explore and learn in school.

The curriculum in a primary school starts when children first join in the early years, be that the nursery or Reception class. Inspectors will want to understand how the curriculum in early years is the foundation for key stage 1, as well as to understand how knowledge builds in a sequence from nursery to year 6.

Inspectors will want to understand how learning in key stage 1 and beyond builds on the curriculum in the early years.

Will Ofsted expect providers to show the progress of a child tracked against the revised non-statutory guidance, 'Development Matters'?

Ofsted does not ask to see any internal tracking or assessment information. Our school inspection handbook outlines how we will gather evidence during an inspection, through talking to leaders, teachers and children about what they are learning.

We know that early years practitioners are skilled at getting to know children and finding out what they know and can do. This is what is important. Whatever 'system' schools have in place for assessing young children should not take adults away from those important interactions.

Inspectors do not expect to see documentation other than that set out in the EYFS framework. They will use the evidence gathered from discussions and observations to judge the overall quality of the curriculum provided for children.

How will inspectors consider progress?

Ofsted considers the curriculum as a progression model. By progress, we mean that children know more, remember more and can do more of what was intended in the curriculum, which are the EYFS learning and development requirements.

In early years, progress might mean:

for example, knowing the sounds of farm animals, knowing that an oven gets hot, knowing the meaning of countless words and knowing what facial expressions suggest

'know how' - for example, knowing how to hold a pair of scissors, knowing how to catch a ball, knowing that we should take turns and how to do so, knowing how to dress and undress a doll and knowing how to hold and turn the pages of a book

knowing behaviours and habits for the future - for example, knowing to look at the teacher, knowing to listen when others speak and knowing that we sit and listen to stories

for children in Reception, learning to write letter sounds and numbers

We can say that these have been learned when they are remembered.

Inspectors will want to see that the curriculum on offer sequences the knowledge that children need. They will look at what staff teach children, and whether children know and remember that curriculum.

Will Ofsted prefer to see paper assessments rather than those recorded electronically?

No. There is no prescribed way of carrying out or recording assessments, as long as assessment is effective and helps children's learning, development and progress.

We know that early years practitioners are skilled at getting to know children and finding out what they know and can do. This is what is important. Whatever system schools have in place for assessing young children should not take adults away from those important interactions.

Does Ofsted expect me to use formal language when speaking with children?

No. Ofsted does not have set expectations about what words you use. However, inspectors will check that you are meeting the communication and language requirements set out in the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage. Inspectors will check whether children are experiencing a language-rich environment and an accurate use of words over time. Informal words or less accurate words may form an occasional part of this, such as 'doggie' when talking about a dog or 'ta' for 'thank you', when helping a child move from using a familiar informal word to a more accurate one. As a result, an inspector would not judge a provider negatively solely on the occasional use of informal language. However, it is important that children are exposed to accurate use of language over time. In our inspection handbook, we explain that inspectors will evaluate whether practitioners communicate well to check children's understanding, identify misconceptions and provide clear explanations, in order to improve children's learning.

Inspection practice

When carrying out deep dives, will inspectors want to see national curriculum subjects, rather than the EYFS areas of learning, being taught in Reception?

The EYFS framework sets out the statutory requirements for learning and development for children up to and including Reception year.

During this time, the curriculum should cover the 7 areas of learning. Early years leaders need to ensure that children experience a curriculum that is broad and ambitious, to develop their vocabulary and prepare them for their next stage of learning.

When carrying out deep dives in subjects, inspectors will not expect to see discrete lessons or teaching in those deep dive subjects in the early years. They will be looking at the foundational knowledge children gain in that subject in the 7 areas of learning. This is the foundational knowledge that prepares children for learning in that subject from Year 1 onwards, and is clearly set out in the EYFS learning and development requirements.

Does Ofsted expect the national curriculum in a primary school to start when children first join in the early years?

Inspectors will want to know how key stage 1 builds on the knowledge that children learn in the early years. They will want to look at the curriculum through the eyes of a child from the moment children join the school to the time that they leave.

For example, when an inspector is doing a deep dive in history, they will also look at what foundational knowledge Reception year children learn about the world around them and about the past. While inspectors would not expect to see a 'history lesson', they might ask leaders and teachers about their plans for children to learn the foundational knowledge, such as 'castle' and 'king', that will enable them to understand history from Year 1 onwards. Conversations with leaders and teachers in the EYFS might direct inspectors to look at how the choices of stories that are read to children and the nursery rhymes and books that are shared with them give children an insight into foundational historical concepts for access to history lessons in key stage 1.

Discussions might also shine a light on concepts that children learn during circle times, such as the nature of change and ageing when talking about family members; for example, if children know about how families are constructed, this will enable them to learn about 'royal families' in history later on.

As stated above, we set no expectations or requirements for planning or paperwork. This is up to schools to determine.

When should schools start teaching early reading?

The EYFS makes it clear that the development of children's spoken language underpins all 7 areas of learning. The revised EYFS emphasises the importance of developing children's vocabulary, to help them with reading comprehension and writing when they are older. The more words children can use, the easier they will find making sense of what they read.

Part 2 of the school inspection handbook sets out what inspectors will look for when inspecting the teaching of early reading in infant, junior, primary and lower-middle schools, and how well the school teaches children to read from the beginning of Reception.

The section 'Evaluating early years and sixth-form provision on graded inspections' set out how inspectors will reach their judgements on the quality of education in the early years.

When judging the quality of education, inspectors will want to see that:

practitioners ensure that their own speaking, listening and reading of English enable children to hear and develop their own language and vocabulary well

practitioners read to children in a way that excites and engages them, introducing new ideas, concepts and vocabulary

practitioners share information with parents about their child's progress in relation to the EYFS. They help parents to support and extend their child's learning at home, including how to encourage a love of reading

children develop detailed knowledge and skills across the 7 areas of learning and use these in an age-appropriate way. Children develop their vocabulary and understanding of language across the EYFS curriculum

children enjoy, listen attentively to and respond with comprehension to familiar stories, rhymes and songs that are appropriate to their age and stage of development

While we do not define exactly when children should start phonics in the Reception class, as this is up to schools to decide, schools should start as soon as possible. They should not wait to start teaching early reading until the baseline assessment is complete. Inspectors will want to understand how schools design the reading curriculum to give children the best start in Reception, so that they are well on the way to becoming fluent readers.

The DfE published 'The reading framework' in July 2021. It provides helpful guidance to schools about the early stages of both reading and writing, including language comprehension. The section on children at risk of reading failure may also be particularly helpful to schools supporting individuals who need extra help to get back on track.

How does the education inspection framework apply to the teaching of early reading in schools that have an exemption from the learning and development requirements of the EYFS?

The formal teaching of reading may be delayed by an exemption from the learning and development requirements of the EYFS. In these cases, inspectors will hear children from years 5 to 6 read instead of years 1 to 3. They will listen to pupils read from unseen books appropriate to their stage of progress to see whether they have the reading knowledge and skills, including the phonic knowledge, appropriate for a child in years 5 to 6. This will inform the quality of education judgement. Further information is available in the non-association independent schools inspection handbook (paragraphs 210 to 215).

Are there flexibilities in place for providers that are facing recruitment and retention issues?

Paragraph 3.40 of the EYFS framework for group and school based providers states:

Exceptionally, and where the quality of care and safety and security of children is maintained, changes to the ratios may be made.

Early years settings and schools, however, remain responsible for ensuring the safety and security of children in their care. Inspectors will want to understand how providers are continuing to meet this requirement if temporarily using the existing ratio flexibilities set out in the EYFS framework.

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The EYFS 's educational programmes provide the framework for the curriculum. It is up to schools to decide how to expand, extend and broaden these. It is for schools to decide what guidance to use when developing and shaping their curriculums. Ofsted inspects providers in line with the principles and requirements of the EYFS.

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Written by Buckinghamshire Council this gives a good overview and guidance

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Further advice

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Help for Early Years providers from the government

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Help for Early Years providers from the government

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This has more indepth information to help with curriculum building and assessment

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We'd also like to use analytics cookies so we can understand how you use this service and make improvements.

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Different types of observation by Kathie Brodie

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There are a host of ways to conduct and record observations of young children, and each one can tell us something different, says Kathy Brodie...
The most important occupation of any early years teacher is to observe the children in their care at play. You can really get to know your charges by making careful observations and using these to tune into the child's interests.

There are a number of observational techniques that you can use to do this effectively. Before starting any observation, however, it is sensible to consider your reasons for carrying out the observation, so that you can capture the most pertinent information. For example, investigating a child's social circle will need a different technique to an investigation of their proficiency with number. The following examples of observational techniques will help you to tune into your children's interests and developmental needs. A word of warning - you must always ensure that you have permission to make observations of the children from someone who has legal parental responsibility, and anyone recording observations must be respectful of the children's wishes.

1. Magic moments

These are the briefest observations that you can make. They are usually captured on 'post-it' notes or sticky labels, which can be easily put into a learning journey or child's developmental folder. This is the quickest way to record an observation and usually the most convenient for practitioners, who can often be seen carrying notepads around their settings. Practitioners should note anything that is a 'first', for example, the first time a child climbs steps unaided, and also anything particular to that child, for example, a fascination with linking the trains together. Practitioners who know their children well will be able to note anything unusual or exceptional about the child's play at that moment. The aim of this type of observation is to build a picture about children's interests and development from many pieces of information.

2. Narrative

The narrative observation, sometimes called a 'long' observation, is an extended written account of an activity. It may include a verbatim record of the language used by the child, level of involvement and other children that they play with, and may also include a photo. Ideally the child's key person should record a narrative observation, as he or she is most likely to understand the context of the play. The practitioner usually observes the child for 20 minutes to half an hour, so as much information as possible can be recorded. As this method takes much longer and is much more detailed than the magic moment, it is used less frequently. The narrative observation may be planned in advance to ensure that every child in the nursery is observed in this way once every half-term, for example.

3. Learning stories

Learning stories are longer observations, made over a much longer period of time. They are based on the child's interests, their level of involvement, persistence, communication and taking responsibility. They are written as a story in the first person, as if the practitioner were talking to the child and explaining what they had observed. Examples of these may be an extended record of how a child got out the paints, chose a particular paintbrush and carefully composed a self-portrait. The relevance of each step is explained and reflected on at the end of the 'story'. These are illustrated with photographs. Care must be taken not to simply annotate the photographs but to produce a reflective, thoughtful story to accompany them. The parents or carers are encouraged to add their own comments at the end of the learning story.

This observational method takes a bit longer than the magic moments and narrative, but it gives a really personal dialogue between child, practitioner and parents. It is particularly valuable for children who are just starting at nursery or for boosting self-esteem.

4. Time sample

In a time sample observation, an observation of a child is made every five minutes over a set period of time, usually an hour. The observations are only brief but will include the activity the child is engaged in, which area of the nursery they are in and the level of involvement at that particular time. The practitioner will need to be able to make the observations regularly, which can be a challenge in a free-flow environment, but each observation will take less than a minute to record.

This type of observation is very useful for recording a child's level of interest in types of activities, and their disposition. For example, it may become obvious from this sort of observation that the child spent an hour in different parts of the nursery but always doing construction activities; or that a child never engaged in writing activities, even though he or she played in several areas that had writing opportunities.

5. Tracking

To record a tracking observation you must first have a floor plan of the setting, including the outdoors. The practitioner observes and notes on the floor plan the area in the nursery that their child visits and how long they were at each activity or area. The child may be tracked for a long or short time, depending on the type of information required. For example, if the observation is to help understand why a child seems to flit from activity to activity, the practitioner could observe for the morning session. The observations may show from this that the child is, in fact, transporting items from one area of the nursery to another, because he or she has a transporting schema.

The tracking observations of all the children can be collated to analyse the areas of the nursery that are being used by certain groups of children. For example, is it always the girls who access the book corner? Do the younger children tend to use the sand more than the older ones?

6. Sociogram

A less well-used observational technique is the sociogram. These are observations of the social groups that children play in. The practitioner observes the children that their focus child is playing with, what they are playing and for how long. When the child plays with different children, or changes activities with the same children, this is noted.

This observational technique can be used throughout the nursery so that the growing social development of the child can be observed and tracked.

Some children will play with a close social group all day, whereas others will move easily between groups. Occasionally some children seem not to play with anyone, but on closer observation you may find they actually have a large social circle but only spend time briefly with each of their friends. This information can give a very powerful image of the child's social groups and social competence.

Choosing a technique

The choice of observational technique will depend on the time that practitioners have available and the reason for making the observation. Each method requires the practitioner to have an observational skill set. Ironically, the most skill is required to complete the shortest observation, the magic moment. This is because the practitioner must recognise the moment to begin with and then record it quickly, succinctly and accurately. It may be worth considering starting less-experienced practitioners on a tracking or sociogram method until they are confident in recording observations. It is essential to use a range of methods so practitioners can get a breadth and depth of knowledge about the children in their care. Similarly, different practitioners will observe through the lens of their own experiences, recording different aspects of children's development. For example, a practitioner who has training in children's physical development is more likely to record observations of motor skills whilst someone who is trained in musical development may record musical pitch.

By using close observation of children, practitioners can reveal a wealth of information, from interests to social group to dispositions.
Kathy Brodie is an EYP and trainer based in East Cheshire. Get more advice on making observations here or visit kathybrodie.com
You may also be interested in...

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Making Observations | Early Years Management | Teach Early Years

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There are a host of ways to conduct and record observations of young children, and each one can tell us something different, says Kathy Brodie... The most important occupation of any early years teacher is to observe the children in their care at play.

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A lovely article on engagement and child led learning

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There was a time in Early Years where 'topic' was king! Often these topics would be linked to National Curriculum subjects and would last for a whole half term. I remember once being asked to do a topic with my Reception children which was to include the 7 main types of housing in Great Britain. I am still not sure why Reception children need to know that - but seemingly they did!

Your topic wasn't just a concept that you introduced the children to, it was all encompassing. Whatever you were talking about was also the theme for every and all activities that the children were invited to take part in.

If it was Spring, we would look at daffodils, paint daffodils, draw daffodils, make daffodils out of egg boxes, pretend to be daffodils in music and movement - It is a wonder that more children didn't disengage from the whole process.

What you got were adults working really hard to try and make the mundane and often tenuous look and sound interesting. Once the initial novelty of the activity the adult was trying wore off, so did the interest. Thankfully those days are gone.

As adults, we want to introduce children to concepts, ideas and experiences that they have never had before. We want to give them the thrill of finding a dinosaur egg on the carpet or realising that fairies have moved into the outdoor area. But, these are prompts and enhancements for learning within play. They should not dominate the provision.

When it comes to 'topic' or 'theme' I like to keep it to adult input and enhancements. A good adult can really engage children with any subject. The children's interest comes from the skill of the adult. Once the children have left the adult then their interest in the 'topic' can often wain, not to mention their lack of experience which will inhibit their ability to play and explore.

When I am delivering training I will often say to my delegates that I am going to spend 15 minutes talking about knitting. When I ask them how they feel about it a few (knitters) are quite excited at the prospect, but lots of the non-knitters aren't so keen. So, for 15 minutes I talk about knitting. I show them some novelty knitted items, a park for children in Japan that has been knitted over many years by one woman. I also tell them a funny story about a piece of knitting and a plastic doll (too long to tell here, but it always gets a laugh)! Our 15 minutes goes quickly and people have laughed, seen things that are interesting and amazing. Even the non-knitters are engaged!
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Then I say that while we have been talking, outside of our conference room we have set up lots of activity stations and that for the next hour they will all have the chance to go and use all of the things that are available. I tell them that there are iPads, a creative table, a mark making table, things to read, things to sort - the list goes on.

My final piece of information for them is that all of the activities they are about to engage with are linked to our 'topic' knitting! So on the creative table, you can knit. On the mark making table you can make knitting patterns, there are lots of knitting magazines to read and in the maths area you can sort balls of wool.

My next question is how long would they be prepared to stick at the knitting activities? Would they even try them at all?

Imagine our knitting topic goes on for 2 weeks. That would be 10 sessions of continuous provision all spent having to do knitting related activities. Unless you are an avid knitter - that doesn't sound great.

But that is what we can do to our children if we become too topic led. We are doing a 'jungle' topic so let's have jungle in the small world and role play. I have made a sign for my easel that says 'can you paint a jungle animal?' On the creative table we are making jungle masks...the list goes on.

What this approach doesn't do is reflect children's interests or curiosity. It is also the case that nowhere does it state that children are required to paint an elephant before they leave EYFS!

I am always getting practitioners to try and think about skill or experience in the continuous provision. So in my painting area this week, what skill or experience am I offering the children. Is it a new resource to work with, a new medium to try or a new skill? Even though I have been talking to them about 'jungle' in my focused sessions, it doesn't matter what they paint because I am trying to teach them a transferable skill, rather than an event or activity.

On my creative table I might be looking at the skill of collage, cutting or joining. I might enhance this area with some prompts linked to our jungle theme, but if the children want to make something completely different then that is brilliant because they are applying the skill to their own interest and are therefore likely to be far more engaged and remember it.

Now that we have got the freedom to move away from the 'topic box' it would be a shame to waste the opportunity.

Keep your topic/theme to sessions of adult input. When you are planning for Continuous Provision makes sure that you are looking at opportunities for children to explore their own interests and learn new skills rather than topic related activities.

Make sure that your enhancements are just that, an enhancement to a bank of resources that will take children's learning forward not trap them in a topic subject.

I always ask myself 'what is my expectation of play' when I set up any provision. If I put jungle animals in my small world area because of my topic, what do I expect my children to do with them? How do you 'play' jungle? The answer is that most children will struggle and you will end up with lots of lions and tigers scrapping!

The question I need to answer first is why do I have a Small World Area? What can children learn through Small World play? Do I have a constant bank of resources that supports this learning? If so, then if a child comes to my Small World area and cannot or does not want to engage with jungle play then there are plenty of other things that they can engage with to support their learning.

Our areas of provision should be planned for continuous provision first and then some of them enhanced with prompts from our topic that allow children to engage if they are interested and adults re enforce their teaching through play.

High-level attainment comes from high-level engagement. To get maximum engagement for all children we need to have a diverse approach to the themes that we use in our teaching rather than just stick to one.

Now then, where did I put my knitting!

Alistair
Alistair enjoyed a successful 10 year career as the Head teacher of three-form entry Infant school and Early Years Unit in Cheshire. Alongside his headship, he established a consultancy career specialising in the education of children in the Early Years. Demand for his consultancy became so great that Alistair left headship and established ABC Does... (abcdoes.com). Most of his time is spent supporting practitioners in their settings or delivering key notes and training, specialising all aspects of Early Years practice and management for both the maintained and non-maintained sectors nationally and internationally. Alistair is also an award-winning author and product designer, whose work has been published in a number of books and magazines. Alongside support and training for a range of settings and schools, Alistair also works Internationally and with Local Authorities across the UK.

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Alistair Bryce-Clegg talks Child Led Learning in the Early Years

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There was a time in Early Years where 'topic' was king! Often these topics would be linked to National Curriculum subjects and would last for a whole half term. I remember once being asked to do a topic with my Reception children which was to include the 7 main types of housing in Great Britain.

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Have a look at the OPAL assessment tool developed by Barnet Alliance. Here Carol Rudge gives links to a webinar plus her blog posts on ABC does to explain how it works

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FAO: Primary Headteachers; Early Years Leaders

Observation & Assessment in the Early Years

Are you ready for the new EYFS Framework in September 2021?

We believe we have created a wonderful 'Observation of Play and Learning' (OPAL) assessment tool that we would love to share for FREE, which reduces unnecessary paperwork and gives you back time to
spend with children.

To find out more please join us on
Thursday 6 May, 4 - 5pm
at our Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88483129924 Let's put the joy back into observing children!
We have recently written a series of guest blog posts about OPAL for
Alistair Bryce Clegg over at www.abcdoes.com.

You can read the blogs by following the links below.

OPAL - A different way to look at assessment in Early Years
OPAL - How it works in practice
OPAL - Thoughts from practitioners

Caron Rudge

Executive Headteacher

BEYA - Barnet Early Years Alliance

A federation of Nursery Schools; Brookhill, Hampden Way and St. Margaret's

and BEYA Children's Centre.

T: 020 8449 5466

E: crudge@beya.org.uk

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Observation and Assessment in the Early Years

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Observation & Assessment in the Early Years Are you ready for the new EYFS Framework in September 2021? We believe we have created a wonderful 'Observation of Play and Learning' (OPAL) assessment tool that we would love to share for FREE, which reduces unnecessary paperwork and gives you back time to spend with children.