At Totsland Schools we plan to meet the diverse needs of children and to support their development and learning. This policy outlines the principles upon which we base our observations and assessment of children, and the procedures used to put these principles into practice.
Aims of the Policy
- To know each child’s level of development to ensure that planning meets the diverse needs of all the children
- To fully support learning and development
- To celebrate progress in learning and development
- To value the contributions of and work in partnership with parents.
Principles
The principles of the Early Years Guidance emphasises the importance of observation and assessment:
‘In their interactions with children, teachers should respond to their own day-to-day observations about children’s progress and observations that parents and guardians share.
Statutory Framework for the Early Years.
Objectives
- To develop good relationships between a child’s parents/guardians and their Teacher in the setting in order to ensure that information about the child is shared effectively.
- To ensure that learning is a shared process – children learn most effectively when, with the support of a knowledgeable and trusted adult, they are actively involved and interested.
- To ensure that schedules and routines flow with the child’s needs.
- To ensure that all children feel included, secure and valued.
- To make sure that we build on what children already know and can do.
- To develop the expertise of teachers so that they know how to respond effectively to the observations they make.
PROCEDURES
Children aged 0-5 years
1. Parental Liaison
Information is gathered from parents before a child starts at the Pre-School and in an ongoing way throughout a child’s time in the School. Observations made by teachers are shared with the parents in both formal and informal ways.
The mechanisms used to facilitate this two-way sharing of information are listed below:
Registration form /initial assessment
This collects information regarding the child’s health, family circumstances, cultural background, linguistic heritage and additional needs.
Initial parental liaison
Information is gathered regarding the child’s interests, likes and dislikes. This supports Teachers in ensuring a smooth transition into the Pre-School and helps the child to feel that s/he is known to those caring for her/him. Please refer to the Transition Policy for further details.
Parent Teacher Conference
Parents will be invited into the School to talk with their child’s Teacher about the progress made by their child and to celebrate their achievements. At this meeting the parents will be invited to look at the child’s learning journey, discuss their progress, and make comments to add to the records.
Daily report
Whenever activities are sent home parents will be invited to comment on how their child enjoyed the activity and how they feel that their learning is developing.
2. Ongoing Observations
This will be the most productive form of information gathering. All teachers are responsible for recording, in an ongoing way, the significant steps forward taken by children in their learning and development.
These observations will be recorded as soon after they are made as possible and, are linked to the Early Years Curriculum, so that they can be used effectively to inform planning. The child’s Teacher will be responsible for maintaining records of the observations in their the child’s learning journey binder kept in the classroom and available upon request by parent or during a scheduled PTC. Observations will also be recorded in Edves for a report shared at the end of the school Trimester.
3. Planned Observations
Teachers will allocate time in their planning to carry out planned observations of individual children when necessary. This will give an opportunity for them to focus on what that child already knows and can do and plan the next steps in their learning.
These next steps will be built into the planning for the environment; planning for the teacher group of children; and/or specific planning for the child’s individual needs.
4. Learning Journeys
Each child within the School has a Learning Portfolio. This is their own Personal celebration of the developments that they have made and the experiences that they have enjoyed. It is contributed to by Teachers, other teachers, parents and the Children themselves. Similarly it is regularly shared and enjoyed with the children and their parents.
5. Assessment
Each term, assessments of learning are conducted where applicable and results are entered into the Learning binder kept in the classroom which enables us to track the progress of individuals and groups of children. The system looks at each area of learning within the Early Years curiculum, so that progress can be identified in any one area or areas can be compared. Data is fed into the system on an ongoing basis from observations; feedback from parents; and the Teachers’ knowledge of their key children’s progress and achievements.
Assessment in the Early Years is of two main types – on-going assessment which is what Teachers do on a daily basis to make decisions about what the child has learned or can do already so as to help the child move on in their learning – this is sometimes called ‘formative’ assessment because it informs the next steps that are planned with the child and the parent. Another type of assessment known as ‘summative’ assessment takes place trice in the Trimester; weeks 4, 8 and 12 of the Trimester. The outcomes of these assessment are recorded in the learning binder and parents and practitioners use the information gained to identify a child’s strengths and their learning needs.
7. Meeting Diverse Needs
Where necessary additional observations are carried out and more finely differentiated scales of monitoring are used. These observations and assessments are then used to provide appropriately
differentiated learning experiences or used in formal assessment of SEN to provide extra support for individual children, if necessary.
6. Links to Planning
All learning experiences provided for children are based on what we know aboutthem and the way in which they learn. Our comprehensive procedures described above demonstrate the commitment of
staff within the School’s earl years department to ensuring that children’s needs are met and that at every level of learning, experiences are as developmentally appropriate and challenging as possible
for our children.
7. Monitoring and Evaluation
The Head of programs will:
- Monitor the range and quality of observations made.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of planning in light of observations made.
- Support teachers in the implementation of this policy through regular
training and staff development meetings.
- Prioritise time for observations of children in order to monitor, support and assess
their learning.
- Ensure that all teachers within their team are familiar with this policy and the
procedures outlined in it.
- Management will support teachers in making ongoing and planned observations.
- Take account of the needs, interests and knowledge of all children when
planning.
- Ensure that parents/carers have opportunities to be actively involved in the
observation and assessment process.
- Ensure adequate time/opportunity is allowed within planning for observation and
assessment.
Dissemination
This policy is available for all parents, staff and prospective parents.
Review Procedure
This policy will be reviewed annually.