At the end of their Reception year, all learners are benchmarked against national early years foundation stages (EYFS) standards, to establish a baseline of progress that underpins their educational journey through our academy. Each year we work with all pupils to engage them in informal assessments in English, maths and reading to help our expert teaching staff, parents and carers understand the next steps of their learning journey. The resulting EYFS profile is a report of your child’s development and achievement at the end of the Reception Year. There are three main objectives: The EYFS profile is broken down into specific areas of learning. The criteria of which are broken down into four age bands, called the Development Matters bands and within each band, there are separate achievement levels: At the end of Reception, a child is considered to have a ‘good level of development’ if they have achieved at least the expected level in early learning goals in all aspects of personal, social and emotional development, physical development, communication and language, literacy and mathematics. If your child is working below the expected level for their age, we will focus on supporting them to catch up with their peers in ks1. If your child is considered to be exceeding the expected level at the end of Reception, their Year 1 teacher will ensure that they continue to be adequately challenged. In the summer of Year 1, children partake in the Phonics Screening Check whereby they read 40 phonetically decodable words that are divided into two sections of 20 words each. Both sections contain a mixture of real words and pseudo-words (i.e. words that are phonetically decodable but are not real words with an associated meaning). The check is designed to give teachers information on how your child is progressing in phonics. It will help to identify whether your child needs additional support at this stage, so that they do not fall behind in this vital early reading skill. In the summer term of Year 4, our pupils will sit a standardised times tables assessment. A secure knowledge of multiplication facts, up to and including the 12 times tables, are proven to set learners up with a strong basis for more advanced maths learning as they progress on their educational journey. At the end of key stage 2 (Year 6) all our pupils sit externally set assessments in English and maths. These standard assessment tests (SATS) take place in May and we will work with your child through the year to help them understand the process and achieve their personal best.
