Why we need to carry out EYFS Assessments

As children start to smile, laugh, sit, crawl, walk and talk in the Early Years, they go through a sequence of developments.

Later as they start to socialise, play with others, learn to share, take turns and follow instructions, these skills all lead to the academic developments of reading, writing, counting and drawing.

With so many developments taking place in quick succession between 0 and 6 years, it is vital that these are monitored and assessed to ensure the right provisions are being made by a childcare provider.
In short, assessments tell us if what we are doing, (e.g. planning activities, providing resources, supporting activities and so on), are having the desired effects we expect and meeting our objectives. They also tell us where the children are in their developmental sequence.

As children in the Early Years and Foundation Stages cannot be ‘tested’ to assess their developments, as older children can in an academic setting, their progress is assessed through a series of observations and interpretations called Assessments, which are given a level to indicate the proficiency achieved.