Pinderfields Hospital

Assessment

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

The EYFS Framework explains how and what your child will be learning to support their healthy development. It supports children from birth to the end of the year in which they turn 5 (their Reception year).

Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.

Children typically should mostly develop the 3 prime areas first. These are:

• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development

These prime areas are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning. As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

These 7 areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities. The professionals teaching and supporting your child will make sure that the activities are suited to your child’s unique needs. It is designed to be really flexible so that staff can follow your child's unique needs and interests. Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside.

At EYAC, we use an assessment tool called B Squared. B Squared breaks the assessment frameworks down into smaller steps of progression. Children are all assessed on the B Squared Development Matters document, using the Early Steps indicators of achievement..

Other Assessments

The above areas are not the only ones in which a child will develop and make progression. Alongside the above, as appropriate to each individual child, we assess:

• The Stages of Play
• Intensive Interaction
• The Stages of Communication
• Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
• Stages of Development for Objects of Reference
• Attention Autism
• Significant Achievements

This list is not exhaustive and we will continue to develop it as required.