From Expected to Exceeding – supporting discussion document

This information has been compiled through discussion with class teachers and using the statutory EYFS Profile documentation. It is not intended to replace these or to be used as set guidance but to promote discussion and reflection alongside the statutory EYFS profile handbook and the 2016 Assessment and Reporting Arrangements.

Assessment and Reporting Arrangements for EYFS Profile 2016

As discussed, there has been no further exemplification published to support teachers in making exceeding judgements.

The STA EYFS Profile handbook cites the National criteria to be used when making an assessment for a child who is deemed to be working consistently and independently at a level beyond the ‘expected’ for the 17 Early learning Goals.

EYFS Profile Handbook for 2016

There have been no further exemplification published to support teachers in making exceeding judgements but practitioners are expected to discuss children’s attainment with the relevant year one teacher(s) using these criteria when making their final assessment judgements against’ emerging, ‘expected’ and ‘exceeding’

You may find the following general guidance helpful when thinking about provision for children who, based on their on-entry assessments, have the potential to reach the exceeding judgements in all or some of the ELG’s

General guidance;

  • You must be confident that a child has moved beyond the expected level as exemplified in the exemplification materials before considering whether they meet the descriptor for exceeding in a particular aspect. You must still apply the ‘best fit’ approach to making the judgement:

Statutory Exemplification Materials

  • Consider the pitch at ‘expected’ and that for ‘exceeding’ when making judgements. Everyday activities, classroom routines, e.g following a three part instructions to take the register to the office, will provide evidence towards this ‘exceeding’ judgement.
  • A child who exemplifies the expected level of development demonstrates knowledge, skills and understanding that are more concerned with the here and now whereas a child demonstrating the exceeding level will be demonstrating higher order skills e.g. imagining possibilities, estimating, inferring, expressing views, demonstrating an understanding of other points of view,reflecting, reviewing, evaluating and improving. They will be using and applying their knowledge to different situations e.g. for Technology this may be a child knowing that to find more about a topic of interest that they can use google and they go and do this independently or in ‘The world’, applying knowledge of properties of materials to how this relates to their uses. These are higher level skills. In Expressive Arts and Design the exceeding descriptor refers to higher order skills ofreflecting and reviewing. Children willneed to have these behavioursmodelled by adults initially and then provided with opportunities and access to relevant technology e.g .iPads/ cameras so they can take photos, reflect and review with an adult or another child, then given time to revisit and make changes. A ‘Reflect and review’ time as part ofdaily routine can support development of these higher order skills
  • Mathematics. Again moving from concrete to more abstract skills of estimating.e.g. I think I will need 15 crates to build a bridge that will reach the vegetable patch, and it does take 15. Childrenneed to demonstrate they can use and apply their knowledge to practical problems. They need plentiful opportunities for this e.g.providing challenges within provision for problem solving. They must be confident to apply numbers confidently beyond 20
  • Reading. The exceeding descriptor refers to oral narrative skills – the ability to retell a story or series of events with precision and clarity. Not just relying on phonic skills to decide word but also on using the expectation of what makes sense to predict and interpret or using the context to ‘make sense’, applying what they know about how spoken language works. This is alongside reading phonically regular words of more than one syllable as well as many irregular high frequency words.

Writing

  • Looking for consistency - need to be consistently exceeding with many examples shown across different genres – not a one-off
  • You will need to provide lots of opportunities for children to demonstrate their embedded learning without overt adult support
  • Writing must demonstrate achievement above and beyond that in the exemplification materials for expected, the expected exemplars show a wide range
  • Writing must exemplify the key features of narrative; the ability to tell a story or series of events with precision and clarity – it must have clear beginning, middle and end
  • Events should be clearly connected and characters/storyline developed
  • Dialogue may be included and descriptive language used to create images in readers mind and enhance the story
  • Transcriptional elements would reflect exceeding descriptor; spell phonically regular words of more than one syllable and spell many irregular high frequency words