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news and updates

*Please note at the time of writing this newsletter the decision the Government has made regarding continuing with EYFS profile statutory assessment in the Summer of this year has not been confirmed. We will have to see what the decision is going to be but regardless about what happens, it is still crucial that all practitioners are familiar with the national EYFS profile standards.

2021 EYFS Assessment and Reporting Arrangements (ARA)

The 2021 Assessment and Reporting Arrangements have been published.

They confirm that the LA statutory moderation of the eyfs profile will continue in the academic year 2020/21 for schools that are NOT early adopters.

EYFS Profile Handbook 2021

Non-Early Adopter Schools:

If you are not early adopting the eyfs framework this academic year pleas refer to this EYFS profile handbook: EYFS Profile Handbook 2021

Please be aware that LA statutory moderation is still taking place.

Services For Education is commissioned by Birmingham LA to carry out the EYFS Profile statutory assessments.

We are providing moderation training in the Spring term and the focus for this will be Personal and Emotional Development, and Mathematics.

School moderation visits will be carried out in May and if you school is going to receive a visit you will be contacted at the end of the Spring via email to inform you of this.

Early Adopter Schools:

If you are early adopting the eyfs framework this academic year please refer to this EYFS profile handbook: Early adopter: EYFS Profile Handbook

We are providing moderation training in the Spring term with the focus of Communication and language and Literacy.

EYFS Reforms

The revised EYFS Statutory Framework will become statutory in September 2021. There are currently around 3,000 schools in the country that are adopting the framework early, 48 of those schools are in Birmingham.

At Services For Education we have established a working party of early adopter schools to support us with the delivery of the training of the EYFS reforms. These key schools will be pivotal at providing key information about how they have implemented the reforms within their settings.

The training that we are going to provide will be for Early adopters schools and non-early adopters schools. There will be training for Senior leaderships teams and also training for practitioners that are going to be putting the reforms into practice. You can browse these (and other) courses here.

Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)

The DfE confirmed, on the 25th June, that the statutory Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) has been postponed until September 2021. Read more.

There will be some schools that have opted to take part in the RBA early adopter year to familiarise themselves with assessment materials before the RBA becomes statutory. They would have informed Dfe by 24th July.

These schools will be sent resources just before October half term and then asked to complete the baseline assessment within 6 weeks after October half term.

Whether you are doing the RBA baseline this year or not, you will still need to do your on-entry assessments across the seven areas of learning.

EYFS Reforms

As you are aware, on the 1st July, the DfE released the outcome of the consultation on the EYFS reforms that ended on the 31st January. Read more.

Below is a reminder of the key changes: 

  • Revisions to the educational programmes;
  • Revisions to the early learning goals;
  • Removal of the statutory duty for local authorities to externally moderate EYFS profile judgements;
  • Removal of the ‘exceeding’ judgement criteria from the EYFS profile;
  • Change to the safeguarding and welfare requirements to promote good oral health.

If you are adopting the EYFS framework from September 2020 you will be exempt from the EYFS Profile assessments in Summer 2021. It would be great to hear from you, so please get in touch. It would be interesting to know if you would like further support.

What has been published on the 3rd September is the non-statutory ‘New Development matters guidance’ that schools can use if they are early adopters to the reforms.

If you would like to know more about the reforms to the framework I would recommend coming along to our (online) EYFS network on 4th November. Sign up here.

If you are not adopting the framework early then the updated framework will become statutory from September 2021. Therefore, it will still be statutory in June 2021 to complete the EYFS profile assessments and send them to the Local authority.

EYFS Moderation

All of the EYFS profile moderation dates (March/April) have been set and the focus for moderation in 2021 is  Personal, Social and Emotional development, and Mathematics.

Join our EYFS Profile Standardisation and Moderation Training to ensure your judgements are accurate, valued and consistent with the national standards, as set out in the EYFS framework.

Due to the challenging circumstances faced by schools in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, statutory introduction of the RBA has been postponed to Autumn 2021. Instead, schools have the opportunity to sign up to the RBA Early Adopter year.

Participation is optional, even after signing up. Data gathered from the Early Adopter year will not be used for the purpose of the progress measure.

The RBA is an activity-based assessment of pupils’ starting point in:

  • language, communication, and literacy
  • mathematics

The recruitment window for schools to sign up opens on 25 June and closes on 24 July 2020. Schools who choose to participate will receive assessment materials shortly before the October 2020 half term, with the optional assessment window opening for six-weeks after the October half term. Find out more here.

Services For Education Update – May 2020

Our courses are still running – digitally.

Since March, the majority of our training courses now take place digitally so you don’t miss out on your CPD and essential training during this time. You can book your place online here.

We will also be offering school improvement and consultancy services online. Get in touch via hello@servicesforeducation.co.uk to find out more.

Our courses will continue to run digitally until government guidance changes and it becomes clear that we are able to run face-to-face courses again. You can now book courses for 2020/21 via our website.

Over the last few weeks, we have spent time researching useful links, resources and information for teachers, parents and pupils, so please visit our School Resources Page for more details.

DfE Update – May 2020

The DfE are planning to proceed with the reforms to the Early Years Reforms Foundation Stage, and are considering when to publish the government response to the consultation on the reforms.

The reforms include plans for an early adopter year which will allow schools to voluntarily implement the new learning and development requirements – which include the new early learning goals and educational programmes- and assessment and moderation arrangements from this September (2020), if they wish to. Arrangements for the early adopter year are being kept under review, given the COVID-19 outbreak. National roll-out of the reforms is planned for academic year 2021/22. They will provide all schools who signed up as early adopters with further information on this in due course.

The DfE have also confirmed that the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) is still going ahead for September 2020. The DfE have said though, that it will be kept under review in light of the Coronavirus. Obviously there is a lot of disagreement in the sector about the Baseline going ahead in September. There are various groups that you can join to show your support if you wish to do so,

If they decide however, to continue with the Baseline for September 2020, to support schools, I am planning to hold an online webinar on 1st July 10am-11:30pm. It will be on a digital platform and I will be discussing ideas so that you can put plans in place so that children’s and staff’s emotional well being are supported during this key transition time.

Sign Up to Our EYFS Newsletter

featured courses

digital resources

EYFS PODCAST 1 – REVISION OF THE FRAMEWORK

This month I have also recorded a podcast about the proposed reforms to the Statutory Framework for the EYFS. The Dfe launched a consultation back in October and they want your views about the proposed changes. The consultation closes on the 31st January so I thought it would be useful to talk through the key proposals to support you for when you respond to the consultation.

Early Years Foundation Stage Reforms Consultation

all eyfs training courses and services

£50.00

School Improvement

School Improvement Package

£18.00
CPD Certified
£25.00
CPD Certified

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Dealing with Loss and Bereavement

£25.00

Safeguarding

Safeguarding Audit

Curriculum Area Training

Charanga Training for School Staff

£225.00
STATUTORY
£165.00
£165.00
NEW DATES FOR 23/24
£280.00
NEW DATES FOR 23/24

Assessment

Assessment Briefings for Senior Leaders (ONLINE)

Multiple Dates
Next: 17/04/2024
£100.00

Safeguarding

Safer Recruitment

Multiple Dates
Next: 06/06/2024
£280.00

Page Last Modified:  25/07/2021 16:28