Informing parents about the baseline assessment

I have just given the following information to parents who have children starting school in September... I hope you find it useful :D


I don’t know if you are aware, but there will be a new system of testing within the first 6 weeks of your child going into reception class. It will be known as a baseline assessment.

This is a DfE plan to check schools are helping children to make good progress from their starting points.

We don’t know what the tests will entail yet but we are told they will focus on communication, English and numeracy.

We are preparing your child by trying to ensure they are socially and emotionally ready – we will of course count, recognise shapes, explore numbers and what they mean, read books, sing songs etc ... but without knowing what the tests will entail there’s little we can do to prepare them... and to be honest we’re not happy with this testing – and neither are a lot of very learned early years practitioners.

You can read more about the new school tests for 4 and 5 year olds here -
Baseline assessment confirmed for reception children | Nursery World.

We will share more information when it comes available.

Thanks for this info Sarah x

Thanks sarah.:thumbsup:

There are now 6 Approved Baseline Assessment methods.
The DfE itself has accredited them but one in particular is being promoted as being the most 'child centred'.
NWorld carries many articles on this subject.

The Baseline Assessment is.... from what I understand ...not compulsory and schools can choose which methods to use.
The test is to be paid for by the school.

There are a lot of people against this assessment and also a petition started by Early Education and TACTYC.
Please look out for it and sign if you are against 4 year olds being tested within 6 weeks of starting Reception.

Please bear in mind that when children leave an EY setting they will have been assessed by that setting and that passed on to schools...cms do that in the shape of a LJ...so what is the need for another assessment after 6 weeks and why has the DfE abolished the EYFS Profile?...the reason the give does not stand up to scrutiny

I have not met anyone in favour of this test yet and the NUT last year said they would boycott the tests under 'principled non compliance'.

Be informed!

Please don't shoot me down, and admittedly I haven't seen the baseline tests they are planning on using, BUT I doubt they are going to be sitting the children down in exam conditions and then humiliating them by reading the results out in class. I wish my daughter had had a baseline test when she started reception because when I went to the first Parents Evening in January her teacher showed me a sentence that DD had written independently. The teacher was saying "Isn't it lovely?" and I was speechless because she could do that in nursery and hadn't moved on at all. If they had checked whether or not she could already write numbers then they wouldn't have had so called 'maths' lessons where she was made to copy out a row of number 3s - or whatever number of the week was.

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Originally Posted by Maza

Please don't shoot me down, and admittedly I haven't seen the baseline tests they are planning on using, BUT I doubt they are going to be sitting the children down in exam conditions and then humiliating them by reading the results out in class. I wish my daughter had had a baseline test when she started reception because when I went to the first Parents Evening in January her teacher showed me a sentence that DD had written independently. The teacher was saying "Isn't it lovely?" and I was speechless because she could do that in nursery and hadn't moved on at all. If they had checked whether or not she could already write numbers then they wouldn't have had so called 'maths' lessons where she was made to copy out a row of number 3s - or whatever number of the week was.

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The 6 BA methods have been published and you can compare them...they are very different
One uses a tablet and ticks the replies a child gives.
Some last just 15 minutes.
Some can be carried out by an assistant not the teacher.

My understanding from reading about this matter is that teachers already do an assessment on children when they enter Reception and work around each child.

It is the DfE reason for the test that is in question...let us know what you think when you have looked at them