The 2 year progress check

[sarah707]

The purpose of the 2 year check appears to be twofold -
1. To share children’s abilities and successes with their parents
2. To spot problems in children’s learning and development early enough for intervention to be put in place to support the child.

However, there are going to be some challenging issues that all childminders will need to resolve…

• We need to find out when the child’s 2 year check is going to be so we can prepare the document ready for the Health Visitor - this means asking the parents and hoping they remember to tell us or liaising with Health Visitors

• We need to plan time in our already busy schedules to write the progress check

• We need to be up-to-date with our observations, assessments and individual next steps planning for the child so we can put the latest information in the progress check

• The guidance to the 2 year progress check tells us that we must include information about when the child is progressing well and areas where they might be struggling - and I cannot see negative comments impressing parents or making it likely they will show the check to the Health Visitor!

• We do not know at what point during the year we will be writing the 2 year progress check - and, as we know, children’s learning and development can change within a few days or weeks, never mind months. This means the information written for one month might show a concern whereas if we had waited a few weeks we would be able to note the child would be progressing normally.

• The Development Matters guidance document makes it very clear on virtually every page that is not supposed to be used as a check list - so how do we know what we are supposed to be writing?... or what Health Visitors are looking for when they do their checks?

• Parents, I have found over many years of caring for children, are prone to exaggerating their child’s abilities and successes. So how will you tackle it if a parent says a child can do something and you have never seen them even close to achieving it in your provision?

• We have to work closely with parents to write the 2 year progress check. What if you have hard to reach parents who are too busy to get involved? How will you engage them in the process?

• Health Visitors have to make time to read the progress checks we produce. For those childminders who are quite wordy and like to include lots of information, you might find your efforts wasted. You will need clear documentation that supports you with writing a short informative 2 year progress check document which is easily accessible and useful.

• As far as I am aware, once the 2 year progress check is written we do not get any feedback from the Health Visitor and we cannot approach the Health Visitor direct without permission from children’s parents. So we need to reflect on what we might do next to support the child once the check is written.

To prepare yourself for writing the 2 year progress check you will need…
• Procedures in place to prepare and write the check
• An understanding of the types of things that need to be written
• A detailed knowledge of child development at age 2 - 3
• A close working relationship with parents to ask their views
• An awareness of how parents will react to what you might have to write about their child - and ways to support them
• Pre-prepared paperwork for writing the check.

To help you with this, I have written a mini e-book 78 ‘Guidance for the 2 year progress check’.

All mini e-books cost £1.99 and are available by following the PayPal link on my Knutsford Childminding website. You will then need to tell me, in the PayPal notes section, which mini e-book you would like to buy!

[rickysmiths]

That is really interesting. I went to my Revised EYFS Training last night and was told this about the two year check:

It should be done as near to the second birthday as possible irrespective of when the HV may or may not do the 2 year check (they do not physically do a 2yr check in our area, they send the parents a questionnaire to fill out). It is then given to the parents to keep in their Red book. However it is up to the practitioner to decide if they know the child well enough, if the child has just joined them then the report can be done later but the recommend it be done if possible by 2.5 yrs

The check is only done by the carer the child is with for the longest hours so that could be pre-school or even day nursery and it is only done by one practitioner.


Review children's development in the 3 Prime areas of the revised EYFS so Physical,Personal, Social and Emotional and Communication and Language.

Ensure Parents have a clear picture of their child's development

That it arises from the ongoing observations carried out as everyday practice so LJs That it is based on the skills, knowledge, understanding and behaviour that the child demonstrates consistently and independently.

We have been given a two sided sheet on one side a box for each of the 3 Prime Areas. It tells us to give a brief overview of how the child plays, learns and shows good thinking skills.

It also advises not to list the activities the child engages in but to demonstrate our unique knowledge of the child and celebrate how they engage with experiences and activities and to give examples.

What interests and excites the child
What has the child been proud of
Where have you seen the child deeply engaged
What is unique about this child's play

It is all about using the information we already have in the child's learning journal.

On the reverse of the form is a box for the parents to fill in about their observations of their child, the things they enjoy doing, including positive and challenging issues they my be experiencing with their child at home. We also ask them what they would like use to do to focus on their child's development and to share current use of techniques and strategies that are successful at home to support consistency.

The last box is titled What next? Fill in this section with the child's parent or carer. Identify activities, experiences and support this child will benefit from to ensure their progress from this point. Some of this information will be taken from the next steps in the child's LJ

We we told to keep it simple and factual.

Getting parents input will be interesting.

[amanda1309]

It looks like every one is reading it differently as I went in our revised training 2 Saturdays ago and we were told it should be done any time after the child's second birthday but before their third.
We were also told that our early years team were going to try and devise a format for the check for our town and we were all going to have to use that one.

[moggy]

At my training it was said there is no requirement to align with HV yet... it is the desire for 2015 to have the HV and the childcare checks aligned. If the parents choose to share the childcarer's check with a HV it is up to them, HV will not expect to receive it (until 2015) and many will have no time to read it anyway.

[sarah707]

It sounds very much like different authorities are making up their own rules

I can only go by the guidance provided as part of the Eyfs materials on the www.foundationyears.org.uk website.

If you read that guidance it definitely says to wait for the child's 2 year check... not to do it at the start of age 2!!

Interesting feedback guys thank you!

It's always good to know what is being said at briefing sessions... keep it coming please!

[rickysmiths]

I know, what they said last night was that the goal was to be working with HV by I think 2016 so they have time to get used to the idea of working with other practitioners

I will see if dh can scan and email you the sheet so you can have a look

[singingcactus]

If you read that guidance it definitely says to wait for the child's 2 year check... not to do it at the start of age 2!!

Interesting feedback guys thank you!

It's always good to know what is being said at briefing sessions... keep it coming please!

Awesome. All my 2 year olds have already had their HV check, so I guess I don't need to do their assessments lol.