Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

The EYFS has now been published and can be viewed on the DCSF standards website

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ECERS

What are the Environment Rating Scales?

The Environment Rating Scales are a set of tools designed to assess the quality of Early Years provision. They offer a structured approach to quality assurance.

Using the scales to improve quality
Research:

The Environment Rating Scales have been used world wide to assess quality as part of a large-scale research studies. In the UK they are best known for their use in the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education Project (EPPE). The EPPE project used the scales to assess the quality of provision for 3-5 year old children, and found an important link between quality as measured by the scales and children’s educational and social development. The scales have also been used in other large UK research studies, for example the National Evaluation of the Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative and the Millennium cohort study.

The fact that the Environment Rating Scales, and the aspects of quality they measure are so predictive of children’s development makes them valuable tools not only for assessing, but also for improving the quality of early years provision.

The Environment Rating Scales are already used in many countries to improve Early Years Practice. (Sandra Mathers and Faye Linskey 2006)

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A new programme is being introduced from January 2007, the Setting Improvement Partner (SIP) programme. This will offer additional support, advice and guidance from an early years professional assigned to support you. Working together in this way, as the Advisory Service does with schools, we hope to be able to assist you to develop strong self assessment processes that will identify and target areas for development.

Next year we plan to offer opportunities for a practitioner from each setting to take part in completing the audit by using the scales alongside the Setting Improvement Partner. In this way we hope that settings will work towards using the scales themselves as part of their own quality assurance work.

DCSF Public Service Agreement

The aim of the Public Service Agreement is to:

Help build a competitive economy and inclusive society by creating opportunities for everyone to develop their learning; releasing potential in people to make the most of themselves; achieving excellence in standards of education and levels of skills.

The objective we are working towards is to:

Safeguard children and young people, improve their life outcomes and general well being, and break cycles of deprivation.

By:

Improving children’s communication, social and emotional development so that by 2008 50% of children reach a good level of development at the end of the Foundation Stage and reduce inequalities between the level of development achieved by children in the 20% most disadvantaged areas and the rest of England.

This work is taking place in three areas of Kent: Gravesham, Dover and Swale

We aim to meet this Public Service Agreement in Kent by working alongside our practitioners and supporting them to raise the quality of provision in pre-school settings by using the Leuven indicators of well being and involvement.

On-going support is offered to all pre schools on using the Leuven Scales and Box Full of Feelings in order that practitioners can evaluate and take effective steps to enhance their provision further to meet this target. A menu of interventions will also be on offer from Libraries and Adult Education.

The settings are being supported in this work by Early Years Advisers, Adult Education, Libraries and Speech and Language Therapists, Educational Psychologists and Specialist Teaching Service.

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Language Link

Language Link is a computer based screening program with online support for children at the start of their final year in the Foundation Stage. The program has been developed by Speech and Language Therapists and builds on the success of Speech Link.

The program assesses children in the following aspects of receptive language; prepositions, verb tenses, interactions, pronouns, negatives, cause and effect, basic concepts and questions.

The website offers support for working with children with language difficulties and provides information under the following headings; language development, language difficulties explained, encouraging spoken language, general classroom strategies, handouts for parents, range of language programmes, printable picture resources, web based discussion group linked to local speech and language therapists and links to other websites.

Further details and purchase of the package

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Gifted and Talented in the Early Years

Kent has been involved in an action research project carried out by teacher- researchers in 14 Local Education Authorities in conjunction with Brunel University. The project was funded by the Department for Education and Skills during the period 2003-2005.

Supporting the development of cognitive and emotional well-being in gifted and talented children