OPAL Milestones:

At Fallodon Playgroup we use the Barnet Early Years Alliance (BEYA) approach to assessment.  They state that:

As a Federation of Nursery schools, we feel a responsibility to develop a model of effective, meaningful and principled assessment of young children’s learning.

By effective, we mean a method of assessment that ensures that all children are supported in reaching significant milestones.

By meaningful, we mean that the observations made inform our everyday practice and curriculum. By gaining an insight into children’s thinking, feeling and needs we can plan our environment and actions to provide future possibilities for learning.

By principled, we mean that our focus is on observing to understand children. We will not test children or seek unnecessary knowledge. Children are recognised as individuals, not as a percentage in a pie chart.

We will not spend unnecessary amounts of time writing observations or gathering evidence of children’s learning. We believe that if we are capturing the moment, we cannot be part of the moment. Instead we have structures in place that enable us to regularly discuss each child as a team.

Typical Development at 24 months

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
· Enjoys simple make-believe play e.g. having a cup of tea.
· Likes to do things for themselves, without help.
· Displays a range of big emotions, eg. May jump up and down when excited.

Communication and Language
· Puts two or more words together.
· Repeats words and finds objects when asked e.g. ball, shoes.
· Responds to familiar music, songs or rhymes.

Physical Development
· Climbs over obstacles.
· Uses a spoon or fork to feed themselves.
· Climbs stairs independently

Typical Development at 30 months

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
· Watches what friends are doing and joins in with play.
· Likes to help you when you are busy, e.g. putting shopping away.
· Begins to assert independence and challenge boundaries.

Communication and Language
· Is interested in books and stories.
· Can stop what they are doing and can listen to you.
· Uses lots of new words.
· Beginning to use words like, me, I and you.

Physical Development
· Can run around, change direction and slow down so they don’t bump into things.
· Can make lines and marks.
· Builds a tower.

Typical Development at 36 months

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
· Shows an interest in others and makes new relationships.
· Explores new environments.

Communication and Language
· Responds to questions and instructions.
· Asks for help if they need it.
· Speaks in simple sentences.

Physical Development
· Uses the toilet with some support.
· Moves around their environment with awareness and control.
· Manages a range of equipment purposefully e.g. can use a spade to fill a bucket.

Literacy
 · Enjoys sharing books with adults.
· Uses simple marks including lines, curves and circular movements.

Maths
· Shows an awareness of number.
· Uses mathematical language in their play e.g. big, small, heavy, light

Typical Development at 42 months

Personal and Social and Emotional Development
· Shows awareness of the feelings of others.
· Knows what they want to play with and where to find it.
· Plays with others.

Communication and Language
· Sings songs and rhymes.
· Talks with other children.
· Listens and responds to things said by others.
· Able to follow an instruction with two parts e.g. Get your coat and open the door.

Physical Development
· Uses the toilet independently.
· Climbs, runs and jumps with confidence.
· Uses toys and tools safely.

Literacy
· Enjoys listening to stories and making up play scenarios.
· Makes many different marks, including closed shapes, e.g. circles.

Maths
· Knows how to solve everyday problems in their play e.g. how to get water from one place to another.
· Recognises some numbers and shows an interest in counting.

Typical Development at 48 months

Personal and Social and Emotional Development
· Can play with others, sharing what they are using with help.
· Plays imaginatively with other children.
· Confident to have a go and try new things.

Communication and Language
· Talks about what they are doing and things they remember.
· Starts conversations with familiar people and asks questions.
· Listens when they are in a group with other children.

Physical Development
· Can dress themselves with some support.
· Gives new challenges a go and is aware of their own safety.
· Uses resources with some control, e.g. can pour from a jug into a cup.

Literacy
· Looks at books and has some favourites.
· Makes marks to represent their name and talks about their drawings.
· Knows the difference between pictures and words.

Maths
· Beginning to count objects in their play.
· Understands how different shapes fit together e.g. in their art work or block play.
· Will notice who has more or less e.g. who has more trains or pieces of fruit.

Typical Development at 54 months

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
· Stays at activities that they really like without being distracted by other things or people.
· Understands and follows some rules.
· Is able to make friends.

Communication and Language

· Listens attentively in a range of situations.
· Asks and answers questions to find out more.
· Talks in clear sentences about people they know, what they see and how they are feeling.

Physical Development

· Uses a variety of tools with accuracy, e.g. pencils, paint brushes and scissors.
· Independently uses the toilet and keeps themselves clean and dry.
· Can move around spaces with control and co-ordination.

Literacy

· Begins to recognise familiar letters or words e.g. letters in their name, familiar names and shop signs. and sometimes writes them.
· Can form shapes that are starting to look like letters.
· Will talk about stories as they are read to them.

Maths

· Counts to find out how many things they have.
· Recognises numbers in their environment.
· Knows the names of some shapes.
· Notices and compares size, weight and capacity in their play.

Typical Development at 60 months

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

· Can take turns when playing with others and listens to their ideas.
· Understands the feelings of others and responds thoughtfully.
· Can talk about some things they like or don’t like and say why.
· Plans and carries out their own ideas.
· Copes with new routines or when plans change.

Communication and Language

· Asks and answers questions about stories and events.
· Uses language to express their imaginative ideas.
· Remember and recall detailed information e.g. the process of making a cake.
· Can talk about things that have happened, are happening or are going to happen using the correct tense.

Physical Development

· Knows it is important to keep their bodies healthy with exercise and eating well.
· Can dress and undress independently.
· Is adventurous and confident in their physical play.

Literacy

· Can recall what happened in a story.
· Uses letters or symbols to convey meaning.
· Recognises similarities in words e.g. words that rhyme or start with the same letter

Maths

· Can accurately count to find out how many things they have, up to and beyond 10.
· Beginning to recognise different numbers and put them in order.
· Knows a number can show how many things there are.
· Shows an interest in adding and taking away.
· Finds ways to measure in their play e.g. how many children will fit in a cardboard box.