EYFS profile assessment support
Find EYFS profile guidance, bite-sized videos and case studies.
Children’s early years are crucial to their future development, health and life chances. This assessment support is designed to build further confidence and consistency in the early years foundation stage (EYFS) profile assessment and good level of development (GLD) measure.
The EYFS profile
The EYFS profile is a statutory assessment of child development at the end of the academic year in which children turn 5. It summarises children’s development against 17 early learning goals (ELGs).
For each ELG, children are judged as either:
- meeting the ‘expected’ level
- ‘emerging’ if they do not yet meet the ‘expected’ level
Children have reached a GLD at the end of the EYFS if they have achieved the expected level for the ELGs in the prime areas of learning (communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, and physical development), plus the specific areas of mathematics and literacy.
You must complete the EYFS profile:
- for all eligible children registered at the school or early years setting, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or developmental differences
- in line with the statutory requirements in the EYFS framework
Schools and early years settings must submit EYFS profile data to the local authority no later than 30 June.
You can find non-statutory guidance for completing the EYFS profile assessment in the early years foundation stage profile handbook.
This video illustrates examples of assessment practice. While it features real children in real school settings, their actual developmental levels may differ from what is shown, and some scenes include acting for demonstration purposes.
Transcript
Transcript
Starting in the Early Years Foundation Stage can feel exciting, but also overwhelming. But with the right support and understanding, it becomes a rewarding journey.
This video shares key messages for teachers new to EYFS on how the EYFS profile works and what matters most during assessment.
The EYFS profile is a statutory assessment completed at the end of the reception year. It covers 17 early learning goals across the seven areas of learning.
Judgments are based on ongoing observations, interactions, and knowledge of the child from the whole staff team and families, not on tests or checklists.
So I know you’ve just started in reception. How’s it going?
It’s going really well. I’m just trying to get my head around the EYFS Profile. I’ve read the handbook, but I’m still unsure how some of the early learning goals fit into the daily teaching. That’s a great place to start. And one thing to remember is that the early learning goals aren’t your curriculum. So they are just an endpoint assessment at the end of reception. Your curriculum should be broad, rich, and responsive to the children’s needs and interests. So I don’t need to teach the early learning goals directly.
Exactly. So you decide your curriculum based on the EYFS which sets out what we want children to learn, and we can teach them those things in lots of different ways. So, through play, meaningful interactions, direct teaching and exploration.
There we go. We’ll have to see if the acorn is there tomorrow.
And through day-to-day assessment and observation, we can see how children are progressing and adapt our teaching to help them.
The Early Learning Goals are an assessment tool to check learning against the EYFS profile. Once completed, using a best fit model, this summarises children’s learning so that you know what children know and can do at the end of the year.
I’ve got a question. Do I need to collect physical evidence for the Early Learning Goals? No, not at all. There’s no need to collect lots of photos or written evidence, but something that might be useful to have is just some samples of handwriting. And what matters is your professional judgement built over time through observations and conversations with children, staff, and families, and knowing the child well.
That’s a relief. I was worried that I had to collect lots of evidence.
No, not at all. Most of the evidence is based on experiences and daily interactions with the children. Still feel free to jot down key reflections, but don’t let paperwork take you away from time with the children.
Partnership with parents and carers is central to the EYFS and helps teachers build a holistic understanding of each child’s development. Parents and carers provide valuable insights into their child’s learning and behaviour at home. And this helps teachers understand how children respond in different environments.
Early and sustained communication builds trust and supports shared goals for the child’s development. Teachers use this information to tailor support and ensure assessments are well-informed and balanced. These insights are invaluable when making the EYFS Profile judgements, which should reflect the child’s learning across both home and school.
One of my children speaks very little English and I’m just not sure how to assess her. She’s really engaged, but I don’t know how to assess her progress against the ELGs.
Mm, that’s a really common question.
I’ve seen her confidently sorting objects by size and colour, and she’s really good at building with the blocks, but she just doesn’t speak at group time at all.
Mm, that’s okay. So especially for ELGs like number and numerical patterns, it’s not necessarily what she’s saying, but you can use resources to assess that as well. So things like matching quantities to numerals or continuing patterns. You’re looking for that understanding, not necessarily her verbally telling you that.
Perfect. We’ve used lots of signs and gestures to support her, and she responds really well to picture prompts.
Brilliant. And don’t forget to involve the family as well because I once had a child in my class who was very similar, and after speaking to them, we realised that actually they were really verbal at home in their home language, but it was just a language barrier in school and not a development delay.
Actually, her mum did tell me that she speaks nonstop with her cousins at home and I didn’t realise how much that could tell me about her.
And you could also ask other staff members in school who do speak her home language and they can really help you to collect that full picture by observing her and listening to her speaking her home language as well.
It’s a great idea. I’ll speak to our TA who speaks the same language, and I’ll keep on going with the picture prompts and the visuals too.
Brilliant. You’re doing all the right things. The EYFS Profile is about recognising progress in a way that’s accurate and inclusive. So just keep trusting your observations using the child’s strengths to guide your judgments.
Remember, you must base your judgments for the Communication & Language and Literacy ELGs on children’s competency in English or British sign language. Children may use their home language to demonstrate other areas of learning and development in the EYFS, including personal, social and emotional development, physical development, understanding the world, expressive arts and design, and mathematics.
Children can use signing and alternative and augmentative communication for all ELGs including speaking.
Starting in the EYFS is a learning curve, but you’re not alone. Use your team, trust your judgement, and focus on the child.
The EYFS Profile helps teachers and schools to recognise and celebrate children’s progress and understand their needs.
What is included in this assessment support
This assessment support brings together guidance, videos, practical examples and key messages for anyone who completes the EYFS profile assessment, as well as senior leaders.
These training materials are designed to:
- build your confidence in your judgements
- address common misconceptions about the assessment requirements
- support professional dialogue with year 1 teachers
They also highlight the crucial role of headteachers and other senior leaders in supporting the EYFS profile assessment.
The following pages offer focused guidance on key areas, including:
- the role of the headteacher and senior leaders
- making best-fit judgements
- inclusive assessment
- transition
The ELG example pages provide practical video examples and anonymised case studies to help you make confident judgements. These pages focus on a selection of ELGs that practitioners often seek clarity on to assess, so not all the ELGs are included.
These examples:
- show the assessment in context
- illustrate best-fit judgements in practice
- highlight inclusive approaches
- clarify common misconceptions
- support professional discussion
The examples are intended to support understanding and highlight the importance of professional judgement, not to provide templates or checklists.
How to use these resources
With these resources, you can:
- explore the focused guidance in each section to help you understand different aspects of the EYFS profile
- watch the short videos for practical insights and use the case studies to inform your practice
- share key messages and prompts on transition with year 1 colleagues and special educational needs coordinators
In these resources, we’ve used ‘teacher’ to refer to any early years practitioner (including childminders) working with the child and completing the EYFS profile assessment.
Further learning and support
You can learn more about effective curriculum and assessment in our free online early years child development training.
You can find more early years support materials at:
You can use this online data tool to compare your good level of development (GLD) data.
You can also access previous EYFS profile exemplification materials published in 2022.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the individuals, schools and organisations who helped create these materials, including:
- Ambition Institute
- Brickwall creative agency
- Coleridge Primary School
- Cranborne Primary School
- Early Education
- Jean Gross CBE, independent consultant and expert
- Ofsted
- Rivendell Flying High Academy