The EYFS profile for headteachers and other school leaders
Why leadership matters
Headteachers and other school leaders play a vital role in ensuring the EYFS profile is robust, consistent and inclusive. You should actively engage in the EYFS profile assessment, as it provides an important summary of each child’s attainment and supports effective transition to year 1.
All school leaders should understand that the EYFS profile only assesses the early learning goals (ELGs) and does not reflect the whole taught curriculum. As with all learning, a child’s development in one area supports their development in another. This is particularly true in early years, where physical development happens alongside cognitive development. Therefore, while the ELGs for a child should be assessed separately, they are often interconnected and mutually reinforcing.
You should ensure that EYFS assessment and practice is inclusive and responsive to children’s different developmental pathways. This includes making sure that:
- children with SEND or developmental differences are assessed accurately
- EYFS profile judgements reflect what children can do with any reasonable adjustments they routinely use
You should support teachers to assess children fairly, drawing on adaptations and strategies that enable access and participation.
You should make sure that effective approaches from reception, such as targeted teaching and practice, are shared and built on in year 1 so that teaching and support remain consistent. Clear planning for this transition helps year 1 teachers continue inclusive practice and ensures continuity for all children.
How to lead the EYFS profile with confidence
Leading the EYFS profile effectively requires clarity, collaboration and a strong understanding of its purpose. As a headteacher or senior leader, your role is important in ensuring assessment processes are accurate, inclusive, and support children’s next steps. You should actively build your own understanding of the EYFS statutory framework and its purpose.
Here’s how to lead with confidence:
Champion the purpose
To make the most of the EYFS profile, you should:
- ensure all staff understand that the EYFS profile is a summative assessment against the 17 early learning goals (ELGs) for the purpose of supporting transitions to year 1 and helping parents and carers to understand broadly what a child can do in relation to national expectations
- reinforce that the assessment does not require lots of documented evidence and teachers must use their professional judgement when making judgements
- remember that the ELGs are not intended to act as a curriculum and they outline the expected outcomes, not the day-to-day teaching content
- recognise that teachers can assess children while they engage in high-quality play, child-led experiences, or adult-led instruction, as observing children in a range of environments helps build a fuller picture
Build leadership knowledge
You should develop a clear understanding of the EYFS profile by:
- knowing what each ELG describes and how judgements can be used to support learning in year 1
- familiarising yourself and your team with the EYFS profile handbook to maintain accuracy and consistency
- engaging in professional dialogue with teachers about the EYFS profile to support sense-checking and ensure judgements are informed by multiple perspectives
- continuing to develop your own early years knowledge and expertise through relevant continued professional development
Create time and space for collaboration
Make sure teachers can collaborate by:
- allocating sufficient time and resources for teachers to make judgements and to discuss and review each other’s judgements, particularly with teachers outside your setting
- facilitating discussions between reception and year 1 teachers to share EYFS profile judgements and any strategies for supporting transitions
Support consistency
Keep provision consistent by:
- actively engaging in internal and any potential external processes to support reliability and confidence in judgements
- using EYFS profile data to inform provision and transition planning
Embed inclusion and SEND strategies
Ensure that year 1 teachers receive information about EYFS profile judgements that:
- enables them to understand the most urgent gaps in knowledge
- captures the nuances of each child’s development
- informs what techniques and teaching strategies can support them best
- uses a strengths-based approach
Plan for effective transition
Support the transition process by:
- using EYFS profile outcomes to shape year 1 targeted teaching and practice so successful approaches continue beyond reception
- setting aside enough time for transition discussions
- involving appropriate teachers and specialists when required
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
It is important that headteachers and senior leaders value the Early Years Foundation Stage. Reception is an absolutely critical time to springboard all children’s learning.
The EYFS profile is more than a statutory assessment. It’s a powerful transition tool. It helps Year One teachers understand each child’s development, strength, and support needs.
As head teachers, we play a vital role in ensuring this process is meaningful, manageable, and child centred.
As a new headteacher who’s acquired a fairly large EYFS provision, I’ll admit I really didn’t know how much I needed to input into the EYFS Profile assessment.
Yeah, so that’s a really common misconception that it’s just for the reception team to sort out. It’s actually your leadership that sets the tone, and you’ll need to understand about the importance of child development and the foundations of learning, and also what the EYFS Profile is, how it’s used, and how you can support your team to do it well.
So what should I be looking out for?
First, you want to make sure that your teachers understand the EYFS and the EYFS Profile assessment and have time to reflect on what they know about each child. They don’t need to collect folders of evidence, but they do need time to think, talk, and make informed judgments when the time comes to complete the assessment.
Remember, it’s essential that your team has access to the right professional development. Your Stronger Practice Hub Reception Network and the local authority are great places to find support.
Thank you. That’s really useful advice. I’ve definitely got some first step actions that I can take into my practice.
The EYFS Profile is a summary of each child’s development at the end of reception. It’s based on professional judgments built over time through observations, interactions, and family input.
Liaising with families is really important in gathering a picture of a child’s development. And this will be even more important if the child has EAL, SEND or is part of a vulnerable group, as there may be areas that school staff do not see.
There are some misconceptions around the EYFS Profile. It’s not about ticking every box or going beyond what the Early Learning Goals set out.
Teachers should focus on assessing what the ELGs actually describe. Nothing more, nothing less.
Judgments should be based on what children consistently demonstrate in relation to the ELGs without any additional criteria or expectations.
Conversations between teachers, support staff and parents should happen regularly across the year to enable the class teacher to gather as much information as possible to inform their judgments.
Headteachers should be enabling this without adding to workload. You don’t want to take time away from what matters - knowing the children.
How can I best support my teachers?
I always start by asking my EYFS Lead what do you need from me to make this manageable. Sometimes it’s just a quick chat to talk through a particular ELG, ensure you’re supportive, and don’t penalise your teachers where children haven’t met an Early Learning Goal.
Make sure you build your own understanding of the early years and the EYFS Profile so you can help teachers make judgements if they require support.
It’s also really helpful if your reception team have been able to talk with teachers from other schools, as well as discussing with other staff internally. This collaboration can be useful to share insights about the local community and cohort of children.
Your local authority Early Years advisors can often provide help and signposting to support as well.
So how can I support my Year One teachers too?
Children who have not met the ELGs will need to have access to provision which will support them to be able to achieve those goals, as well as continue to thrive as they transition from the EYFS to Key Stage One.
So I’d encourage Year One teachers to moderate alongside EYFS teachers wherever possible or be involved in the conversation. This is useful to expand the Year One teachers’ understanding of the EYFS that will support them to plan and implement a curriculum that will meet the needs of the children developmentally.
As headteachers, we have responsibilities when it comes to the EYFS profile. It’s not just about supporting teachers, it’s about ensuring the data accurately reflects the children’s development and being responsible for completing the process on time.
It’s important that headteachers understand the EYFS Profile and support their teams to complete the assessment.
When this is done well, it leads to effective transitions, stronger relationships, and better outcomes for children.
Your role matters.