Whether you are welcoming a new cohort, reviewing practice mid-year or reflecting on children’s progress over time, one question remains central to effective Early Years practice: how well do we really know our children?

In the Early Years, understanding children’s starting points is not a one-off task completed in the first few weeks of term. It is an ongoing, responsive process that sits at the heart of effective teaching, thoughtful provision and strong leadership. It shapes the decisions we make every day: how we organise the environment, how we interact with children, how we adapt the curriculum and how we respond to individual needs; keeping the principle of the Unique Child at the heart of all we do.

From the moment children arrive, practitioners begin to build a rich picture of who they are, what they know, how they learn and what their interests are. These early observations are powerful, but their real value lies in what happens next. Assessment should always serve a clear purpose: helping us to respond more thoughtfully, plan more effectively and ensure that every child is able to thrive.

Agreeing What Matters

A useful starting point for any team is to ask: what do we really need to know about our children?

In practice, assessment can easily become overcomplicated. Yet the most meaningful assessment is often found within everyday interactions, as practitioners play alongside children, listen carefully, notice patterns and make sense of what they see. What matters most is developing a rounded picture of each child. This includes:

• their development across the areas of learning
• how they learn (the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning)
• their emotional security and sense of belonging
• what motivates and engages them

For leaders, creating a shared understanding of this across the team is essential. It helps to keep assessment manageable, purposeful and rooted in what matters most. It is also vital to draw on the knowledge held by parents and carers, whose valuable insights often reveal important aspects of children’s interests, experiences, confidence and development beyond the setting.

Keeping Assessment Rooted in Professional Knowledge

It’s helpful to pause and remind ourselves: not everything needs to be written down. Both the EYFS and the Foundation Stage Profile Handbook are clear; assessment should be based primarily on what practitioners know about the child. This places professional judgement at the centre. Tools such as Development Matters and Birth to 5 Matters can support understanding, but they are there to guide thinking and not to be used as checklists. What really matters is that practitioners feel confident in recognising development, accurately interpreting what they see and understanding what appropriate actions to take.

For school leaders, this prompts an important question: how confident is our team in recognising development, identifying need and making accurate professional judgements?

From Noticing to Responding

Observation on its own is not enough. The real strength of assessment lies in how we respond.

The familiar cycle remains important: observe → assess → respond.

Responses may include:

• adapting the environment
• refining adult interactions
• offering additional support
• introducing new opportunities for learning

When this cycle is working well, assessment becomes part of the rhythm of daily practice. It is not an additional task or a separate system; it is a way of thinking that actively shapes provision, teaching and curriculum decisions.

Establishing Meaningful Starting Points

When children first join us, there is naturally a focus on baseline assessment. At its best, this is not about testing, labelling or generating unnecessary data. It is about developing a deep and accurate understanding of each child as a learner from the very beginning. This picture is built through:

• observation over time
• conversations with families
• information from previous settings

For schools with Reception-aged children, the Reception Baseline Assessment is a statutory requirement and provides a national measure of children’s early literacy, communication and mathematical skills. However, it is not designed to inform day-to-day teaching or planning.

This is why practitioner-led baseline assessment remains so important. It enables educators to build a rich, holistic understanding of children’s development, wellbeing, interests and learning behaviours. These insights go beyond isolated skills and help teams to make informed decisions about provision, interactions and curriculum from the very start.

Explore the Early Excellence EExREC Baseline Assessment Tool to support a principled, practitioner-led approach to baseline assessment.

Making Assessment Count

For teachers and leaders, the key question is always the same: does our assessment make a difference?

Used well, it should help us to:

• identify children who may need additional support
• notice patterns across groups
• shape a curriculum and provision that responds to children’s needs

The intention is not to collect more information for its own sake. It is to ensure that what we know about children genuinely informs what we do next.

Continuing the Conversation

High-quality assessment relies on strong professional dialogue. Teams need time to talk, reflect and refine their understanding together. Leaders play a vital role in creating the conditions for this by supporting consistency, building confidence and keeping the focus firmly on children’s learning and development.

As Professor Cathy Nutbrown reminds us:

“It is easy to only observe what we want to see and assess only what we understand.”

This feels particularly relevant when thinking about assessment. The more we understand child development, the more effectively we notice. The more thoughtfully we notice, the better we are able to respond.

A Moment for Reflection

It may be helpful to consider:

• Are your approaches giving a full picture of each child?
• Are your systems manageable, meaningful, and rooted in professional judgement?
• Do they directly influence teaching and provision?
• Is your curriculum shaped by what you know about your children?

Ultimately, effective assessment is not about recording everything. It is about seeing each child clearly, understanding them as a learner and using that knowledge to shape rich, meaningful experiences.

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Find Out More

Support for Practitioner-Led Assessment

For further support in carrying out a meaningful practitioner-led baseline, explore the Early Excellence EExREC Baseline Assessment Tool and Early Years Assessment Suite. Designed to support confident professional judgement, these tools help teams build a clear, holistic picture of children’s strengths, needs and next steps across the Reception year.