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Two year old progress check guidance

This is an opportunity to review a child’s progress between the age of two and three.

What is the two year old progress check?

Practitioners must provide parents/carers with a short written summary of their child’s development in the prime areas:

  • Communication and language
  • Physical development
  • Personal social and emotional development.

It is up to the setting to decide what else should be included in the written summary to reflect the developmental level and needs of the individual child.

The summary should highlight:

  • The area(s) in which a child is progressing well
  • The area(s) in which some additional support might be needed.

Referring to the observation checkpoints for the child’s age in development matters as a best-fit description will support the setting to describe a child’s development as typical for their age. If the best-fit description is the checkpoint in an age band that is younger than the child’s current age, then they may be at risk of delay and the setting will need to consider what more can be done to support the child.

If there is a concern that the child has a developmental delay, which may indicate a Special Educational Need and Disability (SEND), the progress check must describe activities and strategies to address any concerns.

If there are significant emerging concerns or an identified SEND practitioners should develop a targeted plan to support the child’s future learning and development involving parents/carers and other professional (for example, the provider’s SENCo or health professionals) as appropriate.

Parents and carers

Practitioners must discuss with parents/carers how the summary of development can be used to support learning at home.

Practitioners should encourage parents/carers to share information from the progress check with other relevant professionals, including their health visitors.

Other settings

If a child moves settings between the ages of two and three it is expected that the progress check would usually be undertaken by the setting where the child has spent most time.

Practitioners should encourage parents/carers to share information from the progress check with the staff of any new provision the child may transfer to.

When to carry out the progress check

Practitioners must agree with the parents/carers when will be the most useful point to provide a summary.

Where possible the progress check and the Healthy Child Programme health and development review at age two (when health visitors gather information on a child’s health and development) should inform each other and support integrated working. This could be through accessing information directly from the health visitor, with parental permission, if there are developmental concerns or a single integrated meeting, arranged by health visitors.

Providers must have the consent of parents/carers to share information directly with other relevant professionals.

Other guidance

This guidance needs to be read in conjunction with the EYFS Assessment Principles and Practice – Plymouth Early Years Improvement, September 2021.

Guidance to provide support for early years practitioners when completing the early years foundation stage (EYFS) progress check at age 2.

Reference

Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage. Published 31 March 2021. Effective 1 September 2021. Sections 2.4, 2.5, 2.6