If your child attends a childcare setting, it is important that you and the professionals caring for your child work together. You will need to feel comfortable about exchanging information and discussing things that will benefit your child. These conversations will either need to be with your childminder or, in a larger setting like a nursery, with your child’s “key person” Try to speak to your child’s key person as often as possible about what your child has been doing, what they have enjoyed, what they need to be doing more of and what you can do at home.
You can discuss your child’s development with the staff at any time and at some point after your child turns 2, the professionals working with your child must give you a written summary of how your child is progressing against the 3 prime areas of learning from the early years foundation stage (EYFS)
- communication and language
- physical development
- personal, social and emotional development.
The aims of the progress check are to ensure that parents have a clear picture of their child’s development and to enable practitioners to understand the child’s needs and to plan activities to meet these needs in the setting. The progress check is a statutory assessment which is completed for all children who are in childcare settings. It is good practice for parents to be asked to contribute to the progress check and for this to be discussed at a meeting.
This check will highlight areas where your child is progressing well and any areas where they might need some extra help or support – it will also highlight how mums and dads and other family members or carers can work with the key person to support the child. You might find it useful to share the information from the check with other professionals such as health visitors (who can use it as part of the health and development review).
More information about the progress check at age 2 can be found in the “Know how guide” which was written by the National Children’s Bureau. It can be downloaded from www.foundationyears.org.uk
