Evaluation is the tool to achieve high-quality early years education.

As Sir Martyn Oliver, His Majesty's Chief Inspector, aptly put it:

“A high-quality early education benefits all children, particularly the most vulnerable, and is far too important to be left to chance. Learning in the early years is fundamental to providing children with the tools they need to thrive throughout their education and beyond. That is all the more important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. If we get early education right for our most vulnerable children, we'll get it right for all children.” [Oct 24]

Rigorous, systematic, and regular evaluation by settings such as preschools, nurseries, and childminders ensure that children's progress is monitored (the Impact), practitioners refine their teaching strategies (the Implementation), and the overall effectiveness of the setting (the Intent) is continuously improved. This commitment to continuous improvement is a key aspect of the assessment and evaluative process.

This blog examines the central role of evaluation in early years settings, particularly in deciphering children's outcomes. It underscores how evaluation empowers educators to improve teaching practices and developmental support, enhancing the quality of early years education. I also share my own experiences in running settings with you and how the software, ‘spark™’ or ‘spark early years’, I designed supports the practice of evaluation to determine and improve the impact of the service.

We recognise during The Foundation Stage (EYFS) that each child is unique and grows at their own rate in different things at different times, so they do not necessarily follow a predictable journey of progression. The children attending will be very different from each other, presenting different characteristics, strengths and needs.

The EYFS plays a crucial role in directing the observation and assessment of children. It advocates for a comprehensive understanding of each child and for practitioners to tailor their teaching and support strategies accordingly.

Effective evaluation identifies children's interests, what they know, and what they can do. By observing and assessing developmental milestones across areas such as Communication and Language, Physical Development, and Personal, Social, and Emotional Development, educators/Practitioners can promptly recognise gaps in learning and implement targeted support. An example may be a child who has difficulty in the learning area of Communication and Language. This child would benefit from a plan to extend learning opportunities encouraging conversation and language exploration. One child may need interventions to help them with hand and eye coordination. In contrast, others excelling in their Understanding of the World may need additional challenges to extend their learning, possibly obtaining factual books from the local library.

The statutory Progress Check at Age Two and the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile are pivotal moments for evaluating progress and officially sharing this with parents. These reports help foster a clear understanding of the child's development and enable collaborative support for their next steps.

Evaluation is especially crucial for identifying children who need extra help reaching their developmental milestones. Ongoing formative assessment is invaluable here to recognise when and where a child requires additional support and ensure interventions are developed promptly, used effectively and evaluated on an ongoing basis to raise the impact proficiently.

When practitioners evaluate daily, they can immediately adapt their expectations and learning and play strategies to meet all children’s individual needs, fostering an inclusive environment where all children can thrive.

This type of evaluation may focus on groups by age, developmental stage, the room they attend, key person, term of birth, gender, etc. This group evaluation can shape teaching strategies and the allocation of resources.

A group of children may need to catch up on their Physical Development. This identified group may require additional support or more opportunities to develop their skills. However, the room staff may avoid going outdoors or require some further training on the matter.

It may be that boys are less engaged in Literacy. In response, educators could introduce mark-making and factual books in the enabling environment into the spaces where children prefer to play and that reflect their current interests.

Evaluation in early years education isn't just about tracking developmental milestones; it also involves understanding how children learn.

Formative assessment documentation aids in evaluating teaching strategies and how these might be reviewed and changed to enhance engagement and learning. For example, if observations indicate that children are less engaged during group activities but thrive during free play, practitioners should perhaps consider allowing children to opt out of group times and then evaluate why the child/children might prefer to do that.  When a weakness is identified, educators can reflect upon their practice following the child's needs and interests or respond by adapting their approach to organising the environment.

When educators and practitioners reflect on their practice, this drives their professional growth. Regularly assessing the impact of their teaching methods takes that stage further.

Evaluation assists in identifying where teams or team members may benefit from training or other professional development. This could be to support a particular area of learning or to support children whose home language is not English. Alternatively, through their formative assessments, consider how children like to learn and develop a deeper relationship. Recognising individual strengths and interests, educators can utilise their expertise to provide further engaging learning opportunities.

Understanding how well your setting is performing is important for many reasons, and evaluation at this level is critical for meeting the required minimum standards, let alone elevating them and driving continuous improvement.  With the regulatory requirements of the EYFS Progress Check at two in the early years setting or the Early years Foundation Stage Profile in School, these bring compliance while supporting high standards in care and evaluation.

Summative assessments (e.g., the Progress Check), along with data analysis across groups or rooms, provide managers with valuable insights into how well the setting meets children's needs. For example, if progress tracking shows consistent gaps in children's learning in Mathematics across a specific age group, the setting might invest in new mathematical equipment or finance specific resources to encourage more counting and classification activities.

Moreover, embedding a culture of evaluation fosters collaboration and innovation among practitioners, ultimately benefiting children and families.

The paramount goal of evaluation is to ensure children thrive and give families peace of mind and a service that meets their needs. Identifying areas for improvement provides a platform for implementing an action plan.

With insights shared with the team, they can adapt practice to enhance the curriculum and ensure that resources are effectively allocated. For example, if there appears to be a lack of engagement in the area of Creative Arts and Design, the setting may source new open-ended resources to inspire children's creativity. What's more, a planned follow-up evaluation may be in place to ensure they have the desired impact. This methodology creates an improvement cycle of Intent, Implementation and Impact, associated with Outstanding Ofsted grades.

As an owner-manager of early years settings, overseeing over 50 full-time staff across four sites, staying connected to what was happening on the ground was crucial. Before opening the first nursery, my professional journey had moved to working with children with SEND. These experiences made me acutely aware of the importance of identifying gaps in children's progress as early as possible, enabling timely interventions to maximise their educational opportunities before starting school. Additionally, I managed a training centre registered with CACHE, which made it equally important to involve apprentices in the observation and evaluation process. As for all members of staff, it was vital that apprentices also were active participants. Identifying developmental milestones and planning activities around a child's needs enriched their training and contributed to our business' overall effectiveness.

Our reputation for delivering a high-quality service was essential to maintain. This meant we needed robust systems for monitoring and improving practice. Actually, spark™ software came about to minimise these challenges, ease the strains of managing multiple settings, and provide a clear overview of children's progress (their Impact), staff performance (in the Implementation), and overall operational effectiveness.

Our commitment to excellence was reflected in achievements such as winning a national NMT Staff Training and Development Award and earning repeated Investors in People Accreditation. Driving continuous improvement to make a difference to the children and families. The 'assess, plan, and review process' became the cornerstone of our continuous improvement plans, with a firm belief in the saying, "You're only as strong as your weakest link."

To maintain high standards, I implemented a quarterly plan that included spot-checking a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to the delivery of our curriculum. Each week, I focused on a specific aspect, starting with children's progress. By identifying both strengths and gaps, we could target additional support where it was most needed. For example, when data showed that children across the nurseries were not progressing as expected in the Communication and Language learning area, we invested in resources such as recordable buttons, talking tubes, puppets, picture books ...etc. Similarly, when progress in Mathematics appeared to dip in preschool rooms, we arranged external staff training. Using spark™'s group and cohort analysis tools, I tracked progress across various attributes, including gender, developmental stage, SEND, social and medical backgrounds, and cultural factors. These reports provided actionable insights that could be discussed in management meetings and formed the basis for targeted interventions supporting our Intent.

Each quarter, I also evaluated the impact of previously implemented initiatives. Assessing here involved reviewing the progress of groups of children or specific Areas of Learning where changes had been made. Whether it was new training, the introduction of targeted resources, mentoring or coaching for a team member, or adjustments to routines, the outcomes of these initiatives were scrutinised to determine their effectiveness.

Despite operating within a hierarchical structure—with staff responsible for specific rooms and roles—I also actively monitored individual educators' performance. Regular evaluations allowed me to address potential issues early, whether through supervision, setting team development targets, or providing additional training. Formal measures like disciplinary procedures were sometimes necessary to uphold our high standards. spark™ was instrumental in streamlining this process, allowing me to monitor the impact of these interventions, track progress over time and look to refine the strategies for ongoing advancements.

spark™ was integral to our operations, a backbone to our curriculum, which in all other respects followed the child and pertinent topics. Consequently, the software was reviewed during these evaluations to ensure it continued to meet our evolving needs. Therefore, each evaluation cycle included a plan for adding or improving new features on spark™ too! This approach continues today as we talk with other spark™ users to ensure that spark™ remains a tool for managing an educational service and a partner in driving its success.

By embedding evaluation at every level—child, group, staff, and setting—our nurseries were able to foster an environment of continuous growth and excellence. Whether it was identifying gaps in children's learning, improving staff performance, or adapting teaching strategies, evaluation was the key to achieving our goals of providing the highest-quality early years education to every child in our care.

Nothing stays still in an early years setting; it is all 'on the go' with much to do. spark™ is designed to be 'on the go' too! All levels of hierarchy are encouraged to evaluate and take that evaluation a stage further into enhancing children's progress by reflecting on teaching and enhancing the overall quality of the setting.

spark™ early years software simplifies this process with tools for tracking individual progress across all EYFS areas. Practitioners can record observations quickly and link them to developmental milestones, making it easier to identify gaps and strengths. spark™’s intuitive design supports practitioners in creating personalised learning opportunities for each child while fostering collaboration with families. The software further enhances this process by offering tools to monitor and evaluate children's progress, particularly poignant for children with SEND. The platform simplifies the documentation and review process, helping practitioners ensure timely and effective interventions.

One of spark™'s standout features is its ability to generate instant and valuable reports. Whether tracking an individual child's progress, evaluating the Characteristics of Effective Learning against teaching strategies, or benchmarking beyond the EYFS requirements, these empower educators and managers to create detailed professional reports easily. Furthermore, evaluation processes are a breeze. The reports are also invaluable for sharing insights and plans for the child with families. spark provides a range of reporting tools to ensure children thrive and give families peace of mind and a service that meets their needs.

spark™ encourages the review of teaching strategies: it promotes 'the reflective practitioner/educator' concept.

The software offers a simple-to-use platform for recording and reviewing observations quickly. spark™ also integrates the EYFS’s Characteristics of Effective Learning —engagement, motivation, and critical thinking during observation. It also encourages educators to analyse how children are approaching their learning to help them have a deeper understanding of the child’s developmental needs and learning styles, enabling the practitioner to modify and document how they will change their teaching strategies.

spark™ evaluation tools give a provider or manager a comprehensive overview of the entire setting. As already described, the children's outcomes as individuals or as groups and other benchmarking beyond the EYFS remit can quickly be evaluated through the easy-to-make and decipher reports. The information enables data-driven decisions from the support for the team and more strategic ones. These can be measured repeatedly to check if actions taken have been successful, driving setting-wide improvements.

Regulatory compliance is a priority for all early years settings, especially as it is linked to their reputation moving forward. Currently, Ofsted inspects with three themes in mind: Intent, Implementation, and Impact. The spark™ platform organises the intentions and implementation of the curriculum and, importantly, provides evaluations to prove the setting's Impact.

About the Author - Catherine Lyon

Catherine has over 50 years of experience in early years education, and the child is always at the centre of her practice.

Award-winning 'Outstanding' provider of nursery education sites including an NMT award for Staff Training and Development encompassing her Training and Assessment Centre that delivered Cache qualifications. A software designer of early years programmes, also finalised many times and Internationally. Catherine's an experienced Ofsted Inspector and Quality Asurance Assessor and continues as an EYFS Consultant in the UK and internationally.

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