May 2nd 2023
Meaningful Assessment in the Early Years
Moulsford’s annual Nursery Heads’ Conference took place last Friday with a mix of Nursery and Pre-School heads from the Oxfordshire and Berkshire area in attendance, alongside some of our own Early Years staff. It was wonderful to welcome our guests back to Moulsford after what barely feels 12 months, and to host them in the new Pre-Prep building for the first time. They were all extremely impressed by the new facilities and thoroughly enjoyed their tour of the classrooms during a break in proceedings.
We were delighted to welcome Professor Pat Preedy back to Moulsford. She spoke at our inaugural Nursery Heads’ Conference in 2019 on the subject of ‘Physical and Cognitive Development in the Early Years’. This time, she turned her attention to ‘Meaningful Assessment in the Early Years’. Pat’s long and distinguished career in education and her vast experience were abundantly clear to our attendees, as she talked us through the different means of assessment and its true agenda for a practitioner - to impact the child. Pat revisited data and how valuable input, observations, more formal assessments and tracking throughout the Early Years lay down a firm foundation and can have a significant impact on a child's future progress and attainment all the way through their school career. Her words were inspirational and certainly affirming for the target audience of Early Years providers.
Pat was followed by Claire Robinson, Headmistress at Holme Grange School, where she has developed an assessment tool in conjunction with Pat. This is something the two ladies were rightly proud of as the system is designed to meet the needs of any setting; they have sought to ensure that it could be adapted and therefore suit individual contexts. Quite uniquely, the tool is being offered to any school or nursery at no cost, just with a request for a donation to the Rainbow Trust, a charity which helps children and teenagers facing life-threatening or terminal illness. For some settings this will make all the difference to their ability to engage with a robust system of assessment and I am sure that Claire and Pat's work will be gratefully received by many.
It was excellent to host colleagues from across the Early Years sector to share in the extensive knowledge and experience of our two speakers. It provided an excellent opportunity for Nursery and Pre-School heads to network and socialise, as well as discuss experiences from their own settings. We look forward to hosting the event again next year.
