The DfE Early Years SEND Assessment Guidance

Our SEND Advisor Stephen Kilgour shares how the new DfE Early Years SEND assessment guidance can be used on Tapestry.

New SEND assessment guidance and resources have been released by the Department for Education (DfE) to support those working in the EYFS. The guidance has been written in collaboration with the well-respected Dingley's Promise and aims to support 'a strengths based approach to assessing children's needs'.

The assessment tool is organised into the four broad areas of need which are set out within the SEND code of practice:

• Communication and interaction, which may include difficulties speaking, understanding or communicating as well as autism spectrum conditions
• Cognition and learning, which may include mild learning difficulties (MLD), severe learning difficulties (SLD) or profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) where children may require varying support to access their learning as well as specific learning difficulties (SpLD) such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia
• Social, emotional, and mental health, which may include a range of mental health difficulties such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders or physical symptoms which are medically unexplained – this could include behaviour you may find challenging, as well as conditions such as:
  • attention deficit disorder (ADD)
  • attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD)
  • attachment disorder
• Sensory and or physical needs, which may include a physical disability (PD) which hinders their ability to access standard provision – this may also include visual impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI)

(as defined by the DfE)

One of the reasons for the new SEND assessment guidance is that since the reforms in the Early Years Foundation Stage, there has been some confusion when it comes to the assessment of children with learning differences and disabilities, particularly when applying for extra support and funding.

Dingley's Promise state: 'this guidance will give settings practical support and the tools to identify need and provide the information required for accessing funding. This will be designed to feed into the current two-year-old checks in a way that avoids duplication of information and effort.'

Using the DfE SEND assessment guidance on Tapestry

If you wish to use the DfE SEND Assessment resources on Tapestry, you can upload them to your account via our Bespoke Frameworks feature.  In order to do this, a Manager on your account will need to download the CSV file below and follow the simple instructions contained in the following pdf.

Once you have successfully uploaded the framework, you can start to add assessments to your observations in Tapestry.  You can do this by selecting the framework in the Assessment tab of your observation, selecting the relevant statement from the framework, and adding your judgement.  The Thoroughness Screen in the Tracking section will allow you to see the number of assessments which have been added as well as the judgments which have been made.

You will also have the opportunity to use the Summative Assessment screen linked to the framework to add judgements linked to the various statements.  This tutorial provides more information on this screen.

The DfE SEND assessment tools can be used alongside the Areas of Concern screen which was developed in response to the reforms in the EYFS.  This page allows educators to make judgements about how well a child is accessing their provision across the different curriculum areas.  It also provides the opportunity to create 'Reflections' which allow users to consider adaptations and adjustments to ensure that all children are engaged and learning.

FAQs about the DfE Early Years SEND assessment guidance

Is the new guidance statutory?

No, this is non-statutory guidance which aims to provide more consistency across the sector.  It may be the case that local authorities, or purse holders may request that you use this new guidance to support referral processes.

Should this guidance replace existing assessment procedures?

No, this doesn't need to replace existing assessment systems, particularly those that work well and are suited to your setting or school.  It may be that you choose to use the new guidance to supplement your applications for additional support if required.

Can the guidance be used alongside the Cherry Garden framework on Tapestry?

Yes, it may be that you decide to use the new DfE SEND assessment guidance to complement your existing assessment systems, such as the Cherry Garden framework. The new guidance contains less assessment detail than the Cherry Garden framework, but has been purposefully produced to allow for simplicity when seeking additional support. For this reason, the new DfE guidance encourages you to calculate a 'score' in each of the four areas. The Cherry Garden framework focuses less on this kind of data, offering a flexible approach to assessment and provides development information through the Branch Maps to support discussions about individual learning. It is possible to add assessments from both frameworks to observations on Tapestry if required.

Is it possible to access support when using the DfE SEND Assessment Resources?

Yes, our SEND Advisor Stephen Kilgour continues to provide free support and training for settings and schools, regardless of whether you are Tapestry customers.  He can be contacted by email here: stephen@eyfs.info