ECM in the Foundation Stage

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Real help with meeting the outcomes

The Government’s Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda is now at the heart of Ofsted inspections. Each early years setting is graded in terms of the five principal outcomes:

• be healthy
• stay safe
• enjoy and achieve
• make a positive contribution
• achieve economic well-being.

Most early years settings already contribute a great deal to these outcomes through their everyday provision. However, tracking exactly how the outcomes are covered in your setting, and creating convincing documentary evidence to prove it, can be a time-consuming administrative task.

ECM in the Foundation Stage is an exciting new resource designed to help you to meet this significant challenge. Provided on CD-ROM, it contains everything you need to find out what your setting is already doing, and what more needs to be done to satisfy Ofsted’s requirements.

Be ready for inspection

Consider the following:

• If the ECM outcomes are already covered by your existing provision, would you be able to tell an inspector exactly how?
• Do you have a mechanism in place to record each child’s progress in relation to Every Child Matters?
• Do you have a clear Every Child Matters policy in place?

A real solution

ECM in the Foundation Stage includes:

• a sample policy and guidance on briefing staff on ECM
• suggestions for incorporating ECM into planning activities
• a method of recording ECM provision for each individual child, and for the setting as a whole
• guidance on completing your self-evaluation form.

Save valuable management time

ECM in the Foundation Stage maps each of the Every Child Matters outcomes (and within each one, the appropriate subsidiary aims) to the areas of learning and development in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Each child’s key person receives a list of the EYFS assessment points which relate to the Every Child Matters outcomes. They can indicate which assessment points the child has met, and hence, how the Every Child Matters outcomes are covered.

The mapping of ECM to the EYFS provides valuable evidence. This information can then easily be used in the setting’s self-evaluation form for Ofsted. The aim is to save you and your colleagues countless hours of valuable time.

Convenient digital formats

In addition to the carefully compiled guidance on how to use the tool, a range of supplementary digital files are included. These include presentation graphics and spreadsheet files. All the material is designed to be easy to use, and no installation is required – simply copy the appropriate files onto your school network.

Contents

• Introduction
• Every Child Matters
• Early Years Foundation Stage
• Delivery
• Evaluation
• Resources