Fewer five-year-olds on the Isle of Wight achieved a good level of development in 2016-2017, according to standards set by the Department for Education.
Over the last school year, 71.2% of the pupils reached this standard in the early years assessment. The average rate for England was 69%.
How the development is assessed
The department benchmark for children with a “good level of development” is to achieve the minimum expected level in five of the seven areas assessed.
These are personal, social and emotional development, physical development, communication and language, mathematics and literacy.
The evaluation is made by the teacher in the final term of Reception.
Literacy lowest level of achievement
The subject where most pupils met the minimum expected score on the Isle of Wight was physical development. About 89.4% of the pupils hit the mark.
The lowest level of achievement was in literacy – just 75% of pupils met the Government’s minimum required mark.
Improvements in language
The topic where children improved their rate of success the most was communication and language. About 85.3% met the level expected, up from 77.1% in 2015-2016.
A total of 1,360 pupils were evaluated on the Isle of Wight in 2016-2017, 642 girls and 718 boys.
The average mark across all the areas assessed was 33.2, out of a possible 51.
In England, the average mark was 34.5 in 2016-2017.
Girls on the Isle of Wight did better than boys, scoring on average 1.7 more points.
Important info for teachers
Rosamund McNeil, assistant general secretary at the National Education Union, considered the assessment positive in terms of helping teachers and parents know more about children’s capabilities.
She said:
“The purpose of this assessment is to gather information and help teachers plan the next stage for that child.
“Practitioners are really supportive of it and they are very worried because they feel the Government does not like it because it is not just limited to numeracy and literacy.”
McNeil: Gender not critical at this stage
Commenting on the better performance by girls, she added:
“Gender is one of the factors, but not critical at this stage. You also have to take into account that 20% of the kids may have some additional need and it really matters which month in the year children were born.
“Every child develops at a different pace from the age of three to 18, and that is something that everybody has to understand.”
Article shared by Data Reporter as part of OnTheWight’s collaboration with Press Association and Urbs Media
