EYFS Progress Checks: The 2-Year Review and EYFSP Explained

Assessment in the EYFS serves two main purposes:

• it informs practitioners’
• ongoing planning for individual children, and it provides formal checkpoints at which children’s development is summarised and any concerns are identified. The EYFS requires two specific formal assessments: the Progress Check at Age Two, and the EYFS Profile at the end of Reception. Understanding what these assessments involve, what they are designed to achieve and how they are used helps parents engage more meaningfully with the information they receive from their child’s setting or school

It is important to understand that neither assessment is a test or examination. Both are based on practitioner observation and professional judgement, informed by the practitioner’s knowledge of the individual child over time. They are designed to reflect what the child typically does, not what they can be prompted to do on demand. A child who is having an unusual day (because they are tired, upset or unwell) should not receive an assessment that reflects that atypical performance.

The Progress Check at Age Two

Every registered early years provider must produce a short written summary of a child’s development when the child is between 24 and 36 months old. The Progress Check (sometimes called the two-year progress check or two-year review) covers the three prime areas of learning: Communication and Language, Physical Development, and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. It does not formally assess the four specific areas, though practitioners may comment on these if they are relevant to the child’s overall picture.

The purpose of the check is explicitly evaluative and actionable: it should identify the child’s strengths, note any areas where development is less advanced than expected and, where concerns are identified, describe the steps being taken to support the child. It should be written in accessible language and shared with parents and, where relevant, with the child’s health visitor. Since 2015, the government has encouraged the alignment of the two-year progress check with the Healthy Child Programme review at 2–2.5 years, so that both the developmental and health dimensions of a child’s progress can be considered together.

What the Progress Check Should Look Like

A high-quality progress check is more than a generic description of a two-year-old’s development – it reflects the specific, individual child and provides genuine insight into their development at this point. It should draw on the key person’s accumulated knowledge of the child over months of observation and interaction, on conversations with parents about the child’s development and interests at home and, where relevant, on observations from other professionals involved with the family.

Parents should ask their setting when the progress check will be produced, how it will be shared with them and whether there will be an opportunity to discuss it. You have a right to be involved in the process – you know your child better than any practitioner and your observations of your child at home are important context. If the summary identifies concerns, ask specifically what the setting will do to provide additional support and how you will be kept informed of progress.

Identifying and Responding to Concerns

One of the most important functions of the Progress Check is the identification of children whose development may not be following a typical trajectory – particularly in the prime areas, where early identification of difficulties has the strongest evidence of effectiveness. Common concerns at this age include: significant delays in speech and language development; limited social interest or unusual patterns of social interaction; significant physical development delays; persistent and extreme emotional or behavioural difficulties; and signs of developmental regression.

Where concerns are identified, the setting should discuss them with parents sensitively and honestly and agree on the appropriate next steps. This might involve enhanced support within the setting, referral to the early years SEND advisory service, a referral to speech and language therapy or, in some cases, a referral to the health visitor for a more detailed health assessment. Early identification and intervention at age two (during the period of maximum neural plasticity) is significantly more effective than the same intervention at age four or five.

The EYFS Profile

The EYFS Profile is a statutory assessment completed by Reception class teachers in the final half-term of the Reception year (typically May or June). It assesses each child against the 17 Early Learning Goals (ELGs) across all seven areas of learning, using a three-point scale:

• Emerging (the child has not yet achieved the level of development described in the ELG)
• Expected (the child is working at the level described)
• or Exceeding (the child is working beyond the level described, in the context of the ELG)

The ELGs describe a level of development that most children should be at the end of their Reception year. They are not designed to describe the average child – they represent a point that children should have reached with good quality early years provision and appropriate home learning. In 2022, approximately 65% of children achieved a “Good Level of Development” (GLD) (meeting the expected standard in all 17 ELGs) though this figure varies significantly by area, sex and socioeconomic background. Boys consistently achieve GLD at lower rates than girls; children from disadvantaged backgrounds at lower rates than their more advantaged peers.

How the EYFS Profile Is Used

The EYFS Profile data has three main uses. First, it informs Year 1 teachers’ understanding of their new cohort: a profile completed thoroughly and professionally provides the Year 1 teacher with a rich picture of each child’s strengths and areas for development at the point of transition. Second, it is submitted to the local authority and used for national statistical analysis, informing government policy on early years outcomes and identifying areas and groups of children where provision is consistently underperforming. Third, it should be shared with parents and discussed at the end of Reception – as a summary of what their child has achieved in their foundational year, and as a starting point for thinking about Year 1.

Parents should receive a copy of their child’s EYFS Profile and should have an opportunity to discuss it with the class teacher. If a child is assessed as Emerging in any ELG, parents should ask what support will be put in place in Year 1 to close the gap. A child who enters Year 1 with multiple Emerging assessments is at risk of continuing to fall behind unless specific, targeted support is provided from the outset of Key Stage 1.