Progress check at two

When a child is aged between two and three, practitioners / childminders must review their progress, and provide parents and/or carers with a short written summary of their child’s development in the prime areas.

Beyond the prime areas, it is for practitioners to decide what the written summary should include, reflecting the development level and needs of the individual child.
The summary must:
• Highlight areas in which a child is progressing well.

• Highlight areas in which some additional support might be needed.

• Focus particularly on any areas where there is a concern that a child may
have a developmental delay, which may indicate a special educational need
or disability.

• Describe the activities and strategies the provider / childminder intends to adopt to address
any issues or concerns. This plan should involve parents and carers and
other professionals (for example, the provider’s Special Educational Needs
Co-ordinator (SENCO) or health professionals) as appropriate.

If a child moves settings between the ages of two and three it is expected that the progress check would usually be undertaken by the setting where the child has spent most time. Practitioners / childminders must discuss with parents and/or carers how the summary of development can be used to support learning at home. Non-statutory guidance, Progress check at age 2, is available to support practitioners / childminders in completing the progress check.

Practitioners / childminders should encourage parents and/or carers to share information from the progress check with other relevant professionals, including their health visitor and the staff of any new provision the child may move to. Practitioners / childminders must agree with parents and/or carers when will be the most useful point to provide a summary. Where possible, the progress check and the Healthy Child Programme health and development review at age two (when health visitors gather information on a child’s health and development) should inform each other and support integrated working. This will allow health and education professionals to identify strengths as well as any developmental delay and any particular support from which they think the child/family might benefit. Providers / childminders must have the consent of parents and/or carers to share information directly with other relevant professionals.

Taken from EYFS statutory framework for group and school-based providers (2024) and EYFS statutory framework for childminders (2024)