Schools will be required to continue with teacher assessments of four- and five-year-old pupils starting school, after the government announced a U-turn over plans to abolish them.

The early years foundation stage profile (EYFSP), a series of teacher assessments of children’s skills at the end of their first year of primary education, was set to become non-statutory for schools from September 2016 under plans announced by the Department for Education in 2014.

But an email sent to heads by the Standards and Testing Agency today said the assessments would now continue to be a statutory requirement for schools in the 2016-17 school year.

‘Continuity and stability’

The email said the decision to keep the EYFSP had been taken “to provide continuity and stability for schools, pupils and parents and avoid unnecessary change whilst we take time to review options for assessment in the Reception year beyond 2016 to 2017”.

The STA said it “recognised that this clarification comes during the summer break” but that it “wanted to confirm as soon as possible the position for local authorities, schools and others”.

EYFSP assessments were originally going to become optional because of the plans to introduce a separate new baseline assessment for children starting school in September 2016. But the baseline was dropped as an accountability measure in another U-turn announced in April.

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