The progress check at age 2
One of the very few pieces of written work the EYFS actually requires of you. It is also one of the most over-produced — a side of A4 does the job, and a twelve-page portfolio does it worse.
In short
- It is statutory. Between a child’s second and third birthday, you must give parents a short written summary.
- Three prime areas only — communication and language, physical development, and personal, social and emotional development.
- Short means short. The framework asks for a short written summary. One side is respectable.
- Written for the parent, not for an inspector. Plain English, no jargon, no codes.
- Say what you are doing about any concern — that sentence is the one people leave out, and it is the one that matters.
- Line it up with the health visitor review where you can. Less duplication for the family.
Check the framework yourself.
This is a plain-English guide to help you write a good one, not official guidance. The requirement is set out in the EYFS statutory framework — use the version for childminders, and note that a new version took effect on 1 September 2026.
What is actually required
The EYFS requires that, at some point between a child turning two and turning three, you give their parents a short written summary of their development in the three prime areas.
That summary must:
- Describe the child’s development in communication and language, physical development, and personal, social and emotional development
- Identify their strengths
- Identify any area where progress is less than expected
- Describe the activities and strategies you intend to use to address any concerns, including involving other professionals where appropriate
- Be written in language that is understandable to parents
That is the whole requirement. Note what is not in it: a specified length, a specified format, photographs, tracking data, all seven areas, or evidence attached.
Why people over-produce it
Because it is one of the few things that is definitely required, it attracts anxiety, and anxiety produces pages. A twelve-page document with photographs is not a better progress check than a clear side of A4. It is a longer one that a parent is less likely to read — and being readable by the parent is an actual requirement, unlike length.
When to do it
Any point between the second and third birthday. In practice:
- Not the day they turn two. You need to know the child, so give it a term if they are new to you.
- Not the week before they turn three. The point is to identify concerns early enough to act on them.
- Somewhere around 24–30 months suits most children, and lines up better with the health visitor review.
- If the child moves settings, whoever has them for the majority of the time normally does it — agree who, in writing, rather than assuming.
The three prime areas
Only three. If you are writing about maths and literacy, you have gone beyond what is asked.
& language
development
& emotional
How to write it — with examples
Write it as though you were telling the parent about their child over a cup of tea. Because that is roughly what you should be doing when you hand it over.
Not like this
“Alfie is emerging in CL 22–36. Next steps: continue to support vocabulary acquisition through adult-led interaction within the continuous provision.”
Nobody outside early years knows what any of that means. It fails the “understandable to parents” requirement, and it tells them nothing about their child.
Like this
“Alfie uses around twenty words and has just started putting two together — ‘more juice’, ‘daddy car’. He understands far more than he says: he can fetch his shoes or his cup when asked, without me pointing. He finds it harder in a group, where he tends to go quiet and watch.
At home you could help by narrating what you are doing and leaving a long gap for him to fill. I will keep offering him small-group moments with one other child rather than a big group, and I will look again in December.”
Specific, plain, honest about what is harder, and it says what happens next in both settings.
A workable structure for each area, three or four sentences each:
-
What they can do
A real, concrete example. Not “good communicator” but what they actually said, and when.
-
What is harder
Also concrete, also unalarming. “Finds it harder in a group” is honest without being frightening.
-
What you will do
One or two specific things, with a timescale.
-
What they could do at home
Optional, but this is what makes parents value it — and it is genuine partnership rather than a report card.
When you have a concern
This is where the progress check earns its place, and where most weak ones fall down.
If progress in any prime area is less than expected, the framework expects you to describe what you are going to do about it — including involving other professionals where appropriate. A concern recorded with no action attached is not a completed progress check.
Do
- Say it to the parent before they read it. Nobody should meet a concern for the first time in writing.
- Be specific about what you have noticed, with examples and dates.
- Name what you will change in your setting, and when you will review it.
- Suggest who else could help — health visitor, GP, speech and language therapy, your Area SENCo.
- Keep the door open. “This may well be where he gets to in his own time, and it is worth someone else having a look.”
Don’t
- Diagnose. You are not qualified to and it is not your role. Describe what you see.
- Soften it into meaninglessness. “Doing brilliantly!” when you are worried helps nobody, and a parent who finds out later that you had concerns will not trust you again.
- Wait for the progress check to raise something you noticed in March.
If the concern is significant, this is the point where a wider conversation starts — the graduated approach, and possibly, in time, an EHC needs assessment. Parents can request one themselves, and it is worth them knowing that.
The integrated review
Health visitors carry out a development review at around the same age. Where local arrangements allow, the two are meant to join up.
- Ask the parent whether their health visitor review has happened, or is coming.
- Offer to share your summary with the health visitor — with parental permission.
- It reduces duplication for the family, and two professionals noticing the same thing carries considerably more weight than one.
Common mistakes
The ones worth avoiding
- Writing all seven areas. Three are required. The rest is optional work.
- Writing it for an inspector. The audience is the parent. Ofsted has said inspectors will not ask for internal tracking — see the paperwork you can safely stop doing.
- Jargon and age bands. Meaningless outside the sector.
- No concerns ever recorded. If every check you write says everything is lovely, either you are extraordinarily lucky or you are avoiding the difficult sentence.
- Emailing it and hoping. Hand it over and talk it through. Two minutes.
- Not keeping a copy. Keep one, dated, with a note of when you discussed it.
- Doing it late. After the third birthday it is not a progress check at age two.
The honest summary
Half a side per prime area, in plain English, handed over in person, with one honest sentence about anything that is harder and what you are doing about it. That is a good progress check. Everything beyond it is for you, not for the child.