I suppose you'd call it A for effort

This week we had an informal chat with George's keyworker at nursery about how he is getting on now that he has moved from the baby room to the toddler room. And it just happened to fall on the day that George did his first wee in a potty.

Anyway, it seems we have nothing to worry about – he's doing fine and is perfectly on track for a two-year-old, but it's quite surprising on how many levels they are assessed, even at the age of two. There are five categories:

1) Personal, Social and Emotional Development

2) Communication, Language and Literacy

3) Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy

4) Knowledge and Understanding of the World

5) Creative Development

Most categories have sub categories, such as Disposition and Attitudes which falls under 1) or Exploration and Investigation which is under 4). We were quite surprised at how comprehensive and detailed the development assessments are.

A profile form is filled out every so often with comments on each category – a bit like a mini school report – and the last one said things such as:

'George is a very caring and confident child who enjoys interacting with other children and adults.'

'George enjoys using repetitive language and imitating words you say.'

'George enjoys physical challenges, especially in the garden where he likes to climb, run and push toys.'

'George likes to make loud noises from different objects.'

Which adds up to pretty much your typical two-year-old.

I suppose he's started off on the right track – let's just hope he doesn't get comments like his Dad – 'Paul prefers to waste his time in lessons instead of concentrating on his work' ... well, it was maths!