Track What Matters is a free tracking tool was made by teachers and school leaders at Parbold Douglas CE Academy. It is not made for any commercial or financial gain. It is designed to be simple, straightforward and to provide Early Years practitioners with quick access to useful information and analysis. The tool is designed specifically for use with the 2021 Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.

Whilst purposeful, manageable summative assessment has a role to play in effective Early Years practice, the design and delivery of an excellent curriculum always comes first. We firmly believe that Early Years practitioners' time is best spent working alongside children and planning learning opportunities that stretch, challenge and facilitate their ongoing development. However, many of the 'assessment' tools designed to support practitioners act as a barrier to this: invariably, they are incredibly time-consuming. The professional time of practitioners ends up consumed by an endless cycle of recording observations and highlighting checklists. Too often, when using the previous EYFS Framework (pre-2021), we over-complicated assessment with practitioners making subjective judgements about whether or not a child is '30 - 50 months expected' or '40 - 60 months emerging' within a particular area. This information has a tendency to lack validity and proves of little use when planning next steps in learning. 

In seeking to create a tool that is purposeful and manageable, this tracking tool was born. It has been carefully developed so that it is workload-friendly for teachers whilst being rich in the information it provides. It is designed to sit alongside any Early Years curriculum and focuses on identifying which pupils need additional support and guidance. 

We don't expect it to be right for every Early Years setting but hope that many will find it useful!

Access the tool by downloading the Excel file below. This includes instructions around how to set it up and use it effectively. The example document includes a some pre-populated, fictional data, demonstrating the instant analysis provided.

Please note: For those wishing to adapt this tracker, an editable version is available (see below). All sheets in this version are unprotected, allowing users to develop the tool to suit their setting. When using this tracker, users should be careful to ensure that formulae are not edited or deleted in error as this will hinder the functionality of the tracker. For most users, we recommend the standard version.

Please share freely. Not to be sold.

Webinars

We host regular online webinars about Track What Matters. These serve as an introduction to the assessment tool and include a presentation from an Early Years practitioner who is currently using it to support their practice. These are sometimes advertised on this page or you can use the contact form below to enquire about upcoming events.