To assess children’s starting points, observe and notice some things that are important to a child in the first few days or fortnight at your setting. This will tell you lots about the child and will give you a starting point to compare progress with. What you observe will depend on the age and stage that a child is at, for instance if they can walk then you don’t need to notice if they can stand, if they are a baby you won’t try to observe their running skills, but you might be observing whether they reach for an object.
Your settling in and starting points observations will tell you a lot about children, what they can do on their own, what they need help with, what they love to do, etc.
This information will help you work out children’s starting points to compare later progress with. It will help you know what to plan next.
You might find the revised Development Matters guidance useful: Development Matters - Non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage.