EYFS Reception Report Comments: Expressive Arts and Design
Expressive Arts and Design covers creating with materials, such as painting, junk modelling and collage using colour, texture and tools, and being imaginative and expressive through role play, inventing stories, singing songs and moving to music.
Below are 13 sample sentences for Reception (FS2): two strengths and one next step for each of the 4 comment levels (Expected: secure and confident / Expected / Emerging: developing well / Emerging: beginning), plus a tip for families. They are a small selection from the 173 expressive arts and design sentences in the full pack. Copy one, then add a detail only you know about the student.
Jump to: Expected: secure and confident · Expected · Emerging: developing well · Emerging: beginning · Writing tips
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Expected: secure and confident S
Strengths
- During music and movement in the hall, [Name] responds to changes in tempo and mood with controlled, expressive movement.
- Singing a wide range of songs from memory, [Name] keeps the tune and joins in with the actions and changes in volume.
Next step
- [Name] could compose a short tune on percussion instruments and record it with picture symbols for others to play.
Expected E
Strengths
- [Name] is able to talk about the work of an artist we have studied and use some of the ideas in [his/her/their] own pictures.
- [Name] sings familiar songs and rhymes with enthusiasm, usually remembering the words and joining in with the actions.
Next step
- In PE, [Name] could practise moving to different pieces of music, matching big and small movements to the sounds.
Emerging: developing well D
Strengths
- At show and tell, [Name] sometimes shares [his/her/their] creations and, with some support, describes how each one was made.
- [Name] enjoys singing and joins in most with the choruses and repeated lines of familiar songs.
Next step
- A next step is for [Name] to learn the actions to our class songs so that [he/she/they] can join in more fully with performances.
Emerging: beginning B
Strengths
- One-to-one, [Name] is beginning to share [his/her/their] creations at show and tell, holding them up and saying a few words.
- Music time is popular with [Name], who is beginning to join in with parts of familiar songs, especially the actions.
Next step
- Practising one class song with actions at a time will help [Name] feel ready to join in with performances.
Support at home
- Old clothes, hats and bags make handy dressing-up props for acting out favourite stories at home.
How to write expressive arts and design comments for Reception (FS2)
- Look for planning and explanation: does the child say what they intend to make, choose materials for a purpose and describe how they made it? Paraphrase one explanation if you can.
- Describe storytelling in small-world or role play, such as inventing a story with friends and acting it out with props. A next step might be adding a problem or an ending to the story.
- For music and performance, mention keeping a steady beat, performing a song with the class or making up movements to music, and whether the child performs confidently in a group.
Watch out: Avoid judging artwork by how realistic or neat it looks, which parents may read as talent or the lack of it. Describe the choices, imagination and techniques the child used instead.
At the most secure level, words such as confidently, independently and in a range of situations fit, backed by one example from play. At the earliest level, name what the child can already do and the support that helps, such as modelling or a visual prompt. Let the observation show the level rather than restating it.
What Expressive Arts and Design covers
In these comments, expressive arts and design covers these behaviours:
- Creating with Materials: explores and uses materials, tools and techniques; shares creations
- Being Imaginative and Expressive: invents and acts out stories, sings songs, moves to music
More EYFS comments
- Communication and Language, Reception (FS2)
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Reception (FS2)
- Physical Development, Reception (FS2)
- Literacy, Reception (FS2)
- Mathematics, Reception (FS2)
- Understanding the World, Reception (FS2)
- Expressive Arts and Design, Nursery (FS1)
- Characteristics of Effective Learning, Reception (FS2)
- Opening and closing sentences
- All EYFS skills and grade bands
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How these sentences were made, and what has been checked: About these comments.