Introduction

Many early years practitioners and students report that they are struggling with the burden of assessment, finding it too time-consuming. The observation and assessment materials were created as part of a collaborative approach to self-improving systems developed by nursery schools in East London. The nursery schools working on Celebrating Children's Learning were joined by early years consultants Helen Moylett and Nancy Stewart, who had written the initial Development Matters guidance, and they selected the observations that best exemplified the Characteristics of Effective Learning. The observation and assessment materials were created as part of a collaborative approach to self-improving systems developed by nursery schools in East London. The Newham nursery school teams were trained to use the research- evidenced Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS) tools to measure quality at the baseline and end-point of participating settings.