Early Years Assessments

At CEM, we’re here to support young students’ early learning and development from the very start of their school life. Our two early years baseline assessments give you a snapshot of where your children are at with their learning when they begin at school or nursery: ASPECTS (for 3–4-year-olds) and BASE (for 4–5-year-olds).

Find out more about our early years baseline assessments, and how they can help improve understanding of your students’ abilities and skills.

Early Years Children In School

Why use assessments in the Early Years?

We know there are a lot of strong opinions about putting children through formal testing at such a young age. We agree. Testing for the sake of record keeping at this age makes no sense and adds no value to their learning. However, assessment with purpose can make all the difference.

CEM Early Years assessments are built on research and backed by evidence. They have been developed to complement teacher observations and give you a deeper understanding of your youngest students. Learn more about the insights and impact a good reception baseline can have on children’s learning.

 

ASPECTS

a unique insight into early years development

Insight that goes beyond observations

Based on years of rigorous research and managed by experts, we identify what skills children really need to ensure success in later life. We help you to understand all of your students’ needs – especially when you might not be able to pick it up from observation alone.

What is ASPECTS?

ASPECTS is a child- and teacher-friendly assessment, designed to help you identify your student’s unique development profile, their strengths, and needs.

A short, story-style interactive assessment, ASPECTS provides you with reliable data to allow your teaching brilliance to come to the fore. Through this assessment not only can you understand and benchmark their development profile, but set them up for a bigger, brighter future from the very beginning.

The benefits of ASPECTS

We believe that there are many benefits to ASPECTS assessment, both short and long term.

Instant insights:

  • Understand every child’s starting point in their journey with you
  • Plan effective support with objective evidence to help your pupil progress
  • Get to know every child in your class better and quicker by enjoying some valuable one-on-one time
  • Set your pupils up for life with this early year’s baseline assessment

Setting up a strong foundation:

  • Help create a high performing school
  • Understand and shape their progress over time with a start and end of year assessment
  • Reflect your students’ needs with learning and teaching plans

ASPECTS is:

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Adaptive

evolves with a child’s abilities, helping you treat every pupil as an individual

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Establishing

sets a baseline for the child’s foundational level

 
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Explorative

helping you understand what’s going on with a child’s development and shows clear progress

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Digital

no paperwork or hassle! All you need is a computer

 
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Fun!

set up like an activity, not a test, and lets you focus on the child not the assessment

 

Discover more about ASPECTS today

BASE

understand and pitch your students’ learning journey

Start mapping your students’ learning journey.

A fun, interactive assessment, BASE is a tool that takes just 20 minutes and feels more like a game than a test. Demonstrate progress across the year and gain empowering insight that will help you tailor teaching plans to identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses.

For teachers in international schools, BASE complements the Cambridge Primary programme, and works seamlessly with the subject knowledge assessments to help generate a larger picture of your pupils’ learning pace and stage.

What is BASE?

BASE is, in short, a ‘baseline assessment’. BASE gives you a clearer picture of every child in your class through a fun, story-based assessment so you can help them flourish and grow. BASE can be used at the start of the year, as a fun first assessment that allows you to spot potential issues early, and then again at the end of the year to celebrate their progression.

The benefits of BASE

See the short-term benefits as soon as you start using BASE and set yourself up for success in the future.

Instant insights:

  • Understand your children’s starting points quickly
  • Find hidden potential or additional needs
  • Plan and resource interventions early

Setting up a strong foundation:

  • Use BASE to inform your planning, resources, and interventions (for an individual or a whole-class)
  • Monitor your progress from the start to the end of the year
  • Meet your school goals and future proof your students’ progress (so they do better in their GCSEs)

BASE is:

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Baseline

treat it as a ‘getting to know you’ assessment

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Adaptive

evolving with the child’s abilities

 
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Buildable

so you can choose the package that suits your school and budget

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Quick and easy

it takes just 20 minutes to work through a fun story style session!

 
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Enriching

giving you quality time to observe your pupils in one-to-one sessions

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Digital

no paperwork required!

 
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Curriculum independent

perfect for the state and independent sector

 

Discover more about BASE today

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