Assessments in Famly
Assessments help you track children’s development and create a clear overview of their learning and progress. Famly lets you use pre-made templates or create custom assessments tailored to your setting. This ensures assessments are meaningful, easy to complete, and aligned with your chosen framework.
Design Your Assessments
You can choose the information to include in assessments and two-year checks.
To set up assessments:
Head to Settings (cog icon) in your sidebar
Select Child Development
Click Assessment settings
From here, you can:
Configure your own assessments
Choose pre-made assessment templates as defaults
Assessing Using Development Matters Guidance
Recommended when using the Development Matters guidance.
Key principles from Development Matters:
Assessment focuses on noticing what children can do and know
It is not about collecting excessive data
Accurate assessment can identify children needing extra support
Assessments should be useful and not take staff away from children for long periods
The assessment includes:
Assessment options: Progressing well, Give more support, Needs special support
Space for reflections (free text boxes)
No age banding
Assessing Using Birth to Five Matters Guidance
Recommended when using the Birth to Five Matters guidance.
Key principles from Birth to Five Matters:
Use responsive pedagogy to recognise children’s knowledge and skills
Summative assessment should be straightforward and based on formative insights
Assessment supports improvements in provision and practice
The assessment includes:
Ranges 1–6 from the guidance
One assessment option: Needs some focus
Space for reflections (free text boxes)
Custom Assessment Options
Create your own custom assessment configurations tailored to your setting.
Key principles from EYFS:
Assessment helps parents, carers, and practitioners recognise progress
Should not require prolonged breaks from interacting with children
Practitioners use professional judgement without needing physical evidence
Keep parents informed and involve relevant professionals if needed
When creating a custom assessment configuration, you can choose:
Name of the assessment
Framework to assess within
Whether to include age bands and how many
Assessment options, their names, and colours
Include space for reflections (free text box)
💡 Assessments without options or age bands will result in a blank progress report
Things to consider when creating custom assessments:
Focus on the information you truly need
Avoid labour-intensive or complex assessments
Clearly show what the child can do and where support is needed
Use clear, sensitive language for staff and parents
💡 Assessment configurations cannot be deleted once an assessment has been made. They can be disabled if no longer needed
Where to Make an Assessment
Assessments are recorded from observations but can also be entered as a summative snapshot.
To make an assessment:
Go to the child’s Journey tab
Select New → Assessment
Your assessment template will open
Reference material will appear on the right
Add photos by clicking Add photos
Click Send or Save as draft
💡 If you're using a tablet, hold it in landscape mode to view reference material
The Two-Year Progress Check
Famly allows completion of the two-year progress check for children (once per child).
To complete a two-year check:
Go to the child’s Journey tab
Select New → Two-year check
Fill in the text fields (drafts save automatically)
Important notes about Two-year checks:
Two-year checks are similar to assessments but do not appear in the progress report
Once sent for review, another two-year check cannot be started
Drafts are stored for 90 days
Where to Find Previous Assessments
Previous assessments and observations are available in chronological order under the child’s Journey tab. Alternatively, you can filter for Assessment in the Child development overview to see a list of all assessments.
