PP1 and PP2 Assessment: What Portfolios and Observation Checklists Actually Mean

PP1 and PP2 (Pre-Primary) are the only two years in the entire CBC structure with no formal exams, no BE/AE/ME/EE bands, and no scored assessment at all. For parents used to hearing about KJSEA, KPSEA and report card bands from older siblings, this often reads as "no assessment happens," which isn't accurate. Here's what actually replaces testing at this age, and why it's built this way deliberately.

This matters most right now. Term 3 2026 ends on Friday 23 October, and many schools share end-of-year portfolios and progress notes with families in the final weeks. Knowing what you are looking at turns a quick handover at the school gate into a useful conversation about your child.

Why Pre-Primary Doesn't Use Formal Testing

CBC treats Pre-Primary as a fundamentally different stage from the rest of the curriculum, one built around activity-based learning rather than content delivery. A 4 or 5-year-old's development in language, motor skills, social interaction and early number sense doesn't translate meaningfully into a written test the way Grade 4 mathematics does. Assessing this age group through formal exams would measure test-taking readiness far more than actual developmental progress, so the system deliberately avoids it.

What Actually Happens Instead

Two tools carry the real weight of Pre-Primary assessment:

• Observation checklists. Teachers watch and record how a child engages with specific activities, does the child correctly sort objects by colour or size, can they hold a pencil with an appropriate grip, do they follow a two-step instruction, rather than testing these skills in isolation on paper. The checklist format means the same set of developmental markers gets tracked consistently across the term.
• Portfolios. A collection of a child's actual work over time, drawings, early writing attempts, craft projects, photos of activity participation, that shows development directly rather than through a score. A portfolio comparing a child's drawing or early letter formation from Term 1 to Term 3 often communicates progress more clearly to a parent than any number could.

How to read a portfolio

A portfolio is best read side by side, early work next to recent work. Lay out a drawing from the start of the year beside one from this term. Look for more detail (fingers on hands, a ground line, a sky), firmer lines, and more deliberate use of colour. Do the same with any early writing: are letters becoming more recognisable, is the child attempting their own name, are marks moving from scribbles towards letter shapes? You are looking for direction of travel, not perfection.

How to read an observation note

Observation notes are usually short and specific: "sorts objects by colour independently" or "needs support to follow two-step instructions". Each note describes what the teacher saw the child do during an activity. A note that says "needs support" is not a criticism. It tells you exactly which skill to play with at home over the holiday.

What This Means for the Learning Areas

Pre-Primary covers Language Activities, Mathematical Activities, Environmental Activities, Psychomotor and Creative Activities, and Religious Education, the same broad areas that continue into Lower Primary, but delivered entirely through structured play and activity rather than lessons in the traditional sense. A parent looking for a "Mathematics score" at this stage is looking for something that doesn't exist by design; what exists instead is an observation record of whether a child is engaging appropriately with early number concepts through activities like sorting, counting objects, and simple pattern recognition.

What Parents Can Actually Do With This Information

• Ask to see the portfolio, not just hear a summary. The actual collected work shows more than a verbal update from the teacher can.
• Ask which specific developmental markers are being tracked on the observation checklist for your child's age group, so you know what "on track" actually refers to.
• Don't compare a PP1/PP2 child to older-sibling milestones from a scored system. There is genuinely nothing to compare, this stage isn't a lighter version of Grade 1 assessment, it's a different kind of assessment entirely.
• Support the same skills at home through play, not worksheets. Sorting household objects, simple counting games, and craft activities reinforce exactly what's being observed at school, in the same activity-based format.

Questions Worth Asking at the End of Term

If you have a few minutes with the teacher before schools close on 23 October, these questions give the most useful answers:

1. Which activities does my child enjoy most, and which do they avoid?
2. Is there any skill on the checklist where they still need support?
3. How do they get on with other children during group play?
4. What one thing could we practise at home over the holiday?

Our list of questions to ask teachers at a Term 3 parents' evening has more ideas, and the guide to what a PP1 or PP2 child should be able to do by the end of 2026 gives a fuller picture of typical progress.

Using the Holiday Well

The long holiday after Term 3 is a good time to keep the same skills alive without turning home into a classroom. Short, playful moments work best at this age: a counting game while cooking, a story at bedtime, drawing together on a Sunday afternoon. If your child is moving from PP2 into Grade 1 in January, gentle routines such as holding a pencil properly, recognising their own name and sitting still for a short story will help the transition. Check the school calendar so you know when the new year starts.

Where This Fits

For how assessment changes once a learner moves into the scored, strand-based system from Grade 1 onward, see our guide to reading a CBC term report card. The shift from observation-based Pre-Primary assessment to strand-level BE/AE/ME/EE bands in Grade 1 is a real transition worth understanding ahead of time, not something to be caught off guard by.

Frequently asked questions

Does my PP1 or PP2 child sit any exam at all?

No formal, scored exam. Progress is recorded through observation checklists and portfolios of the child's work across the year.

Why doesn't the report show a grade?

Because Pre-Primary does not use the BE/AE/ME/EE bands. The report describes what your child can do and where they still need support, which is more useful at this age than a number.

Should I buy worksheets to help my child catch up?

Play does more at this stage. If you use printed activities, keep them short, colourful and hands-on, and stop while your child is still enjoying them.

Can I keep my child's portfolio?

Ask the school. Many schools send portfolio work home at the end of the year, and it makes a lovely record of how much your child has grown.

For gentle, activity-based practice across every learning area, see the PP1 All Subjects Bundle and the PP2 All Subjects Bundle.