Two-Year Checks

Every child must have a progress check between their second and third birthdays: a short summary for their family of how they’re doing in the three prime areas — personal, social and emotional development; communication and language; and physical development. If you’re a child’s key person, you’ll usually write it.

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Step 1: Find who’s due

Go to Development → Two-year checks. The page opens on My key children with the Needs a check filter, so you see your own children who still need one first. Each row shows the child’s age, when their window closes and who their key person is. The coloured chip tells you where they are: Switch to All children to see every child in the window, or use the Overdue, In progress, Coming up and Done filters. A banner on a child’s profile also tells you when their check is due.

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If the check was already done

If the check was done on paper before your setting used Pigeonhole for it, or by another setting the child also attends, click Already done instead of starting a new one.

1. Choose Done here, on paper or Done at another setting.
2. Enter the Date the check was completed.
3. For another setting, add Which setting? if you know it.
4. Click Choose files to upload the completed form as a PDF, or as a photo of each page. This is required for a paper check done here, and optional for another setting’s check.
5. Click Save.

The child shows as Done (or Done elsewhere). The family can see the record, and nobody is emailed.

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Step 2: Start the check

Click Start check next to the child. The check opens straight away as a draft.

• Date of check is when you did the check. The child’s age in months is worked out from it.
• Observations to draw on is the stretch of the child’s journal the check uses. It sets which observations you can choose as evidence, and which ones the AI drafts from. The note underneath tells you how many published observations it covers.

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Step 3: Draft from observations

If your setting uses AI drafting, click Draft from observations. Within a few seconds it fills in:

• a comment on each prime area
• the summary boxes further down
• a suggested level for each of the seven aspects, with the reason
• a suggested set of observations to use as evidence

Nothing is saved until you click Save, and nothing is decided for you — you accept or change each suggestion yourself. Where there isn’t enough evidence for an aspect, the draft says so rather than guessing.

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Step 4: Choose a level for each aspect

Under The prime areas there’s a card for each area, with its aspects underneath:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development — self-regulation, managing self and building relationships
• Communication and Language — listening, attention and understanding, and speaking
• Physical Development — gross motor and fine motor

For each aspect, either click Accept to take the suggested level, or click the level you think is right. The chosen level is highlighted with a tick.

• The box at the top of each card is a comment on the whole area. Families see it in the grid.
• Click Add comment under an aspect to say something about that aspect on its own.
• The level names are set by your setting — for example Emerging and Expected, or Not yet and On track.
• If your setting includes the characteristics of effective learning, a How I learn card asks for optional comments on playing and exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically.

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Step 5: Write the summary

Below the grid are the summary boxes. Every box is plain text — press Enter for a new line.

• Areas in which I’m making progress
• Areas where I need more support
• To support progress, we will (parent and setting)
• Ideas to try at home — a few simple, playful things the family could do together (optional)
• In my own words — what the child says, enjoys or tells you about themselves (optional)
• Other professionals involved and our plan — your SENCO, the health visitor or anyone else supporting the child, and how you’ll work together (optional)

Your setting may hide some of the optional boxes. Write in plain, warm language — this is for the family, not for other professionals.

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Step 6: Choose the evidence

Under Moments that show this, link up to six of the child’s published observations that show their development. Families can open each one from the check, and the PDF lists them by date and title.

1. Click + Add evidence. If you’ve drafted the check, you can click The draft suggests N observations — review them instead.
2. Click the observations you want. Suggested ones are marked ✨.
3. Click Done.

Only observations inside Observations to draw on are listed. If one you want is missing, widen the dates at the top of the check and save.

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Step 7: Add comments and sign

1. Write your Key person comment.
2. If you’ve talked the check through with the family, note what they said in Parent / carer comment. Otherwise leave it blank — parents can add their own comment when they sign.
3. Click Sign in the Key person signature box.
4. Draw your signature in the box (or click Use my signature if you’ve saved one), type your full name, and click Sign.

Your signature confirms the check is your summary of the child’s development. If someone else changes the check after you’ve signed — an approver tidying the wording, say — your signature is cleared and you’ll be asked to Sign again.

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Step 8: Submit or share

Click Save to keep your work. When the check is finished:

• Most staff click Submit for approval. An approver reviews it and shares it with the family, or returns it to you with a comment.
• If you have the Publisher role or you’re a manager, you’ll see Share with family instead. You can add a personal message to the email. It’s included in that email only, not on the check.

The check can’t be shared until it’s ready. If something is missing, a note above the buttons tells you what — for example “Choose a level for every aspect (2 to go)” or “The key person needs to sign before the check is shared.” Writing reminders also apply. Click Fix all to accept the suggested rewrites, or Proceed anyway to carry on.

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After it’s shared

Every parent with parental responsibility is emailed and asked to read and sign the check online. The check shows when each parent has opened it, and whether anyone has signed. On the tracking list, the row shows Awaiting parent signature with Read or Not opened.

• If no one has signed after a week, parents get one reminder. Approvers can send another with Resend to parents.
• When the first parent signs, the check is complete and becomes read-only.
• If something needs changing after that, a manager can Reopen it. Both signatures are cleared, it comes back to you with their reason, and parents sign again once it’s reshared.

Click PDF at any time to download the check laid out like a paper form.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Why can’t I start a check for this child?

Only the child’s key person or a manager can start one. If the row says Key person to start, it’s someone else’s child. If it says Being written, someone has already started it.

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The child goes to another setting too. Who does the check?

The setting where the child spends most of their time. If that’s the other setting, record it with Already done → Done at another setting. Attaching their copy is optional.

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Can I change the check after the family has signed it?

No. It’s locked once a parent signs. Ask a manager to Reopen it.

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Draft from observations isn’t working.

If the button says No observations in this period to draft from, widen the Observations to draw on dates and save. If it says Save the new dates first, click Save. If there’s no button at all, your setting has AI drafting switched off for two-year checks — write the check yourself.

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Do the children’s photos go to the AI?

No. Only the text of the child’s published observations is used. Photos and videos are never sent.