Compare your good level of development (GLD) data
How to use the good level of development (GLD) data tool to access the 'Compare your GLD data report' and dashboard.
Applies to England
The updated ‘Compare Your GLD data’ tool is now available on View your education data (VYED), which includes 2025 to 2026 early years foundation stage (EYFS) profile data.
Using the ‘Compare your good level of development (GLD) data’ tool
The ‘Compare your GLD data’ tool consists of:
- a report
- a digital dashboard.
These:
- are available for schools, trusts and local authorities through the VYED platform
- give you data and insight into your EYFS profile data, with comparisons to the local, regional and national average
- should be used in conjunction with each other to offer enhanced insights
The data in the GLD tool is based on the EYFS profile assessments completed by teachers at the end of the academic year in which a child turns 5. The early learning goals (ELGs) in the EYFS statutory framework are used to assess whether children have reached a GLD.
Only schools that meet all of these eligibility criteria will receive a report and have access to the dashboard:
- state-funded primary and secondary school with 2025 to 2026 EYFS profile data for more than 5 pupils
- schools that were in the January 2026 census and did not close or change unique reference number (URN) before the 2025 to 2026 EYFS profile return
- schools that, for each variable feeding into the contextual GLD model, have at least one pupil who is not missing data for that field in any of the 3 academic years from 2023 to 2026
Schools that meet any of these exclusion criteria will not receive a report or have access to the dashboard:
- state-funded nursery school, special school, alternative provision or independent school
- schools with fewer than 6 children in their reception class for 2025 to 2026
- newly opened schools or recently academised schools
- schools missing 100% of data for any field across all 3 academic years from 2023 to 2026
Ofsted do not have access to the GLD tool. However, from autumn 2026, they will have access to some school-level EYFS profile data (including the contextual GLD score), and this will be included in their inspection data summary report. EYFS profile data will be used to build a fuller understanding of a school’s context, inform inspection preparation and shape discussion with leaders. Ofsted will not make conclusions solely on this data. Data shared with Ofsted by the DfE is outlined in the EYFS profile handbook.
Data not included in your GLD tool
For some schools, data for certain pupil groups or years may be missing from your GLD tool - for example, for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This is likely because there are too few pupils in that group at that school for comparisons to be meaningful, so the data has been suppressed.
What you can use the GLD tool for
Schools, trusts and local authorities can use the GLD tool to view and compare:
- the overall percentage of children reaching a GLD
- the overall percentage of pupils reaching each ELG
- GLD results for different pupil groups
- your contextual GLD data – a school’s contextual GLD score shows the overall GLD percentage we would expect a school to achieve with their context taken into account, such as proportion of children in the reception cohort on free school meals
The tool can also help you identify areas of strength and opportunities to improve early years practice in your school, including:
- specific areas of child development that need further attention, supporting you to develop strategies to address these
- specific groups of pupils that are developing well or less well
How to interpret the data
Take care when interpreting the data. You should:
- use it as a starting point – triangulate this with observations of and conversations with teachers and children
- consider the early years expertise of your senior leaders and whether upskilling or professional development is needed
We have published an accompanying methodology note explaining how we calculate the contextual GLD scores and Bayesian statistical testing included in the reports.
Accessing the ‘Compare your GLD data’ tool
The tool is available on the View your education data (VYED) platform.
Before you start:
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Read the VYED access guide
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If you do not already have a DfE Sign-in, create a DfE Sign-in account
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Request access to your organisation
You must do this before you can request access to VYED and the ‘Monitor your child development data’ sub-service.
Access to VYED and the ‘Monitor your child development data’ sub-service
If you are not an approver:
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Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account
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Select ‘Services’ from the navigation bar
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Under ‘Related actions’, select ‘Request access to a service’ or ‘View and edit services on my account’ if you already have access to VYED
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Select your organisation, if prompted, and click ‘Continue’
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Select ‘View your education data (VYED)’ and ‘Monitor your child development data’ sub-service
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Review your answers and click ‘Request service’ or ‘Request sub-service changes’ if you already have access to VYED
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We’ll send an email to your organisation’s approver once you request access. You can check the status of your request in the ‘Requests’ section of your DfE Sign-in account
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You’ll get an email once your organisation’s approver approves the request
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Go to the section ‘Monitor your child development data’ to view the dashboard and reports. You will have the option to download your ‘Compare your GLD data’ report
This data is specific to your school, local authority or academy trust.
If you are linked to multiple organisations, you will need to repeat these steps for each organisation.
If you are an approver:
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Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account
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Select ‘Services’ from the navigation bar
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Under ‘Related actions’, select ‘Add services to my account’ or ‘View and edit services on my account’ if you already have access to VYED
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Select your organisation and, if prompted, click ‘Continue’
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Select ‘View your education data (VYED)’ and ‘Monitor your child development data’ sub-service
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Review your answers and click ‘Add service’ or ‘Submit’ if you already have access to VYED
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Go to the section ‘Monitor your child development data’ to view the dashboard and reports. You will have the option to download your ‘Compare your GLD data’ report
This data is specific to your school, local authority or academy trust.
If you are linked to multiple organisations, you will need to repeat these steps for each organisation.
Your organisation’s approver
If you would like to check who your approver is, you should:
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Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account
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Select ‘Organisations’ from the navigation bar
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Select your organisation from the list
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Select ‘Show approvers’
If an approver in your list has left your organisation, contact the customer help portal.
If no approvers are listed, the DfE Sign-in team will verify your request. This can take up to 5 working days. In this case, you will automatically become the first approver. The initial approver can assign approver status to other users.
Getting help
Further information on how to access VYED (including an ‘Approvers guide’) is available in the VYED access guide.
If you have any problems accessing or downloading your data, contact us using the DfE customer help portal.
If your data looks wrong, use the portal to provide us with your school’s URN, a description of what looks incorrect and for which year of data. The GLD webinar recording may be helpful.