Compare your good level of development (GLD) data tool

The updated ‘Compare Your GLD’ data tool is now available on View your education data (VYED), which includes 2025/26 early years foundation stage (EYFS) profile data.

What is the ‘Compare your GLD data’ tool?

The ‘Compare your GLD data’ tool consists of a report and digital dashboard. They:

• are available for schools, trusts and local authorities through the VYED platform
• give you data and insight into your EYFS profile data, compared to the local, regional and national averages
• should be used in conjunction with each other to give 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.

How do I use the GLD data tool?

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 the 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

The tool is available on the View your education data (VYED) platform. 

Common Enquiries

1. How to access the tool if you are not an approver
2. How to access the tool if you are an approver 
3. Who is my organisation’s approver?
4. Who is eligible for a GLD report and dashboard?

1.How to access the tool if you are not an approver

Before you start 

• Read the View your education data (VYED): access guide
• If you do not already have a DfE Sign-in, create a DfE Sign-in account
• 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.

How to request access

1. Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account.  
2. Select ‘Services’ from the navigation bar. 
3. Under ‘Related actions’, select ‘Request access to a service’ or 'View and edit services on my account' if you already have access to VYED.
4. Select your organisation, if prompted, and click ‘Continue’. 
5. Select ‘View your education data (VYED)’ and the ‘Monitor your child development data’ sub-service. 
6. Review your answers and click  ‘Request service’ or ‘Request sub-service changes’ if you already have access to VYED.
7. 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. 
8. You’ll get an email once they approve the request.
9. 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. 

2. How to access the tool if you are an approver

Before you start 

• Read the View your education data (VYED): access guide
• If you do not already have a DfE Sign-in, create a DfE Sign-in account
• 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.

How to request access

1. Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account.
2. Select ‘Services’ from the navigation bar. 
3. Under ‘Related actions’, select ‘Add services to my account’ or 'View and edit services on my account' if you already have access to VYED.
4. Select your organisation, if prompted, and click ‘Continue’. 
5. Select ‘View your education data (VYED)’ and ‘Monitor your child development data’ sub-service.
6. Review your answers and click ‘Add service’ or ‘Submit’ if you already have access to VYED.
7. 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. 

3. Who is my organisation’s approver?

If you would like to check who your approver is, you should: 

• sign in to your DfE Sign-in account 
• select ‘Organisations’ from the navigation bar 
• select your organisation from the list 
• select ‘Show approvers’   

If an approver in your list has left your organisation, you can contact us via 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.  

4. Who is eligible for a GLD report and dashboard?

Only the schools that meet all the eligibility criteria below will receive a GLD report and dashboard:

• state-funded primary and secondary schools with 2025/26 EYFSP data for more than five pupils
• schools that were in the January 2026 census and did not close or change unique reference number (URN) before the 2025/26 EYFSP 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 three years (2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26)

Schools who meet any of the following exclusion criteria will not receive a report and dashboard:

• state-funded nursery schools, special schools, alternative provision or independent schools
• schools with fewer than 6 children in their reception class for 2025/26
• newly opened or recently academised schools
• schools missing 100% of data for any field across all three years (2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26)

Need support?

Further information on how to access VYED (including an ‘Approvers guide’) is available through the View your education data (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.