PDA

View Full Version : Anyone know what Ofsted think of combined daily diaries/ learning journeys?



lisbet
11-05-2013, 01:34 PM
I am thinking that it would give parents the most info in the quickest way, and save me duplicating stuff, if I combined the the above, but I'm wondering what Ofsted would think?

Would they think the record of learning and development was being 'cluttered up' with info about meals and sleeps???

(Hate even asking what Ofsted would think when I think it would work for my parents and me BUT I am also nearly due a first grading inspection.:blush:)

FussyElmo
11-05-2013, 01:55 PM
Do you really want your ljs leaving the house on a daily basis. They can get lost quite easily not sure Im would want to take the risk :thumbsup:

lisbet
11-05-2013, 02:03 PM
Do you really want your ljs leaving the house on a daily basis. They can get lost quite easily not sure I'm would want to take the risk :thumbsup:

Good point! :laughing: I was thinking of creating a form on the computer and having my laptop and printer to hand, so that I could fill it in during the day and print off a copy ready for collection time, but still have a copy on the computer just in case!

Rick
11-05-2013, 03:10 PM
Good point! :laughing: I was thinking of creating a form on the computer and having my laptop and printer to hand, so that I could fill it in during the day and print off a copy ready for collection time, but still have a copy on the computer just in case!

Sounds like it might become more problematic doing it this way. It's probably only a matter of time before a full cup of water is poured into your laptop whilst trying to do an update on LO doing a poo!

How much duplication is there really? Info about food, nappies, sleeps etc only goes in the daily diary. Possibly some info on what you did that day might be duplicated but your concern about learning journal being cluttered would be my concern as well. Would you always have to keep the child's obs and assessments up to date to keep everything in date order? Printing costs would be quite a bit if you print one off every day for each LO! I just have an A5 book open on the table and add to it during the day as I'm usually busy near home time and I rarely remember what time everything happened!

With regard to Ofsted, so long as your method is sensible then you can do it how you like. Ofsted don't say you have to do LJs, just that you show evidence (which may be more difficult if they have to wade through food, nappies, sleeps etc)

Rubybubbles
11-05-2013, 03:40 PM
My Learning journeys are completely different than my daily diaries

Daily diaries, I have just changed to some from a link on here, but before I was using a A5 note pad with simple things

My LJ are much more in-depth, I have lots of sections

All about me, starting points, and as I update them/parents update them


Observations

Artwork

Development Matters overviews

lisbet
11-05-2013, 04:39 PM
Good points, thanks :) Hmm, ah well, maybe it's not meant to be.

I had been thinking along the lines of an A4 project folder with plastic pockets (not at all environmentally friendly, but will allow for small sticky fingers to look at it) with:

Intro page about EYFS/ importance of working in partnership
All about me info
Starting points
Daily sheet with space for:
News from home (ie PLEASE tell me if LO has had bad night or learnt something new!)
Proforma for quickly recording food/ sleeps/ nappy changes
Observations if made, or note about child's day
Planning (ie next steps, ideas to do at home)
Photos of obs/ activities overleaf
Reviews (records of 4mthly reviews/ 2yr old check etc)

Artwork would go home daily, and the EYFS tracker grid would just stay in the child's file.

I guess I am trying to think of some way to get a 2-way flow of information going and thought if parents could instantly see the obs and plans it might help, but this method would probably be too cumbersome. :rolleyes: Will keep pondering...

blue bear
11-05-2013, 04:59 PM
Could you still have one file but e mail the daily info home rather than print it out?
My friend does a lj and diary in one, it does have some sticky pages and wet patches that have dried out but ofsted loved it, parents write in it whenever they like and add the odd photos because they have the file dily they remember to add to it, where as when it stays at the childminders house they tend not to think about adding to it.

I'm not brave enough and very jittery when the lj's go home as I've had one come back having spent the week under a buggy in the garden when it rained all week and another parent turn up and say she couldn't find it so I'd just have to do another oh yeah and one parent said it was so lovely she passed it on to her childminder friend to copy and could I knock up another for her.

lisbet
11-05-2013, 05:26 PM
:eek: Sorry to hear about the mis-adventures of your LJs, bluebear!

Good point about the emailing option, and interesting to hear about your friends LJ, thanks. :)

rickysmiths
11-05-2013, 05:42 PM
I do. I have an Early Years daily Diary. It has pages for a weekly observation and photos, one for parents fro the weekend and daily pages to record nappies, sleeps, milk, food eaten and what activities we have done and/or what has been learnt. it also has a weekly planning page and a page worth a space for each day fro parents to write in.

I must say it has really reduced my paperwork, I now get regular input from the parents in writing which I did not with LJs.

I started it in Jan as a six month trial, the book lasts 6 months and I will definitely be continuing this method.

This is the one I use. The parents contribute half the cost of buying it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Early-Years-Daily-Fisher-E-Y-P/dp/1438941609/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368294057&sr=8-1&keywords=early+years+daily+diary

Rick
11-05-2013, 05:53 PM
Good points, thanks :) Hmm, ah well, maybe it's not meant to be.

I had been thinking along the lines of an A4 project folder with plastic pockets (not at all environmentally friendly, but will allow for small sticky fingers to look at it) with:

Intro page about EYFS/ importance of working in partnership
All about me info
Starting points
Daily sheet with space for:
News from home (ie PLEASE tell me if LO has had bad night or learnt something new!)
Proforma for quickly recording food/ sleeps/ nappy changes
Observations if made, or note about child's day
Planning (ie next steps, ideas to do at home)
Photos of obs/ activities overleaf
Reviews (records of 4mthly reviews/ 2yr old check etc)

Artwork would go home daily, and the EYFS tracker grid would just stay in the child's file.

I guess I am trying to think of some way to get a 2-way flow of information going and thought if parents could instantly see the obs and plans it might help, but this method would probably be too cumbersome. :rolleyes: Will keep pondering...

I'm just thinking that on a day to day basis, parents main concern is to see the facts, what their child did, ate, slept etc. I doubt many parents will have time to view obs and planning etc. I'm lucky if my parents even read the facts! I personally prefer to keep obs/ assessments etc in a separate LJ and give to parents on a regular basis for their comments (normally at a time when I know they might have a bit more time on their hands!)

You could trial it but it might be difficult to change it once you start!

TooEarlyForGin?
11-05-2013, 06:47 PM
I do a "parent contact book", got fed up with writing continuous nonsense about the day. When the "new" EYFS came in I found with the new "plain speak" a lot of what the children were doing on a day to day basis, was pertinent to their learning journeys, and was repeating diary entries into their learning journeys, I also only updated learning journeys termly so they weren't a real working document, so decided to merge them.

I have found this really works. I have listed to parents when they start what I aim to do on a day to day basis anyway - outdoor play, messy play, story time, quiet time, lunch. So no longer feel the need to consistently write this down, instead I pick out activities we have done and what children achieved from it and directly put it it their "tracker" to show we are covering it. Parents can see exactly where we are and I can see what areas I need to cover more.

At the top of each day I list: Date, hours of attendance, what they ate, any special issues, so everything is together.

I haven't been inspected on it yet, although my DW said she really likes it, and staff at the children's centre tell other minders to speak to me as they feel it is a good way of doing things.

Quite frankly if OFSTED don't really like it, I don't care, I think it works really well for me and my families.

Good luck.

lisbet
11-05-2013, 06:47 PM
Rickysmiths, that looks really good, thanks. I think I may get one to try. Have You-Know-Who seen it?

Rick, with my current families it seems to be the other way round at the moment. For example, one parent asks for really brief verbal info on food etc and disregards the diary, but really loves photos of their LO etc which they only see at reviews at the moment, hence wondering about bringing it all together into one thing. :confused: I also think seeing the obs of activities etc would help them make sense of what the EYFS means in real life too.

I have a LO that has just started for 5hrs per week, so maybe I could try out an all-in-one journal with them...

lisbet
11-05-2013, 06:55 PM
Thanks, that's really helpful info, TooEarlyForGin :)

nikkiv
12-05-2013, 07:48 AM
Could you still have one file but e mail the daily info home rather than print it out?
My friend does a lj and diary in one, it does have some sticky pages and wet patches that have dried out but ofsted loved it, parents write in it whenever they like and add the odd photos because they have the file dily they remember to add to it, where as when it stays at the childminders house they tend not to think about adding to it.

I'm not brave enough and very jittery when the lj's go home as I've had one come back having spent the week under a buggy in the garden when it rained all week and another parent turn up and say she couldn't find it so I'd just have to do another oh yeah and one parent said it was so lovely she passed it on to her childminder friend to copy and could I knock up another for her.

Omg just knock up another one! Yes of course s** it I'll knock up copies for all the childminders in the area! They'll be ready in a week or so :0

Angela234
12-05-2013, 08:19 AM
I do a A5 daily diary for each child with sleeps, food nappy changes, bit about what they have done

I have a A4 Diary for my records note down children here, what I get out to play/activities I set out/outside play

I also add little notes why we are doing something like D has started recognising SHAPES so get the shape dough cutters/have cut out shapes for painting,
B has started to count will include counting rhymes when singing/ get books that can involve counting at story time.

I also note what they choose to play with.

Make little notes of obs for to put into LJ and note if I have taken photo of achievement/child playing/end product

I then look through here about once a month to do the LJ

I don't do written planning as such I do a termly summery in the LJ WITH next steps and follow those and my notes in my diary as I said above

lisbet
12-05-2013, 08:41 AM
Thanks, Angela :) What you write about the shapes and counting is the sort of thing I had in mind for the planning section. :thumbsup:

Mouse
12-05-2013, 09:36 AM
I've been trialing the combined LJ & daily diary for about 6 months & it's really working well.

I don't use my daily diaries to record nappy changes etc as I know parents find that really boring! I make my daily diaries interesting so they want to read it. Each day I write what the children have been doing, anything special they've done etc. I loosely link some of their activities to development matters (eg. Litte X has done such and such today, which shows how much his fine motor skills are coming along) and I'll also link some of the activities to planning (eg. X has been fascinated by the toy bus today, so we've looked at pictures on the internet & we're going to go for a trip on a bus). Every couple of months I'll do a summary assessment with more indepth analysis & individual planning. In the back I have the development matters printed off & stapled in, so I can date when something has been achieved. The date then links to the page in the daily diary, so everything is evidenced.

So far parents are loving it. It's a real working document & they all write something in it, even if it's just a really short comment. Some parents write pages! It was such a struggle to get them to write anything in a LJ. I think they find it much less daunting that a LJ and they're much more comfortable with them.

For one parent who wasn't so bothered to see the diary on a daily basis, I do a weekly entry and hand it over to her every month. It's working well.

For people who are worried about the diary getting lost, I can honestly say that in 17yrs of childminding I have always done a daily diary & I have never had one get lost. I know it could happen, but then it could happen that a LJ gets lost, has something spilt on it etc.

Ofsted haven't seen the combined diary/LJ yet, but I really can't see that they'd have any concerns about it. In my view it's much better than a stand alone LJ.

lisbet
12-05-2013, 09:40 AM
Thanks, Mouse. :thumbsup:

I love this forum for all the help and insights! :D::o

rickysmiths
12-05-2013, 12:00 PM
Rickysmiths, that looks really good, thanks. I think I may get one to try. Have You-Know-Who seen it?

Rick, with my current families it seems to be the other way round at the moment. For example, one parent asks for really brief verbal info on food etc and disregards the diary, but really loves photos of their LO etc which they only see at reviews at the moment, hence wondering about bringing it all together into one thing. :confused: I also think seeing the obs of activities etc would help them make sense of what the EYFS means in real life too.

I have a LO that has just started for 5hrs per week, so maybe I could try out an all-in-one journal with them...



No they haven't yet! They did compliment me on my LJ when I was inspected in Sept 2011, the inspector said she had rarely seen such good ones :o

My LJ were really simple written like the child had written it. I did lots of photos with I used the NCMA (PACEY) areas of learning labels and I only did a full observation with next steps every couple of months.

This EY Diary id brilliant because it gives the parents their daily diary which they asked for and covers the EYFS stuff as well, I still use the labels and I put photos in each week, not so many but the rest go on a disc a couple of times a year and are given to the parent. I do a more full Observation every couple of months.

It means I'm not doing things twice, the parent sees the book every day and are all contributing much more which is great for showing how I am working with the parents and they with me.

So far it is a win win solution.