Pacey Learning Journal

[childminder54]

Does anybody uses this. Or what do you use want something what is quick to fill in. As parents are not really interested in what I'm doing in the EYFS. I've had one parent that doesn't even write to let me know what the child does at home says if I wanted all this I would send her to nursery, all I want is a home from home care.

[bunyip]

IMHO the NCMA/pacey learning journal is a complete pile of poop. Waste of money.

I'm with the parents on choosing a CM as a home-from-home and not wanting a CM to just be a mini-nursery.

Sadly, we are left treading a fine line between giving parents what they want, children what they deserve (ie. a childhood), and still fulfilling the EYFS requirements which are merely a thinly-disguised piece of social engineering according to the current UK political regime.

Sadder still, we have collectively contributed to this situation by our obsession with so-called 'professionalism' and a narcissistic urge to want to be seen alongside nurseries, etc. when it come to status. :(

[blue bear]

Butterfly print learning journeys are really nice.
Alternatively sign up to orbit and do your learning journeys on your phone, really quick, can just leave it online or you can print and it's free.

[sarah707]

we use A5 notebooks - 2 for £1 from the £1 shop - if parents lose them it's not the end of the world :D

[Simona]

Does anybody uses this. Or what do you use want something what is quick to fill in. As parents are not really interested in what I'm doing in the EYFS. I've had one parent that doesn't even write to let me know what the child does at home says if I wanted all this I would send her to nursery, all I want is a home from home care.

I don't think there is a prescriptive way on what type of LJ we use or indeed what we call it....some buy them from associations while others devise their own.
The EYFS does not mention LJ at all but often repeats the word assessment
My understanding is that for the EYFS we are required to produce a 'short summary' of progress...this is also stated in Ofsted factsheet 'Conducting EY inspections' as 'a good quality summary' (p11)

Some parents may not be interested and that can be frustrating but with the DoE and Education working together in 2015 I think we may soon get some sort of understanding what is required when the service is integrated.

[mumofone]

Guys sorry to jump on this thread but I'm not sure I'm clear how a learning journey is different from a daily diary and regular observations? Please could someone clarify the difference between each?

[moggy]

Guys sorry to jump on this thread but I'm not sure I'm clear how a learning journey is different from a daily diary and regular observations? Please could someone clarify the difference between each?

There is no definition, everyone does it their own way! You need to find what works for you and your parents.
This is what I do and what I mean by the terms:

LJ: Physical A4 folder with paper prints of All About Me, Starting Points, termly Progress Reviews with next steps and 2-yr Check. Online LJ contains obs and online copies of all the above plus obs/news from home photos that parents put there.

Daily Diary: A5 notebook, goes with the child, parents write notes each day (how child slept, weekend news, what child had for breakfast), I write in it through day nappies/snacks/meals/naps/what we have done + notes like asking to bring in more nappies or reminder of holiday next week etc.

Regular Obs: Part of the LJ. Online only, usually with a photo. Not planned- just wow-moments, interests and new developments, some with next steps and some without. Maybe 2-5 a month per child (these are 4-day a week children). Parents add them too.

Don't worry too much about how other people do it.
You need to think about what will work for you- do you like working online? Do your parents want to work online? Do you like printing out photos and writing by hand? If you only have older children who are not in nappies or needing naps you might not need a daily diary at all.

[bunyip]

The detail and style of mine differ, but I basically agree with Moggy.

In particular, I agree with the point:-


There is no definition, everyone does it their own way! You need to find what works for you and your parents.

My own disappointment with the NCMA/pacey resource is that it tries to be both a diary and an LJ at the same time, and therefore makes a bad job of both functions.

Don't just have a resource for the sake of it or because everybody else does it in such-a-way. It's worth thinking about what you want a document or resource to do before you decide how to design it.

eg. Do you want an LJ to just be there to keep Ofsted happy, or will it be a tool to help you plan, or a tool to inform and inspire parents? It can be one, more, all, or none of these things.

If you design your diaries as a Word document, you could have some features which are common to all, and others which are catered to individual families. eg. Some parents can't live without knowing precisely when little Rupert did a poo: others don't give a.....well.....that other word for what little Rupert does. :rolleyes:

IME some families love the diaries and, in certain cases, they're the only way I can communicate with parents without making an appointment (had a lo once whose parents were not the ones there at drop-of or pick-up.) Other families really don't need them, and are sometimes to 'polite' to mention it. So check from time to time if they actually want the diary - especially if they start being lost or not accompanying the child in their bag. :thumbsup:

[Simona]

In my personal experience there is a difference between a diary and a LJ...or portfolio...or Record of achievements...whichever term CMs prefer to call how they document children's progress

They have been in exsistence long before Ofsted ever came on the scene....LJs are not for Ofsted's benefit...never have been ...they are for families and children to treasure and they are not documents for us to competee with nurseries or preschools, they really reflect our individual practice
Kathy Brodie explains about the contents of LJ rather well in her blogs...worth reading I think

[bunyip]

Agreed - they can perform any number of functions.

In all honesty, I strongly suspect the chief purpose of my LJs is to compensate for my lousy memory. :doh: They help me have an organised focus for looking at "where a child is at" - something I just cannot do in my head, the same way some people can do mental arithmatic without a problem whilst others have to write down even the simplest sums. So it can form the basis of my own reflection and 'planning' (such as it is); a summative assessment; a meeting with parents; transition to another setting; or an explanation to an Ofsted inspector.

I agree that we shouldn't see ourselves as 'working for Ofsted' though the reality is that we are frequently obliged to behave as if we were. LJs can be a pretty useful tool at inspection, even if that isn't their primary function. In fact, for many CMs, rightly or wrongly, that is their primary function :(. When my DO encouraged me to "share best practice" with my erstwhile local CM group (by which she meant, "let the lazy bvgger5 have a free disc of all your paperwork cos they can't be bothered to design their own") the CMs were talking entirely in terms of what would "impress Ofsted".

I don't have a problem with Ofsted liking to see LJs as an easy-to-check reference tool at inspection. I do struggle with how they abuse such resources to enforce their ridiculous notions of "continuous improvement". I have a CM friend who was inspected twice in a few months, as the result of moving house. At the first inspection she was highly praised for her LJs. They were even mentioned in the report, and the inspector said they were some of the best she'd ever seen and she could see no way of improving upon them. A few months later, she was criticised because (with specific reference to her LJs) she had failed to make any improvements or show evidence of reflecting upon how she carried out and recorded her observations and assessments. IOW she was knocked for being so good that she couldn't improve upon a perfectly functioning system. :angry:

Likewise, different approaches will suit different readers. I have a couple of clients who are teacher/TA; they pay a lot of attention to individual observations and like lots of detail about their lo's. OTOH I've had parents who are happiest with collage-style photo-spreads with pacey's EYFS stickers used to highlight the development aspects displayed by whatever their child is doing. When I share with other settings, they are mostly interested in the reviews and summative assessments. It all goes to show there is no single way to do it 'right'. :thumbsup:

[Simona]

Agreed - they can perform any number of functions.

In all honesty, I strongly suspect the chief purpose of my LJs is to compensate for my lousy memory. :doh: They help me have an organised focus for looking at "where a child is at" - something I just cannot do in my head, the same way some people can do mental arithmatic without a problem whilst others have to write down even the simplest sums. So it can form the basis of my own reflection and 'planning' (such as it is); a summative assessment; a meeting with parents; transition to another setting; or an explanation to an Ofsted inspector.

I agree that we shouldn't see ourselves as 'working for Ofsted' though the reality is that we are frequently obliged to behave as if we were. LJs can be a pretty useful tool at inspection, even if that isn't their primary function. In fact, for many CMs, rightly or wrongly, that is their primary function :(. When my DO encouraged me to "share best practice" with my erstwhile local CM group (by which she meant, "let the lazy bvgger5 have a free disc of all your paperwork cos they can't be bothered to design their own") the CMs were talking entirely in terms of what would "impress Ofsted".

I don't have a problem with Ofsted liking to see LJs as an easy-to-check reference tool at inspection. I do struggle with how they abuse such resources to enforce their ridiculous notions of "continuous improvement". I have a CM friend who was inspected twice in a few months, as the result of moving house. At the first inspection she was highly praised for her LJs. They were even mentioned in the report, and the inspector said they were some of the best she'd ever seen and she could see no way of improving upon them. A few months later, she was criticised because (with specific reference to her LJs) she had failed to make any improvements or show evidence of reflecting upon how she carried out and recorded her observations and assessments. IOW she was knocked for being so good that she couldn't improve upon a perfectly functioning system. :angry:

Likewise, different approaches will suit different readers. I have a couple of clients who are teacher/TA; they pay a lot of attention to individual observations and like lots of detail about their lo's. OTOH I've had parents who are happiest with collage-style photo-spreads with pacey's EYFS stickers used to highlight the development aspects displayed by whatever their child is doing. When I share with other settings, they are mostly interested in the reviews and summative assessments. It all goes to show there is no single way to do it 'right'. :thumbsup:

several interesting points in your reply and ...yes...no one way of doing it!...hence the various formats on sale ??

First we do not need to think we 'work for Ofsted'...never have and never will....as will soon be proof with those who register with agencies.

We are registered with OFSTED so they can fulfil their role and come and judge...within a prescribed and often missed target time...that we are following the legislative framework: EYFS and we follow that prescriptive format without adding their savoury individual judgement on it.

LJs at inspection are, in my view, proof and evidence of our practice, leadership, partnership with parents, knowledge of our children and their progress, and competence....
It is ...again my view...not OFSTED liking to see a LJ but having to see whatever a provider has in place that suits parents and that setting

I can relate to your sharing your documents with other CMs very well...I was once shown a system of observations, recording and assessment that left me scratching my head in disbelief...the CM was doing what had been suggested to her by the DO...to this day I believe she keeps changing her system to make it easier for her
when I showed the CM my way of doing a LJ she too got puzzled but my way has had not so many tweaks because it is my system and enables me to argue with any inspector what it means to me and for the child it is for.