I haven't done any planning for 4 months!

[OrlandoBelle]

I'm not sure if i've put this in the right place...

I've been childminding since November 08 and I've only just got my head around all the planning and EYFS.

I am getting through the piles of paperwork that I need to be doing, but my question is, what happens when I have my inspection and ofsted see that I have only just put planning into place? Will I be marked down for this?

I haven't had the phone call yet, but when I do, and they come out to inspect me and they query this, what can I say to them to get around it??:panic:

[Jules12Wed]

I'm no expert and I am sure someone will be on here soon with some good advice, but I would just say start as soon as possible at least that way you will have something to show Ofsted when they do turn up.

[huggableshelly]

why havent you done any planning?

because you have been playing with the children finding out their individual needs and interests, dealing with transition from home to your setting ensuring their health and well being within your home.

Now they are settled you know their likes and dislikes so now you can being to plan to develop each childs skills.

[LOOPYLISA]

Sorry i can.t help hun, im just getting my head round it, but as for your inspection, i had the call yesterday about my inspection and ive only been registered since jan:eek: , lucky i havnt got children on roll yet or else i would defanatly be in panic mode-right off to do paperwork !!

[venus89]

would have thought that as long as you are doing it now and can evidence that then she'll be happy with that. They realise that we're all learning all the time

[Ripeberry]

Very true! How on earth can you plan if you don't spend time getting to know each individual child? You have starting points from the parents and then observe and go on from there.
Just start doing bits of planning now and then it will be second nature...so they tell me :)

[sparkibobs]

I don't do planning as in a spreadsheet and Ofsted were happy with the way I do things. I go with the flow of the children. My only planning is enhancing on what they like to do eg 1 mindee loves painting so today we did potato prints and then she asked for playdough, I'll show this in my obs and say what we'll do next eg different things/ways of painting, different colours and smells of playdough. My local network coordinator said this is great.
Everybody works differently, this works for me, I have a large family of my own and don't want to spend too much time planning. That's not what I interpret EYFS to be about.
There are lot's of help on here re planning and I'm sure you'll work out your own way of doing it.
Try not to let it bog you down :D
x

[Ripeberry]

Loopylisa, i've had Ofsted calling this week asking if i was minding yet and i rang them back to say no. And this morning the postie comes with a recorded letter from Ofsted asking to inspect me!:panic: :eek: .
But the letter also asked if i was minding yet....err i've told you already that i'm not and the second part of the letter was a form if i wanted to resign!
Give me a chance! :mad:

[Zoomie]

why havent you done any planning?

because you have been playing with the children finding out their individual needs and interests, dealing with transition from home to your setting ensuring their health and well being within your home.

Now they are settled you know their likes and dislikes so now you can being to plan to develop each childs skills.

Excellent advise !

(How do I save this post so that when I am in panic mode myself, I know exactly what to say ?)

[OrlandoBelle]

Thanks ladies.

I was sort of planning. I have a big white board in the playroom where I write what we will be doing for the week. But I've got no evidence of this now as I've been wiping it and re-writing it each week!! Nothing down on paper.

Chantelle has been helping me and has given me her forms she uses in her nursery, so I am using them to do my planning now. I have done my monthly and weekly one last night. Will have to make sure I keep it up!

Would anyone mind having a look over them to make sure I'm doing it right?

[LOOPYLISA]

Loopylisa, i've had Ofsted calling this week asking if i was minding yet and i rang them back to say no. And this morning the postie comes with a recorded letter from Ofsted asking to inspect me!:panic: :eek: .
But the letter also asked if i was minding yet....err i've told you already that i'm not and the second part of the letter was a form if i wanted to resign!
Give me a chance! :mad:

I had this too, :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[huggableshelly]

Excellent advise !

(How do I save this post so that when I am in panic mode myself, I know exactly what to say ?)


copy and paste into notepad either the thread link or the bits you want to keep

i have a folder with bits and links so i can find them later, i dont know how to save/follow/track threads


ooh hang on i see it

when you click on reply there is another box under the reply box called additional options I think if you click on the thread subscription and change the notification type to email notification that will then track it but then you gain emails every time someone posts.

[huggableshelly]

Thanks ladies.

I was sort of planning. I have a big white board in the playroom where I write what we will be doing for the week. But I've got no evidence of this now as I've been wiping it and re-writing it each week!! Nothing down on paper.

Chantelle has been helping me and has given me her forms she uses in her nursery, so I am using them to do my planning now. I have done my monthly and weekly one last night. Will have to make sure I keep it up!

Would anyone mind having a look over them to make sure I'm doing it right?

i'm not an expert at this but if its working and your children are happy, you are comfortable doing your planning then its right for you

everyone does them differently, if you want to pm me I'll take a look or pm one of the moderators who may be of better assistance to you.

[OrlandoBelle]

This is what I have done so far. (see attachment)

It was a little confusing as the development matters aspects fall under the 6 different areas of the EYFS, so where you've got Self Care under PSED, I didn't know how to incorporate the CLL part into self care if you see what I mean (i've probably just been looking at it for so long that my mind's gone blank!) Or am I doing it all wrong?

Do we just leave this box empty? Can anyone take a look for me and let me know??

[huggableshelly]

ideally you dont want to leave boxes empty you have made a really good plan though

my plan is simpler in layout and for me its easier to fill out still covering the 6 outcomes.

i find the longer I sit trying to fill the boxes the harder it is so I walk away potter around and come back to it.

as you have said alot of the activities fit into several sections, there is no harm in writing the same again with slightly different wording
say your
Dispositions and Attitudes box that is empty .. how many cars did you see on your way to the park, ? how many times did the child swing? how many steps on the slide ... keep it simple

[huggableshelly]

mine is a monthly too, i'm lazy i do not do a weekly as I never know what shift pattern parents are on with my efys child so some wks i have him 5 days some wks I do not see him so I fit in what i can when i can.

[singlewiththree]

I am now just writing in a planning book, we thats what I call it, I just jot down the date as I only mind a couple of days a week and the name of the child and then list the 6 areas and what we are doing that day to cover those areas, I do that for each child as I vary it to what they can do. I'm hoping this is enough when they come as I haven't had my first inspection yet.

[squiggle]

start recording things now but if ofsted do say anything just say you are a 'relfective practitioner' and now you know your children you care for well you are now confident to do planning.

ofsted like to see how you reflect and improve on things and this is what you are doing!

xx

[sarah707]

Both plans posted look good...

They are both very in depth though and you might find yourselves getting cross if the children's interests take you elsewhere.

You can leave some bits to be filled in by what the children choose as well. For example, you are busy making flowers for mother's day crafts and Jenny says she wants to go into the garden to look at the buds on the trees and the new flowers coming through. You could note that down as child-led KUW planning and then mention how you intend to talk about lifecycles tomorrow...

You need to think about individual planning as well ... think about what Johnny likes to do, what his mum / dad / other setting tell you he likes to do... write it down with some ideas for follow up activities / enhancements and link them back to the Eyfs.

It all sort of slots together so you are getting an overall picture of the child from their own planning, your planning and the individual planning which takes account of their interests.

hth :D

[OrlandoBelle]

Great, thanks a lot eveyone for all your help. :)

I'm thinking I might just do a monthly plan as it's going to be too much work for me doing a new one every week aswell as 6 learning journals, etc...

[huggableshelly]

Thanx Sarah

I find with the monthly plan i can wonder off from it and do what the mindees want instead from one day to the next. If i get it all covered then great, if not prep work gets filed and can be used next year.

[OrlandoBelle]

Both plans posted look good...

They are both very in depth though and you might find yourselves getting cross if the children's interests take you elsewhere.

You can leave some bits to be filled in by what the children choose as well. For example, you are busy making flowers for mother's day crafts and Jenny says she wants to go into the garden to look at the buds on the trees and the new flowers coming through. You could note that down as child-led KUW planning and then mention how you intend to talk about lifecycles tomorrow...

You need to think about individual planning as well ... think about what Johnny likes to do, what his mum / dad / other setting tell you he likes to do... write it down with some ideas for follow up activities / enhancements and link them back to the Eyfs.

It all sort of slots together so you are getting an overall picture of the child from their own planning, your planning and the individual planning which takes account of their interests.

hth :D

We posted at the same time Sarah!

We don't have to do individual planning for before and after schoolers do we? In my case anyway...I have 3 boys before school for half an hour and 2 after school for an hour and a half and I have to give them dinner, so no time to do anything other than free play. Seems pointless planning for them as I know we won't have time to do it. They do play games in relation to a current theme....like now for example, I've made some Spring themed snap cards and we play i spy and things on the way to school.

[PixiePetal]

I have 6 children in the EYFS. Two of them are only here for a 3-4 hours each a week. I don't get too complex with my planning, more follow their lead and think of activities for next steps.

For me personally it is a lot simpler to keep things simple :D

If it's not an Outstanding then thats fine, have been minding over 14 years with no complaints and a waiting list.

[Wendy Woo]

why havent you done any planning?

because you have been playing with the children finding out their individual needs and interests, dealing with transition from home to your setting ensuring their health and well being within your home.

Now they are settled you know their likes and dislikes so now you can being to plan to develop each childs skills.

Sounds good to me pretty much along the lines off wot i would say x

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Thanks ladies.

I was sort of planning. I have a big white board in the playroom where I write what we will be doing for the week. But I've got no evidence of this now as I've been wiping it and re-writing it each week!! Nothing down on paper.

Chantelle has been helping me and has given me her forms she uses in her nursery, so I am using them to do my planning now. I have done my monthly and weekly one last night. Will have to make sure I keep it up!

Would anyone mind having a look over them to make sure I'm doing it right?


Why not put this in paper form. I have a really easy spreadsheet if you would like it to use but cannot attach it as it is in excel (pm me and I can email you if you include your address) Then you can file it each month and have your evidence.

[Chanelle]

[QUOTE=huggableshelly;356058]ideally you dont want to leave boxes empty you have made a really good plan though

Sorry to correct you here but If you have blanks on a planning sheet that is actually a good idea ... Planning is what it says .. a plan of what you might want to do ...
Having gaps is a good idea as it shows that the sheet is a working document...
Add activities to the sheet if you do spontanious activities ... add things on that you change ... it doesnt matter if it messes up a perfect sheet that is typed .. it shows you are adapting the activities appropriatelly to weather, development and interests ....qand children's suggestions!

I make sure I have gaps in my planning to have flexibility ...

What if you are doing spring topic and the child says I want to grow a plant tomorrow??? how will you show this on a fully filled in sheet ...

... Just a few pointers to think about :)

[Pudding Girl]

Thanks ladies.

I was sort of planning. I have a big white board in the playroom where I write what we will be doing for the week. But I've got no evidence of this now as I've been wiping it and re-writing it each week!! Nothing down on paper.



I was on a course a few weeks ago and one thing that was shown to us was the planning of a school nursery in Glasgow that write their planning up on the WINDOWS in those pens that pubs etc have, so that they can all see it and the parents/carers can see it too, and anyone can add to it, and then each day they photograph it for evidence.

I thought it was a cool way of doing it :thumbsup:

[Allie]

Ok now you have observed them, so start off a file or scrape book on each child, stick child's picture on the front call i a learning journey.

Write up a couple of observations on each child stick them in the file/book add photos

look at the EYFS guidance and try to link obs to an area then look across the page and see what you could be doing next

Get this done and then continue to add to it at least once a week per child use their interest as the starting point for anything you plan

YOU DO NOT NEED DETAILED PLANS DONE IN ADVANCE!!!!!!!!! only a rough outline eg mothers day = some activities Easter = some activities always be prepared to abandon any plans if the child has another interest

Allie