confused about what paperwork i need to do

[Kirstylob]

Hi, I am very confused about exactly what paperwork i am supposed to be doing. i currently write a daily summary including all children that were here during the day, I do this as I found that I was repeating myself when i was writing for each child seperately. This summary is then shared to all the parents involved by email. i do spontaneous observations as they occur and daily write down anything that the child has done that is an achievement or a funny comment etc. i take regular photos, particularly if we are doing a planned activity or on an outing. These pictures are then put into a scrapbook which the parents take home on a regular basis to share with the family. i also keep a large scrapbook of identical pictures for me to be able to show Ofsted and any prospective parents. My CDSO said that she didn't see the point of the childrens scrapbooks and that I should stop doing them. There is no way that I am stopping doing them, ALL the parents love seeing them and one commented as they left for the Christmas hols, ' I knew that I would be taking this home today, I've been looking forward to it. Of the things that you do, I love this the most'. It made all the work worthwhile! My CDSO said that i needed to start a LD for each child, but didn't really tell me what i need to include. Can you tell me what to include and how often to do it. I am also VERY confused as to how often I should be doing planned obs and how. Do I look through the EYFS book and pick a category to do an obs for all children, if so any ideas? Or do I chose something to do and then observe each child and fit it into the EYFS? How often should i do planned obs? I have 6 children aged between 1 and 3 1/2, none of them full time so that makes it harder to fit in obs.
When i do obs planned or otherwise I note down what happened and later type up the name and age of the child I was observing and the initials and ages of any other children involved, What we were doing, what happened. I then evaluate the activity and write planned next steps I then link it all to the EYFS Areas of learning.
Sorry to go on and on but I really need to get my head round this! Every time I ask my CDSO she tells me that I need to find my own way, but I need some advice to be able to do this! We are also now expected to fill in an Early Years Foundation Stage Learning and Development Summary and Progress Tracker, do I really need to do all this?!

[sarah707]

Each child's learning journey will contain...

Observations - photo, written etc

Planning - individual to the child following on from observations

Learning and development - linked to the Eyfs for the child's age and stage of development

Comments - from the child, you, the child's family, other professionals involved with the child, other settings etc.

I do mine a little bit every week so that by the end of the month I have a couple of obs, an individual planning sheet for the month and some other bits and bobs from parents, comments from the child etc to go in the child's file.

I hope that helps get you started :D

[Penny1959]

Good advice from Sarah.

My LJ's are in an A4 ring folder and in date order. I write captions / comments to go with each photo - such as what the child said / did. Who playing with - some times an explanation of what it was they were doing. any development - such as 'Child A taking first steps - her face shows her pride in her achievement'

I find having them in a ring folder helps because if not printed photo or not written up 'in head obs' I can add later.

However you may be able to extend your scrapbook idea and stick pos it notes and other bits in there.


Penny :)

[Danny Day Care]

I was wondering if someone could pls give me some advice. At the moment I am not minding but will soon be starting on the 17th with 1 child who will be full time.
I have created a folder for the child which is solely Development matters. With all the areas of learning and have colour co-ordinated the age of developent. So for each area I would have separate colours for this. When ever I would make and observation this would be stuck into the area which it is meant to go and under the appropriate age. High lighted and dated.
I do understand that through observation this would be how we would plan and do our next steps. so what i wanted to know is COULD i just add this to the bottom of the obs or would I have to do a separate LJ for the mindee. I still want to keep my Folder that i created but would it be better if I started a LJ for all the planned activities,obs and assessments? pls any advice welcome? :)

I do have a daily diary which goes home with the parent, so that they 2 can share in there childs day and can also respond or add any ideas or tell me of any development that may have happened whilst out of my care.

I also have a scrapbook which will contain all the relevant information such as photos, pictures, reports, a few spider web observation to show the parents what the child is learning by playing ect. This really is mainly for the parent as I do believe they would love this.

Please can you give me any advice to let me know if I am sort of on the right track.

I am so confused :(

[sarah707]

Danny Day Care I think you are possibly doing too much!

Yes - a daily diary is important to share the child's day with their parents.

You only really need one more document which contains photos, observations, Eyfs links, individual planning etc.

This is normally called a Learning Journey.

If you are intending to make a scrap book as well I think that's one thing too much.

I would incorporate the scrap book into the Learning journey :D

[Danny Day Care]

Thank you Sarah, I did download a very good learning journey example and was actually thinking of combining the 2. The only issue I would have is when the child leaves, the learning journey will go too. Do you think Ofsted would except photographic evidence of the learning journey if the child would have left my care by the time of my inspection?

I do feel like I am over thinking everything but am nervous that my evidence would not be enough.

Thank you for getting back to me

[Pauline]

Thank you Sarah, I did download a very good learning journey example and was actually thinking of combining the 2. The only issue I would have is when the child leaves, the learning journey will go too. Do you think Ofsted would except photographic evidence of the learning journey if the child would have left my care by the time of my inspection?

I do feel like I am over thinking everything but am nervous that my evidence would not be enough.

Thank you for getting back to me

I don't think they would expect it but keeping a copy always stands you in good stead if you have no children at the time, it is excellent evidence. When I have a child leave I scan (or you could photocopy) some of the main pages of their learning journey so that I could show Ofsted what I do for a child of that age and the type of evidence I gather.

Hope that helps. :)

[SandCastles]

Daddydaycare - I scan my learning journals into my computer before I send them to parents for their comments on a regular basis, then when the lo leaves I give them the original and have the complete file to show OFSTED if it is needed, and I have also re-read this scanned file recently to refresh my memory on what activities we did and my evaluation of how they went.

Each child has their own learning journey, a confidential file (locked away) with their contract, child record form, and a clipboard with blank obs forms and wow moment sheets ready to fill in at a moments notice. I couldn't cope with anything more.

[samb]

I have Learning Journeys for the child - pretty much what you have described and I also have some scrapbooks which are for the setting. They have examples of "work" in and photos. I have 1 for festivals, 1 for themes and 1 for outings. I have only just started putting these together but I intend to use them to show prospective parents and also to look at with mindees. I see them as being different to learning journeys as they are for the whole setting and anyone can look at them. I just stick things in with a sticker on to say where they link to the EYFS so it does not take much time. Hope that helps?