Foundation Phase

[JAC DO]

Went on a training yesterday and they were talking the CSSIW regs about the foundation phase and paper work, so do any of you do any paperwork and if so what do you do?

I think I might to record progress using a tracker but not sure about planning.

[tulip0803]

There are lots of publications that WAG have about the foundation phase to be found here

As childminders we do not have to follow the Foundation Phase unless we are drawing down the funding like meithrins and nurseries and are inspected by ESTYN too. It is good practice to be aware and use the foundation phase principles. Foundation Phase at the moment is 3-7 years but is under review and the may extend from birth and we may be more expected to follow it.

When I spoke to my inspector on my inspection last year she said she was not expecting reams of paperwork but she wanted to see observations (short and to the point developmental ones) and evidence of planning different activites and experiences for the children. She was perfectly happy with my daily diaries as she said they showed planning and developmental observations.

I have found the document "Foundation phase child development assessment profile" which can be ordered free from WAG good as it has developmental progress information in all foundation phase areas and an "on entry" assessment chart which I am startong to use yearly to show progress and show areas which need to be developed. (I photocopy them shrunk to A4 as it is A3 sized). The developmental stages they have are from ages 18-84 months so start a bit before the foundation stage actually starts so is useful for younger children. This document is also under review but still available and useful.

I plan using the assessment to see what we need to work on and use the time of year and children's interests an loads of outdoor exploration - A lot of child led stuff with me supporting.

If you are training for free place funding it will probably need to be more in depth but we don't have networks here so I can't tell you what more is needed then.