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I'm new to all this and its doing my head in. I mind two children from one family, I asked their mum to tick the tracker sheet what she thought her children can do for their starting points and then I was working on the other points. My D.I came out and said its not a ticking sheet but I said its the parents starting points. I'm confused now, can I highlight where mum thinks they are and put this as their starting points on my tracker for the children.:panic:
it would help if you worked together with the parents and gather all the infoQuote:
Originally Posted by Amanda70
Ask what they know their child can do and likes and then you observe to makes sure it is just so.
The CIF will also help
You should be giving parents the guidance What to expect, when?
What to expect, when? A parents' guide | From pregnancy to children aged 5
The DfE now recommends this is used with parents
It would be impossible for you to 'track' a child you don't know at all....once the child is in your care then you can follow or track his progress once you have planned for his learning.
Ask the parents to fill in something like 'All about me' then transfer that info into the child's LJ and start the process.
If you don't know how to gather starting point look at Development Matters...be aware children vary but it is a very good guide and still used by the vast majority in EY...do not use EYO at this stage because you want to find out the skills so far not the outcomes.
Good luck!
Again, everyone has a view and a different way. That included local authority DO/DI or any other early years team workers. They sometimes give good advise and sometime do not. Always question them, ask why and ask for their alternatives. They are not Ofsted and they get it wrong as much as anyone.Quote:
Originally Posted by Amanda70
It is true that it has been 'frowned upon' to use EYO or DM as a 'tick list' because they are only a list of some typical things a child MIGHT do at certain ages.
A child may do loads of things not listed by EYO/DM.
Therefore an 'All about me' form is usually favoured so that you can ask parents to write their own account of their child's abilities without limiting them to ticking off from what is actually an 'incomplete' list (and will never be a complete list because children develop in millions of different ways and do millions of amazing things and no list can ever be made of that!).
Once I have an 'All about me' from parents, I add in my obs (right from the first day the child is with me and continue to do so for 3 weeks or so). I do compare all these obs and 'All About Me' to EYO to give me an idea of whether the child is at/below/above the expected age for each Aspect. I share this with parents and use it as the 'starting points' for the child. I then continue with obs continuously and over time that shows the child's progress.
I use Tapestry online so it is easy for me to instantly label every Obs against an age/stage from EYO if I want to. But it is not necessary to do that if you do not want to- again, everyone has their own way!