paperwork nightmare

[Helen Dempster]

Hello all!

I'm so close to admitting defeat with the paperwork side of things. I'm not sure I do enough..too much..everyting wrong..etc etc. I just really need a helping hand if any of you are willing? I think I need someone to lay it out for me, in bullet points - "right, you need to do this, this, this and this."

At the moment I do ILPs (but haven't got many of these, cos I don't really understand!) :o I'm fine with the observations and linking to the various development areas and next steps and I'm fine with LJs. It's just planning that I'm struggling with - do we have to do short-term, medium-term and long-term planning, plus group planning? It's really, really confusing me (sorry).

I've typed up a long-term planning sheet that lists topic/festivals each month and then from that I've got another sheet that I think is medium-term, again month-by-month of things we PLAN to do and I have topic webs of various headings of things we've actually done. I also do a Baseline assessment for when each child starts, and I've done the new 2 year checks, which I didn't have a problem with.

I feel like I'm rambling now, but can anyone offer me some help/support before I get out my shredder..... ;)

Thanks guys xx

[newbie]

It can really mess with your head! Big hugs xxx. Right, your long term planning should be festivals and celebrations listed for each month along with a theme for each month, then this is broken down to medium term planning which s looking at tht month more in depth and the way that you will use your theme to hang your EYFS off of linked with next steps then your short term is looking week on week for that month and what u r doing each day I.e toddler group visits, activities etc. Ths is how I do it and agree that it can be extensive amounts of work :(

[rosebud]

You're definitely doing too much. I'm going to shock you now - I don't do any written planning! I did try once but didn't stick to it so decided it was a complete waste of time. In my opinion (which I'm entitled to before anybody shouts at me) long term and medium term plans are completely inappropriate in a childminding setting and if you really want to do written planning then I would stick to individual plans as these are meaningful. I do have loose plans in my head and of course we celebrate the seasons and festivals but when I write observations and Next steps - these ARE my plans.

My advice is to try to think about why you're doing paperwork - does it benefit the child? does it benefit the parent? does it benefit you? If the answer to at least one of these questions isn't yes then DON'T DO IT!

[nipper]

You know what ladies I might get shot down in flames now, BUT, not one of my parents, (who include three sets of teachers) have EVER asked me to justify my planning to them so this precisely why I don't do it. Can't honestly see the point. We do artwork to coincide with festivals, we get outside for at least half an hour if not more every day, we stop and look at and listen to the outdoor environment, I use the car once a week to go to a toddler group and the other one we attend is at my local school so within walking distance. We bake, we sing, we have cushion fights, we build dens under the kitchen table and we have fun, but most importantly of all I let the children dictate to me what activities we do. Yes my paperwork is always behind but I do take photos and YES my memory might be shot to pieces since I first became a mother nine years ago but with my trusty red notebook that I use to write down all the little quirky things they say or do and then transfer onto their daily diary to share with their parents (in case I forget!) I feel I know everything about my kids.

I defy any inspector to come into my house and tell me I'm wrong:angry:

So, what I am trying to say is don't worry:) have fun playing with them and know that they are in safe hands:thumbsup:

[mrs robbie williams]

You're definitely doing too much. I'm going to shock you now - I don't do any written planning! I did try once but didn't stick to it so decided it was a complete waste of time. In my opinion (which I'm entitled to before anybody shouts at me) long term and medium term plans are completely inappropriate in a childminding setting and if you really want to do written planning then I would stick to individual plans as these are meaningful. I do have loose plans in my head and of course we celebrate the seasons and festivals but when I write observations and Next steps - these ARE my plans.

My advice is to try to think about why you're doing paperwork - does it benefit the child? does it benefit the parent? does it benefit you? If the answer to at least one of these questions isn't yes then DON'T DO IT!

I only do weekly plans and if we don't get to achieve what's in the plan it's brought forward to the following week xx

[rosebud]

You know what ladies I might get shot down in flames now, BUT, not one of my parents, (who include three sets of teachers) have EVER asked me to justify my planning to them so this precisely why I don't do it. Can't honestly see the point. We do artwork to coincide with festivals, we get outside for at least half an hour if not more every day, we stop and look at and listen to the outdoor environment, I use the car once a week to go to a toddler group and the other one we attend is at my local school so within walking distance. We bake, we sing, we have cushion fights, we build dens under the kitchen table and we have fun, but most importantly of all I let the children dictate to me what activities we do. Yes my paperwork is always behind but I do take photos and YES my memory might be shot to pieces since I first became a mother nine years ago but with my trusty red notebook that I use to write down all the little quirky things they say or do and then transfer onto their daily diary to share with their parents (in case I forget!) I feel I know everything about my kids.

I defy any inspector to come into my house and tell me I'm wrong:angry:

So, what I am trying to say is don't worry:) have fun playing with them and know that they are in safe hands:thumbsup:

Well said Nipper! You've put into a paragraph exactly what childminding should be about and why we love our jobs!

[ivy]

Have always said that's all i want to do is look after children , if i wanted to be a secretary i would have applied for that type of job .
I have never seen long , meium or short term planns in my local playschool or school .

[loocyloo]

my long term plan is literally a list of all special days & events throughout the year ... we may do something about them, we might not.

medium term ... i have a theme for each month - again, we might follow it/some of it, or we might not - depends what else is interesting the children at the time/what the weather is doing etc!

short term ... i do a weekly plan ... something for each day - such as toddlers, a walk in the woods, feed the ducks, playdough and again, although we usually manage to get out, we don't always follow the 'plan'. plus each week i keep a little list of what activities each child has done/been interested in and an idea for the following week, plus my idea for this week from last week ( does that make sense?) i then cut this up each week and stick it in the LJ, along side any obs i might do. ( i then put an idea for each child on the weekly plan )

[jadavi]

Themes have never worked for me . I do festivals and seasonal dates too with crafts and cards as parents like those.
My planning is my next steps for each child which I collate in a paragraph every weekend.
During the week I write in my a4 diary that we did the next steps and comment how it went along side it in a column and what the following next steps are (often ' more of the same')
I use a page of A4 diary a day during the week using the weekend pages for planning for following week and for self evaluation, training staff meetings etc, anything else. New purchases, new ideas.
My week day page has a column the width of a ruler on each end. First column communic with parents/settings. Second big middle column day to day obs on what we do and how successful or adapted it was (sometimes under activities sometimes under child's name) last column 'next steps ideas'. I tick these when I carry them out.
My page is full each day in each column (big writing often covering two lines of feint)
I had a different system but changed it when saw that Ofsted have gone anal about communic with parents and settings and next steps. I am due an inspection in June.... But didn't want to do anything that was not helpful to me too.
(I do LJs of course and stick in photos and formal obs often using 2Simple print outs)
My only other paperwork is a plod (Possible lines Of Development template) per term per child in a different (thin!) file marked 'planning' also in here goes base line assessments and two year reports etc. (This is done each school
Holiday and takes an hour total for my 8 eyfs kids)
The diary is so Ofsted can see it all in one place and so I can see things at a glance all in same place - I even stuck/staple in training handouts.(I have one overflow carrier box for extra miscellaneous papers) last year I had 15 different ring binders - no more!
I love my system. It took 18 months to get right for my methods. It keeps me on track every day and stops me feeling guilty all the time!

Yes it means I write an a4 page a day but only (and only ! ) an a4 page at weekends. I like it as it stops me forgetting things and there's nothing worse than trying to do it all retrospectively from memory. It also stops me writing too much.
The two down sides are:
A)My writing is not very good, can't use computer for this system
B) I might spill something on it and all my eggs are in this one basket! I have it in a protective a4 ziplock book holder away from the messy kitchen table but usually write in it every time I am in the kitchen about what we have just done.
I have my rag inspection next week, expect to be given loads of new templates that I will be expected to use... And expect to have to justify my tried and tested system nail and tooth! As Sarah advises- I will try to be pleasant, grateful non confrontational ... And then just not use them.
On my shelf I now only have rhe LJs. The empty complaints file, the thin planning file and then files from trainings (safeguarding, healthy eyfs etc)
My advice is to ask yourself what helps you genuinely then try and whittle it down to a workable method needing minimal weekly input and please don't do themes if you don't like them.
It is scary espec at first not being told exactly how to do this and having to come up with what works for you on your own and with Ofsted terrifying everyone as well ... But just think why you are doing this job, why your parents and mindees love you and believe you are doing a great job. Paperwork should be a small reflection of that not a terrifying looming ogre.

[jadavi]

I should say I only have two brief baby daily diaries to complete as well. All the other parents prefer verbal feedback

[tinkerbelle]

what is the minimum paperwork i can get away with might seem like im trying to fob it off but with 4 eyfs kids and 5 kids of my own 4 school runs dinner the groups we do i dont have time to spend hours planning etc
iv had my development officer round who said im not doing enough i currently do a daily diary with wow moments included and what weve done that day i do a planned ob once a fortnight and the rest i write down if i see them doing something new

[rachelle]

I scribble a vague plan in my diary - todays says D, M - mothers day cards and start craft
AS (after school) - making box and hex bugs
BS (before school) - sticker books or TV

Other than that we have built with the lego, played cars, made hamma bead flowers, had a shape magnets out and chatted! None of that is in my diary but it is linked (in my head) to the children's next steps which are in their folders and which double up as my medium term planning!