What does everyone else do?

[Kirsty90]

I'm currently on maternity leave & coming back to work in September. I want to change the way in which I do my paperwork especially the learning journals to make it simpler for myself so it doesn't eat up too much of my time. How does everyone else do theirs? How are they put together/ what type of file do you use etc? How often do you do full observations? How do you document other special moments? Do you include a lot of photos with just a small amount of text? How do you include linking to the eyfs? Do you include comments from home etc? What different types of planning do you do & how often? Sorry there is a lot if questions but I really want to get myself organised & have a clear idea in my head of how I'm going to do things before my life gets hectic again!

Thanks anyone that's managed to get to the end of my 100 questions!

Kirsty xx

[Kirsty90]

Anyone?? Xx

[Dilly Daydream]

No advice as I am in the same situation. On maternity leave until next year but looking for ways to cut down on paperwork and tighten up my policies etc for when I return to work.

I am trailing 2 simple app on my phone with my daughter as my subject whilst I am off on maternity leave after other minders in the area have raved about it. I seem to be having a few teething problems at the mo though as I am not receiving the info via email that I should be doing - you do the obs, photos, link to eyfs, next steps on your phone then email it to yourself to print. I like the theory and as I said others round here are using it successfully. One of the local inspectors commented on how good it was at an inspection lately too.

It's also free which appealed to me whilst I am maternity leave so keeping costs down.

Will keep an eye on this thread though for other replies and will update you once I iron out my teething problems.

Enjoy the rest of your maternity leave x

[butterfly]

Okay I'll have a go at your questions!! A word of warning though - I quite like paperwork so I wouldn't say my routines are quick! I do spend quite a lot of time on learning journeys!

Each child has an A4 file. As the children play I take photos of anything I see them doing which is new or shows a good bit of development. I often take one photo per day per child so children who are here one day per week have one obs and children who are here 3 days have 3 obs per week. This isn't always - some days I don't take any but roughly each child has at least one obs per week. I email the photos to myself from my phone and then save them in a folder for each child on my pc.

Later I put each photo on an observation sheet which I have saved on my PC. I use the sheet as a template so I put the photo and the date on it on the pc and then I print it. When I have a pile of printed sheets I sit down and write them up. Each sheet has a space for a photo and a couple of sentences of what the child was doing. It has a box for me to write in a EYFS learning statement if the obs shows something. It also have a box for learning characteristics which I fill in if appropriate. The last box says 'next steps' where I write an idea for the child's next planning step.

I handwrite the ob up and then put it in the child's file.

I don't write out any planning as I use the next step ideas for each child from their obs sheets as my planning.

Every 3-6 months I highlight all the eyfs statements that the child's obs show on a grid to show where the child is and to show the progress they have made since the last time.

I have separate sheets which I give to parents and other settings once a term where they are encouraged to write down things their child is interested in and any new things they are able to do. I put these sheets in their files with my obs.

I hope that helps a bit x