Paperwork day again!

[Cassie]

:blush: This could be the first of many threads today,so i apologise in advance....
I have spent the last few weeks (well! months if i'm honest!!!!)trying to get my obs/planning in place. This is what i have developed any feedback would be appreciated just need to know i'm on the right track...

Long Term Planning:
The year is split into monthly themes and festivals. Activities/crafts are filed in a theme folder seperated into ares of development. These are used mainly for older children 3yrs onwards.

Short Term Planning:
I fill in a Daily Diary(attached form)this is filled in night before or early morning.Group Planning is very basic just routines,Individual planning is from the previous days next steps,parent's comments,children,s interests & themes.

Each week i do a planned observation for each child on a specific development area.This usually has evidence attached e.g photo,video.piece of work & will go in their learning folder.Every 6 weeks i do a progress review for parents.

I also fill in a Daily Diary for children (takes 5 mins,sleeps,nappies food etc).

Advice Please!

I fill in and act on next steps each day,do i need to keep a copy of each childs obs/next steps in their learning file as well as my diary?

Do i need physical evidence of each obs i make e.g a photo/piece of work or will mine/parents comments be classed as evidence...

Do you think the attached form is adequate planning for Ofsted?

Thanks for reading...I'll be back soon!!!!!!!

[sarah707]

:blush: This could be the first of many threads today,so i apologise in advance....
I have spent the last few weeks (well! months if i'm honest!!!!)trying to get my obs/planning in place. This is what i have developed any feedback would be appreciated just need to know i'm on the right track...

Long Term Planning:
The year is split into monthly themes and festivals. Activities/crafts are filed in a theme folder seperated into ares of development. These are used mainly for older children 3yrs onwards.

I think this would be hard to do because the majority of activities spread across all 6 areas... because children's learning is holistic, not specific to one area at a time.

However if it works for you then that's fine! You are the most important person for it to make sense for.

Short Term Planning:
I fill in a Daily Diary(attached form)this is filled in night before or early morning.Group Planning is very basic just routines,Individual planning is from the previous days next steps,parent's comments,children,s interests & themes.

The attachment looks good but can I just check - do you put different children's experiences, obs, next steps etc on the same form? If you do, how do you file it in the child's learning journey?

Or am I completely off track? It's been a long morning at first aid.

Each week i do a planned observation for each child on a specific development area.This usually has evidence attached e.g photo,video.piece of work & will go in their learning folder.Every 6 weeks i do a progress review for parents.

I do a mixture of planned and catch as you can observations... sometimes plans just do not go to plan!

6 weekly progress reviews are great if you can think of enough to write. I tend to do mine seasonally, so 4 times a year or you could look at doing them termly even.

So long as they show clear steps for progression which you then review next time you do them that's what my inspector was looking for.

I also fill in a Daily Diary for children (takes 5 mins,sleeps,nappies food etc).

Fab yes.

Advice Please!

I fill in and act on next steps each day,do i need to keep a copy of each childs obs/next steps in their learning file as well as my diary?

I have them just in LJs obs, assessments and next steps for that child along with notes of any group planning they have enjoyed.

Do i need physical evidence of each obs i make e.g a photo/piece of work or will mine/parents comments be classed as evidence...

No you don't need physical evidence of everything. That would make it too much like hard work.

Do you think the attached form is adequate planning for Ofsted?

Thanks for reading...I'll be back soon!!!!!!!

I hope that helps :D

[Cassie]

Thanks Sarah...
I have find it easier to record everything on one form.One of the questions i asked was do i need to then put these daily obs on an individual form and add them to LJ's.It seems like i do have to do this so maybe it would be easier to write them on an individual sheet in the first place(saves repeating myself).
I will definately cut down to termly review sheets.
Theme folders; as you say activities do spread over all areas of development i have just filed them under the most obvious,i may change this....
It's just great to have another opinion!

[sarah707]

I know what you mean about doing joint obs / next steps sheets however you need to consider how you are filing them and confidentiality which is why I would have a sheet going for each child.

However remember you don't need to do obs / next steps etc every session or every activity. You will have days gone by when nothing much seems to happen and then suddenly you spot something you want to write down. You can scribble it on a pad now or a sticker and pop it into the child's learning journey when you have time.

I think joint forms will make you more work as well - you will need to copy the info out for each child's LJ. Thinking about it logically you might as well design something that is specific to the child if you are looking at changing your systems anyway.

:D