A bit overwhelmed with the EYFS

[ridley14506]

Hi there,
I am Michelle a new to this site. I registered with Ofsted last May as a Childminder but due to having my young daughter I am only just looking to start actively minding now. However I am a bit overwhelmed and put off my the EYFS and observations etc. No matter how many times I look over the EYFS booklets etc I feel even worse. Did anyone else feel like that? I dont know if I am making a mountain out of a mole hill about it or what. At the minute I am only advertising for 5s and over.

[The Juggler]

hon, take it one step at a time and work from the bottom up.

Look through EYFS Stat requirements and make sure you have all the policies/paperwork/training in place that you need. With regards to the development of the children, don't make it too complicated:

You have to show, you observed a child, you know what that means, you plan to support them with their next steps in learning. Then you will have a planning sheet or two which shows what you have planned to support that. It really is that easy. I think the hardest bit starting out is evaluating what the observations mean. Once you have that its usually fun to plan an activity to support the next steps.

I have development matters downloaded on my pc so you can 'search and find' within the document. When you are evaluating an observation, you will have rough idea of what area it fits in but if you can't find it, you can type a key word into the search bar, and look to see what fits. I personally think the new DM misses an awful lot out so if you can't see where it fits - come on here and ask - lots of people with far more knowledge that DM

Good luck. Maybe also see if your LA are running and EYFS course on observations?

[sarah707]

You have had excellent advice from the juggler who is a very experienced childminder

Have a nosey around free resources at the top of the forum. There are lots of little information sheets on observations, assessments etc.

Good luck with it all