Weekly Planning...Why?

[Cassie]

I'm struggling to see the point of making weekly plans...I sit down every Sun and look at next steps/individual planning/continuous provision and themes.I then spend hours planning my week on paper.Monday morning and my first mindee will arrive and planning is forgotten! We will start to talk about their weekend and daily activities will follow on from there...at the end of the day i look at my plannning sheet and usually find i have covered nothing on there,but i have loads of photo's and obs to show the children have had a fantastic day!!!So why plan?

[Heaven Scent]

I'm struggling to see the point of making weekly plans...I sit down every Sun and look at next steps/individual planning/continuous provision and themes.I then spend hours planning my week on paper.Monday morning and my first mindee will arrive and planning is forgotten! We will start to talk about their weekend and daily activities will follow on from there...at the end of the day i look at my plannning sheet and usually find i have covered nothing on there,but i have loads of photo's and obs to show the children have had a fantastic day!!!So why plan?

Its cause you have nothing else to do didn't you know

[rachelle]

I've really cut mine down. My weekly is as follows:
mon: train to next village and snack at cafe am
plant beans pm

tues: free play am (paint etc available)
playgroup pm

weds: trip out
free play pm

Thurs: friends to play and picnic lunch

Fri: free play am (R settling)
Playgroup pm

and then I'll just put a child's initials if i want to do anything specific with them but mostly I don't! This is a plan for 8 months - 3 years so not all do all but obv continuous provision is going on and that is where i look at each child's next steps.

[jumpinjen]

Hi there.... I can understand how pointless it seems to you after spending hours and using little/none so maybe you need to change how you do weekly plans?

As I make obs during the week if I see a theme emerging or a need i jot a plan for the next week on the next weeks plans (pages kept together on a clipboard). This might be X loving hungry caterpillar story so plan for next week is ?expand the theme.... look at the fruits/make fruit salad ...... or...... Y fascinated with sellotape so plan for next week could be to source and put out different coloured/types of tape and help Y to use them.

this is as complicated as most of my plans get.... they provide for next steps but not in so much detail that spontaneous events can't flow the following week if you see what i mean? the next step plans don't have to be really complicated and my plans often have lines through with a jotted note of 'not interested anymore' or 'wanted to use stapler this week' or 'lovely day went to the park, not time!' It all shows that you are flexible, responsive and aware of needs.

You can observe something and plan to respond to it later that day/immediatly/the next day.... it is still weekly planning, it doesn't HAVE to be for the next week.... often with children the sooner the better as it is fresh!

Hope that that helps and makes your Sundays less tedious!

last things.... I plan for all the children on one sheet using initials to identify them!

Best Wishes, Jen x

[kats]

I have just changed from weekly planning to monthly, ive taken the same sheet i was using for weekly and changed it to monthly, i found i was repeating myself doing it every week. I still have a space for next stept and still do my obs weekly, its working much better and i feel its lot less work but with the same outcome

[snufflepuff]

I do monthly individual plans per child which go in their learning journals. My weekly plan is just notes in my diary- eg Mon: go to park, Tue: toddler group, Wed: make birthday card for x's Mum. Activities from the individual plans fit in somewhere long the way. Then at the end of the day I add the things that we have done 'off the cuff' or that the children decided to do- eg, played with cars, painted, played a ball game in the garden, danced to some music etc etc.

[Pixie dust]

I have very basic weekly plan and often fill it in as the week goes on for the very reason you say. Monday morning comes and they may have done something exciting over the weekend.

[Ripeberry]

I plan each day just before I get out of bed. All my mindees are under 3yrs old and they do what they want. I just observe and add interest by providing new equipment or showing them a different way of doing something.

I always have my continuous provisions available and if they get tired of it, I just move things around or introduce a new toy.

The only time I plan ahead by a week or so is if we have any big outings.

Planning is important for mindees over 3yrs old, but in a CM setting it depends on how many you have. As long as you give them lots of opportunities then just let them get on with it.

I did lots of obs last week as my 2yr old mindee and the 1yr old, got on really well together and they were in the playhouse 'mending' a football with a toy drill.
It looked so cute and the 1yr was impressed

[Cassie]

Hi Ripeberry! Do you record thes plans in some way...I always have plans in my mind of what i am going to do each day it's just recording them in an easy way that i'm struggling with.I thought Ofsted asked for evidence of planning and i thought for a while that my next steps and themes would be enough...appparently not! i need to do individual planning,group planning,weekly & monthly...where do i stop!!! am i just trying to do too much?

[sarah707]

Hi Ripeberry! Do you record thes plans in some way...I always have plans in my mind of what i am going to do each day it's just recording them in an easy way that i'm struggling with.I thought Ofsted asked for evidence of planning and i thought for a while that my next steps and themes would be enough...appparently not! i need to do individual planning,group planning,weekly & monthly...where do i stop!!! am i just trying to do too much?

No... you need to do as much planning as you want to take you through the week!

If you are happy with individual planning for under 3s then that's enough.

If you have over 3s and you want to plan in more detail to make sure they are learning new things... then go ahead.

if you are disorganised and forgetful like me and you want to play your creative play so children get a wide range of activities through the week then write it into your planning.

If you enjoy doing themed activities with the children and they have great fun and lots of learning experiences then write it up and you can use it again in the future.

If a child has a birthday coming up write that you plan a cake, candles, party games etc.

If you go on outings every morning, write that into your routine as your morning plan, link the activities to the Eyfs and make a note if anything changes.

Planning can be as complicated or straight forward as you want to make it... so long as Ofsted can see evidence of a child enjoying their play and achieving through activities which are set up to meet their needs... then you have done enough.

Hth

[PixiePetal]

mine is like Ripeberry

my lot are mostly under 3, except for a 4 yr old who comes for 7 1/2 hours once a week when he is shattered after 2 days at nursery so wants to chill

I spend most of my day on PSED - sharing and taking turns

[Number twenty 2]

There are obviously stacks of different ways of doing planning, and wide variations on what is written up and how. As many have said it is important to be flexible and ensure that the children's learning and development needs are met and that we respond to their interests; which is best done as soon as possible once the interest has been observed, as these interests can be fleeting. So flexibility is the key.

I operate a continuous provision system of planning as my weekly (sometimes 2 weekly) plan, that takes account of children's needs, interests, learning styles and next steps. Those individual details are written on other sheets (2 for each child at any one time) which I only fill in whenever I need to add or update things. Other activities I have specifically planned for (such as for topics I have chosen to enrich their learning further), I have available to introduce at any time I see fit. And I respond spontaneously to children's fleeting interests as and when an opportunity arises. I only write this up afterwards if I think it will be of interest to me in the future, or anyone else (for instance I often write a note on their daily diary sheet for parents).

I therefore don't write a timetable for each day, or week, as I found, like many do, that I was always changing it anyway. I take each day as it comes, look at my CP plan and choose what to set out that day depending on who will be attending, but I don't write down what I put out each day. The K System resources (home page business advertising section) have a section in them devoted to putting together a continuous provision plan within the child minding setting. It is a little different to that used within group settings as it can be so much more responsive to individual needs.

Sorry to be so long winded, but hope it helps.

22

[PaulaF]

i have two 7 month olds and a 17 month old.

I print of a monthly planner, fill in the details and put it on my notice board for all to see. Is that ok?

[sarah707]

i have two 7 month olds and a 17 month old.

I print of a monthly planner, fill in the details and put it on my notice board for all to see. Is that ok?

For that age of child it's more important that you show how you are meeting their individual needs...

group planning will cover things like outings, birthdays and special days and individual planning will show that you are clued into the children's needs.

So yes what you are doing is fine so long as you also have individualised plans following on from your observations and assessments and supporting the children's likes, dislikes, interests, schemas etc.

hth

[kim-d]

Think I will try like ripeberry as my mindee is only 9 months and my network co ordinator says I have to plan.

[Ripeberry]

I do monthly individual plans per child which go in their learning journals. My weekly plan is just notes in my diary- eg Mon: go to park, Tue: toddler group, Wed: make birthday card for x's Mum. Activities from the individual plans fit in somewhere long the way. Then at the end of the day I add the things that we have done 'off the cuff' or that the children decided to do- eg, played with cars, painted, played a ball game in the garden, danced to some music etc etc.

Same here, just plan it in the diary! Planning in detail is really for settings that have lots of children coming part time and you need to keep tabs on their interests.
When you have less than 5 different children, you just cater for their interests and their ages/stages.

Planning is more for children over 3yrs old and if you run something like a pre-school or nursery. Then it's important to do it so you can cover everything that you need to in the 6 areas of learning