EYFS confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mrs coops]

Hi
Yet again i'm confused lol
I have been on a course about the eyfs but just found that it has confused me even more,i've been reading through the 6 developments but just don't seem to be able to get my head round this.
i'm now getting very worried that when i eventually get a mindee i'm going to muck it all up and get marked down by mrs o.
Has anyone got any tips or any thing that explains this a bit more? x

[mrsoliver]

I think it can seem hard when you don;t have a "real" child to compare it all to. What are you struggling with? Learning and Development are broken inot 6 areas, with some overlaps. Each age bracket shows you what you might expect children to be doing, ways of planning for and extending this.

When you do your observations, you link to the statements to show how children are progressing.

[mrs coops]

I think i'm just finding everything overwhelming at the minute trying to get everything in place.
i feel like i'm really thick as i just can't seem to get my head round it at al

[wellybelly]

I was like you and the EYFS got me really down - I felt there was no one telling how to do it and thought I was going to fail miserably at my next inspection. Then I decided to stop worrying and work out a system for myself. You have to remember the EYFS is for all early years settings - thats childminders, nurseries, playgroups and reception classes in school. A lot of whats in the practice guidance and statutory guidance is repetative and they need to cover all settings.

Focus on the children when you start to mind and let that be your startning point. Find out what they are interested in and follow from that e.g. if they love lego and wooden building blocks, make a not of this on a piece opf A4 paper (this is an observation). Then underneath that link it to the development maters section in the practice guidance book (this is assessment) and just make a note of which area it applies to e.g. physical development, and the age range of what the child was doing e.g 22-36 months. Then finally at the bottom of the page write what you could do next with the child e.g. junk modeling or dens out of boxes in the garden. (This is planning)

This then makes up a huge part of the learning journey (simply a folder with their name on) with the child and over time you will make many observations and these will colate. Also I put in photo observations and examnples of their art work or mark making.

With regards to the statutory guidance, make sure you are meeting the welfare requirements as stated in this book. I use it as a checklist and write policies to reflect what I do as a childminder.

There are lots of useful resources which you can download from this forum, there is an excellent development matters download which you could print off and put with in the childrens learning journeys then highlight each aspect when linking observations.

You will find after a while, it all comes together and it won't feel such a chore.

[Pipsqueak]

In addition to the already excellent advice - check out Sarah707's most wonderful e-books

[wellybelly]

Well said Pip, I've purchased many and you also get free updates to her books too.

[mrs coops]

Hi thank you for all the advice.
Wellybelly you don't know how much that has helped. sometimes in english you can understand things lol.
Pipsqueak do you know which ebook would be best?

[sarah707]

Hi thank you for all the advice.
Wellybelly you don't know how much that has helped. sometimes in english you can understand things lol.
Pipsqueak do you know which ebook would be best?

Wellybelly has given you some excellent pointers there.

As other members say there is lots of free information around the forum as well as on the forum's sister site www.childmindinghelp.co.uk.

I have lots of free advice on my site www.eyfsforchildminders.webnode.com. Keep going back to the left hand menus to open more pages.

What bits are you needing more help with?

[mrs coops]

it's just connecting each observation with the correct area of learning and where to find it