35 replies to this topic

[Jackie A.]

I am a Nursery teacher working in an LEA where reception children are admitted to school the term in which they turn 5. This means that I have reception aged children in my Nursery Class who will be moving into Reception after Easter (the summer-borns).
Our Reception teachers have heard that they are to be visited by a moderator after Easter and they will be looking at evidence of children working at 3 ability levels in CLL and C.
At a recent cluster group moderating meeting, we were told that we need evidence for each point marked in these 2 areas of the curriculum for the chosen children.
We have collected certain evidence in the form of post-its, annotated photos, observations, some children's work, and also in evaluations of group work in phonics and number.
However, my question is how do we present all this evidence? We had started putting relevant post-its into the profile booklet itself in the relevant section, but there just isn't room for those as well as photos. The evidence is in so many different forms that it would be difficult to "present" it to the moderator. Especially as the children will not even be in my class any more, and I will not be present to discuss the evidence, the moderator only wants to see the Reception teachers, who have their own focus children as well (autumn and spring birthdays).
Do you leave the actual profile booklet blank inside, apart from circling achieved goals, or do you put photos/notes within the small spaces provided? How do you present other evidence such as observation sheets, class record sheets, children's work. Do you put reference points within the profile booklet? What do you "do" with all your post-it's?
I am just struggling to find a way of "handing over" all this information to the Reception teachers. I would be interested to hear what other people do.


Thanks, Jackie

[sunflower]

Hi Jackie,

I work in a Reception class and this is my second year of collecting evidence for the profiles.

For each child, I complete a Record of Achievement booklet that is provided by the EDYCP. This has a page for each area of learning with a space for the date and then the observation. After each observation I write the profile point that it contributes to eg. CLL CT2 I leave the profiles blank, apart from adding 'nearly there' type comments at the end of the year. I used post-it notes a lot last year, but they started to drop off and get lost. This year I have used a notebook for one-off obs and then written them into the ROAs.

I also have a separate folder with a section for each child. I collect long observation notes, annotated photos, photocopies of work etc in here. Again, I go through and write on the profile points that each piece contributes to.

What do the Reception teachers in your school do? We are also being moderated this year and I have started to compare my evidence with the other Reception teacher's to make sure that we are looking for the same thing in relation to each point.

Hope this helps

Sunflower

[AnnetteM]

Hi Jackie,

we also keep post it notes as evidence and we stick them in an A4 booklet entitled 'Look what I can do!' - one for each child. The booklet has one page or more dedicated to the six areas of learning (containing objectives copied from the profile) and we stick the post it on the relevant part. When we have gathered enough evidence of the child's achievement in this area we circle the profile and sometimes write a supporting comment.

Good luck with your moderation!

AngieM

[Sue R]

Just wanted to say Hi and Welcome!! to AngieMia!!!

Sue :D

[fionas]

Hi Jackie,

we stopped using the government scales booklet for that very reason, you simply cant fit everything into it. Instead we have produced our own profiles which start in the Nursery and follow onto Reception. We have produced our own end of year reports for parents which cover all the legal reporting back requirements. Our profiles are those type with plastic clear pages in and we put in photos, stick it notes and annotated work into these, also with the stepping stones and early learning goals which we highlight and date when achieved. Other info such as parent teacher discussions also goes in. We find these so much more useful than the scales booklet and all the information on one child is then in one place.

[Jackie A.]

Thank you ever so much for your replies and for reading my very long post! I do think that in the near future we need to sit down as a FS team to devise our own achievement folders instead of using the scales booklet. It would be good to have a system that we can use for FS1 and FS2 as our LEA use a different record keeping system for children in their first year of FS, so we end up having to transfer information from one system to another. I wonder how many other schools have abandoned using the scales booklet?

Thanks once again,

Jackie

[Susan]

Hi and welcome to Angiemia! :D

The scales booklets were onlt ever optional anyway and for those settings in an authority encouraging the eprofile, unnecessary. It still remains only stsautory to produce the scale totlas at the end of FS2, so abandon those booklets if you have an alternative method of record keeping!

I was not in the habit of using post-it notes, I was worried about them falling off but I have been told that if you but the branded variety and not a copy version, there isnt a problem!

[fionas]

I know what you mean about the post it notes! We use sticky 'address' labels which never budge!

[Zim]

Hi Fionas-how do you organise your sticky labels? I favour them for putting in children's profiles/portfolios but favour post-its as they're handy to stick on wall as a visual reminder to file away after.
What do most of you do with these incidental observations? I know some people just use them as evidence and to help them fill in ROA/profile but that others keep them in their 'look what I can do' portfolio of work. I've not got into the swing of it yet but like the idea of it going into their portfolios (we have scrap books with photos/a description of the topic and the type of things we have been doing and samples of the children's work) as I was told they aren't 'individual' enough but think that post-its will just look messy when they go home to parents at the end of the year.

[buttonmoon]

Hi,

I had my moderator in today and it was over in ten minutes! This was the first meeting and all we did was fill out a sheet, she didn't even look at the kids or the profiles. Strange...

Anyway she did advise me on filling out my profiles and evidence which was good, and as she is also my advisor i went to her school to check out her profiles and planning.

I'm doing about twenty times as much as she is for evidence! ah well at least i know what to do next year!

buttonmoon

[Susan]

Different in your LEA then!!!!

[AnnetteM]

Sue R, on Mar 3 2005, 09:26 PM, said:

Just wanted to say Hi and Welcome!! to AngieMia!!!

Sue  :D

Hi Sue

Thanks for the welcome! I am finding this a very useful site , it's good to keep up to date with new ideas, good practice and various concerns people have - they reflect mine!

At present I am updating our foundation policy and reviewing the way we observe our children in nursery and reception. We are also being moderated soon!

Good wishes to all,

Angie M

[Gater]

Hey Angie - am glad you are liking the site - it's very good isn't it? It's lovely to know somewhere you can come for honest, supportive and good advice!

How are you thinking of changing your observational approach in your school? I'd be interested to know seen as there is actually no official stance on observations in my setting! It is seen as a bind from the FS co and NNs - time taken away from actually interacting with the children - so at the minute I very much rely on reading of other people's trials so that when I eventually a) get a new job or the FS co retires, I'm not years behind everyone else!!!!

Thanks!

D xxx

[fionas]

Hi Zim, we are also giving the portfolios to parents with the stick its included, but as it is a working document we felt that it was fine and the little conversations the children have had are lovely to read no matter what the handwriting is like! We always substantiate the stick its with what the example shows ( in terms of stepping stone or ELG) We write what we have seen or heard, or take a photo and write" this demonstrates that Jenny is beginning to..."

[Zim]

Do you choose certain chn to observe each day/week? I haven't found a method of making sure I've got a balance of observations yet