Records Of Achievement

[Guest]

Hoping someone can help with this one!

 

Under the Foundation Stage we believed [i hope we were right!] that children's observations, assessments were ultimately the property of the parents. Under EYFS, however, one of advisory teachers says it's not so clear about ownership. Try as I might I cannot find clarity in the EYFS documents. I guess I keep missing it! Can someone help with a page number? I would be very grateful as I need clarity for a particular case that I won't go into here.

[Guest Wolfie]

That issue is something that I've never considered! I'll be interested to know the answer!

[Cait]

We have a sentence in our prospectus which states that when the children leave the paperwork will become the property of the parents, and prior to that may only be viewed by the parents, manager, key person, ofsted and social services (should they wish to have access). Could you do something similar?

[Guest]

Are you talking about whilst the children are in your setting or once the children have left?

 

I personally feel they are the property of the children and by association property of parents ( in other words, parents property but I would hope that they would keep them safe for their children as a keepsake)

 

I would think that a summative (or is it formative, I always get those terms mixed up) 'report' of the information evidenced in their records is recorded and maintained by the setting, should any queries of their 'quality' of 'education' be questioned or need to be evidenced in the future. But the timescales for keeping such records/reports would also need to be manageable. ( these we calle their 'record of transfer')

 

In my preschool, the 'learning journey' including all observations/assessments were given to parents as the child left us for school. the school received a 'summative, Record of transfer' report (this I think is a written requirement within the EYFS) the evidence I used to formulate this report, ie: the 'learning journey' / 'scrapbook' went to the parent, who was given the choice whether to show this to the school or not.

 

This 'transfer of knowledge' was also the system used if children went from my preschool to another.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Peggy

[Beau]

There is a legal requirement to keep certain records. I am not overly familiar with the EYFS but there seems to be a requirement now to carry out observations, therefore these would come under the same 'umbrella' presumably. Therefore the records themselves would belong to the educational establishment although parents/children would have a right to view them or get a copy of them if they so desired.

 

In terms of what happens to these records once the child moves on to another setting, then I would think it would depend upon which records. Observations are there to inform and guide practitioners whilst the child is in the setting. Therefore once the child leaves the observations should either be destroyed or passed to parents. Some sort of summary of their time in the setting would need to be passed on to the next setting (with the agreement of the parents) but not all of the records.

[Guest]

Hmm I may be getting myself in deep water here but in our county the message from the EYATS etc is very much that all the records do indeed go on to the next setting - the whole learning journey, if you like. As far as I can work out, something changed significantly about ownership of records when EYFS came in. It's a reference to this change that I am trying to find. However I think I've got a suitable answer to my specific query now - which was about a child dropping out of all forms of prechool education 2 terms before school entry- so I think I'd better leave this one here. Thanks for your help.

[Helen]

I've sought advice from the National Strategies team on this one, and whilst they agree it is a difficult area their advice is:

 

• It is essential to share information about children’s learning and development throughout the EYFS – this ensures all people working with the child have a shared understanding of how best to support each unique child and involve parents

• All information should be shared with parents and carers – that is part of the unique partnership that exists between practitioners, parents and children

• Sensitive information should be carefully considered – particularly issues of child protection. In these cases practitioners need to follow LA guidance.

 

 

I believe the difficulty in defining ownership is to do with issues such as data sharing and data protection, and the fact that children under five are not within the compulsory schooling age.

[Guest]

That makes sense, Helen. Thank you for taking the trouble to investigate it furter.

[Helen]

You're welcome