Recording Children's Starting Points

[Guest]

Having read lots and lots of inspection reports (how boring am I )- and of course the brilliant articles on here - I can see an emphasis on recording children's starting points. This was picked up by my inspector 2yrs ago and was a recommendation. I tried to explain to her that my Learning diaries showed progression from when children started but she seemed to want to see an actual record of starting points. I felt really uncomfortable as a childminder doing some sort of assessment on entry so decided that I would improve my Unique Child document that I give to parents to describe their child when they first join me. I have seperate sections for 0-2's and over 2's which are concerned with development, I ask questions like can your baby feed themselves, can your child put their shoes on,play with friends, how do they communicate, can they count to 5, recognise their name, respond to instructions etc.

But now I'm worried that this enough, should I be using this info and my own initial observations to fill in some sort of 'starting point' sheet or is what I'm doing enough

any egs. of what systems you use in your setting would be much appreciated

Thanks, daisy

[Allisonhunt]

Hi, we have just had an inspection and we use Learning Journeys. When children join we do the normal settling in Obs however we provide photo's in their Learning Journeys of what they can or cannot do. This was a real plus with us. Hope this helps.

 

Good luck

 

Allison

[Guest]

I must admit this is something that's been bothering me. It sounds as though we're doing something similar to you, Alison, so I'm hoping we're on the right lines! I just wondered how broad those intial observations should be. Children don't always show where they are really at until they are well settled.

[Guest Barbieb]

Hi Daisy. We advise our childminders to use the information they recieve from parents as the starting point and it seems to me that you are doing well on that. So far we have not had any reports of that not being enough but of course I'm not an Ofsted inspector and there is always a 1st time!

[Guest]

thanks for replies. I felt that what I was doing was enough, it's a bit frustrating when different inspectors say to one setting that learning journeys provide information on starting points and others seem to looking for something more.

Allison - could you tell me a little more about what your settling in obs consist of and how you record what children can and can't do?

[Allisonhunt]

Hi our settling in obs really consist of likes/dislikes, comforters, any children they maybe friendly with outside the group or friendships that they seem to form, speech etc. Generally the key person takes about 2-3 weeks to really get to know the child and parents using a variety of obs. I think you are doing enough, hope this information helps.

 

Allison