Observations And Assesments

[Carol600]

Hi can anyone give me any help with observations and assesments ia a childminder who is a little bit confussed like everyone else about EYFS and what it actually entails in our job any help would be great thanx

This is my first time on here so hello everyone x

[Guest]

Just wanted to welcome you, there are lots of childminders on the forum so it won't be long until someone comes along with some helpful advice.

[Beau]

Hi Carol,

 

I'm going to move this into the childminders part of the forum for you.

[Helen]

Hi Carol,

Welcome to the forum.

I think the kinds of observations childminders do can be the same ones that other practitioners do in their settings. They fall into two types, I think; the "catch as you can" quick notes that you do whe you notive something significant, and the lengthier observations on a child when they are engaged fully in an activity.

 

Do you take photos of the children, and stick them in a record book/file, etc?

 

You may also want some kind of record (obviously not a checklist!!), and you might find the ones I uploaded into the resources section useful. When I had my own nursery, we used to stick in the observations, photos etc into each child's special book, then mark off on the record sheet which development matters statement the observations gave evidence for (ie we just put a date in the column next to the appropriate statement. You can find them by clicking on resources, then resource library, then observation and assessment, and scrolling down to page 2. They are called EYFS child record CD (boy) for example.

[Carol600]

Hiya thanks for your help and advice i have had a quick look at them i think its gonna take some getting used to tho!! would you mind if i download them i can possibly adapt them to suit my setting? thanx again xx

[Carol600]

[ Hiya thanx i hope so feel like im struggling at the mo lol x

[Carol600]

[ hi helen can i just ask do you do one of these chart for each area of EYFS and for each childs folder? thanks x carol

[Helen]

Hi Carol,

We did have one for each child, for each area of learning when I ran my own nursery. We had a staff meeting every two weeks where we stuck in photos of the children, along with the observations, etc, and then dated the records accordingly. Each member of staff had up to 10 key children, and we seemed to keep on top of it pretty well.

 

By all means adapt them to suit your setting, and discard bits at will!

[Guest jane707]

Hi Carol, the main thing about observations are not to let them overwhelm you.

 

They are best as short notes, saying what you have seen or heard... analysing what that means for the child's learning and development .. then thinking about how you can use them to plan for a child's next steps.

 

There is lots of advice on how to put together learning journeys here -

 

http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/eyfs/site/3/1.htm

[Guest]

Hi Carol, try not to panic!

 

We've been told ONE observation per child per term is sufficient. Use your obs plus post-it notes or photos of "Wow" moments (you know, the things the parents MUST SEE) together with the NCMA journal or a diary book sent home at the end of the day should cover everything - at least that's what Ofsted in our area are saying!

 

Nona

[Carol600]

Hi nona,

thanks for you advice it helps to hear other peoples input and thoughts on the EYFS! I think many childminders are finding it a bit differcult to take on board as we have not had much training on EYFS, and training that we have had does not tell us anything really useful about planning and observations, it would be better if they were to say if you do it like this u would be doing it right or this is a better way of doing it! I will keep logging onto this site for help and advice of others who are in the same situation many thanx x