Guest Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Hi everyone, I was meant to go on a course on observations within the eyfs, but it was cancelled, one of my colleagues went on the same course at a different venue and came back saying that we should only be doing observations every 6 weeks, I am a bit confused is this right or does everyone do it differently? I appreciate your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 Hi everyone,I was meant to go on a course on observations within the eyfs, but it was cancelled, one of my colleagues went on the same course at a different venue and came back saying that we should only be doing observations every 6 weeks, I am a bit confused is this right or does everyone do it differently? I appreciate your help. As always, I'd like to ask what the rationale is behind this decision - how can it be justified?. I think a lot can happen in six weeks, but really you need to make enough observations to enable you to plan effectively for children's learning. The problem with having rules about the number of observations needed to be done over a set period is that once the 'quota' has been reached, practitioners may miss other (better) opportunities to document children's learning. That said, perhaps the quality of the observation is more important than the frequency - I've seen so many observations that weren't worth recording in the first place! Just my opinion, for what its worth! Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplewednesday1 Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 We do planned observations every month - they are planned to focus on very specific things. Other wise we are observing all the time - noting on post its, planning sheets etc You can't only observe every 6 weeks ... "Sit down baby ... You can't walk til mid March when I'm due to be observing you" he he he Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 We do planned observations every month - they are planned to focus on very specific things. Other wise we are observing all the time - noting on post its, planning sheets etc You can't only observe every 6 weeks ... "Sit down baby ... You can't walk til mid March when I'm due to be observing you" he he he I agree with your comments, a lot can happen in 6 weeks that you could miss, we do significant observations once a week at the moment and it seems to work, I get so confused with all the changes just when you think your doing nicely up crops something else to make you think again!, but I love my job so I shall crack on with everything and hope for the best!xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 On the course I went on they spoke about having a rolling programme of observations over a 6 week period, ie. focussing on particular children each week, assessing their progress and identifying their next steps, then sharing this with parents. At the same time there would be incidental observations on all children. We've tried to do this but finding it impossible to do within 6 weeks. We're still trying to find a planning format that works for us! Anita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Hi Sheila, I'm going to move this into the Nursery 'Observation, Assessment and Planning' section as this one is for Reception and Year 1 discussions. Confusing I know, but I'm sure you'll find your way around in no time at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 At my setting we do planned observations on two children per key group a week (so 8 children in total) as well as doing sponteneous obs on all children straight onto white address labels, these are put into the development profiles (they dont need to be re-written we just unpeel the lable and stick it straight in. The label ob is cross referenced to other areas and the parents are directed to where the label has been stuck in childs profile, for instance say an address label ob is showing significant learning in PSED dispositions and attitudes then the keyworker sticks it there and under a development matters statement will write (see observation 1 etc) then if its also showing learning in PD the keyworker will write in PD under the developement matter statement that the observation relates to and will write see observation 1 under PSED dispositions and attitudes etc. Hope this makes sense, we have found that address labels are the most effective way of getting little obs down as they can be added to profiles a lot easier than post it notes. If the observation is a tad longer you can write over two or three labels, each keyworker has a roll of address labels ont their clipboards at the start of each session, who ever wrote the ob writes on the back the areas of learning the label covers and drops it in the relevan keyworkers assessment tray, when keyworkers do assessing they dont have to make judgements on obs they havent taken and just stick the label in the relevant part of the profile. Claire x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Hope this makes sense, we have found that address labels are the most effective way of getting little obs down as they can be added to profiles a lot easier than post it notes. Thanks for this Claire - I am fast coming round to the benefits of using address labels for snapshot obs - will definitely give this a go next week! Maz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Hi I have just started using address lables as they stick better than post it notes, so far so good Carol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 On the course I went on they spoke about having a rolling programme of observations over a 6 week period, ie. focussing on particular children each week, assessing their progress and identifying their next steps, then sharing this with parents. At the same time there would be incidental observations on all children. We've tried to do this but finding it impossible to do within 6 weeks. We're still trying to find a planning format that works for us! Anita I would think, Sheila, it was probably meant each child should have one major obs in 6 weeks. Anita -We have a rota that works out 1 obs in 4-5 weeks, keyworkers do them and plan their activities accordingly; incidental post-it type ones are totally spontaneous and happen all the time. We share obs with parents, but at 6 monthly parent consultation evenings, when we plan general Next Steps together. Informally, of course, they are shared more frequently! Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 spot on thats what we do we then use obs parents input childs input and staff and then we plan weekly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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