Guest Posted June 25, 2009 Posted June 25, 2009 I am a childminder and i find it a lot of paper work and keeping a note of everthing,some times i find it difficulty to keep track of thing. Is this just me or is there other childminders in the same boat. Unless there is an easy way some one can show me. Sushila
HappyMaz Posted June 25, 2009 Posted June 25, 2009 Welcome to the Forum sushila. Congratulations on making your first post - hope its the first of many! I'm not a childminder so I can't share ideas or good practice with you. All I would say is that keep it simple and make sure you're observing your children for a purpose: I'm surprised at how many observations I read that tell me absolutely nothing about the child! Learning journey folders are a great way of keeping everything together, and a photograph with a few words underneath can provide powerful testimony of all the learning that goes on in your setting! Maz
sunnyday Posted June 25, 2009 Posted June 25, 2009 Hi and a very warm welcome from me too! I'm pre-school ...but..... I have just been given 3 learning journey folders to read, from a childminder - I will be taking the 3 little boys in September......they are simple(not the boys - the L.J.s!) but FANTASTIC!!! They have given me a very clear idea about where these little boys are 'on their learning journey', what they enjoy etc.etc. She has used the same format that we use ....... lots of annotated photographs.....parents have added their comments too - as I said FANTASTIC! Sunnyday
hali Posted June 25, 2009 Posted June 25, 2009 helo and welcome to the forum - definatly keep them simple - sunnyday they sound great
Upsy Daisy Posted June 26, 2009 Posted June 26, 2009 Hi sushila09 and welcome to the forum. I am a childminder and also very anti-paperwork. I have a daily activity sheet which I have uploaded for you on which I describe two or three of the most significant activities we have done each day. These can be a snack time or a school pick, school pick up, play acivity, etc. I describe it briefly, note the areas of learning it covers best and do a very short evaluation. I track each individual child's progress through the EYFS in their own document. It used to be a little book but I now use the new Worcestershire Early Years Profile which is basically a list of the stepping stones with a little box to write in for each one. I include some annotated photos in this. That is enough for me, the parents and Ofsted. Daily_Retrospective_Planning_Sheet_1_child_blank.docx I use very simple risk assessments for each type of activity or outing I do with the children. Eg a general one for shopping trips or a 'playing in the garden' one. Risk_assessment_blank.docx I have policies but you don't have to have any written ones as a childminder. I have the usual contracts and permission forms, etc and of course the dreaded SEF. That's about all I use. I hope this helps (?) Alison Risk_Assessment.doc
Guest jane707 Posted June 29, 2009 Posted June 29, 2009 Hello and welcome! I am a childminder as well. I don't find the paperwork particularly hard once it's all in place... the key is finding systems that work well for you. If you use someone else's forms and they don't work, then change them. The beauty of the Eyfs is that it is not prescriptive, so you can change things around and make them right for your setting. So long as you are showing evidence of progression for each child, then Ofsted will see that. The rest is just a matter of getting it done... SEF, risk assessments, policies etc. Hope this helps
Guest Posted June 29, 2009 Posted June 29, 2009 Hi and a warm welcome to the forum from me too. Lots of good advice already, just to let you know I've moved this topic to the Childminders section of the forum. Peggy
Guest Posted June 29, 2009 Posted June 29, 2009 Hi sushila09 and welcome to the forum. I am a childminder and also very anti-paperwork. I have a daily activity sheet which I have uploaded for you on which I describe two or three of the most significant activities we have done each day. These can be a snack time or a school pick, school pick up, play acivity, etc. I describe it briefly, note the areas of learning it covers best and do a very short evaluation. I track each individual child's progress through the EYFS in their own document. It used to be a little book but I now use the new Worcestershire Early Years Profile which is basically a list of the stepping stones with a little box to write in for each one. I include some annotated photos in this. That is enough for me, the parents and Ofsted. Daily_Retrospective_Planning_Sheet_1_child_blank.docx I use very simple risk assessments for each type of activity or outing I do with the children. Eg a general one for shopping trips or a 'playing in the garden' one. Risk_assessment_blank.docx I have policies but you don't have to have any written ones as a childminder. I have the usual contracts and permission forms, etc and of course the dreaded SEF. That's about all I use. I hope this helps (?) Alison Hi Alison thanks for all the infor but a cant seem to open the details you send me. I will keep trying other wise i will get one of my kids to have a look at it for me. Thanks Sushila
HappyMaz Posted June 29, 2009 Posted June 29, 2009 (edited) Hi Alison thanks for all the infor but a cant seem to open the details you send me. She probably has a newer version of Word than you do. To save you having to wait, I've saved them to an older format... (hope that's ok Alison!) Maz Daily_Retrospective_Planning_Sheet_1_child_blank.doc Risk_assessment_blank.doc Edited June 29, 2009 by HappyMaz
Guest Posted July 3, 2009 Posted July 3, 2009 Hi sushila09 and welcome to the forum. I am a childminder and also very anti-paperwork. I have a daily activity sheet which I have uploaded for you on which I describe two or three of the most significant activities we have done each day. These can be a snack time or a school pick, school pick up, play acivity, etc. I describe it briefly, note the areas of learning it covers best and do a very short evaluation. I track each individual child's progress through the EYFS in their own document. It used to be a little book but I now use the new Worcestershire Early Years Profile which is basically a list of the stepping stones with a little box to write in for each one. I include some annotated photos in this. That is enough for me, the parents and Ofsted. Daily_Retrospective_Planning_Sheet_1_child_blank.docx I use very simple risk assessments for each type of activity or outing I do with the children. Eg a general one for shopping trips or a 'playing in the garden' one. Risk_assessment_blank.docx I have policies but you don't have to have any written ones as a childminder. I have the usual contracts and permission forms, etc and of course the dreaded SEF. That's about all I use. I hope this helps (?) Alison Hi Alison thanks for all the information and to everyone eles the responded all infor is great and i will now start work on it. Thanks again all Sushila
Upsy Daisy Posted July 3, 2009 Posted July 3, 2009 She probably has a newer version of Word than you do. To save you having to wait, I've saved them to an older format... (hope that's ok Alison!) Maz Thanks for doing that Maz. I'm sure I will start remembering to do it myself at some point!
Guest Posted July 9, 2009 Posted July 9, 2009 Hi Sushila, I am new to the forum too but I can tell you that you are not the only one overwhelmed by the tones of paperwork that we need to do, I suppose everything becomes easier with time. In order to keep track of the children's progresses I have place the six areas of learning on the wall and I take notes in a post it and place them under the six areas of learning, don't forget to put children's name and date. These information could be placed onto individual "wow books" with children's photos later on. As a childminder we don't need to have policies but they are important as you give information to parents about your setting and procedures to follow and therefore they cover you. I have mine and I will recommend to anyone to have them too. I hope that this helps. HELLO to everyone.
sunnyday Posted July 9, 2009 Posted July 9, 2009 Hi Sushila,I am new to the forum too but I can tell you that you are not the only one overwhelmed by the tones of paperwork that we need to do, I suppose everything becomes easier with time. In order to keep track of the children's progresses I have place the six areas of learning on the wall and I take notes in a post it and place them under the six areas of learning, don't forget to put children's name and date. These information could be placed onto individual "wow books" with children's photos later on. As a childminder we don't need to have policies but they are important as you give information to parents about your setting and procedures to follow and therefore they cover you. I have mine and I will recommend to anyone to have them too. I hope that this helps. HELLO to everyone. Just popped in to say...hi motherlove and welcome to the forum! Sunnyday
Upsy Daisy Posted July 9, 2009 Posted July 9, 2009 As a childminder we don't need to have policies but they are important as you give information to parents about your setting and procedures to follow and therefore they cover you. I have mine and I will recommend to anyone to have them too. Hi Motherlove and welcome to the forum. I completely agree with you that policies are a very good idea. They really help me to inform parents about the ethos of my setting and I would recommend them to other childminders. However, as they are not mandatory, I would suggest sorting out some sort of system for tracking the children's progress first.
Guest Posted August 24, 2009 Posted August 24, 2009 I am a childminder and i find it a lot of paper work and keeping a note of everthing,some times i find it difficulty to keep track of thing. Is this just me or is there other childminders in the same boat. Unless there is an easy way some one can show me. Sushila Hi I am totally with you 100% on the paperwork and I have no idea what I am doing half the time...now with the eyfs I am so lost and dont even get me talkin about observations!!!! help i shout everyday now lol and I have been doing this for 20 yrs...why now do they make it soo difficult?
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