maintained nursery class in a school - help if you are the same!

[Guest]

we have all done our progress summaries for our groups and it has taken me 6 hours to correct one seye's summaries, as not in sentences, chopping and changing topic in middle of sentence etc. and targets put with things already achieved and mentioned as having been in the summary. etc. other seye hand writes hers, and as errors in 3 of them head wanted them re-written. she was not too happy, but as she can barely use a computer i guess that's the only thing for it. do others have the same issues? it's so hard as first seye was the one really pushing to do them when i mentioned it last summer. beginning to regret doing them now!! but hard to stop when parents are now expecting them......... i already sit with each to do assessments as not confident, and i don't want to have to do same for progress summaries too........any suggestions welcome x

[Scarlettangel]

Sorry, what is a seye?

[Scarlettangel]

Oh is that senior early years educator?

[catma]

Are you the class teacher? I only ask because as per teachers pay and conditions records and assessments would ultimately be the class teachers responsibility so the time spent correcting might be better spent writing them anyway???!!.

No other suggestions other than basic English courses??

Cx

[Guest]

yes senior early years educator. 35 reports termly would be hard to do and key workers in other settings write their own. feeling drained with all the extra work as well as transition documents, open evening, sports day practise and general cleaning and sorting that comes at the end of term......... don't mean to sound harsh, just wondering if i am the only teacher who has these issues..... i used to do up to 39 when we had yearly reports.........

[catma]

I have to say all the class teachers I work with write all their annual reports etc regardless of numbers of children in their class - typically the nursery nurse in a 26 children per session class (i.e. 52 reports) will not have a contract beyond their hours to do this out of school time. Contractually the teacher is responsible for reporting to parents - teachers would be writing all their reports elsewhere in the school, so teachers in EYFS are no different I suppose. Do all the teachers in the school write termly reports too??

 

Cx

[Guest]

no only annual. and only 16 or 17 in each class. i happily did 39 annually. only work mornings. but 39 a term would be incredibly hard

Edited July 9, 2013 by sooty99

[catma]

Given that you don't have to do termly ones, could (as a solution) you only do them once a year or when the child leaves? Do you have termly parents meetings? Could these be verbal discussions and just share records etc??

Cx

[Scarlettangel]

I work in maintained nursery sessions and the private ones at a school.

I manage the private sessions and as such am an EYP, with a BA in early years, my NNEB training and I get paid as a level 4 TA.

 

I write reports!

 

Our learning journeys get split between the three staff- one teacher, myself and a level 3 NNEB

 

The teacher does all the morning children,

I do anyone who stays all day and my NNEB does the afternoon children.

I write reports for my all day children and my NNEBs children.

This means I write more termly summaries and reports than the teacher!

 

In days gone by when I was the NNEB to a teacher in the morning sessions and a teacher in the afternoon sessions I I was then paid as a level 3 and was not expected to write reports.

[Guest]

now we've started termly ones - this year - it'll be hard to go back to yearly ones.... staff wanted termly ones so we do them termly

[Stargrower]

Is the difficulty in writing the reports every term or the workload of making corrections... or both? I have to say that I do find standards of English a problem. About half my staff are fine, but some have real difficulty with tenses, spelling, sentences, punctuation, grammar etc. Some did a key skills course in literacy a while back but it made no difference at all. We use Tapestry and I approve the obs before they are added to Learning Journeys. Many obs are fine but with some staff, I go straight to the 'edit' button before I've even read the obs. I wonder if the requirement for GCSE in English and maths will make a difference? It is now something I look for when recruiting.

[Guest]

making the corrections is so time consuming. am going to carry on next year but have longer to correct them. only had 2 evenings and son came back from uni and i didn't have time to talk to him so think i got grumpy. but had no idea one staff member had such poor english skills and also despite saying children were hearing rhyme well still put it as a target - omg!! etc etc. not sure if lazy or has difficulties - will ask her to check before handing to me next time, and have a weekend and more to check. thanks beehive. it seems i am not alone.... x

[Guest]

You are not alone! My NNEB and TAs complete reports for their children (10-14, depending on time of year - less in the autumn term). They complete and print the reports first then give them to me; as they don't like to have to re-do them, they usually get them right - but there are always one or two that are returned! I guess if grammar and spelling skills are not in place there is nothing much we can do - except give it back to be re-done; but I don't do the editing!

 

I have to say all the class teachers I work with write all their annual reports etc regardless of numbers of children in their class - typically the nursery nurse in a 26 children per session class (i.e. 52 reports) will not have a contract beyond their hours to do this out of school time. Contractually the teacher is responsible for reporting to parents - teachers would be writing all their reports elsewhere in the school, so teachers in EYFS are no different I suppose. Do all the teachers in the school write termly reports too??

 

Cx

Teachers in the EYFS are VERY different! We should not be compared to the school classroom which has a very tight structure - everyone all together in one place at the same time and doing the same subject; furthermore the 30+ children attend all day, every day ... ... and full reports once per year! We could have 70+ children - attending different days/times. Should the class teacher write 70 reports every 3 months?!

It is about time this was addressed! In my LEA (Early Years) staff are expected to write the reports for their key children. The Head has accepted this, but does not agree with it - and maintains that staff 'are not expected to work outside of their contracted hours'. BUT there is no time to allocate during nursery session times, so staff do this in their own time. They are not happy with this, but I cannot wave a magic wand and say 'here you are - twenty minutes to work on your reports'! My staff have one morning per week (after phonics) to do whatever they think fit - observing, LJs, targets, etc - this is the only time available to do reports or transfer documents - but it is not enough time. We have nowhere to sit quietly without interruption - so trying to do reports is impossible at school. I, personally cannot concentrate with ANY distractions (including my husband!). If staff are expected to write reports they should be paid additional hours. As a teacher, I expect to do assessing and reporting in my own time, but NN and TAs should be paid extra. Why do those in 'power' not listen? :angry: The staff:child ratios are not high enough - we have a ratio of 1:8 (though it could be - and often is 1:13), but with 3 members of staff in the maintained nursery and 3 in the (separate) pre-school unit - what happens when you take out one member of staff (no supernumerary member of staff) - just 2 left, 1 for outdoor play and 1 for preparing snack, dealing with accidents, toileting accidents, phone calls, visitors etc, etc! Oh, don't forget work with EAL children, SEN and IEPs as well as booster groups like BLAST!

 

Sorry, I will get off my soap box! (Apologies too for any spelling or grammatical errors! )

x

Edited July 9, 2013 by Guest

[Scarlettangel]

Just a quick comment regarding termly summarys

 

I find them time consuming (and yes I do them at home!!) but two things strike me. . . . one is that following a survery with parents they wanted more formal feedback and more often than just the end of term report.

We thought the informal chats were great but they wanted things more formal . . . . .

Also it does actually state in the EYFS that regular reporting is needed to share goals etc with parents.

 

I like how they really firm up my thoughts about the children and enable me to set next steps or goals for the next term which I can share with parents and ask them to help with too. When we share the summary I can offer ways parents can help with these goals. They also have chance to agree or disagree with my assessment.

 

Our end of year reports tend to be quite light in comparison with a celebration of what children can do and no age ranges etc mentioned.

[Guest]

You are not alone! My NNEB and TAs complete reports for their children (10-14, depending on time of year - less in the autumn term). They complete and print the reports first then give them to me; as they don't like to have to re-do them, they usually get them right - but there are always one or two that are returned! I guess if grammar and spelling skills are not in place there is nothing much we can do - except give it back to be re-done; but I don't do the editing!

 

Teachers in the EYFS are VERY different! We should not be compared to the school classroom which has a very tight structure - everyone all together in one place at the same time and doing the same subject; furthermore the 30+ children attend all day, every day ... ... and full reports once per year! We could have 70+ children - attending different days/times. Should the class teacher write 70 reports every 3 months?!

It is about time this was addressed! In my LEA (Early Years) staff are expected to write the reports for their key children. The Head has accepted this, but does not agree with it - and maintains that staff 'are not expected to work outside of their contracted hours'. BUT there is no time to allocate during nursery session times, so staff do this in their own time. They are not happy with this, but I cannot wave a magic wand and say 'here you are - twenty minutes to work on your reports'! My staff have one morning per week (after phonics) to do whatever they think fit - observing, LJs, targets, etc - this is the only time available to do reports or transfer documents - but it is not enough time. We have nowhere to sit quietly without interruption - so trying to do reports is impossible at school. I, personally cannot concentrate with ANY distractions (including my husband!). If staff are expected to write reports they should be paid additional hours. As a teacher, I expect to do assessing and reporting in my own time, but NN and TAs should be paid extra. Why do those in 'power' not listen? :angry: The staff:child ratios are not high enough - we have a ratio of 1:8 (though it could be - and often is 1:13), but with 3 members of staff in the maintained nursery and 3 in the (separate) pre-school unit - what happens when you take out one member of staff (no supernumerary member of staff) - just 2 left, 1 for outdoor play and 1 for preparing snack, dealing with accidents, toileting accidents, phone calls, visitors etc, etc! Oh, don't forget work with EAL children, SEN and IEPs as well as booster groups like BLAST!

 

Sorry, I will get off my soap box! (Apologies too for any spelling or grammatical errors! )

x

thank you. you have made me feel so much better!! summaries handed out now and pupil progress meeting with head friday so assessments now accurately completed.

 

i agree with you scarlettangel. looking through new framework last summer i felt it would be a good idea so i asked staff how they felt and one very eager - the one with literacy problems! other not so keen but she's not keen on anything new and just wants to retire but can't afford to!! the younger NN has errors all over reports so every one would need altering. a lot. so not an option. i will continue with this next year as parents like being more involved and kept informed. but insist she reads them through carefully before i get them, and may sit with her to show common errors e.g. starting to talk about counting ability then mentioning shape in the same sentence!! and it's good for us all to 'sum up' where they are for ourselves, and think what interests we can use to move them on. took me ages to do my 13 but i felt it was time well spent. what took the time was making each one personal to the child, rather than copying and pasting a load of DM statements.

 

xxx

[hudsod03]

I write them all as nursery teacher as in a school maintained nursery it it expected I will do them

Reports go out three times a year so that's 52 times 3

Rather a lot so I start well in advance and some cut and paste does go on but always with as many personal comments as poss

[Madmum]

Our school nursery , prior to the current staff ( me and the teacher) used to just do a report on leaving to go to school. Parents wanted more and we felt that so did the EYFS and initially we did a half termly summary with a full report when they left. The workload from this proved to be huge so, in line with main school, we do a termly summary report and a full year end one when they move on. The teacher does all of this, so she has just written 28 full reports as well as 24 summary ones. I am not paid any non contact time although as an EYPS I would be happy to do my key children. It is a grey area whether as key worker I should do their reports which the Head is trying to clarify. At present, my contribution is to proof read them and the Head has allowed me to put my own personal comment on each full report under the teacher's final comment ( which I do as I proof read!).

[Melcatfish]

I am the class teacher in a school nursery. We send out a full report at the end of the school year. In the Autumn and Spring Terms we have parents consultation meetings where we look through their learning journeys and discuss progress plus any issues or concerns on either side. I make notes at these and write them up. We do have a key person system but for those children who I am not key person for I still do the meetings (and end of year reports) ultimately I am the class teacher and have the overall responsibility for all the children in my class. The key person role in our setting is predominantly to do with the relationships we have with our children and their families and an administrative one keeping LJs up to date. I do all the assessments (I discuss with the key person if it isn't me) We plan together.

 

Mel

x

[Madmum]

How do the key people who are not teachers with PPA manage their time to update the LJs? I am paid setting up and packing away time but nothing else, so have little or no opportunity to do them. I am allowed to bring them home but as I don't drive it would mean hauling a bag of books about!! I don't have a problem with any tasks such as LJs, reports or even parents' evening, but am starting to question how much i do unpaid! I do think the work load for the teacher with 52 children is massive, but the only answer we ever get is 'well, you don't have any marking!'.

[Melcatfish]

How do the key people who are not teachers with PPA manage their time to update the LJs? I am paid setting up and packing away time but nothing else, so have little or no opportunity to do them. I am allowed to bring them home but as I don't drive it would mean hauling a bag of books about!! I don't have a problem with any tasks such as LJs, reports or even parents' evening, but am starting to question how much i do unpaid! I do think the work load for the teacher with 52 children is massive, but the only answer we ever get is 'well, you don't have any marking!'.

 

To make time for Nursery Nurses to manage and update LJ's we make some time available either during set up or after the session but within their paid hours. When one Nursery Nurse is updating LJs myself and the other NN will do the set up \ pack away. Occasionally we release one of them for 20 mins or so in the session to catch up as she is not contracted for much time before or after sessions (she also works as an afternoon TA in school so has to have her lunch then go to year 1) Obviously this is not ideal as it takes an adult out of circulation but sometimes it is a case of "needs must!"

 

Mel

x

 

PS I take home work (as a teacher I expect to) but I don't expect my Nursery Nurses to do this and they don't generally end up taking work home. What they do however is spend many an evening trawling the internet and pinning stuff on pinterest as ideas to use at work!

[catma]

Isn't the heart of all this discussion the TP+C?

"62.6 In addition to the hours a teacher is required to be available for work under sub-paragraph 4 or 5, as the case may be, a teacher must work such reasonable additional hours as may be necessary to enable the effective discharge of the teacher’s professional duties, including, in particular planning and preparing courses and lessons; and assessing, monitoring, recording and reporting on the learning needs, progress and achievements of assigned pupils."

 

Cx

Edited July 12, 2013 by catma