missmighty Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Hi all, We have changed our planning forms so many times and I finally thought we had it sussed. But... it is extremely time consuming, as in it takes an hour at least each week in our meeting to discuss the children, what we want to do, what they want to do and add everything on to the sheets then it takes up more of my time inputting it all on to the computer ready to print off monday mornings. All my staff moan about it and although its time consuming I have chose to continue to do it this way as I felt it worked. However, I did tell my staff I would look into it and share any suggestions with them in our meeting before we return to work on Monday morning. I have been ill this week and havent got around to doing it ready for Monday yet and still dont feel quite up to it. After reading through previous posts on planning it seems there are many different ways settings plan. Some on a daily basis and some on a weekly basis and surely it doesnt take everyone as many hours as me (I hope). If any of you have a planning proforma which you believe works for your staff and the children could you kindly share. Thank you :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Mine is very simple I have days of week going down left hand side of the page and along the top the 7 areas of learning. We note right at the top right hand corner what week number it is. Down the bottom left hand side I have any kind of adult focus we feel we need to input on the whole group I.e, independence in dressing skills. On the right hand side a place to note down any fundamental changes for the SEF. this is printed on A4 but I run it through the photocopier to enlarge it to twice that size. On a Monday we have a team meeting and discuss what has been happening what we will continue with or need to enhance. Followed by individuals planning and write that on with the child's initials. From Tuesday all staff fill in gaps on the plan with childrens interests as they happen, plus make small evaluation notes as to how planned activities went or didn't as the case may be! It is a working document all of the time until we return the following Monday to the new sheet. I spent many years typing up all kinds of plans - this has released me from all that drudge. Printed plans may look pretty but this way all staff definitely contribute, it's hand written but that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things as far as I'm concerned 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 My staff complete their own planning for individual children they write this down on a pre printed sheet which also has written on there learning styles, schemas, interests , area on which they are covering and what they are planning for that child the following week These are completed weekly I gather them on Friday complete continuous provision sheet takes about 1 hr as I also write out vocabulary we may be using that week along with a description of what we are doing and what our theme is for the week so parents can read what we are doing My deputy plans for the over arching theme for the week, this is discussed with the children on Wed. And again is ready for Friday We do not write down learning goals for what we are doing for the week only what the key people are doing for their individual children Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jones83 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I am also struggling with my planning, having been in Reception for 3 years now I feel like I shouldn't still be unclear but I am I have managed to get my medium term plan how I want it but it's the weekly planning that I am unsure about. does anyone have an example which they feel works well? I know it's whatever works for each teacher but I just am worrying about it too much, I don't know where to start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimms o'clock? Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 This is what I use. Each Key Person uses this for their key children. They start the week with ideas or thoughts about activities and resources brought forward from the previous week and input from parents about weekend interests. We developed this when the new EYFS first came in over a number of weeks when it was tweeked a fair bit. All my staff are happy with it now and new staff have picked it up very quickly. Don't know if it will help but I'm happy for anyone to try it and would love to get some feedback if you do give it a go. retrospective planning for forum.xlsx 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Looks pretty nifty to me Pimms! :1b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jones83 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 That looks good, so do you then go on to do an overiew of each area of learning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 That looks good, so do you then go on to do an overiew of each area of learning? why would you need to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmony1985 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Are we talking about planning for the room (as in anything you set out for use during free play) or for adult led activities? When we plan for the room, we have 5 sheets up on the glass. 2 sheets are things we have seen in the indoor and outdoor areas from the previous week, 2 sheets are things we have seen in the indoor and outdoor areas for the current week, and the last sheet is a table covering the 5 main areas in the room (Mark making, Maths, Creative, Role Play and Small World). We use the observations from the indoor and outdoor areas to then inform what we put out for the children and write it on the main planning sheet, which is only a table with the 5 areas down the side and the 5 days of the week across the top. It also has a smaller box below each one to mark on characteristics of effective learning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 That looks good, so do you then go on to do an overiew of each area of learning? No, you wouldn't need to. The beauty of this method is that you focus on the most significant next step/interest of the child at that time. Monitoring your observations/assessments will give you the information about curriculum coverage, so you could ensure that children access all seven areas through introducing specific activities or experiences. So, you only need one of these 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimms o'clock? Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) No you wouldn't need to. This sit along side our continuous provision which is planned to cover all areas of learning. As Helen has said observations and the assessment of these inform progress monitoring, and this format is very much about the child and what they are interested in right now. Has anyone thought about giving my template a go? I would really love to hear from you if you do, thanks. Just spotted 140 downloads, would love a little bit of feedback!!!! Edited February 25, 2014 by Pimms o'clock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green hippo Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Pimm's I like your planning - it is very clear and looks easy to use. We have something similar in that we have 2 next steps for each child running at the same time so support, enhance and provide further activities as appropriate and then once the child has achieved their next step we move onto the next one. Could I ask whether you always plan an enhancement and an activity for every next step for every child or just as appropriate i,e, if it is most appropriate for an adult to interact in certain situations and you didn't feel that extra resources or activities would help? Do you have a new next step each week for each child or change when the children achieve them? Does the key person ensure that the next steps cover different areas of learning and do you record this somewhere? Could I ask a more practical question (one which niggles at me from time-to-time)? - What do you actually do with your individual planning sheet? Do all the staff have a copy/do you display them/does just the key person have them? We have 3 sheets (1 for each key group) which we try to keep with us while we are interacting with the children but sometimes I wonder whether there is better way? (We all need a quick reminder from time to time.) Thanks for sharing Green Hippo x 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimms o'clock? Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Thanks for taking the time to give me some feedback Green Hippo, really appreciate this. Key persons also do observations which are analysed to keep a check on progress and also curriculum coverage so they will have this in mind when using the weekly planning form (they have half a day each week to do this in the nursery room so children can get involved through discussions about what is going in their learning journal and what they say they would like to do next). The planned activities encompass a range of strategies, as you said an adult interacting in a particular way, using our continuous provision as it is or by adding to or altering resources or a specific activity with specific resources. As its a 'rolling document' it may well be that the child sustains the same interest over a few weeks so the key person will vary or keep adding to what they have already provided. As for keeping the planning sheets 'active' they are kept in two folders 'last week' and 'this week'. 'Last week' will be used as a starting point for preparing for 'this week' along with conversations with parents at the beginning of the week. Key persons are free to leave them in the folder (display folder with clear pockets) and flip them over during the session or take them out so they keep them 'live'. Have I made sense, or is this a load of waffle???!!! <_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green hippo Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 You have made perfect sense, thanks. So each key person would write a new planning sheet for each week based on what has happened the week before? Thanks, Green Hippo x 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 We have sheet very similar , it caters for children's individual needs . Our sheets completed by the key person sits along side our cont. provision. There is no need to do room planning, each activity provided in your cont. provision is cross curricular I do not do medium terms plans feel they are a waste of time and paper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharonash Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 So do you put enhancements into the areas and they stay there all week or just for when the child is in? The activity again is that just done once on the day the child is in? Now this is going to sound very sad!!! Only we seem to have a massive problem with staff not setting out the activities and resources ) They seem to need a Monday to Friday sheet alongside their individual planning and continuos provision sheets to tell them what to do and when - am I being mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmighty Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Thank you everyone for your replies. Pimms o'clock thank you so much, your sheet looks very helpful. I am going to share with my staff team at our meeting Friday and fingers crossed this could be a new way of doing the planning for us. At least I will only have to concentrate on my own key childrens planning and not everyone elses 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmighty Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Ignore the last part of my previous post. I will obviously still have to check everybody elses but hopefully it wont be as time consuming as it is now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmighty Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 Pimms o'clock i discussed planning with my staff yesterday at our meeting and we are trying your way. They all seemed to like the idea and we have all completed it ready for next week. Fingers crossed, it works for us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimms o'clock? Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 I'll keep my fingers crossed that it works for you too. I'm so pleased if I can help you considering I was the only person willing to share ideas as your original post, I've just looked and 260 people have downloaded it!!!!! :huh: But I'm just glad one of them was you and you are going to give it a go, I would love to hear how your trial run goes :1b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jones83 Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Many thanks We have a HMI visit next week......argh! Hoping for sun and lots of outdoor fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Scottish73 Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 First post here for ages. Am new to Managers post and feel that planning didn't work.This is a great find, thanks Pimms, will be putting this to my staff tomorrow and see if they think this will work for us (fingers crossed, as my brain is fried). Will let you know how we get on. Thanks again for sharing. Scottish :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 First post here for ages. Am new to Managers post and feel that planning didn't work.This is a great find, thanks Pimms, will be putting this to my staff tomorrow and see if they think this will work for us (fingers crossed, as my brain is fried). Will let you know how we get on. Thanks again for sharing. Scottish :-) And is mine Scottish do let me know how it goes. I think I might put it to my staff too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimms o'clock? Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Great news and positive feedback so far, please, please keep me posted as I would love to hear how you all get on. :1b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 We are changing our planning and I have opted to share your planning sheet with my Manager and then hopefully to staff. I like its simplicity and workability. I have also opted to try a continuous provision sheet which has a combination of pre-planned adult led-activities for the week (based on individuals next steps), and then brief annotations/child initials from staff showing anything from the week that happens. Thank you and fingers crossed. Caroline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 I have attached the two documents I want to offer my manager and hopefully staff. I'd love some feedback. I have tweaked them from others ideas to suit our setting, THANK YOU to those who created these originally. Please let me know your thoughts/advice/recommended tweaks. Caroline CP_PLAN_KMSPS.doc KEY PERSON PLANNING.docx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Do you think your CP planning, if you're thinking of completing it weekly, might be too onerous a task? There are loads of boxes there to complete! Possibly making it fortnightly would give you and your staff more time to cover it all. Or have I misunderstood, and you'd only complete one or two boxes for each activity, eg sand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodlands1997 Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 I can't open the key person planning one? I'm with Helen, looks a lot of work!! Unless there aren't going to be links in all parts x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimms o'clock? Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Maybe use this as an 'alterations, amendment or enhancement of continuous provision' just to show changes made to 'normal or usual' resources provides and to show children being provided for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 We have sheet very similar , it caters for children's individual needs . Our sheets completed by the key person sits along side our cont. provision. There is no need to do room planning, each activity provided in your cont. provision is cross curricular I do not do medium terms plans feel they are a waste of time and paper Sure would you please try to share yr planning? Thats if you dnt mind!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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