Getting staff involved with planning and next steps

[Guest]

Hi all,

 

I am finding it really hard to get my staff to fill in the planning sheets each week on a day to day basis. At the moment they are asked to fill in what activity they have done, who with, where and weather it was child initiated or planned. Has anyone got a good system that they use to help their staff to complete plans and to put in place their children's next steps.

 

Any suggestions are most are most welcome,just want to get this planning sorted once and for all ?

[Mouseketeer]

Hi Lisiloo and welcome.....I doubt my staff would put anything on a planning sheet on a daily basis, they add what the next step for their focus keychild is for following week and how they plan to achieve it, we evaluate at the end of week if any changes/enhancements were made to planned activities, and evaluate whether the intentions were achieved.

[Panders]

I don't think planning ever gets really resolved it just evolves!

 

At the present time, we have a staff meeting on a Monday after children have left - no more than an hour and if I have my way much less. We bring to this any ideas, based on current interests and plot those into the weekly plan. Next we add in next steps we have identified ( these change as and when but definitely half termly) and if possible they are tacked onto current interests anyway.

 

During the week, we annotate this plan, which is A3 sized and stuck to the door with how activities have gone and adding more stuff on as we go to actually do to enhance any activities /interests. At the bottom of this sheet are two areas, one for current adult focus for the whole group and any ideas we use have or need to up date the SEF. It is very much a working document, doesn't look pretty but we all contribute and understand what is happening.

[Guest]

Thank u mouse63 and panders

 

I agree that a weekly meeting is the way to go,but some of my staff work till 6 and really don't want to stay on much after that! Do u pay your staff for the meeting? We currently have a planning meeting every half term to plan topics and the children's interests. I always plan this on my day so there is not any upset with staying on later. ( We are an all year round setting ). Do u think u would be able to send me some examples of your planning mouse and Pander? It would be most appreciated

[woodlands1997]

What we do is have a weekly plan set by myself which is just the generic eyfs phrases(not all of them obviously but a selection!) with how we will enhance continuous provision that week eg particular toys, role plays, books, songs, letters and sounds etc. this will come from children and adults from previous weeks. Each key worker then has their own what we call 'learning journeys' which are the key points and next steps they have identified for their children - they are responsible for implementing these and sharing with parents. We also do small group times where again they choose what to do with their individual groups and jot into main planning sheet (2 sheets of A4).

 

We have the same problem as you lisiloo, 8-6 and staff don't all work full time so would never be feasible to have a planning meeting each week although we do have a monthly meeting! A chance for a weekly meeting would be lovely as panders way sounds great but we just can't expect people to stay even later - 6 is late enough!!

[Panders]

Thank u mouse63 and panders

I agree that a weekly meeting is the way to go,but some of my staff work till 6 and really don't want to stay on much after that! Do u pay your staff for the meeting? We currently have a planning meeting every half term to plan topics and the children's interests. I always plan this on my day so there is not any upset with staying on later. ( We are an all year round setting ). Do u think u would be able to send me some examples of your planning mouse and Pander? It would be most appreciated

We are only open term time mornings. Yes I pay for time at planning. however some planning done off site with next steps which staff bring to meeting doesn't sound like it would really work for you to do it our way. Will pm you our format anyway, but later today

[Mouseketeer]

We don't have planning meetings as such anymore, the following weeks sheet is written up by Friday lunchtime, all staff are in over a Friday lunchtime so we just run through it then, make sure we have resources needed and pull a couple more things from the 'interest sheet ' to add to planning, staff meetings are usually held half termly which staff are paid for.

[Guest]

 

 

Thank u so much for your input,I just really want to get it right for the big "O". And to be honest with you we have always struggled with our planning. We like to see where the children take us and have fun getting there!!

[woodlands1997]

I think one of the main things with ofsted is being confident in what you're doing and why you're doing it! If you can justify it and everyone is happy and progressing then it'll be fine :-)

[hopeytg]

We have just adjusted our planning again, never been happy with what we were doing as it was always the same staff who wrote on the sheet. To ensure all children are included and all staff have an input I devised a form on which keypersons write a next step and the childs current interest for each of their keychildren. I then transfer that to an 'objective led planning sheet' . We will start using it next week, I know staff will moan about change but Ivan determined to find something that works for us.

[Guest]

I have the same problem! I'm in full day care so we work until 6.30pm in the evening plus we have two shifts which means half the staff leave at 4.00pm everyday. How do we get all the staff together to plan effectively! I feel like at the moment a lot more thought could be put into the planning to make it even more exciting for the children! Other full time day care...Help please? How do you do it?

[Guest]

We have just adjusted our planning again, never been happy with what we were doing as it was always the same staff who wrote on the sheet. To ensure all children are included and all staff have an input I devised a form on which keypersons write a next step and the childs current interest for each of their keychildren. I then transfer that to an 'objective led planning sheet' . We will start using it next week, I know staff will moan about change but Ivan determined to find something that works for us.

I truly understand where your coming from Please share your results when u can,would be most appreciated. Good luck

[Nimatel]

We have weekly planning meetings where staff plan activities to meet the what nexts of the observations from that week. These go onto the continuous planning with the child's initials highlighted in green. The adult led activities are informed by the children's gaps in their learning. So each half term the key person gives me two development matters statements that they are working on with each child, they divide these into ones that can be met in child initiated play and ones that need to be adult led initially. I then plan adult led activities based on these for the next half term, ensuring that all statements have an activity that could develop that skill at least once.

Hope this helps!

[lashes2508]

Our current planning is flexible , we tend to use a focus book as a starting point and children interests where possible , we then set continuos provision around this but next steps is really what Ofsted want to see as my recent experience has confirmed. We are implementing a large sheet to add idea set as this is an area that needs real focus and input by all.

[Guest]

Our current planning is flexible , we tend to use a focus book as a starting point and children interests where possible , we then set continuos provision around this but next steps is really what Ofsted want to see as my recent experience has confirmed. We are implementing a large sheet to add idea set as this is an area that needs real focus and input by all.

By the sounds of that lashes you've been ofsted recently? We are awaiting our inspection

[Sue R]

Hi Bubbles

I have been out of a setting for some time now, but most recently I was in full day care.

We used to ask for ideas or needs for their Key children from staff on a termly basis for the general MTP each term, however, each key person had a week in turn for which they planned specific activities for their key children with respect to 'next steps' or any particular need/concern.

These activities were usually open to all children, but run by that specific key person so they could make more informed obs of their children.

In practice this meant that between term time and all year round care both full time and term time children received specific tailored planning several times throughout the year, and there was always a freedom for extra activities to be planned as appropriate.

 

Any help? I agree, it can be very difficult in full day care to get full staff input!

[thumperrabbit]

We just seem to struggle to actually fit everything into the 3 hour session - planning it is fine and on paper can even look convincing on a good day, but getting everything done well that's another story!!!

how we ever managed to do anything when it was 2.5hrs I will never know

[Guest]

Thanks Sue R... That does help! Will try and see how it can work for us! I think ill have to go back to termly meetings after work hours to get the best results! It's so difficult fitting everything in and getting full staff input! Thanks again