Melba Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 We have some really good new staff this year and everything seems to be feeling much more successful and cheerful (I'm well aware that could easily change though!) One of the last things that I am not sure about it sharing Next Steps with parents. We used to set them for a half term and put them on Tapestry for parents but then moved to being much more fluid about them so they change all the time. This seems to feel much better and more relevant to each child. However, it would be a huge job to keep telling parents of the changes. So does anyone have a lovely, easy, paperwork light way to do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 As they all happen at different rates and times, couldn't you just put a note in the child's home diary to say what's been achieved and what you have set for next? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Could you staff not just an a note if tapestry each time next step changes just short and sweet as in our aim this week is..... No links to EFYS just for inf? Zoe xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreveryoung Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 We do same some move on very quick, we put an observation on tapestry with title 'next step' then a little sentence to tell parent what it is and how to help at home. When next step is archived we do another observation 'next step achieved' and write again a little sentence. We currently have a paper version too that runs alongside this as not everyone is engaging with tapestry but the paper side of it will be gone by summer. This way it is logged in learning journey too x they will be no paper left by time I've done ha ha ha 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lashes2508 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Saw this yesterday at One planning conference , great for staff parents and children 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clare_Matthews Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Can i ask how often you do next steps and how many do you focus on at once ? Do you just pick one next step e.g sharing and focus on this until the child begins to progress in which case you would then begin to mark thr process with the relevant statements noting emerging, developing , secure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melba Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 We work on them all the time but tend to only have 3 or 4 current at a time and keep working on them until they are achieved. Then set new ones. Or set them as issues come up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clare_Matthews Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 That makes sense . I'm trying to find a way to simplify all the planning tying it into medium term plans which I'm finding tricky! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foreveryoung Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 we have 2 rolling ns for each child, each next step has roughly 2 or 3 activities planned that support the development of gaining the ns. staff have been made to come away from 'testing' activities and concentrate more on the development of the skills needed to accomplish the ns. i believe i am winning eventually YAY! these activities form our medium term plan. in addition to these we cover things such as Easter, Spring etc etc As the next step is achieved another is set, if any next steps last a term staff have to be able to justify why, it could be poor attendance, not planned effectively etc, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 We have Just a couple of next steps actively being planned for each week for each child. These usually stay on the planning for two weeks (sometimes change after a week if it's obvious they can do it). Each child has a paper copy of next steps saying what they are, area of learning , which dates we added them to the planning and a date achieved. At the end of two week period of concentrating on the next step staff will then say of achieved or whether it needs revisiting. Staff have the choice depending on what they think is most appropriate for the child to either continue with that next step on the next weeks plan or chose a new one and revisit the old one at a later stage. Each half term we review the list of next steps to see what still needs to be looked at. Sometimes over the half term the children have achieved it without it necessarily have been a focus on our planning. We would then Mark off as achieved at this review date based on our knowledge of the child. Each time we focus on a new next step on the planning for a child I put a brief note on Tapestry for the parents, so this tends to just be every two weeks so not such a big job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 We set three next steps for each child each month, these are then reviewed and updated sing our next step sheet. A copy of this is given to parents so they know what we are working on. Next steps review sheet.docx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green hippo Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Hi, griffclan5 - when you are describing your 2 next steps is that your objective led planning next steps for all the children or in addition to this? For those who set 3/4 next steps per child: what do you do with these next steps once they are on individual sheets so that they are at hand at anyone time? Do you focus on one at a time or do all as and when? In terms of enhancements, how do you decide whose next steps should be enhanced? I am in a school Nursery and the early years recently got 'Outstanding' so in theory I should be 'settled' in our systems but, of course, me being me, I still mull thing over! This year, instead of individual next steps for each child (30 children in every morning), I decided to gave a go at objective led planning. So we identify areas of need within the class (from observations and gaps) and choose 2 aspects per week to target children on in the child-initiated sessions. So last week, we had 'making marks to represent numerals' as one of the targets. So the children are split into 3 differentiated groups (sometimes 4) and given an appropriate next step based on their current attainment. On top of this, we have 3 focus children every week who have an additional next step which is just for them. We record the focus children's learning across the week (all obs and interactions) and give them a subsequent next step at the end of their week. These go in a jotter and then feed into the next medium term plan (of needs to be focused on over the next few weeks). I'm worrying that we should be 'doing' something else with these next steps so that we are continuing to work on them (which we are but not in the planning). We used to have a sheet with 2 next steps for each child - well 3 sheets. We all had a copy that went with us around the setting but these needed up-dating at different rates, so new sheets constantly had to be printed out. We feel the objective led planning is really working. It's much easier to know what to enhance with as I'm not looking at a sheet with lots of different targets and thinking "where do I start?" "who should we enhance for today?" so don't want to go back to lots of individual next steps but just wondering what to do with these individual next steps that come from the focus weeks? Thanks Green Hippo x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Hi Green Hippo, yes i do mean objective led planning next steps as well as any individual next steps that we think are needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 We set three next steps for each child each month, these are then reviewed and updated sing our next step sheet. A copy of this is given to parents so they know what we are working on. That's a lovely 'simple' sheet - thanks for sharing :1b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 That's a lovely 'simple' sheet - thanks for sharing :1b Simple is my middle name when it comes to paperwork!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafa Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Ooo I hate this subject! Next Steps - the bain of my life! Like you Green Hippo, I feel pretty confident that we have sussed it (though not to an outstanding level ) and then I read another thread like this and feel like sticking my head in the oven!! We too are working with objective led planning for instance - this week -Mark making for a purpose - using Mothers Day cards as the activity. All children have their own Individual Learning Plan with 1 or 2 possible lines of development (plods) in the seven areas of learning. This is referred to over the term by the keyperson who chooses a 'Child of the Day' (It was a week but we found with so many key children we were only 'working' with them maybe twice a term on their 'plods'. Soooo basically over the term the child will have opportunities to develop skills in all areas. Our difficulty often lays in recording! We are usually supporting NEXT STEPS on the hoof....... Green Hippo - you said your objectives are led into child initiated play. How do you ensure all children access it? We make it adult directed as otherwise it would probably only be the practitioners and the keen two year old 'playing'. whilst the 3 & 4 yr old are having their own fun elsewhere!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green hippo Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Hi Rafa, when I plan my objective led planning, I consider how I can promote the learning through enhancements within the environment, then we 'catch' the children within their play and develop their learning through this. Through the week we often think of other ideas from what we have already done with children that others might want to do - so then we would introduce this as an adult-initiated activity to encourage those that haven't been 'covered' yet to do so. Sometimes, I set up 'mini' starter activities, but I don't intend them to last the child-initiated session as we want to be interacting with other child-initiated play. Of course, if the children particularly enjoy the activity we will continue with it and extend it further. We also do focused activities in 3 groups at the end of our session but these cover different areas of learning to the OLPs. Sometimes, the OLP will last 2 weeks if we haven't got through them. Green Hippo x 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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