Tracking Children Without Using Ticklists

[Rea]

Hello chellebee01 Welcome to the forum

 

Possibly dreamt it ???? I cant find anything about the pilot in London, but it could have been in an issue of practical pre-school last year

[Susan]

Hi Chellebee and welcome.

[Guest]

Hi Chellebee and welcome, a warm welcome to you Stevjudjrobson also.

 

I think we are all following this thread with interest, nothing to add just avidly reading the wise words and awaiting our next move...

[hali]

hello and welcome

[stedeford]

Hi Everyone

 

This is my first post to the forum. I am passionate about childcare and education and really want to do my best for them. I have been using my own record books for many years, adapting them as I went along. They contain photos and samples of work as well as development sheets, activities the children have chosen for each week, stories they have had and songs they are learning. they also record colours, shapes, numbers and letters they know. As well as this we have to fill in the Surrey Child Profile which we do directly from observations, photos, activity sheets and samples of work.

 

I spend most of the weekend filling in these two documents and planning for the week ahead. I love my record books but is the rest absolutly necessary?

 

When are we going to realise that we need to be providing fun and learning for the children instead of worrying what Ofsted are going to say and filling in booklets that are never looked at again.

[Marion]

Welcome to the forum

[Guest]

Hello and welcome to all the new members who have posted on this thread.

It would be good if we could come up with something that we all feel is easy to use and of value and show the powers that be that the people who need to be devising these schemes are those who are actually working with the children!!

I still can't get my scanner to work so can't post the booklet I mentioned. I am going to have to search out the instructions over the holidays and hopefully get it going.

Linda

[Susan]

Hi Sandra and welcome.

[Guest Wolfie]

Hi Sandra, welcome from me too!

[hali]

hello and welcome

[catma]

well, from an LA perspective (are we always the bad guys - please don't think that!!) we don't have our copies yet, we haven't seen them except online like everybody, we haven't had time to get EVERYONE in the EYs sector who has to work on this roll out and training together yet, WE haven't had any training on it yet and you're all expecting us to magically know the answers already!!!!

 

Although our LA has a tentative date to give out the copies and do an introduction to how it pulls all the stuff we already know together, even that may be scuppered by the delay in sending out of the packs. (The CD had problems according to our RA)

 

Our regional training dates are through the summer term andI'm going to one next week so if I get any nuggets of info I'll feed back

 

So - as for sorting out the tracking of progress yet................................

 

 

Cx

 

 

And hello to the new members too

 

 

[hali]

well i have my medium and short term plans ready to go for Sept plus new key carer folders and learning jouyrneys .... but i am still none the wiser about how to evidence what the children have learned and how to track it without it being a 'ticklist of all the goals' ... anyone got the answer yet?

[Guest Wolfie]

I'm still waiting too, Hali......

[HappyMaz]

Well Hali. Have I mentioned my most recent trip to Pen Green?

 

I was attending a seminar entitled "Documenting Children's Learning and Development thorugh the EYFS: Saying No to Assessment Tick Boxes".

 

Ruth Pimentel was the keynote speaker, but there was a lady from New Zealand speaking about Te Whariki and their focus on producing a portfolio of evidence made up of children's 'work' (how I hate using that word!). They make extensive use of learning stories which are essentially photographs which tell a story about how a child has learned something/done something significant/enjoyed an experience. The annotation of the photographs by the child's keyworker, marks made upon the portfolio by the children themselves, and the parent's perspective all go to show the learning that is taking place, and provide comprehensive documentation of the child's interests, themes and achievements. These folllow the child whenever they go to a new setting/join school etc.

 

There followed a range of speakers showing how they document children's learning and how they incorporate the child's voice into the documentation - but now that I think of it, I can't remember anyone saying "and this is what we do with this wonderful information from these portfolios". Perhaps that's for later? One lady showed us her electronic tracking system which enables practitioners to show a child's progress through the stepping stones - and gives access to the observational evidence which is embedded into the data. Looked powerful to me: there were boxes but the dates of observation and other evidence was put in the boxes rather than a tick to say the child had achieved the stepping stone or not.

 

This was all very gratifying for me personally since I put these kind of learning journeys into our children's 'special books' and my paper-based observation tracker works much like the electronic one we saw - although in our case the dates direct the reader to the observations rather than embedding the observations and photos into the same document.

 

I have yet to go through my vast amount of paperwork given out on Saturday - but if I come across any words of wisdom about tracking I'll let you know.

 

Maz

[Marion]

well i have my medium and short term plans ready to go for Sept plus new key carer folders and learning jouyrneys .... but i am still none the wiser about how to evidence what the children have learned and how to track it without it being a 'ticklist of all the goals' ... anyone got the answer yet?

 

 

 

 

I was at "Looking Closely at Assessment for Learning" conference yesterday run by Early Excellence with keynote speaker Jan Dubiel.

He said assessment isn't about statistics charts etc but about knowing your children. He said you only need to record what you are going to use and if you will remember don't write it down.

 

possibilities

Learning Stories

Leuven scale

EEL/BEEL

AcE

[Guest Wolfie]

I completely agree with him Marion - but what do we do when we know we're going to be ASKED for statistics, as Children's Centres are?

 

I was hoping that the "Progress from the Start" document, due to be published by the National Strategies team this month, would clarify and help with things but now it's been withdrawn and it's back to square one.

[SmileyPR]

I don't like the idea of making ticklists, but some others wanted and a document was made that didn't relate to the FSC. It was so difficult to see what was related to the SS or ELG we needed to work with.

 

I ended up just making something else, yet still against my wish of a ticklist. An idea had come up putting 3 dots that would be filled in as red = difficulty, yellow = working towards/progress, and green = secure.

 

Anyway, it was considered too long, so it was changed somehow... keeping all the SS and ELG but not coloured dots... ticking if the SS or ELG was achieved. Also, it was divided in another way as this one.

 

Please keep in mind that we are not a British school. I will share with you the document I made, although it is not of much use since it is based on the FSC and not the EYFS. You can let me know what you think.

 

(removed while being updated)

Edited May 23, 2009 by SmileyPR

[Guest]

We are using 'A child's personal pathway profile' from our early years advisors, so far its working brilliantly.

 

This is basically what we do

 

Short spontaneous observations

 

Children are observed by all staff members during both free play and focus activities (look to see who the focus children are for these activities).

Staff note down significant learning onto address labels, with the childs name, date and observation. which will be added to the childs development record by their key worker.

 

It is the responsibility of the observer to log each observation onto the overview sheets . and mark on the back of label the areas where you have placed the observation.The observation can be cross referenced to more than one learning area (if relevant). It is down to the observer to interpret the observation, log it and write the curriculum areas linked to on the back of the observation label. This should be done daily. During the Key worker assessment time, all labels can be put into their relevant areas and cross referenced etc, the key worker is then able to determine the next steps, which will be brought to planning.

 

This will enable us to see how balanced the curriculum is, what children's next steps are and how often the children are being observed.

 

When a child has been observed consistantly in a particular area their keyworker will put down an A for achieved, this particular area will then no longer require observing, if you have an observation for an area achieved, firstly see if you can cross reference it. If you cant then the observation can be destroyed.

 

Long Planned observations

 

Each key worker should plan to observe at least two children per week. This can be doing any activity in any area. Try to do the observations at different times during the day to give a bigger picture of the child's learning. The long observations are logged in the same way as short ones but also brought to planning meetings so their next steps can be discussed as a team and relevant planning put in place they are then used to update the child's development record and filed with their record. All long observations are shared with the parents and the child, next steps are agreed with the parents and the child and noted on the observation sheet.

 

Observed Interests

 

All staff should update the observed interests sheet (inside cupboard door) when interests are observed. An interest can be something the child is saying, an activity that they are engrossed in or a request for different resources made by the child. The interests sheets will be used during planning to help us plan relevant activities, plan next steps and will be the basis for our learning wall themes.

 

Continuous Provision

 

The continuous provision sheet will be updated weekly with a range of core resources aimed at children's particular interests (green) and resources to ensure a balanced curriculum (blue) If you observe a child during play and notice that a different resource would enhance their play this should be offered to the child then noted at the bottom of the continuos provision sheet, similary if a child requests a different resource that isnt out this should be offered to the child and noted in the same way.

 

sorry for the long ramble hope it makes sense to somebody

Edited June 26, 2008 by cupcake

[Guest]

Thanks SmileyPR and Cupcake for sending your ideas.

At our moderation visit this year it was discussed that our observations were not rigorus enough so it's good to hear how others are doing it. We had a great EY advisor who worked with us for ages on developing our setting and just when we get better at that and plan to focus on assessments/obs she goes and gets another job! So I'm relying on the forum to give me lots of ideas!

[Guest Wolfie]

Cupcake, that sounds like a fantastic system!

 

Whereabouts in the country are you?

Edited June 26, 2008 by Wolfie

[Guest]

Cupcake, that sounds like a fantastic system!

 

Whereabouts in the country are you?

 

Hi Wolfie,

 

I am in Somerset. Thanks for the compliment. I was discussing the planning today with the staff and we all agreed that the system is working really well and finally we all understand what we are doing and why. The children especially are really enthusiastic, especially with the weekly planning session we do with them, really does give them ownership of their learning. So a big thumbs up to the EYFS because finally 'we get the planning' side of things.

[Guest Wolfie]

I really think that you've explained the whole system so clearly and it's so easy to see how everything links together - I love it!

[lisatoll]

We are in Suffolk and have just been given the learning journey books. Inside are 3 pages on each section, of each inidvidual area of learning, of each development stage. The idea is that you highlight the stage at which the child is working in for example in PSED in self care, behaviour, etc. We have just finished our exisiting children in Nursery. It shows clearly which areas children are working in, When preschool records come up it will also show how much progress they make from entering preschool to the end of Nursery. However it is not able to show progress for any gifted and talented children or September born reception children who go off the scale. And whilst the EYFS say no tick boxes and no highlighting Suffolk see the need for a record of entry into and out of settings and a record of progress.

[SmileyPR]

I had been considering to add the pink points of the Foundation Stage Profile as additional steps at the end of each section. Then one could see who was working above expectations at the end of the Reception year.

[surfer]

Wolfie - it said on a posting on here that the Progress from the start had been shelved now?

 

There's a link to it from the home page.

[Guest Wolfie]

Yes, I know - I have to say I'm disappointed about that!

[Guest]

hello everyone in need of input, if we all pool together then we might get somewhere.

 

• we need to track children record
  
• we need parents to view observations?
  
• we need to show progression
  
• and set targets
  
• we also need to plan
  
• activities to suit abilities for children
  
• plan on childrens ideas
  
• obsevation plans and formats
  

 

 

this is without being with the children

 

 

 

desperatly need easy format please

[Guest]

I use individual child trackers.

 

If this suggestion has been repeated I apologise - anyway

 

Each child has a curriculum that is highlighted when they have achieved a 'stepping stone' - observation is required to support this.

 

At the end of each term the keyworker uses an individual tracker to write down where the children are.

 

This information is then transferred onto a setting tracker - showing what needs looking at for the following medium term planning.

 

As the trackers are completed every term, you can see the progress of EACH child, plan individually for them and identify any SEN.

 

 

 

Net x

[Guest Wolfie]

What does your tracker look like Net - is it the stepping stones?

[lisatoll]

hello everyone in need of input, if we all pool together then we might get somewhere.

 

• we need to track children record
  
• we need parents to view observations?
  
• we need to show progression
  
• and set targets
  
• we also need to plan
  
• activities to suit abilities for children
  
• plan on childrens ideas
  
• obsevation plans and formats
  

 

 

We have green school books. In these we track the children using a sheet on stage which is dated, we write all our observations in these to create our learning journeys, we will every term read all our observations decide what child needs to learn next and write in their new targets. Observations are on stickers or are written directly into green book as it happens, we often get children asking now can you write it in my green book or can you take a photo for my green book. This green book goes home to parents every half term where they can read observations, targets and add anything they wish. Parents comments are written on the same page as the targets.

 

Onto planning! Have have two nursery nurses and myself. the Nursery nurses have a book that passes between them where they will note any interests of the children in their key person group. Activities are changed during the week when children add additional resources or if children are not interested in an activity it will be changed for something else.(this is wrote on the plans) So Mondays plans are based on the interests on a friday with more resources added to cover all 6 areas. KEEPING UP SO FAR???!!!

 

Now for the naughty bit. We are a school and the Nursery and Reception use the profile scales to record achievement therefore in the back of the green books there is a list of all the profile scales. When we read the observations and see that a child has achieved a profile point we.......highlight it!!!

This information is then put onto target tracker our electronic system of tracking.

 

Also in our green books is a childs care information, statements for the four priciples of eyfs, and a letter of how to use the book.

 

SORRY so long winded, it is complex system but it works.