Helen

I think I'd start by taking each area of your setting in turn, talking to the staff about the equipment and resources there, making sure they are easily accessible to the children, and talking through at staff meetings and in-house training all the typical sorts of learning that can occur in each of those areas, and how practitioners can support child-initiated play. Tackle a little bit at a time Have you looked in the resource library under continuous provision? There are some wonderful resources that members have donated that describe what sort of learning goes on during continuous provision, as opposed to focus activities.

How did it go pw?

Thanks for the link, Cait. The more exposure this type of research has, the better. Issues such as this have to be talked about in the public domain, frequently, so that campaigns like the one that Jacquie has linked to have weight.

No problem; let us know how it goes and if we can make any further suggestions.

Hello Stepz,

I would start with a brief overview of KEEP, stating how it is important for self-evaluation of your practice. I'd go on to talk about how it fits with recent research, eg EPPE and REPEY projects, and elements of the EYFS. I'd then talk about my practice in working with parents and the wider community, relate it to KEEP and the EYFS; it's important here to not just describe your practice, but state what impact it has on the outcomes for children. Finally, I'd talk about areas for improvement that I have identified.You'll find some useful information on the PEAL website. Hope this gives you a start

As for the independence piece, I'd pick out all the bits in the EYFS that talk about promoting independence, and how you do it in your childminding setting. Again, don't forget to say why you do what you do, and talk about the impact your practice has.

Have you seen the interview questions in the library here ?

They might give you a starting point.

Thank you so much everyone Just got back from a meal out with the other 3. Far too full to eat my birthday chocolates now

The standards you could provide evidence for, I would suggest, are:

1, 2, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13 (possibly) 15, 19, 25, 26, 32, 34, 35 (possibly) and 38! And that's on my first read-through!

I agree with HappyMaz in that you need to establish the current practice before you can start to think about bringing something new to the setting and staff. Good luck; I'm sure you'll have lovely time with the babies

Great answers so far. I think you could include:

* How staff are clear about what their duties are

* Risk assessments and safety checks

* how you use the environment to its best advantage, maybe through free-flow play, using all the rooms and outside areas?

Have you come across the ECERS audit? You can find out about it here

Don't worry Jeanine. I'm happy to put them in the resource library. Many thanks for these; they're great!

I'm taking that as a compliment.

All part of the service

Is this report of any use?

The staff are using a large blue A4 book in which they stick labels of observations, photos, comments, quotes of what the child has said, also there is a set of the EYFS goals in the front, and they highlight these as they are done. This is what we call a profile.

 

Is this not correct? Should they be doing a learning journey instead? Gosh they would thank me mightily if that is correct!

Well that sounds like a learning journey to me! However, the Early Learning Goals are expectations for children at the end of reception, so should not be used as a direct aim in pre-school settings. There is a lot more that goes on before they get there, and that's what the development matters statements are all about. Many settings now are highlighting those statements (but not as a ticksheet!) when they believe a child "best fits" with that age-band. These are often called Progress Trackers. Is that what you're doing Sunnyday?

Oooh, didn't answer any of your questions....sorry!

We haven't tried out learning journeys on our parents yet, too many other changes going on, too much paperwork for staff to do already. Are we going to get slated for this? Are we missing something vital?

You must have some sort of record of the child's time at your setting. The most popular and efficient way of recording their activities and experience is through the learning journal/learning journey. This would have photos, pictures, observations,etc stuck in, as you go along (ie your idea of a working document).

Is there any reason why profiles could not do both these jobs? I appreciate that some parents might 'lose' them if they were allowed to take them away from the setting, but couldn't we ask instead that they spend a few minutes in the morning writing some comments in the profile? What use does the profile have beyond a cute memento for parents when the child leaves the setting? Why doesn't it go on instead to the Reception teacher as a way of seeing what the children can do when they start at school?

I think they should do both jobs (but not the EYFS profile....a different sort of summative system that fits well with your setting's structure). The parents should be encouraged to contribute to the LJ, but not on a daily basis. So, they wouldn't be disappearing out of your setting and regularly getting lost. Of course, they could add to them in the setting, but I think it's valuable for the child to share the book with other family members, eg Grandma! I think it has far more value that just a cute reminder of their time in nursery, especially if the comments/observations are sufficiently detailed. They can clearly show the child's progression right through the EYFS. It's the quality of the observations that is key here! The reason they don't usually go onto school is simply because there is SO much information in each one, the poor teacher would not be able to read 30, ready for his/her new intake. A summative document is much more practical for the setting to complete when the child leaves for school.

I appreciate your view that practitioners are paid poorly in general and that we need to find a workable system that is not too onerous but does what it says on the tin! Keeping one main record for each child, is, I believe, the only way to do it, and the only way it worked in my setting

MMMm I think you're getting in a muddle SuzieC8!

The EYFS profile, as Hali says, should only be completed at the end of the reception year, ie by reception class teachers, and not used as a working document for pre-school settings.

When you talk about profiles, do you have a different sort of summative document in mind?

You're very welcome. It got to the stage when I didn't know when to stop....got quite addictive....but I'm glad it's over now!

I think they could (and should!) all go in the same place. You will need to rephrase the types of observation you mention "Found it difficult to share the train track today" into something like "Freddy is learning to share the train track and we are helping him by...........We are going to give him lots of opportunities to practise sharing". Whenever you write an observation, the purpose of it is to do something with it, so just writing a sensitive sentence (ie ones that you think the parents will be saddened by) is not really enough in any case. You need to consider what it is you and your staff are going to do. I don't think I'm explaining this very well!

I would really recommend that you try and put everything together in one place. I think it'll save you loads of time!

Hi Darlinbud,

I took it upon myself to read over a hundred Ofsted reports, from November through to last week, and put together four articles using the recommendations and statements from those reports. The first two are up on the site in the members' articles sections, or you can click through to the first one here, looking at the Unique Child, and the second one here looking at Positive Relationships. The next two should be up here shortly; hope they help

How do you mean "for their own use"? Do they put these observations somewhere else...in a summative assessment format maybe?

What's in your observation folder now?

I think the two can be very successfully combined without having to rewrite stuff. Can the observations simply be stuck into the children's portfolios along with pictures, photos, etc.?

Thanks so much for making that post! It's inspiring when we hear that things have WORKED! Great news, and thanks for keeping us up to date with your changes.

Thanks for that belle. All information about Ofsted is welcome!

The first article about the last three months of Ofsted reports is available here

Funny you should ask about Ofsted's hot topics.........I'm just completing a new set of articles on what Ofsted have focused on during the last three months. The first one should be up on the site shortly......

Would emailing each other work? At least you could do this from your home environment and not have to organise too many after hours meetings.