bloody bloody eyfs

Mmmm! Those photos!!

I was trying to get some evidence of a toddler playing with the water tray the other day. Would have been really good for his folder - lots of learning and exploring going on.

It went something like this (I wonder if it will sound familiar to anyone else?):

D playing happily in water tray. Lifting sponges, squeezing them out, soaking them again with me chatting to him about what he was doing.

PHOTOS! I hadn't taken any yet! Ideal opportunity!

So I scrabbled about with my phone, found the camera... and D decided to wander off. Blast it!

Put phone back in my pocket and squeezed sponges again encouragingly. As I'd hoped, D changed his mind and toddled back again to play with the water.

Scrabbled for the camera: it took ages to load ready to take a photo. You guessed it: by the time I'd got it ready, D had wandered off again.

He did return repeatedly, but every time I pointed the camera in his direction, something else attracted his attention and he was off.

I never did get that photo, but I did get a pretty good mapping-style observation out of it

Obs in daily diary (short ones)
Photos to support
next steps noted as required (approximately once a week)

Longer observation if following up something in particular (ie learning delay)

That's what I do

Have you tried www.earlyyearsplanning.co.uk ? Its good for info on how to do planning, record keeping etc.

Also remember, they are probably going to change the EYFS next year, so don't go setting up complicated things, or buying expensive books as you may have to start all over again.

just been on a course on obs planning and lecturer says ofsted hate tick lists, she suggested keep obs simple and clear and for cms to do them at the end of daily diary sheets and link to planning.

so for instance today my 2 year old mindee climbed the steps of the slide for the first time. that was the obs.
planning was,

praise effots, take regulaly to the playground or soft play to allow her oppertunities to hone physical skills..

she says just keep it very simple and most cms and nurserys for that matter write far to much and so spend less time with the children.

she also said that no cm should be doing paperwork in her time off.. i swear.. if they are then they are doing too much writing and its not needed.

Hi I was wondering if someone would be able to help me with the tick sheet for the EYFS. I have not been given a full copy of the EYFS as they stopped printing it when I did my pre-registeration course and was only given photocopies of the booklets so do not have the cd-rom.

Many thanks Tracy

There are lots of sample observations on the Bromley CMA website :-)
www.bromleycma.org.uk/eyfs/personal.html

www.bromleycma.org.uk/eyfs/comms.html

www.bromleycma.org.uk/eyfs/problem.html

www.bromleycma.org.uk/eyfs/knowledge.ht ml

www.bromleycma.org.uk/eyfs/physical.html

www.bromleycma.org.uk/eyfs/creatived ev.html

I've just looked at my document, and there is a small space for comments under each section.

I agree with Ayla re. only using ticklists. However, if they're used in conjuction with photos and short observation notes, they can be really useful.

I'll send e-mails tonight to the people who asked for them.

Let me know if you think they would be useful, and I will offer them to my dd's childminder. She's so wonderful, and I don't want her to think I'm interfering.

I've only used them in a nursery setting, so I'd be interested in your feedback

Then I might not do one for a few weeks - it is all child led

I do 'about' one a week - but sometimes I do 3 in a day - they really don't take long

Ayla - exactly how I do it - it isn't hard, it's just getting used to remembering

Just a word of warning if using ticklists - I've heard a lot of negative comments about them, ALLEGEDLY Ofsted don't like them. But there's nothing in EYFS that specifies what form your records should take, so I personally don't think there's anything wrong with ticklists as long just as they are not your only form of record-keeping. I recommend supporting any ticklists you use with lots of photos and some short sentences explaining what the child is doing. I'm thinking a list of ticks probably isn't considered evidence from Ofsted's pov, (in the same way a tick-list risk assessment is no use to Ofsted without adding comments & dates changes have been made etc), whereas photos and written comments, however short, about what the child is doing are clear evidence.

I've found the easiest way to record obs is to look at what I would have written for my old daily diary - G fastened her coat zip all by herself today :-)

Just need to add - PSE - Self Care

And ta-da, you then have a simple observation with a link to EYFS. You don't need pages of noting down every word and action you see, like you have to do for assignments in various courses.

Also recommended is to note "next steps", which for above example could be:

• to continue to encourage G to dress independently
• to enable G to practice with a range of fastenings by providing (list your resources eg, dressing up doll, shoe lace tying toys etc)

Bromley CMA have some useful booklets - one for observations (where you put the date, what you saw, how it links to EYFS and next steps) and a planning book where you can write down the activities you've offered and where you got the idea from (ie link back to your previous obs).

HTH

QED is the name of publishers that do amongst other things, Early Years stuff.

Tracker books are books with tick lists in them that help childcare providers keep a list of the child's developments. QED does lots of other stuff too.

If you do an online search you should find it. I would give you a link but I don't know how to do that yet!

Tracker books can be useful but they are not the be all and end all. I have had mine for yonks and have yet to use it!

They are NOT essential and you would not be underperforming in any way or doing any disservice to your kids if you did not use them.

What are QED and Tracker books????

I am newly registered and whilst I feel pretty OK with my policies and risk assessments I am REALLY struggling with planning and observations - I need all the help I can get.

Pink,

Please could I have a copy as well. tanya at tanyastots dot co dot uk

Many Thanks in advance

got it chick, will resend you these ones tonight with the rest once ive scanned them as little hampster in computer is shatterd sending all those docs at once LOL

Hi Pink Ive answered other thread

Hi girls, just scanning!

Number4, im in Cleveland(NE England)

could i have a copy too please!
keri dot bradley at tiscali dot co uk
ta

Lovely idea to keep tick list for Ofsted, Littlefish.
Might use that idea too. Thanks

If you can't find one, I've got one that I made for my previous job (Full day care nursery).

It's got all the statements from 0-5 with space for each one to be ticked 3 times. No room for comments however, as we used to keep a learning journey book for each child where the evidence was kept. The tick sheet was just that. Somewhere to record coverage and attainment. The children took their learning journeys when they left, but we kept the tick sheet as evidence for Ofsted.