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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not be on board with this whole Tapestry idea?!

52 replies

Cordy2015 · 04/10/2017 12:16

So DS (aged 2) isnt in nursery/preschool yet, big reason is because he doesnt have to be - i have my mum looking after him while im at work and shes a retired nursery nurse/preschool teacher.

However ALL of his little 2 y/o friend are and they've all got this tapestry thing... I'd never heard of it and my mum hadnt either, so we looked it up...

From the website i cant help but be horrified by the idea of this thing... a system where they continuously take photos of the children in their care and give weekly updates on the child and from the video this is instead of actually spending time for the child... i see the attraction, giving parents a visual incite into their childs life at childcare but photos are always staged, if you were really worried about your child the only way you could have piece of mind would be a nannycam type set up and even then that could be hacked into and god knows who could be watching your DC Sad

I think that the rule of thumb for little ones is 4 children to 1 carer, then i think if i had 4 children would i even have time to pick up my phone to take a quick snap? maybe ... one or two ... if they were all well behaved children... but how many well behaved groups of 4 children do you know? i know for a fact when our lot all get together its bedlam!

I would feel much better if I knew my child was being watched and entertained rather than occasionally spoken to then ignored for half an hour along with the other kids while photos and made up blurb was added to some website...

I know a lot of people wont agree with me because 99% of people i know seem to love the fact they get photos of their child when they cant be with them... but i dunno i just cant help but feel horrified at this new thing...

OP posts:
CathyMedici · 04/10/2017 13:08

It really depends on how the setting utilises it.

At my old preschool we had a few Hudls (is that how it's spelt?) shared between several rooms. The bloody things were never charged! Really fiddly to use. We'd have to delete dozens of blurry photos to get to the good ones. Very time consuming.

And frequently the photos were staged "Johnny - you know you achieved one of your Next Steps this morning? Well the baby room had the bloody Hudl so could you spontaneously do it again so we can capture it?"

We were also expected to upload during contact time or in our own time. Nursery/pre-school workers don't normally get paid non-contact time and have short lunch breaks. It really did take away from our time with the children.

I eventually left and, in new setting, we have an iPad each and some designated time out of the room to update the Learning Journeys. It works well.

ineedwine99 · 04/10/2017 13:09

I love it! We don't get weekly updates on it, just as and when, i love seeing what she's been up to and how happy she is.
None of our photos seem 'staged' and also they have a good number of staff in the room so the children aren't ignored while any photos are being taken.
Updates are done while it's quiet (nap time/lunch time)

ItchyKondera · 04/10/2017 13:10

My DS4 started reception this year and I think Tapestry is amazing! I wish he had had it at nursery - he had his day book where they recorded various progress against early years, and it had photos but we only got to see it a couple times a year.
It also makes homework at this stage easier, as we can video them practicing holding a pen, or counting, or sharing what they did at the weekend if it is an achievement so they can incorporate it at school.

It is just an online version of the record books, but much easier to use for us and the teachers.

corythatwas · 04/10/2017 13:11

My mother had 4 children and managed to look after us all, play with us, read and sing with us and take lots of photos - as well as running a household and cooking from scratch every day.

A snapshot on a mobile phone takes 2 seconds, maybe 10 seconds in total for getting your phone out. Assuming you do 5 per child per day: that's under 5 minutes a day- and you will still be talking and interacting with the child during those 5 minutes.

Uploading the pictures can be done after the children go home, and again it hardly takes any time to speak of.

I think Sashkin has a point here and your OP is really about how sad other parents are for using nursery.

takemetomars · 04/10/2017 13:12

Yep, goody OP

Talkietalk · 04/10/2017 13:14

Why horrified - does technology scare you?

zeeboo · 04/10/2017 13:16

Thank God you came out and said it @Sashkin
OP, you don’t use the app, or need to use the app, so basically, it’s none of your business, especially as you’ve proven that you aren’t quite bright enough to work out how it works and why it’s used.

MrsHathaway · 04/10/2017 13:16

Our school got it (or something v similar) when DC2 started in Reception. No adding required, just every time the teacher used the tablet to photograph or video something she took ten seconds to tag the children from a drop-down menu, then tag the EYFS area e.g. literacy.

In the modern EYFS teachers and nursery staff are having to do all these observations all the time anyway. If they can save pointless hours with postits and recalcitrant printers and pritt stick, then great. That it means parents can also see the learning journey develop in real time is just a bonus for me.

minipie · 04/10/2017 13:19

I have no issue with Tapestry and if it saves time over previous "learning journey" records then great.

Have to say though I wish less paperwork was required. I guess I can see why but it seems a shame that learning journeys take up so much time and energy. I trust my DC's pre school, she comes home happy and singing new songs, there are new paintings on the wall each week and fab activities on the tables at drop off. I don't need mounds of paperwork to show me they are doing a good job.

Whosthemummynow · 04/10/2017 13:19

Horrified, really??
GF

noblegiraffe · 04/10/2017 13:20

I'm sure that parents love seeing photos but I'm always dubious of anything where teachers are required to spend large amounts of time proving that they are doing their job instead of just getting on with doing their job.

RobotGoat · 04/10/2017 13:20

I love tapestry. Our nursery and primary both have it. They upload after the school day or on weekends (applause for the teachers spending their downtime doing it Smile) so I don't think it takes much time away from the kids. It only takes a minute to pick up a tablet and take a photo. Our pics always seem quite candid, normally when DC is playing without adults or absorbed in some kind of craft activity, so I don't worry about them missing out on supervision. The primary also takes pictures of DS's attempts at letters and numbers, so it's a good way for us to keep updated on what he's doing at school. Agree with a PP who said it's great for kids with speech delay. DS still doesn't really understand, "What did you do at school today?" but if we look on tapestry and talk to him about specifics then we can sometimes get him to engage in some sort of conversation!

strawberrypenguin · 04/10/2017 13:22

It’s the odd phot (that they’d be taking anyway and a quick comment at the end of the day. It’s really not taking them all day to do (and the photo’s/videos aren’t every day anyway.
I like it, just gives you a little update on what’s gone on.

Niloufes · 04/10/2017 13:29

We thought it was great. The worst thing about when they go to school is that you don't know what they have been up to, because they don't tell you. Tapestry was great because you got little pictures and videos every now and again. The report download when she left nursery was great to see how much she had grown and come along. I'd love a similar thing in school but with 1 teacher and 1 assistant to 25-30 kids it isn't going to happen.

kkkkaty123 · 04/10/2017 13:29

We loved it too. It didn't seem like it was a constant interruption to them either. I think we got 3 or 4 pics a week. I also liked that you could upload pics too.

Fuckoffee · 04/10/2017 13:30

OP you are massively overreacting. Horrified? Really? The last thing that horrified me was the shooting in Las Vegas.

For all those that are not horrified by Tapestry, did you know you can get a PDF download of all of the photos and observations? We asked for it done at the end of reception, it's such a great memory book.

Niloufes · 04/10/2017 13:31

@RobotGoat - oh that's great your primary has it too. Quite envious actually.

NoCryingInEngineering · 04/10/2017 13:31

I think you've missed the point so spectacularly its debatable if you and the point are in the same county. We get a Tapestry update every couple of weeks. Often its of a group activity, so I assume one adult leads the activity while another does some observations. Photos are snapshots 99% of the time and often blurry (if not of a construction or some artwork). We've had video of the wall before, but the audio was DS explaining a story to his key worker and was rather cute - someone had obviously hit record while trying not to interrupt the conversation. We sometimes add observations ourselves, particularly if we've been on holiday or had visitors, so nursery know the true story of when Grandad broke the car...

Basically it keeps information that the nursery would have recorded anyway in an easy to access format and allows some 21st century options like video.

Fwiw, nursery also keep a paper scrapbook for each of the kids. I can see use treasuring that in the future (they get handed over when the kids leave) but we only see it a couple of times a year because its harder to share regularly

Dontletthebastardsgrindyoudown · 04/10/2017 13:35

Tapestry is wonderful Smile

Me264 · 04/10/2017 13:36

Yep we have it and l love seeing the photos of DS. I’d agree with you if they were constant but we get 2 or 3 updates a month - hardly camera in their face the whole time. They write some lovely things about DS on there and it’s nice to have them as a memory.

Jackiebrambles · 04/10/2017 13:39

I've never heard of tapestry but it sounds good! They take photos at our nursery and print them out for their learning journals (and give us the spares to take home). I love looking at them. Sounds like this is just an electronic and easily-shareable version!

And lucky you having an available and nearby/helpful mum to look after your little one so you don't have to subject him to childcare Hmm

Original poster
Cordy2015 · 04/10/2017 13:44

Thank you kind people, some of you have put my mind at rest a bit and I think I need to speak to the preschool I have arranged DS to attend when he's 3, as I'm not how some of you seem to have deemed a monster that believes all parents who aren't as fortunate as me to have a mum around are awful, no I do believe nurserys and preschool serve a purpose, but I need to see how they utalize this technology, as I have seen from friends they get 50odd photos twice a week and a massively blurb before they even collect the child, to me this means the child isn't being given the care I would hope for. But 5 photos and a bit of text once a month I can understand. Although I wouldn't want the photos, I have never liked other people taking photos of my son (feel free to name me a monster for that too)

Easter Smile
OP posts:
JagerPlease · 04/10/2017 13:45

We don't have tapestry has DS is with a childminder but we have a whatsapp group with them as well as an online diary. I find the photos an as maxing way to see what DS is up to as he's too young to tell us. And when I care for DS I'm certainly capable of taking photos/videos to send to DW and vice versa without neglecting him!

Scoobygang7 · 04/10/2017 13:49

They are watched constantly all it is is a journal type application. I find it fantastic the comments from the staff often capture small things that possibly wouldn't be communicated normally.

@Evelynismyspyname you sign a document stating you under you're not to share any of the photos via social media. It's quite possible your friend my be breaking the rules

Scoobygang7 · 04/10/2017 13:53

@Cordy2015 I believe you can opt out of photos being taken of your child for it you can also opt out of them being included in group activity shots that would be seen by other parents on their own child's tapestry account. You get a good amount of paperwork to do with it read it carefully and it explains pretty well. No one else can see what is on your little ones account other than the staff and yourself and whoever you decide to share log in details with. You can add observations to it too, to communicate with the staff about things you do at home so it's a very much interactive journal if you choose for it to be.