AIBU to be pissed off at child's nursery?

[Ka2017]

I received my 2 and a half year olds report this week and was surprised by what I received.
I am very familiar with the EYFS working in a nursery within a school.
They have used 'emerging' 'developing' and 'secure' for each area. My son is very good physically and as expected got secure in the relevant age bands for the areas in physical development. However I was surprised to see that in all the other areas he is has been marked down as developing even in age bands as young as birth-11 months. He is in no way at this level, I am under no illusion that he is gifted and talented but he is where he should be for his age. When I questioned this with his key worker and then the manager I was told that unless they see children doing something 3 times they cannot mark them as secure in an area. They then said that my son is where he should be and they haven't got any concerns, they just haven't got the evidence.
AIBU to feel that more of an effort should be made (set up adult initiated activities) to gauge a proper understanding of his development?
AIBU to believe that this report is a bit half arsed and pointless?
It is a real injustice to my son and my argument is, how can I see areas he may be struggling in and see where I can support him if he is marked down as developing in birth- 11 months in all areas bar physical development (Where they have lots of evidence and observations).
To me if a child in my care was developing in these areas at an age band much lower, I would first make sure that I am enabling scenarios where I can see if they need extra support. I made the point that the report reflects a child that is SEN or one that refuses to join in with anything but they then talked about the evidence again and that they know he isn't at that level.
I am fully aware of time constraints and pressures in environments like this, particularly working in one, but I would never give someone such an unfair and inaccurate report. If eveidence was missing I would take time out to make sure i have it.
How can I and future key workers see where my son needs extra support?

He has been at the nursery 8 months doing 1 and a half days. Also the nursery is an outstanding setting.

Insancere...I very much doubt that day nurseries are full of teachers, providing all the childcare. I'm guessing each nursery may like to hire a couple of early years teachers, perhaps for the rooms that provide childcare for children that are very much preschool, ie age 3-4. The majority of workers in day nurseries are just that, nursery workers. Very good ones at that. They do a fantastic job, looking after children. Im talking about those that are required to have nvq 2 or 3 in childcare and are probably paid minimum wage, not teachers. I doubt those sort of staff are writing reports for social workers, if they are, I'd be worried. I think we have all presumed the person who wrote the ops report is a a nursery worker, not a teacher. My children were at Day nursery for a few years so I know how it works. There won't be a teacher in the baby room for example. If my nursery had given me a report of my two and a half year old child, I wouldn't have known whether to take them seriously or not. Honestly, there really is no need, unless the parent wants you to provide that service. I was paying for childcare, not for someone to write a report on my child. Childminders don't do reports?!

Childminders do reports!
And yes people with just an nvq will be writing reports for social services and yes teachers to work in baby rooms
You seem to know how nurseries are staffed because you have used one once

My DD is only 3 months into an apprenticeship at a nursery and she is already learning how to perform and write up baseline assessments.

Insancere, I used a nursery for six years, not once. I also used a childminder for another seven years and nope never had a report off her, never wanted a report off her either, because guess what, she was a childminder. She told me what a fantastic day they had, how well behaved they were etc etc. She provided a fantastic service. So I think I am qualified to say what I like about nurseries / childminders etc. I've just googled the qualities required for nursery workers and I was correct, nvq2 or 3, or btEC. I also googled teachers in nurseries and discovered that there is no legal requirement for an early years teacher in independent Day nurseries. If you are one, great. I think it's clear from my posts though that when talking about nursery workers, I meant those that require an nvq2 or 3. If teachers do work in baby rooms, how ridiculous is that!!! Does a 12 week old baby need a teacher, no!!! I suspect if they are in there, it's to make up the numbers etc, as if independent Day nurseries employ teachers, that will put the costs up significantly.

Plus insancere, if my nursery had to write a report for social services, I can 100 percent say that such an important document would be completed by the Nursery Manager using Head if Room's notes.

Tabby
Oh, you've googled?
I stand corrected, I've only worked in early years for 20 years. No match, obviously, to your googling skills

I work in a preschool with children from 2 1/2 to school age, have an NVQ level 3 (I do have a degree, but in another subject) and do observations, write learning journals and write reports. As a 1-1 worker I also write reports for and work with outside professionals. I agree with the op, that there is no point in doing these things unless they are done properly.

Have skim read some of this but just to say my son went to two settings, one of them initially only for one morning a week, and neither of them did this!

Would I be correct in thinking that standards/expectations have gone up over the years, so if any posters had their children in childcare say 15 years ago their experiences might not reflect current standards?

I'd rather they spent time looking after the kids rather than doing endless paperwork. Obviously concerns should be raised but I think all the paper work is ridiculous

Insancere... enlighten me then...what further quals does a nursery worker need? I'm talking about a big standard nursery worker here don't forget, not a teacher!!!

Bog standard, not big

Teentimestwo....I don't doubt they do things slightly differently now, but I cannot believe nurseries are full of highly paid teachers. Babies do not need teachers. And if they do write reports, it's up to the parents how much significance they put on it. Personally, I would be slightly bemused if presented with a report for my baby! Having paid more on childcare than I have on my mortgage, I can say what I would want out of childcare.... excellent care, feeding, entertainment, fun, and a safe environment. Not a report as if they were in school.

They aren't full of teachers.
But the reports thing:

• Is it not important that the nursery are checking the development of the children in their care (and thus planning activities to bring them on)?
• Is it not important that the nursery are aware if a child gets clearly behind normal expectations for their age (so it can be flagged up to parents and other professionals as needed)
• So if the nursery are doing this checking and baselining, presumably it's not so much effort to report back to the parents?

I can see it doesn't make much sense if the child is only in for a short time per week, but if there 3 or more days a week then it is quite possible the parents aren't also doing baby/playgroups at other times and they might be unaware if their child is not developing as well as they should?

These are genuine questions, I never used a childcare nursery, but as DD is now working in one, I have more interest.

It is also interesting that the one thing you didn't list in your wants from childcare was activities to help development? I don't think entertainment and fun are quite the same. e.g. You could have that but accidentally miss out development of gross motor skills.

Tabby, have a read of this www.foundationyears.org.uk/eyfs-statutory-framework/ which gives an outline of the qualifications required in early years settings and the requirements and expectations placed on those settings in assessing a child's progress and development and sharing this with parents.

I had a report like this, one in a series of mistakes and problems from his nursery, I had already made the decision to move him. My issue was not the report as such, I know his development is fine - but that they clearly weren't doing anything interesting with him, or they would have more evidence. They clearly didn't even talk to him much or they would have marked his speech as age appropriate. (And he had been at the nursery 18months so should have been well known to them) I got his file and there was not a single photo or picture he had drawn or anything from the last 6 months, and only a few comments. As I thought, they just hadn't been going a good job.

Tabby nursery workers do not spend their days changing nappies. There is so much more to the EYFS than you realise and nursery workers are required to take on a whole host of responsibilities that you obviously aren’t aware of. Please do not dismiss their views as irrelevant. Thanks to our local preschool, a child with a speech impediment has received a huge amount of support and can now start school on a par with his peers. They ensure that pretty much every child leaves their care being able to at the very least write their name and count to ten. They are much more than glorified babysitters.

Teentimestwo.....I can assure you, my child did not miss out on development. She is now an a* student doing GCSEs!!! Apologies if I didn't quote development in my list....you can't list everything.....and anyway, I wasn't necessarily looking for development in a nursery setting to be honest, I was looking for childcare. I could develop my child myself.

Tabby - at several nurseries I know they do a parents evening once a year where they talk through the child’s development and present the folder that captures what the child had achieved within the recommended framework. Any delays can picked up because of it. Having said that, they do have to witness things a certain number of times so sometimes it’s not perfect as in a child may be chatty at home but less so in a nursery setting, but the parents evening is a chance to talk through that. Some parents wouldn’t know what constitutes ahead and behind of recommended levels because maybe it’s their first child, or maybe they didn’t notice particularly without knowing what standard levels are. Whereas nursery staff do know because they see a lot of other children for comparison and also because of the government standards guidelines they are trained to measure against.

Also tabby - if your child is presumably 16 now and doing gcse’s, things have moved on a lot in the last few years and particularly since your child was at nursery presumably 12 years ago.

Tabby your knowledge of nurseries is out of date

Midge....in the ops case, this " list of responsibilities"and box ticking, has caused a whole lot of upset that wasn't needed. His mum is a teacher, I'm sure if he had any speech impediment or any other difficulties, she would have spotted it!!! Or any Mum, for that matter. Honestly, all this checking and reporting, they sound like the police. My nursery did all this observing etc 15 years ago (we didn't get a report, we got a lovely collage of them when they left, with pictures of their milestones in nursery), but they got her age wrong. They had great pleasure in telling me they had made a mistake as they thought she was off to reception in the September, and actually she had another year to go!!! Look, I'm not against nurseries following the rules of EyFs, but do it with some common sense. All babies develop at a different rate. In the ops case, he was reported as virtually Sen, just because they hadn't observed him do something, when he goes there one day a week, so it's not foolproof.

Insancere, no it's not. You haven't been able to tell me anything different.

Onemoretune...I have several children. I am not out of date ta.

I'm sure if he had any speech impediment or any other difficulties, she would have spotted it!!! Or any Mum, for that matter.

This is not always the case. You only have to look at threads here, where someone posts, about a late talking/walking/sitting child, or a child who doesn't play with other children or who lashes out, and half a dozen posters say, 'well my uncle's cousin's friend didn't talk/walk/sit until 24, and they are absolutely fine' .....or.....'oh all children do this'. Sometimes it is very hard for a parent to see their child's difficulties, or even if they can see they doubt themselves or don't know how to ask for help. Good early years settings should help families support their children in partnership, it's not about policing and checking, it's about working together.