What would you think about nursery doing this?

[CarrotCorn]

So ds is 3, his nursery print pictures off and put them in a book with the date and a note about what they've been up to, then send this home with parents at the end/beginning of each term.

Small bit of background ds has been struggling with the social aspect of nursery, as far as I'm aware he spends 99% of the time holding a adults hand and has had 2 days in the last term where he's played with another child.

So I've just received his book and was confused but pleasantly surprised to see quite a few days of him running about without an adult, and playing with another child. However after looking closer these pictures are all from the same "good" day and I remember them telling me about it. Here's an example, with fake dates:

1.1.23 Bob was brave today and enjoyed running around the playground. Picture of running

3.1.23 Bob joined in playing ring around the roses and help hands with another child today picture

4.1.23 Bob joined in at dance time today, well done! Picture

But all three pictures are from the same day, also I remember this day as it was so great that he had ran around the playground, held a hand and danced. This happens three times in his book. Aibu to be bothered by this? I feel like it paints a picture of a completely different child.

I teach childcare in further education and used to be an Early Years Teacher for many years, I would say you are not being unreasonable.

The learning journals are filled out by the nursery staff to measure your childs progress over time. This progress should be logged in order for both the setting and yourself to have a clear view of your child's development and when they have achieved their milestones. These journals are also looked at as part of the ofsted inspection.

I wouldn't say it's a major red flag however I would make a point of raising it with the manager to say that you are aware that the dates are incorrect. It could be an honest mistake by the staff...if they have written up the activities after they happened they may not remember the specific date. If you point it out now they will more than likely not do it again moving forward.

@CarrotCorn I'm sure his nursery will tell the reception-teachers "Bob" has very good moments but is still in the process of finding his feet? It's not only the pictures, each child carries a backpack after all. And he's only 3, I'm sure they'll be working with him encouraging his social behaviour?

I wouldn't mind. I always feel quite sorry for them having to do this stuff, it feels so unnecessary and box ticking. But I can also appreciate why you might feel frustrated by it, especially when your little boy's having a harder time settling.

So there's a real non-answer for you 🤦

They get paid absolute pennies for looking after and nurturing your child, so I think you just have to let these things slide.

It was probably a genuine mistake rather than deliberate. Most of my children’s (absolutely amazing) nursery workers have been 19 year old girls.

The most valuable report is what you’ll get chatting with their key worker at pick up. If you feel you are getting a clear picture from these chats, then focus on that.

All the other stuff - sticking in books etc - is probably done by a completely different worker and only done as an ofsted tick box type thing. It’s a shame they don’t use Tapestry which is great (photos uploaded to app each week).

I think most reception teachers will
talk to nurseries over the phone about each child rather than rely on a book, so don’t worry about that.

@babyunderblanket is correct.
I have to say though that it has been an eye opener doing supply work in nurseries.
Sorry to say but very often one of the staff will feedback to a parent with 'Yes, Noah has been great today ' when in reality, he has knocked about a few kids and taken up most of the other keyworkers time. Or they will say that a child has been generally quite settled when said child has been screaming for most of the day.
If it were me, I would just say to the nursery that you want to hear the good and the bad and for them to not be anxious to tell you this.

My interpretation would be that Bob did do those things on the dates stated. However they used representative pictures taken on other days as they don’t photograph everything. I doubt that they treat it like a police file of evidence. I guess I might ask politely- “I see that those pics are all from the same day, did he do those things more than once then?” but to be honest if they were trying to fake evidence then using a set of pics where he clearly had exactly the same clothes on would be a pretty crap way of doing it.

I'd let it go. I've got twins and the amount of times the wrong child was in the wrong update was infuriating but I think they have more than enough to do without having to provide photo updates and commentary.

YANBU, it shouldn't have different dates on if they are all on the same day, it is giving a misleading impression

Agree.
I don't like all these picture book things etc. precisely because it means nursery workers are distracted, they are no longer concentrated on the children because they're thinking about the picture they have to take, the note they have to write etc. I'd much rather prefer if I got minimal documentation about my child, knowing that the nursery workers can be 100% present during their working hours.
The result of all these requirements are diaries like the one you've received OP. I wouldn't be happy about it either but I understand how these things come about.

This would be my worry, it paints a different picture of your child, one which may impact future support if needed. This may be school or health professionals. These books and observations are supposed to be a reflection of your child and may be needed as evidence of concern in the future

Yeah. Agree with this. This is an exercise in tracking milestones for Ofsted rather than an attempt to deceive you in any way.

My DS is older now, but, his nursery spent a lot of time documenting lots of random stuff, like what you describe. I understand that it is needed for ofsted etc, but it seems to be a bit of a waste of time.

I would think of the situation this way, everytime a key worker is updating a log or record, they are not interacting with your child.

I don't think it's okay. I sympathise with nursery workers. I would want to explore with a manager whether it was intentional. They will never admit but they will know you are onto them. It is important, especially when a child is finding some things challenging, what the real story is.

It reminds me of when I worked in prisons and you would get a record for someone at risk of suicide and self harm saying "collected breakfast, seemed fine" at 08.30, when he was discharged for court at 08.00. In my early days I was literally directed by management to falsify entries. It's quicker, easier and makes the data look better than it is, you don't think anyone will ever find out, but they do. You'd be surprised how hard it can be to change a culture like that.

I wouldn’t mind but for me it’s the day to day feedback that’s important, the pictures after the event are lovely to see but a nice to have. My DC’s nursery tend to upload the photos in bulk every few weeks so they’re not real time anyway. You could gently question them but as per pp what is the purpose of the book and what matters to you?

I think it's naïve to trust nursery records unless you're speaking in person to someone you've grown to trust.

This. I also worked in a nursery, and saw first hand the time it took to do all of these things. Time that could be better spent on the children imo.

I can see how this could make you feel a bit uneasy. But as long as you and they know the real picture, I wouldn’t worry about it. Your ds sounds as happy there as he would be anywhere and if there’s always a lovely teacher on hand to hold his hand when he needs it then you’ve obviously got him in a great nursery.
If it really bothers you, maybe mention it and see what they say.

I think there are a lot of tick box exercises on tapestry etc. Due to ofsted regulations. However it is ok for your child not to be a social butterfly. He may be just taking his time to adjust. Everyone is different.
However if at some point sen is mentioned it won’t be helpful that they have painted a fake picture. It needs to be realistic. I would be having a polite chat about keeping it real.

I wouldn't be concerned, that's a lot of effort for them to go through and they're either genuinely not able to remember every single say for every single child, or they mean well and are trying to fill his book with positive moments. Either way is hardly a crime, I wouldn't be upset

Caveating my comemnt with the assumption you're happy with the nursery, of you have to her worries I would raise it but probably just a geuine error or harmless

The pictures are not there to give you something nice to look at. They are there to evidence his achievements. There are various milestones the staff need to document and simple things like "can run without falling over" and "enjoys dancing and ring games" are also relevant EYFS milestones, not just "can write own name" and "can count to 10". The books are for sharing that assessment with parents but evidence and reports etc will also be communicated to primary teachers etc as well.

The fudging of dates is wrong but they probably had to do 3 days worth of observations but only 1 day to take photos and make observations and another day to write it all up. Also, if they know he can do certain things (like running) but they don't see him do it, they have limited opportunity to collect the evidence OFSTED requires.

If they are giving you an honest verbal report and are actively working on encouraging his social skills then I wouldn't be too worried. Do you like the staff? Do they seem to genuinely know and like your child? Do they believe what you have to say about him and his personality and behaviour outside of nursery? Those things would be far more important to me than whether a date was fudged by two days in a learning journal.

I would question it. If a child at a later date needs extra support at school for example, a false representation of how they coped at nursery could hinder the correct support.

I wouldn't mind. They might have added dates before photos. Then realised that they had 3 nice photos from that one day and wanted to share them all (which meant missing photos from the other two days).

This isn't a developmental record, so I don't think it's supposed to paint an accurate developmental story.

It's a highlights/happy memories reel for you to see what nice things he's been doing at nursery, talk to him about what he's done at nursery, and keep to look back at when he's older.

I think YABU to expect it to be accurate to the day or show a realistic picture because that is not the purpose of this document, it's supposed to be positive.

I see where you're coming from, but I highly doubt that they have done that on purpose. They probably didin't have enough pictures and just spreading them out, or just simply didn't realise. It's a lovely thing for them to do those books, but they have all the other children to keep a track of and what day what picture was taken. I can't keep a track of my own 2 let alone over 20 odd kids who aren't mine lol