AIBU to want more photos from my child’s nursery

[HelloWorld2577]

To keep it brief. I’ve had multiple children attend this nursery over the past 5 years. My daughter is now there and has been for the past two years.

When my other children attended the nursery they would do daily posts which included a mixture of individual posts with photos of just my child and group posts where you could see what all the class were doing. Either way they were updating the app (tapestry) daily or at the very least 3 out of 5 days a week.

My older child left there last year and since the posts have really deteriorated. I’ve just had a look and since coming back from Christmas (my daughter attends full time) there have only been 2 group posts, one of those posts she wasn’t in it, and one you could see the back of her head.

I know it may sound trivial but I find it very frustrating that they charge £75 a day and I don’t even get to see what my daughters doing at nursery, I also have mum guilt for working full time & some mornings she struggles to go in so would put me at ease to just see what she’s doing. I raised it with management after my older child left and said I wasn’t getting many photos or updates on the app and they simply said they don’t have time to do individual posts now so they are trying to take photos of all children to post on one group post. This itself I find an issue because there are usually between 50 and 80 photos per group post and then I have to go through every photo like a detective searching for the side of my child’s head! It’s frustrating. when I raised it previously they said they were trying to do a couple of group posts a week but as I said above they’ve only done 2 posts over the last 3 weeks.

AIBU? I really want to raise it again but I don’t want to be one of those parents!! I understand they’re busy but if every other nursery do it why can’t they? It just seems lazy?!

How do I bring it up AGAIN?!

Is anyone able to inform me of where I can find the change of guidelines re photos/iPads etc?

Most jobs are busy. "No time" is shorthand for "We're so busy, spending time uploading to the app was time that we couldn't spend elsewhere. Over time we've rebalanced our prioritising and that time can now be used elsewhere". That time is now likely spent with the DC, but it may also mean that staff can actually take their breaks as scheduled, which is also important if you want a happy workforce looking after your DC.

If the photos are important to you, then by all means move but it's just such a small part of what a nursery does.

Btw, you will likely come across this issue again. Our eldest is in primary school now and they have an app. Her first teacher was uploading photos constantly, which was really lovely to see (agree with you there, it is nice to get the photos). This year's teacher is uploading much less, which is fine - she's a professional and I trust her to do her job. Giving me nice photos of my child is not her job.

When I viewed the nursery years ago it was something they mentioned upon viewing. ‘We upload regularly to tapestry so you can see what they’re doing in the day’

Viewing a nursery is a bit like viewing a house. They tell you want to hear as they want your money. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My children survived at nursery without me having photographic evidence online or a daily update, if I had concerns I spoke to the key worker.

as an early years worker our 2 yr olds get a daily diary of what they have eaten and the nappies changed and that’s it.

each child aged 2-5yrs gets an online observation once a week(we upload 2 observations a fortnight). However this is determined by how many staff we have, if it’s convenient to have staff off the floor to do this. It’s time consuming and takes approx 10/15 mins a child.

this week we have 6 staff members off sick, we still have enough staff for ratio but not enough to allow people off the floor to do paperwork.

@whinge the guidelines have changed since 2021, so what OP was told years ago will have changed. Nurseries etc used to have to produce reams of written reports, photos etc to provide evidence of a child’s development. The bonus of this was that parents got to see lots of photos of their little ones. However, it was found that this was obviously very time consuming and didn’t actually help with the child’s development.

So the new framework was designed to reduce workload and to give staff more meaningful time with the children.

Parents might mourn the loss of photos but need to remember that what is most important is how their child is being cared for.

If other nurseries are still providing copious photos they may not actually be following the new guidelines and may not actually be that good at developing the children

Why can't a keyworker be key worker for eight children?
I only do 3 days aweek and am keyworker for 6.

This is probably a staffing issuse as with every nursery right now, taking pictures and uploading them takes a staff member away from them be physically active with the children so sounds like there doing the right thing and putting the children first and not the parents need to see a photo!

If photos are more important than the care provided, why not just move to a different nursery?

@Whinge but they said it… implemented it. Then 3/4 years later stopped it with no warning?👍🏼

You’ve been told multiple times that best practices have changes, that staffing pressures are an issue across the industry, and that time is better spent with the children rather than documenting them.

You just don’t want to hear it.

@HelloWorld2577 do you think the photos help your DC? How do you survive when they go to school and you don't get the same level of communication?

It’s in the EYFS. It states that recording evidence should not take away from staff and children’s time together. As an early years leader and now reception teacher it absolutely does do that. I spend far more time with children now than I did before. The nursery previously had to collect evidence for absolutely everything so of course they had pictures. Now the emphasis is on professional knowledge and judgement. Honestly it’s parent like you who make this job horrendous sometimes. You clearly have absolutely no idea how run off our feet we are. Yesterday I didn’t have a drink, go to the toilet or sit down for more than a minute all day. I didn’t have time.

Nursery I work at we just do 2 observations a month on their account and any extra is a bonus. Obviously every nursery is different and some will do more or even none because it is a requirement no more but just feel I'd rather spend time with children then on a I-Pad.

We no longer need to focus so much on photos and learning journeys. We don't get as many up as our parents would like as we currently have a very full on group including several SEN children with behaviours that need someone watching at all times. Plus the Internet is really slow in the building and it seems to take forever for it to connect and log in.

OP: AIBU?
Vast majority of replies: Yes!
OP: no I'm not.

Ok, go and be that lunatic parent then and complain to a service which is already understaffed and overstretched just so you can get pictures of your precious little cherub.

And imagine if the staff took photos all day of ALL the children - the children wouldn't get the time and care they needed.

If your child is happy there then that's all that matters.

YABU.

No it doesn't! 5 mins to take a photo of each kid??! Sorry but thats rubbish

I agree. My baby’s nursery doesn’t do photos or have an app or anything. Every now and then they will send some Polaroid pictures home but that’s it

If you’re that concerned about paying money for your child to go to nursery and you want to know what she’s doing every day then keep her home with you!!!

It's the uploading and commenting that takes the time.

£75 a day?!

Genuinely shocked at that. (Mine went at the age of 3 part time with government funded hours so I've never paid for childcare.)

If you are concerned about your child ask them how she has been when you collect. All your post is about you liking photos and feeling guilty etc. The staff should be focused on the kids not on providing photos for the app.

My DC were at nursery before the days of mobile phones. I therefore had no photos. If there was a problem the staff would phone or mention it at pick up, as appropriate.

This obsession with constant photos is not healthy in any situation, least of all a childcare setting.

Please don't bring it up again. While we are not updating photos we are keeping children safe. Giving them meals. Interacting with them. Providing age appropriate experiences. Changing nappies. Putting them to sleep. Putting on coats shoes to go out doors. Stopping fights soothing cleaning people who have fell. And then after all that I might get 5 seconds to pee

You really need to assess your priorities here imo OP. You pay the childcare facility to keep your child safe, fed, engaged and educated. You do not pay them to be facilitator for a ridiculous photo shoot. Childcare workers are paid crappy money and don't need this kind of rubbish on top of their usual workload. It's weird that that it was ever used by the facility as a selling point, but i really think your priorities are skewed here