New to Tapestry - a few simple questions!

[Guest]

Hi all

 

Can all of you seasoned Tapestry users tell me honestly if your staff complete "in the minute obs" or generally take pics and upload later?

 

Also if you use the tapestry app, can you add emerging, developing etc at the time of inputting the obs or do you have to be logged in on line to do this?

 

Can the children be set to display in say alphabetical order or do you have to filter by for eg key person each time?

 

Do you let tapestry decide your next steps or do you encourage staff to use their own judgement?

 

I'm sure I'll think of loads more questions as I "play" but these will do initially!!

 

Have looked in the frequently asked questions but a bit of advice would be much appreciated!!

 

Thanks in advance

[AnonyMouse_56750]

Hi,

 

We have been using Tapestry since last Summer and have loved it - so much quicker! Our observations used to be all a photo and then written up later however now we are able to write them up as soon as the photo has been taken, sometimes it has to be written up a little later depending on what is going on at the time. Our staff tend to write a quick note of what was said along with the photo and then if needed to back to it and edit it slightly, add next steps and learning outcomes.

 

You can add emerging, developing etc on the app as you are writing up the observation. Our staff all have a unique pin which then brings a list of all their key children (not sure if this is alphabetical or not.) Staff use their own judgement to think of a next step, we write this in with the observation by leaving a line after the notes and then writing 'Next steps: '

 

Hope you are loving it as much as I do. You really will begin to see many benefits from using it.

 

:rolleyes:

[AnonyMouse_38943]

Hi riseandshine,

 

I like your idea of adding a Next Steps to the end of an Observation, I stumbled in my Ofsted inspection as I couldn't show how my Next Steps linked to Obs in Tapestry. The Next Steps produced by Tapestry are very general and not easy to follow up. How do you make sure your Next Steps are acted on? Is there a way to link Observations or link to planning?

[AnonyMouse_4562]

Hi,

We don't usually write up as we take a photo. To be honest, we have only just got a tablet to use the app on and have only been using camera so they were always written up later. However, I don't think this will change much as it takes too much time. I am good at typing but am still quicker writing a scribbly note while still interacting.

 

To digress slightly - it worries me that your Ofsted inspector asked you about next steps and linking to observations. I have had a few rants on here over the years about this - but how is it humanely possible to follow up a next step from every observation? We have moved away from individual next steps unless a particular need is identified that we feel needs addressing in a more focused way than through normal interactions and provision, otherwise we use our objective-led-planning. Long-term targets are set, which are based on assessments. I thought coming away from next steps was a 'normal' thing at the moment!

 

Sorry to go off on a tangent

Green Hippo x