In the moment planning and next steps

[AnonyMouse_59225]

Hi all,

I'm interested in planning in the moment and have ordered Anna Ephgraves book. I've been reading through some old posts on here too. We have always written down next steps for children in the past, but with the new planning i'm thinking that we won't need to as we (hopefully) are doing the next steps as we go along and recording what we have done each day. 

 

Is there any one else who does not record next steps? There is nothing in the statutory framework that says we have to record next steps but I feel as though I have read it some where, maybe it's just embedded in my head for no other reason than "that's how we've always done it" Do you think Ofsted will have something to say about it if we don't record them?

TIA

[FSFRebecca]

Afternoon!

Have you looked at the next steps articles on here? There are three, one of which is written by Anna Ephgrave  Next steps 1, Next steps 2, Next steps 3

Personally I think that if you can talk confidently about what you are working on next with children and that you can demonstrate a shared understanding between the setting, parents and any other professionals then you are covering the requirement. By demonstrate, I mean talk about with confidence - I don't necessarily mean written down. If you read the Statutory Framework there is only a requirement to 'know and do' the next steps - not to write them anywhere. I would say that the pitfall to avoid is just one person knowing them if you are working in a team.

[AnonyMouse_7120]

We had an Ofsted inspection where the feedback was that whilst staff clearly knew the children well and could talk about their progress and next Steps the inspector couldn’t pick up a learning journal and easily see the next steps recorded....I would  argue the point now but didn’t then :-( 

[AnonyMouse_59225]

Thanks Mouse, that was one of my concerns, I've yet to read the book but at the moment, the idea i have in my head is to have white boards on the wall where staff can note down things during the day as to what they have done to help progress the children's learning, then take a photo of it and store on the PC to refer back to if needed. Whether this will work in practice, i don't know, but can only try. My first inspection was awful as i didn't have the confidence to argue my point and only realised where i could have corrected the inspector after she'd gone. The next one, i was more settled and it went really well (same inspector too!) Hopefully next time I will be confident too, I think confidence is the key! I'm going to try and find time over xmas to get my head around it all then discuss with staff in the new year and implement asap so we can get it embedded before an inspection, which i'm guessing maybe within the next 12 months as we are 2 1/2 years since the last one. Thanks, all help is greatly appreciated.

[AnonyMouse_7120]

We were recording the ITM teaching on a board but we now just #ITM on relevant obs added to tapestry which means we can bring them up quickly if needed and it helps me see that all staff are ‘on it’ .

We don’t do the focus chn per wk either but rather each child has a couple of focus NS per half term (where least progress was shown the previous half term, something we know they need support with or from a parent conversation) these are shared with parents at the start of the half term with a couple of ideas to support at home, evidence is collected on a forward dated ob over the half term. We have adapted ITM to suit us, the only paperwork we have now are the ‘latest’ analysis sheets I print at the end of each term for individual & group tracking :-) don’t be afraid to do it your own way if something isn’t working for your setting, best Wishes with implementing itm.

[AnonyMouse_59225]

Thank you