Recorded Observations 0-3

[Guest Wolfie]

Has anyone out there working with 0-3s got a system of recording their observations of children's development and progress in a nursery that they really think works well and would be willing to share? And how do you make sure that information and records are transferred effectively when a child moves up from your group/room? do you arrange meetings between existing and new keyworkers if there is a change when a child moves rooms?

 

I've been asked to overhaul the system of observations, assessments and record keeping in a room for 2-5s but think it makes much more sense to introduce a co-ordinated approach for the whole nursery and am doing a lot of research at the moment! I hope that the introduction of the EYFS will make this co-ordination a whole lot easier but can't wait that long!

[Helen]

Hi Wolfie,

Our system is very manageable, and even better, extremely simple! At our Ofsted inspection a few years ago, it was referred to as "an area of outstanding practice", and at our recent Ofsted a couple of weeks ago, the inspector still said it was outstanding. I have to stress though that the reason it works is because I have a small team (6) who meet weekly for two hours (planning, records, etc) and who really know and understand the children. I'm not sure this would work if you have a huge number of inexperienced staff, or staff who may not have had much training in observing children and recording significant achievement.

 

Here it is:

1) We have one child each session who we all focus on. We all have the opportunity to contribute to the observation sheet, which is divided into the six areas of learning (even though the child might only be two). At the bottom of the sheet is a section entitled "Implications for learning" and if anything crops up for that child during the morning that any of us think should go into the next plans, then we write it down. If nothing does, then we use these sheets at planning meetings to talk about the children we have observed, and we come up with next steps for those children then.

2) We do "catch as you can" observations too, using the sheet here. Anyone completes these for any child, not just their key children. If they are legible (!) then we stick them straight into their individual records (basically A4 scrapbooks where we stick their work, photos, etc). If not legible, then we rewrite them straight into the book.

 

 

That's it!

 

I've just been fiddling about with the new EYFS (draft) Problem solving section, and come up with a sort of, dare I say it, ticklist, which I am planning to use alongside the above. Steve's going to show me how to pin it in a new forum topic so that eevryone can comment/criticise/praise it.

I have used something similar with the current FS, but that's not very useful with very young children who are within the B to 3 framework. Like you, I'm looking forward to it all being seamless

Catch_as_you_can_obs_sheet.doc

[Guest cathy m]

For B23 I use obs sheets that can be completed over a period of time. I have 4, one for each aspect

 

Cathy

obs_for_a_strong_child.doc

[Guest]

I will attach our observation sheet for pre-school which we use for those chance observations. It is very similar to Helen's. You could change the bottom part to identify B23 instead of FS.

Linda

OBSERVATION_RECORD.doc

[Guest Wolfie]

Do you know, I don't know how I ever survived without ideas and support from this forum!!! Thank you so much for those.