Lauren

Those of you in Australia using Montessori and EYLF will now be able to see which EYLF outcomes link to each Montessori activity. You can find them by clicking on the little i for more information about what a specific activity is.   

This is only available on the browser version of Tapestry.

We are in the process of carrying out maintenance work on the Tapestry databases. The affected Tapestry accounts will be made temporarily inaccessible while we carry that out. The work should only take about 5 minutes, but during that time you will not be able to login, view, create, or edit any posts.

If this affects you, a yellow banner will appear at the top of the page on the browser version of your Tapestry, telling you exactly when it will happen. You will also be able to see a message above the PIN screen on the app with the same information. 

It is important that you finish any work you’re doing before the time displayed in the yellow banner, to avoid it being lost during the maintenance work.

You should also know that a little while before the work starts, what we call ‘background tasks’ will be paused. This includes notifications being sent, media processing, media and file exports, and scheduled observation publishing. Everything will be queued to go through once the maintenance is complete though.

If you have any question or concerns, get in touch with us by emailing customer.service@eyfs.info.

In order for relatives to receive notifications about a recorded accident for their child, they need to have been assigned ‘parental responsibility’. To make that process a little quicker, we have added functionality to allow you to set that status in bulk. 

Managers can find it in the ‘Manage Relatives’ section of their Control Panel. They just need to use the tick boxes next to the relatives’ names and choose ‘Add parental responsibility’ from the pop up options box in the bottom right hand corner. 

By doing this, the relatives you select will have the ‘parental responsibility’ status instantly applied to them for all the children they themselves are linked to. 

As it applies to every child a relative is connected to, you should only use this bulk setting feature with relatives who are only attached to children they take parental responsibility for (so not people who have their nieces, nephews, grandchildren etc. linked to them, even if they are also linked to their own child/the child they are the primary carer for).

You can see which children are linked to a relative and set parental responsibility for individual children by editing a relative (again from the ‘Manage Relatives’ page in the Control Panel), and scrolling to the bottom of the page. 
 

Our ‘flags’ feature appears in observations and reflections. It allows you to indicate that an observations/reflection relates to a specific topic and/or subject.

Managers on your account can enable the flag sets you’d like to use from the ‘Control Panel’. They are in Settings > Flags.

Today we have added an ‘RE’ flag to the ‘Key Stage Curriculum’ set.

The latest update to the Android and Fire app is now available. The version number for it is 4.0.1.

This version comes with a number of bug fixes and the added functionality of being able to view, reply to, comment on, and ‘Like’ the activities and memos that have been posted via the browser. Along with that you will see that the page filters have been amended slightly to allow you to search for a specific type of post (we call that ‘page type’). If you can’t see those straight after updating, you may need to delete your cached data. You can do that from ‘You’ > ‘Delete local data’.

Some of you will be automatically upgraded to it and some of you will need to upgrade yourself from the Play Store/Appstore. 

This update is only for those of you using Android and Fire devices, but we released a similar update for Apple devices a little while ago. 

This week we’ve made a small change to what's shown in the email notifications for memos. From now on, instead of just being notified that there is a new memo available, the recipient will be able to read the full content of the notes section. This means that parents won’t have to log into Tapestry to find out what you want to tell them/remind them about.

It doesn’t include images or document attachments though, they will still need to log in in order to access those.  
 

All users on Tapestry (children, relatives, staff, and managers) will now be able to see a ‘Your Data’ page when they log into the browser version. Children can find it by clicking on their names in the top left hand corner of the screen, and everyone else can find it in the drop down from their names in the top right of the screen. The ‘You Data’ page explains a bit about what happens to their personal data on Tapestry and their rights. 

If you would like to see more details about how we handle data, please take a look at our contract. You can always find the latest version here.  
 

Here’s a little change to make your lives a bit easier.

When you’re editing an observation on the browser version, you can now choose to ‘select all’ media, rather than having to tick each item individually. You can then click to delete all of it in one go.

You’ll be able to untick any that you didn’t want to select before you click that delete button, so this should save you time when you’re deleting all but one or two pieces of media from an observation. E.G. For if you’ve made a group observation and uploaded a picture of every child doing the activity, then split it so you only have to type up the text once, but you want to only have one child’s picture in each version of the observation.

We now have a system for early adopters using the new Developments Matters statements.

Following guidance from Dr Julian Grenier, the author of the new Development Matters, and Gill Jones and Wendy Ratcliff from OFSTED, we have decided against allowing users to tick the statements. You can read more about our thinking behind it in this article written by one of our education team, Ben Case.

Instead, we have added the ability for you to ‘flag’ the observation as being evidence towards an Area of Learning. This will create an organised bank of observations for you to refer back to.

It consists of 2 key parts:

1) Flags. You may already be familiar with these from Tapestry Reflections. They act as ‘labels’ that you can apply to observations, organising them according to what they relate to. You will find flags for Development Matters, ELGs, and Checkpoints as well as other descriptors e.g. CoETL, Motivation for Learning, and reasons to celebrate.

2) Reference material. Whenever you select a Development Matters Guidance 2020, Checkpoint, or ELG 2020 flag, you will also be shown a list of reference material. This includes the Development Matters and ELG statements but also a variety of other useful articles and videos. These will provide a reminder as you become familiar with the new guidance and support all staff as they make meaningful observations about the development of each child.

We know many of you really wanted to be able to tick statements, and this is quite a big change from how you were assessing before, but we are confident that this approach is more aligned with what Ofsted want to see. We are hopeful that this will save you a lot of time and generally improve provision in early years in the long run.

We do want to work with you though. If you have concerns about how to use it or ideas for things that would help, please get in touch by emailing customer.service@eyfs.info.

An assessment screen to follow the progress of your children is not available just yet, but we are working on it now. It will enable you to know which children are falling behind and who will need extra support, while still relying on your professional judgement.

Flags and reference materials are not currently available on the apps.

The latest iOS update is ready! This version allows you and the relatives at your school or setting to view the activities and memos that have been posted via the browser, as well as the observations. Along with that you will see that the page filters have been amended slightly to allow you to search for a specific type of post (we call that ‘page type’).

This update is only for those of you using Apple devices e.g. ipads, but we are working on a similar update for Android. 

 

This post is for those of you accessing Tapestry via an Android mobile/tablet running Android 4.4.4 or below (this is the operating system for the device), or on a computer using a really old version of Windows/OS X and using the ‘classic app’ or an old internet browser.

For those of you accessing Tapestry via the browser, this might be you if you’re using a very old computer or mobile/tablet and you don’t think the browser you use to access the internet has been updated in a long time. The browser might be an app you click on to open a webpage, or it might be a ‘google’ bar on your device’s home screen.

I’ll explain at the bottom of this post how you can be sure what operating system your Android device uses, but one sign of it being 4.4.4 or below and you having a very old browser is that other websites have stopped working over the last few years when you access them via that computer/device or other similar ones.

Unfortunately, the same is about to be true for Tapestry. As of Wednesday 4th of November, we are stopping people from accessing Tapestry or the Foundation Stage Forum if we can see that the connection between them and Tapestry/the Forum isn’t secure enough. If you’re interested in what we’re doing technically, we’re switching off connections to ‘TLS 1.0’ and ‘TLS 1.1’.

You don’t need to know what that means technically, but you should know that this will help to protect you and the data stored on your account.

Luckily, there is a, hopefully, quite simple way for you to be able to access Tapestry again! If you’re using our Tapestry app you just need to download the newer version of it (it's a different app to the 'classic'. It's called 'Tapestry Mobile' and has a colourful logo). If you’re using a browser, you just need to update the browser you use to get onto the internet (and therefore access Tapestry). If you’re using a mobile/tablet you will be able to download an up to date browser from the ‘play store’. We use ‘Google Chrome’ or ‘Firefox’ here mostly, but you might have another preference.

If you’re on a computer, you can google for those and download an up to date version.

If you’re not confident doing that though, it’s worth speaking to your IT team, or someone else who generally helps with your computers/devices.

 

This is how you can check the operating system for Android mobile/tablets

1.       Turn on your device.

2.       Go to ‘Settings’

3.       Scroll down through the ‘Settings’ options and look for one that says ‘About phone’, ‘About tablet’, or ‘System’. Click on that.

4.       If you’re given another level of options to choose from, click on one that says something like ‘Software Information’ or ‘About’.

5.       Look those the list of details you’re given until you find one that says ‘Android Version’.

6.       If the number under that starts with a 4 or less then this may well affect you and you should update your browser.
 

If you can’t find the operating system number, or you’re still not sure for another reason, then it’s worth updating your browser anyway, just in case.

If you have any questions, please email customer.service@eyfs.info.

Children who are becoming more independent can now log into the browser version of Tapestry themselves using our newest feature: Child Login.

Every child who you set up to use this feature will have their own password and will be able to view and reply to observations attached to them, access activities set by their teachers, and create their own observations.

Staff can set up ‘group login pages’ to allow specific children to sign into Tapestry on selected devices while in school, and set whether they can sign in via their parents’ Tapestry accounts when at home.

It has been designed to be easily used in classroom situations. Staff will set up the group they want to sign in, enable the ‘group login page’ for those children, and those children can then go to tapestryjournal.com and enter their passwords to access their own accounts. That access can be turned off when not in use and quickly added to new computers or tablets when needed via a QR code, a web address, some ‘magic words’, or by the teacher logging in and switching to a child’s account.

You can read in detail about how it all works in our tutorials and get an overview of Child Login from our Tapestry.info page.

We're really excited to get children engaged with their journals. This is a new kind of feature for us, so we'd love to know what you think of it once you've had time to explore it. Please do send any feedback you have to customer.service@eyfs.info.     

This is currently only available on the browser version of Tapestry. Children cannot log in via the app.

If you want to permanently delete or remove access to a group login page (so no one can login from the devices that had previously been set up), there are a couple of very easy steps to take.

Please note that this is different from just temporarily turning access off. You can see how to do that a the end of our how to use the Child Login feature tutorial. 

The first thing to do is log in to Tapestry as a manager, the staff member who created the group login page in question, or a staff member who is allowed to edit group login pages created by other staff members.

Then, go to Child Login (1), find the group login page you want to delete/remove access to (you might need to click on 'Show class or group login pages set up by your colleagues') (2), then click 'Manage' (3).

At the very bottom of the page you're taken to, you'll see two red options.

The first one is to remove this group login page from all computers (1).
You'll possibly want to do this if you've got rid of some devices you were previously using, or if they were stolen. It could also be useful if you've held onto the devices but they've been moved to another part of the school. 

It will mean you have to set new devices up in order for the children to log in at school though. See our tutorial on enabling other devices if you're not sure how to do that. 
 

The second option is for you to permanently delete the login page (2).
You should only do this if you don't need this group login page at all any more. You might want to do it as an end of year tidy up. 
Please note, this action is irreversible.

If you just want to change something about the group login page, it might be easier to edit it rather than delete and start again. This tutorial can help with that! 

There is a new analysis screen for settings and schools using the Montessori framework. It’s called ‘Assessment Counts’ and will let you compare the number of times activities within each subarea, for example ‘Mathematics – Introductory Activities’, have been assessed.

You can view and compare those figures for up to 4 individual children, 4 groups, or 4 staff members, or just 1 child, group, or staff member across up to 4 periods.  You can find it in the ‘Tracking’ tab along with the other Montessori snapshot screens. This is only available on the browser version of Tapestry – you will not be able to find it within the app.

If you use the MOVE programme, you can now enable a branch map based on it as part of the Cherry Garden framework.

MOVE is an activity-based programme that that uses the collaborative approach of education, therapy and family knowledge to teach disabled children the skills of sitting, standing and walking. You can find out much more about it here:  https://eyfs.info/articles.html/primary/what-is-the-move-programme-r315/

We do not own the rights to MOVE and it is a paid for resource. It is therefore not available for every Tapestry setting to turn on by default. If you use it or would like to use it, please get in touch with MOVE with your Tapestry account ID – they will be able to instruct us to turn it on for you.
 

The new ELGs are now available on Tapestry. If you’d like to be an Early Adopter of them, a manager can enable them from within your control panel by going to Control Panel > Settings > Assessments.

They will appear on the new iOS and Android apps (but not the Classic/Legacy versions).

Currently there are no tracking or EYFSP submission forms on Tapestry for them, but these will be added later.

Please note that for now, enabling these will not remove the current ELGs from the EYFS framework or snapshot screens.

The top of the 'Manage Children' page within the control panel of Tapestry has changed. When you go there, you’ll now be able to clearly see how many child profiles are in each status. 

You will also be able to see how many children have been left as ‘Inactive’ for over 90 days. That acts as a prompt for you to look at the inactive profiles and think about whether any of them should now be deleted in line with your data protection obligations.  

We have created an additional status for child profiles: ‘Enrolling’.

This status will allow you to create profiles for the children joining your setting soon, before your existing children have moved, but without you needing to upgrade to a larger package size. Although you will not be able to link enrolling children to posts (observations, memos, activities, reflections), you will be able to fill in their ‘About Me’ pages, create labels for them, and organise them into groups. You can also set up the relatives of these new children and link them together. Relatives will be able to login to see their children on Tapestry, contribute to the About Me, and see any Documents you’ve made visible to them.

Children added to your account via a CSV file or as part of a transfer from another setting will now come in with the status ‘Enrolling’ but that can be changed to ‘Active’ as soon as you’re ready.

You have space for as many Enrolling children as you do Active children e.g. if you have a 20 child package, you can have 20 active children and 20 enrolling children simultaneously. If you need to go beyond that limit you will need to increase your package size. This tutorial talks you through how to add children as enrolling individually and this one explains how to do this in bulk. 

Once you have added children as enrolling, this tutorial will talk you through how to activate them.

You can now choose the order that the media in your observations, memos, activities, and reflections appears in. To do that, make sure you’re on the edit screen for the page you’re looking at, scroll down to where the media is added, then use the arrows next to each media item to move them up or down the list. Videos, audio clips, and pictures will still sit separately to documents when the page is saved, but you can change the order of them in each of their groups. I.e. If on the edit screen you order them:

Picture 1
Document 1
Video 1
Document 2,

You will see picture 1, video 1 in the large media section, and then document 1, document 2, below that. 

The Activities feature has now been released on the browser version of Tapestry.

It includes a catalogue of activity ideas made for you by the Education Team here at the Foundation Stage Forum. You can amend those activities to suit yourself and set them for individuals or groups of children. You can also create your own unique activities and save them on your account for future use.

Activities can be published for relatives to see right away, scheduled to go out on a future date, or just be saved for only staff to see. You, and each of the children’s relatives (if allowed) can then make observations of how the activity went and you can link those to the activity and any relevant reflections.

This is not available on the app at the moment, so you will need to be on the browser version of Tapestry to see and create them.

The ability to schedule posts on Tapestry is now available on the browser version of Tapestry.

This new option allows you to set the ‘publish’ date of observations, memos, and activities to one in the future. That means you can set reminders to go out at the most convenient time without having to remember to publish them yourself, and you can prepare resources and ideas to go out to families days or weeks in advance. This might be particularly useful if you are working for a short period of time, then being furloughed for a few weeks.

This is currently only available on the browser version of Tapestry, but parents only using the app will still only see the scheduled posts when it’s time for them to go out.

You can now add audio clips to observations, reflections, memos, and activities on the browser version of Tapestry.

The maximum length you will be able to add is 30 minutes and the maximum size is 5GB.

You will be able to see and listen to audio files from the app or the browser version but you’ll only be able to add them from the browser for now.  

You can link observations, reflections, planned activities, or activities from your own Activities Collection to each other on Tapestry. This can help you to find posts that are related to each other. 

For example, an observation might cause you to think about something you could improve for your setting. In that case you might want to create a reflection with your thoughts in, and link that to the observation that made you think of it.

Some things will automatically be linked together, e.g. observations created from a planned activity. 

For other things you'll need to add the links yourself. If you have permission to do that, you will see a 'Links' box near the bottom of the page when adding or editing an observation, reflection, planned activity, or activity from Our Activities Collection. From there you can add links to different kinds of posts.

Once you've decided which type of post you want to link to (an observation, reflection, planned activity, or activity from Our Activities Collection), and you've clicked to do so, you will see a pop-up which allows you to filter for the specific observation, reflection, or activity (1). Once you've found the one/ones you want, just tick the box next to it/them (2). 

You won't need to press save once you've ticked the boxes, so once you've finished, just click away or on the x in the top corner.

 If you'd then like to link a different type of post as well, you can do that.

As you add them you will be able to see them being linked (1). To unlink any links, you simply click on the X next to them (2).
 

Linking Timeline

When you link posts together a timeline is created to help show when each post was made. In this example we can see that the reflection ‘Promoting good friendships’ took place before the observation you are currently writing up so it's first in the timeline (1). The current post, in this case an observation, is indicated by the green bar (2). You then have another observation 'What we have in common' afterwards (3). 

If you have any questions please get in touch with us by emailing customer.service@eyfs.info. 

Back to Main Tutorials Page

We have released a new version of the iOS app (4.1.8) and updated the 'beta' version of the Android app.

Among lots of other tweaks and improvements, both now give you the opportunity to add and view clickable links in the Notes and Additional Information fields, view documents that have been attached to observations, and attach videos that are up to 5GB in size or up to 10 minutes in length (whichever limit is reached first).

If you have an Apple device with automatic updates set up then you should already have the latest one, but if not or if you’re not sure, you can manually download it from the Apple App store. Just search for ‘Tapestry Journal’ then click on the button to ‘Update’.

The beta Android app is not live via the play store. To access it you need to join our beta program, which you can do quickly, easily, and for free. Just click here when on the device you want to use Tapestry with. For most of you this beta version should be significantly better than the current live version but if not, then you can delete it and re-download the existing live version without any data loss. If you do experience any issues with it, let us know (by emailing customer.service@eyfs.info) so we can fix them before it becomes the live version 😊. 

We have added a shortcut to make it a little easier to split group observations up. Until recently you would have had to individually tick off the children you would like to have their own version of a particular observation. Now however, once you have clicked on the option to split a group observation, you will see a button at the top of the list of names saying ‘split all’.

Unfortunately this ability to split observations is currently only on the browser version of Tapestry so you will not see this new feature on the apps just yet.