Lauren

Memos is a new way to post on Tapestry. Much like a bulletin board you can use it to share news, updates, and reminders with relatives. Just attach the children whose parents you’d like to send the information to and publish your post for them to see it. Within these posts you will be able to include notes, clickable links to other webpages, media, and documents. They will also have a comments section for parents if you’d like to have that enabled. Unfortunately, this isn’t quite ready on the apps yet, but it is on the to do list! We'll update this page when it becomes available.

You can now upload documents as well as videos and pictures to observations, memos, and reflections. This includes Word documents, Powerpoints, PDFs, and Excel sheets. As well as being able to view them on the browser, you can now see these attached documents on the latest live version of the iOS app and the ‘beta’ Android app. To access the Android beta 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 you have any problems, 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 😊. If you are using the Fire app or the Android beta isn’t working for you, then currently you won’t be able to see attached documents. Instead will display a message on observations which have documents attached to them telling viewers to go to the browser version of Tapestry to see the documents.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic and the self isolation and setting closure that has come with that, we have temporarily increased the limit on single media uploads to Tapestry. Until recently that has been 100MB (works out as about a minute worth of video), but as of now you can upload videos that last up to 10 minutes or are as big as 5GB. This will be available until further notice. The idea is that you and the families of the children in your care will be able to upload longer videos of activities and ideas for remote learning – for example, you might want to upload a video of you reading a story, or of setting a task, and ask parents to send one back of their child carrying it out. This is available on the browser and the latest live iOS app. To access it for Android you need to download the ‘beta’ version of the app, which is quick, easy, and free to do. 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 you have any problems, 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. If you are using the Fire app or the Android Beta isn’t working for you, then you will be able to view longer videos, but not upload them.

If you include a web address in the notes, additional info, or comment fields of observations, memos, or reflections it will now automatically become a clickable link. This means if you want to direct a parent or colleague to a particular online resource, they’ll now be able to go straight there, rather than having to copy and paste the link into a browser. This is available on the browser and the latest live iOS app. To access it for Android you need to download the ‘beta’ version of the app, which is quick, easy, and free to do. 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 you have any problems, 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 😊.

Every user now has the option to completely disable any of the notifications they receive from Tapestry. We still highly recommend that at least one manager per setting is notified of what happens on your account though! If you would like to disable some or all your notifications you can do so by logging into the browser version of Tapestry, clicking on your name and going to ‘edit preferences’. From there you’ll see a button to change your notification preferences. Alternatively you can change them from within your app by logging in, clicking on 'You' in the top left hand corner, then clicking on 'What we notify you about'. Just remember to save any changes you make!

We have updated the Reports system on Tapestry to provide a range of templates, include additional features, and generally make it more flexible. We’ve also moved it to make it easier for staff and relatives to find. You’ll now be able to see it in the navigation bar at the top of your page when you are on the browser version. Those of you who have been using Tapestry to make reports up to now will be able to see that all of the ones you’ve already made have been moved into the new system. You can read more about the Reports system here: https://tapestry.info/features/reports.html You can find the first of our tutorials about it here.

If you're a full staff member or manager on Tapestry you can now access the Foundation Stage Forum with your Tapestry login details. The FSF is a gathering place for educators. You can go there to find articles, downloadable resources, and podcast links. You'll also be able to start and/or take part in discussions about teaching and learning. Check out the About Us page to find out a bit about the story behind the FSF and to read the guidelines we have for the forum. You can find the tutorial for how to login here.

Thanks for agreeing to be part of this beta! I've put together some instructions for what I'd like you to do and how to navigate around/use this new reports system. If you find any part of reports particularly tricky to understand though, please can you make a note of it? We want it to be as intuitive as possible! If you've come across this tutorial and aren't a beta for the new reports system but would like to be - get in touch. Just email customer.service@eyfs.info and put 'FAO Lauren' in your subject line. Turning Reports Off and On Again By default the new reports system will be turned off, but you can turn it on easily when you're ready. To do that, you need to go to the control panel (1). From there go to 'Features' (2) and scroll down until you see 'Reports'. When you find that, you'll be able to see a button that says 'Enable'. Click on that to turn on the feature and 'Disable' to turn it off again. Once that's done, you'll see it appear in the blue bar at the top of your page: Please note that for the purposes of this beta only staff will be able to see it, but when it goes live, relatives will be able to see that section too. If you want to disable this feature at any point please feel free - it will just hide the reports in there, nothing will be deleted. Navigating Reports Once you've gone into the new reports system. You'll be taken to a page where you can see the most recently made reports (1) and any unsaved reports (which are reports you've started but then left without saving) (2). You'll also have the option to create a new report using one of your active templates (3). I'll come back to how to activate and use templates later in this post. Finally, there is a tab to go to a 'list' view (4); that's where you'll be able to find all of your reports. Can you click on that please? That'll take you to a longer list of reports (if you have already made some). You'll be able to add a new report form here too by clicking on the + Report button. You can also use the 'Filter and Sort Reports' bar to filter down the reports you see in this list. And you can use the cog next to each report to carry out a number of options. What those options are will depend on the status of the report, and whether it includes any documents or media. Checking the copied over reports This is the bit I really want you to look at. When you go into this new reports system, you should be able to see copies of all your old reports. These really are just copies, so if you go to where you would have found them before you'll still see them there too. Could you pick a handful and compare how they are on the old system and the new system? The easiest way to do this is to have the same report in the old system open at the same time on a split screen so you can directly compare. Key things to look for: - Are all the dates the same? - Are the assessment scores the same? - Does everything you wrote appear? - Is anything missing? - Does anything look wrong/jarring to you? Once you've checked that for a few reports, please could you get back to me to say how it went and any other feedback you have? Other Templates and Making New Reports If you don't have any old reports, or if you'd like to do this as well, please have a play with the new reports and let me know what you think. You can see the templates you have turned on from the overview page: Or by adding a report from the list view and choosing the template from the first drop down list: The templates visible to you are based on the frameworks you have enabled. If you think you might want to make a report in a framework you don't currently have enabled, you just need to turn it on from the Assessments section of the control panel. Making the reports themselves is hopefully quite a simple process. Once you've selected your template and child, you will be taken to a report form. Regardless of the template, you will have some text boxes which you can fill in. They're all named so you can fill them with whatever is most appropriate. The only one you have to fill in to save it is the very first one - the title. To the left of most fields you'll have a little box: '- Hide Field', or '+ Show Field' if you've already clicked to hide it. If you choose to hide a field it will not be visible on the report when it's saved. If you'd like to leave the box blank, but fill it in by hand when you print the report, then leave the field visible here. After you have saved the report, you can choose to export it. At this point you will have the option to include those empty fields. The next option you'll come across which you might not be immediately sure about is this one: You'll find that in the reports that can be populated with assessment data. The button in the top right allows you to choose the period that the assessment data relates to. You can change it at any point, but it will replace any assessment scores that are already on the account, regardless of whether they were filled in by Tapestry or manually. Similarly there is an 'Autofill' button for the next steps section with EYFS reports. You can use it at any point, but it will replace any information currently in the related text box. Another new one is to do with adding what the relatives think about the report. It looks like this: This is useful for if you're with relatives when you're going through the report, and you want to add their contribution then and there. You simply need to click on the button that says 'Add contribution on behalf of relatives' to reveal a text box. They can add their own contributions from their own accounts once the report is published though, so you don't need to fill it in for them. As you reach the end of the report, you might find a section for getting signatures of a selection of relevant people. To take the signatures, you'll need to click on the blue 'sign' button, then the appropriate person can draw in the box. Finally you'll find a media box. You can use this to upload any pictures or videos you'd like, but also for any documents. So that's about it! Your report will autosave fairly regularly to reduce the risk of any data loss from you leaving the page suddenly (whether that be a loss of power to your device or loss of connection to Tapestry), but it doesn't do it constantly so we'd still really recommend that you save regularly. If you come across something that you don't think works very well or isn't clear, please get in touch - just email customer.service@eyfs.info. We'd love to hear your feedback!

If you use the International Early Years Curriculum framework for the children in your care, you can tag the statements and outcomes as part of observations on Tapestry. The framework is available on both the browser version of Tapestry and the Tapestry app (for iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire devices). You can find our tutorial for how to turn that on here: