BenTapestrySupport

Thank you for your post. Whilst I do understand your point about the panda, the activity is just one of 20 in the series, and is just a suggestion of something to create with your child. It went through the skills taught which the child could then go ahead and use in their own creations later. I know when I was teaching, I would teach a skill, such as the little dot painting, using a small image that the children could follow, but then got them to use that skill to create any picture they wanted - such as a house or themselves. The Maslaha videos are very accessible for many families, especially where English is not their first language, but if you feel that these would not be appropriate for your setting, please see it as only a suggestion of ideas.

Hi, Welcome to the FSF! It's great to hear that Tapestry is going well at your setting. Due to the nature of providing bilingual support, it is not something that we are likely to be able to add in the near future. There are a number of browser plugins available that will translate pages for you, but the quality of these translations is not always the best so it may be worth warning relatives of this!

I think giving little things that they can do at home with resources that they have / can make is a great start. You can also record short introduction videos to share with the children to explain what you want them to do and model. As Jules says, structure will help - think about what the children would normally be doing if they were in, and try to organise things around that. You might not always do a maths input for example, but you would probably do maths every day with some children through their play. Think about how you support their play and get that in to an activity that they can do at home. It's really not about long tasks though with Reception - that would just be so frustrating for the parents and the children, and might actually put a lot of them off from doing things. You might find some of these sheets useful for activities: https://tapestry.info/infographic-library.html#EYFS Let us know what you think of or if you need further help.

I agree! Luckily the person who tested positive was able to let us know when they started to feel rubbish so we made her isolate straight away.

It is my understanding (having read through the 'guidance' as my daughter was in contact with someone) if you haven't been contacted by track and trace, then you should carry on as normal but just be extra careful with social distancing etc. If T&T contact you, you must self-isolate until the date they tell you, whether you have a negative test or not. If you develop symptoms, then you can then go for a test. My daughter was in contact with someone on the Tuesday but we weren't called by T&T until the following Monday even though they'd been given her details on the Friday!

Please note the EYFS 2021 flag set was formerly called 'Development Matters 2020' on Tapestry. This was updated to incorporate the Birth to 5 documentation. To be able to use the revised EYFS framework (2021), you will firstly need to enable your chosen flags. You can do this by clicking on your name at the top right corner of the page (1) and then selecting 'Control Panel' (2). From the left-hand side menu you will need to choose 'Settings' (1) and from that drop-down menu you will then need to select 'Flags' (2). You will then need to click on the 'EYFS 2021' heading (3). Here you will see all the different available flag sets for EYFS 2021 (1). To view the individual flags within a flag set click on 'View Flags' (2). After clicking on the 'View Flags' button you will then be presented with a pop-up box listing all the flags for that set (this may look slightly different depending on if you have already included the Birth to 5 Matters aspects during the flag configuration). To enable all the flag sets for EYFS 2021 click on the 'Enable all' button. If you choose to 'Enable All' then you will be given the option to enable it for staff only or staff and relatives. To enable an individual flag set click on the 'Configure' button for the set you wish to enable. A pop-up box will then appear where you can enable the flag set for observations (1). Once that has been done, you will then have the option to enable it for relatives too (2). You can also choose whether you want to use the flag for use in Reflections (3). These are not shared with relatives so there is no option to select relatives here. If your school/setting is using only the Development Matters guidance, then make sure the option to 'Include Birth to 5 Matters aspects' is unticked; or you can tick this box to include the Birth to 5 Matters aspects and guidance material (4). Make sure you save your changes (5). This will take you back to the flags screen where you will then be able to see which options have been turned on (1) Now that you have the new EYFS flags on your account, when you go to add an observation, you will see it in the flags section. To learn how to use the flags when adding observations, take a look at this tutorial. If you want to disable the previous EYFS assessment framework on your account you will need to go to the Control Panel (1), Settings (2), then Assessments (3). In the 'EYFS' section, click on the 'Configure' button (4). From the pop-up box you will then need to untick the 'Enable Early Years Foundation Stage' tick box (1) and then press submit (2). Please note that disabling this will mean that any assessments made in observations with the old EYFS framework will be hidden, but you can choose to view them at any time by re-enabling the framework from this Assessments page. Go back to Main Tutorials Page

That's great, thank you. If you have any other suggestions, please do let us know, either through here, or via email ti customer.service@eyfs.info

Hi, Thank you for your suggestions. I have added them to the developer notes for reports so hopefully this will be something that we will be able to add in the future. Was there a specific report that you are using (EYFS, KS etc)?

Hi Cheryl, At the moment, memos can not be created by relatives, but I have added this to our developer list as a way for relatives to message without going in to journals would be useful, especially if settings end up with remote learning again. At the moment though they will have to add their message as an observation which you can leave as not in journal, so it does not appear when exported.

Have you thought about using Tagging at the moment to keep observations together? You will then be able to get all the relevant observations together using filters and use professional judgement to assess the children.

Have you thought about doing video inputs for a session? I know my wife recorded a daily video during the last lockdown - just a quick maths input where she would model something using anything that could be found in a house (socks, shoes, cutlery etc) as resources. She then set them a challenge based on that - something like how many ways can you group 10 things. The parents then took photos and uploaded them back on to Tapestry for her to see. She would also do the same for a phonics session - introducing a sound and then a little game that they can either play by themselves or with a partner (parent or sibling). If she did attach a document such as something to write on, she always showed it and made it simple enough that a parent could easily recreate it at home themselves.

We should have it all up in time for then

Ah - that makes more sense then. The ELG2020 hasn't got any tracking at the moment as we are still working out the best way to provide this in a meaningful and useful way. As the ELGs aren't really required until the end of the Reception year, we hoped that this wouldn't cause any problems for people in the short term. Hopefully this is something that we will be able to add very shortly for you.

Hi, and welcome to the forum Can I get you to check that the observations that you have are covered by the assessment period that you are looking in on the Summative Assessment page. Also please check that the observations have been added to the journal, or alternatively, in Control Panel - Settings - Summative Assessment, check the box to include assessments from unapproved observations. This tutorial will help take you through the steps: Setting up your EYFS Snapshots (summative assessments) If you are still not seeing what you expect, please email customer.service@eyfs.info and we will be able to look in to your account further for you.

Hi. The easiest way is to allow the relatives to download the PDF of their child's journal: This tutorial will take you through the steps: Downloading journals to PDFs for staff and relatives Once you have created the file, you can then delete the child from your account to make space for the next children. As long as the relative is still active, they will be able to access the file for the full 21 days it is available for. Before you do delete them though, please ensure that you have downloaded any summative assessment data and accident forms you require for your own records as these will be deleted when you remove the child.

Hi, and welcome to the forum and Tapestry On entry data to Reception can really depend on your intake and I would always look at their nursery data if possible to give an idea, and then spend a few weeks doing a baseline using Tapestry to get an idea where they are now. This will be really important this year as the data from nursery may possibly by from before Easter and the children may have not been in a setting since. You can carry out a baseline using Tapestry by following these steps: Baseline assessments (EYFS) I would tend to do this just by observing the children in their play, and make sure that I was hitting all the areas I needed, focusing on Prime areas only at this point. Once I had my baseline, I would then plan as normal, and observe as much as I needed to. When we started with Tapestry, we set ourselves a target of each child having a prime, English and Maths obs each week - but this was not manageable in the slightest and totally not necessary so we scrapped that! We then did observations as and when appropriate, making sure that we had enough evidence for our own professional judgement, but setting no actual targets.

Hopefully you found Jack's article useful, but if you did have any suggestions for what you would like to see in a reading diary feature, please do send them in to customer.service@eyfs.info so that we can share them with the developers.

We were recently contacted by someone from Partnership for Children who are a UK based charity that produces programmes for primary schools that teaches children skills for life: how to cope with everyday difficulties, how to communicate with and get on with other people, and build self-awareness and emotional resilience. Their programmes are evidence-based and are widely used both in the UK and in over 30 countries around the world. During the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to funding from Oldham Opportunity Area they had the opportunity to develop a selection of play-based activities to also promote younger children's social and emotional development during these challenging times. The activity cards are free to download and are designed for parents, carers and family members of children aged 3-5 years to support their transition back to nursery/childcare or starting school. The activities are divided into the following topics: Feelings, communication, friendship, solving problems, change & loss and moving forward. You can access the activities here: https://www.partnershipforchildren.org.uk/what-we-do/resources-for-parents/early-years-social-emotional-learning-activities.html

So does my wife! (which is why I know how to make it!)

This one looks easier (and cheaper!) to make - thanks

This was my go to recipe for play dough too - which I could make quickly just before the children arrived when I was reminded it was my turn to have made it! I used this site for instructions: https://theimaginationtree.com/best-ever-no-cook-play-dough-recipe/ but they look similar to the one from FM. If I ever needed to make playdough that was non-gluten, I used this method: https://www.parents.com/fun/activities/indoor/gluten-free-play-dough-recipe/ which I found lasted a lot longer, but obviously at the moment, that isn't always needed!

In this episode, Helen and Jules are joined by Beatrice Merrick and Nathan Archer, authors of Getting the Balance Right, a report that examines the tensions between affordable, flexible early years education and high quality provision offered by well qualified, highly valued practitioners. Listen to the podcast here and let us know your thoughts on this topic.

It is possible to not show your assessments to relatives by going to Control Panel - Settings - Assessments and configure the Early Years Foundation Stage option. From there, make sure the box to display to relatives is unticked: This will mean that they are not able to see any of the EYFS assessments, not just the age bands though.

haha no worries - I'd not read anything about it, just know that it seems more people are doing it! I did have a little chuckle when I went to get my hair cut and my temp was 32C! I think one of the F1 drivers also scanned hot after cycling in to the circuit, so put water on his head and then came back as if he was almost frozen! So can see why it's not a great way to check!