How you can use Tapestry journals to support your provision

5 min read:

Observations – why and how

One question I see asked on a regular basis when looking at early years conversations on social media is “How many observations do you write for a child per week?”. Each time the responses are wide ranging, showing that people have taken the new framework as intended and are doing what feels right for their own practice.

Before considering how many observations you are creating, the important thing to ask is, why are you creating observations?

Previously, observations were a way of creating evidence to back up your judgements in your data. Rightly so, this was seen as a waste of the precious time that staff have with children, and there often isn’t the time or funding to allow staff to have capacity to do this when the children aren’t there. Now that the new framework gives practitioners the freedom to make judgements without evidence, it could appear to suggest that observations are unnecessary. However, there was always a lot more to observations than simply creating a bank of evidence.

No matter how many children you are responsible for in your care, knowing where they are developmentally is so important in ensuring that you continue to meet their needs. The things you plan for them in your provision are key to you meeting these needs. But remembering what they can do, and where they need support, is not always easy when you’re considering the 7 areas of learning for each of the children. This is where observations can really help you.

So, we know observations are useful, but how can we ensure that they do not become time consuming and take educators away from working with the children?

Before starting to create an observation, think about whether you need it. Will it help you remember something useful about how the child accessed the provision? Remember that question: why are you creating observations?

When adding an observation for a child’s Tapestry journal, you can choose to add as much information as you feel you need – there is no expectation to add lots of detail. If you’ve taken a photo or video, and that shows you enough to remind you what the child was doing, then there may not be any need to add further notes. Who are the notes going to be read by and what are they for? Connecting with parents and carers at home is hugely important, but don’t feel like you have to write lots of notes for relatives as most will be able to tell what’s going on from the photo or video, and the title, which might then lead to a lovely conversation between them and the child.

Flags – keeping organised

As there is no longer a need to assess each observation, to help you refer back to the observation at a later date you can use Flags. These are like filing the observation away in a folder called whatever you’ve chosen to name that flag, so that you can find it quickly in the future. These are not assessments. If you’re using them in the EYFS, the EYFS 2021 flags – which are made up of the 7 areas of learning from Development Matters and the aspects from Birth to 5 Matters – will also feed into the Areas of Concern screen.

Something a lot of people have asked for is the ability to tick off the statements from these guidance materials. This isn’t possible, and there is good reasoning behind this. The guidance materials are just that – guidance for when you are planning your provision. They’re not there to act as assessment materials. Removing the ability to tick off statements means that practitioners can spend more time working with the child there and then, instead of thinking about how they should be assessing that observation.

Reflections – supporting a child’s development

Aside from observations and the Areas of Concern screen, Tapestry enables educators to write down anything they have done to support a child, including linking to observations and activities, creating a timeline of events which can be shared only with other staff. This space, called Reflections, allows the educator to review everything when they are monitoring a child’s development and ensure that they truly are supporting them in the best possible way.

Child Login and Activities – getting creative

I am always struck by how creative educators get with their use of the functions within Tapestry journals, from early years to key stage. I recently spoke to a Year 2 teacher about the Child Login and Activities features on Tapestry. Within a few minutes the teacher had come up with the idea of setting an activity for reading on Activities for groups of children to access independently through Child Login. This would enable the teacher to work closely with a focus group. After the session, they would be able to see where children working independently had a good understanding, or where they needed more support.

Join us in this video introduction to ‘Child Login’ to see how you can practically implement the feature into your everyday teaching and get your children to take control over their learning.

Part of your toolkit

Tapestry has developed a great deal since it was first created in 2012 as a tool to support settings’ connection with families, enabling educators and parents/carers to share children’s experiences between setting and home. Partnership with parents/carers remains at the heart of Tapestry, but the extras included with your Tapestry package make it a powerful tool to have in your toolkit for you, the children, and the families.