Things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. – Albert Einstein

Had a fantastic couple of days working with a staff team on observation, assessment and planning cycle...what does come first? They really wanted to unpick what was working for them and what wasn’t...they (like many many settings) were doing so much....probably too much! So we worked through the WHYS? Why are we doing what we are doing? Why do we plan like we do? Why are we doing this activity? Who is it for and why? What do we need and why?

By the end of the two days we had: created a whole setting approach to planning, observation and assessment and recording. We ‘de-cluttered’ the process to ensure that the team had a manageable and meaningful system that was focussed on children’s learning and development. They put it into practice straight away and this is the feedback from the manager a few weeks later:

Things are going well this end…the planning, assessments and observations have dramatically improved and the staff are growing in confidence every day in using the new formats we agreed!

Of course it is a dynamic process and making sure you know why you are doing what are are doing (or why you’re not doing something else!) is very empowering and gives you confidence when talking to parents, other professionals or inspectors!