Tapestry

All children attending Tiger Cubs Day Nursery have a personal on-line Learning Journey to build up a record of your child’s experiences during their time with us. We have a new system called ‘Tapestry’ which enables staff to take photographs, videos and make written observations of the activities your child does at school. You will then have access to this information (using your email address and a secure password to log in) so you can celebrate your child’s learning at home. Parents/carers can also add their own photos and comments to the journal.

Security

Tapestry are very proud of the trust placed in them by so many schools, settings, childminders, and families to take care of the data added to Tapestry. They take their responsibility to look after it very seriously, including being careful about who they employ, ensuring all of the software they use is up to date and fully tested, encrypting your data on our servers and the connections between you and our servers, and hiring independent companies to check our systems are secure (this is known as penetration testing).

Tapestry also back up your data in a completely separate location so even in the unlikely event that your data is lost or corrupted in the live system, for example, if the servers where it is stored are destroyed, we will be able to restore the vast majority of it. Despite all of the above, security is only as strong as the weakest link. We therefore need to work with you, the school, the people accessing and adding to accounts, to ensure the overall system is secure. This means, for example, making sure you set safe passwords that you do not share with others. Please click here if you would read more about the security which Tapestry has in place.

Photographs

Observations by Staff
In the Nursery, we use Tapestry as one of several forms of assessment. We observe and record key moments in your child’s development. Here is a quick outline of how we do this for your information:

1. We write a record of what we observed.
2. We quote the child accurately using the exact language that he/she used.
3. Sometimes we also note the progress or comment on the learning demonstrated.

Please note, these observations are small snapshots of your child’s learning and just one way in which we track their progress. We ask staff to use their extensive knowledge and understanding of the Early Years Curriculum to only record key moments in your child’s development, as we want to ensure that the staff spend as much time interacting with the children and extending their learning, rather than writing many observations.

Observations by Parents
One of the fantastic features of Tapestry is that parents can also add observations of ‘wow moments’ from home to your child’s journal. This is a great way of supporting us in assessing your child outside the school environment; it also provides us with opportunities to celebrate any achievements your child has made at home. Staff follow the guidelines above to ensure that the observations we make are purposeful and detailed

What are key ‘Wow Moments’?
They provide us with an invaluable glimpse into what your child is like at home and also information for the areas of learning which are trickier to cover in school. The following statements are taken from the government Early Years Outcomes guide and any observations covering these areas would be greatly appreciated.

They can give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity (eg. Listening to you and responding whilst drawing, playing etc).

Understands humour, e.g. nonsense rhymes, jokes.
Shows understanding of the need for safety when tackling new challenges and considers and manages some risks.
Is more outgoing towards unfamiliar people and more confident in new social situations.
Can describe their self in positive terms and talk about abilities.
Eats a healthy range of foodstuffs and understands the need for variety in food.
Travels with confidence and skill around, under, over and through balancing and climbing equipment.
They enjoy joining in with family customs and routines.
They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, among families, communities and traditions (make a note of what they say).
They talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members (make a note of what they say).
They look closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change (e.g in the Natural World)
They recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools.
They select and use technology for particular purposes (Technology such as phones, remote controls, microwaves, dishwashers, computers, hoovers, iPads).

Commenting on observations by staff

When you read the observations by staff there is an option for you to leave a reply. Perhaps your child has done something similar at home or is showing particular interest in the topic of the observation, if so we would love to hear about it. If we have written a next step then you can also reply to the observation telling us about how your child got on at home (e.g. ‘X loved talking about this painting at home and could tell us how she mixed the colours to make orange’).

Remember:

- Any publishing of staff observations from Tapestry onto social media is strictly prohibited.
- Contact your key worker if you are unsure about how to use any of the Tapestry features.
- Celebrate your child’s development by sharing the learning journal with them at home; we are sure your child would love to talk about what they have been learning at school.