My Learning Journey using Tapestry   

Information for Parents and Carers

Your child’s online Learning Journey celebrates his or her experiences throughout their early education. Over time, it will tell a story about your child - their learning, their friends, the experiences they enjoy and the activities they experience and complete.

Staff watch and notice each child at play because it helps us to understand and support their individual wellbeing and development. We really get to know the children as unique people with special skills, interests and ideas. The more we understand about your child, the better we can support them in the way that is right for them.

Your child’s key person or teacher will work together with you to build this Learning Journey on Tapestry as a record of your child’s early years. We value parents and carers using Tapestry at home and sharing their child’s learning. We encourage you to contribute and read observations through on a more informal, regular basis. We also encourage you to talk with your child about their Learning Journey and feel free to add in family photographs or other things of significance for your child.

At this age, so much happens so quickly and we would love to hear about events, activities or achievements which can be uploaded into your child’s Learning Journey. Feel free to write us a quick note on Tapestry, have a chat with a member of staff or upload a photograph of experiences or a drawing to share with us. When you tell us about your child, a clearer picture unfolds and together, we can plan more effectively to help your child’s learning and development. When children are ready, they may also ask you, or their child’s key person to add things that are important to them in their Learning Journey and together we can create a wonderful record of your child’s early years. Every week we share contributions from home on the smartboard in key person groups, this often helps children to feel special and to understand and value others’ experiences at home.

The Learning Journey will include the following:

Photographs - These capture moments and sequences of your child’s experiences, their interests and explorations. You can add some of your own from home. Sometimes, we will write down exactly what your child says about the photographs, so we know your child’s point of view. This is also an accurate record of language development. Pictures of important people and things from home will help your child to feel secure when making the transition between home and our school. Please feel free to add any photos to the Learning Journey. You could also write down the names of family members or friends pictured in the    photos and we will then be able to talk with your child about things that are important to them.

Your Child’s Creations - These could be photos of models your child has built, photos of their role-play activities, marks they have made or artwork they have created. Sometimes we will add some additional notes to explain what your child did or said.

Observations - As your child completes tasks and activities, staff will observe what your child says and does. We will sometimes make notes of our observations to record information about significant moments in your child’s learning and development. We record important milestones in your child’s learning and use these to think about what and how your child is learning, their development and how best to support them further. You will see ‘Wow!’ moments alongside experiential entries showing your child’s week in nursery school.

Throughout your child’s Learning Journey, you may see references to areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which supports children from birth to the end of their reception year at school.