At The Nursery we use an online system called Tapestry to record and store all observations and assessments relating to each child. This is a safe and secure system and one that enables parents and carers to access their child’s learning journey at anytime. They can share it with their child, family and friends at home and also post any comments and photographs of their own, helping to create a fully holistic view of the child and strengthen the parent partnership.
Safety
As part of our commitment to safeguarding our children, all learning journeys are password protected so that parents and carers can only access the account of their child. Other than family, only the approved nursery staff have access to the journal. Staff use tablets to take the photographs for observations that will be uploaded to the journal. Staff are not permitted to take the tablets home and they will remain on the premises at all times, unless specific permission has been granted by the manager. Tablets are to be stored in a locked office at the end of each day and over the weekends and holidays as a security measure. Staff wishing to update journals at home are able to access the Tapestry site using their own device. Staff are not permitted to download any photographs of the children onto their own devices. If staff do work on Tapestry at home they should be aware of any other people around them and make sure they are not overlooked. They must log out as soon as they have stopped working. We ensure all staff are DBS checked before they are able to log on off site, also every member of staff has signed an agreement specifying their responsibilities.
Sharing with children
Staff will share the photos they take with the children as they are taken and will record any comments made by the child on the Tapestry site either under the photo or in with the observation. We will also encourage parents and carers to share the journals at home with their child. Within the setting, we will continue to take photographs of events and activities with the camera, which we will then turn into a photo book for the children to look through in nursery. This enables children to develop their sense of belonging and share experiences with their peers.
Parents without Internet
For parents without access to the internet, we will print all the information from Tapestry and put it into a scrapbook. This will be in nursery for the parent to view at all times and will be sent home when required. When the children leave the nursery setting permanently, we will email a PDF copy or paper print out of the learning journal to parents, so they have a lasting record of their child’s time at the nursery