When children join nursery, they are given a journal. This is a little book with a brief description of what this journal is for and how we plan to use it over the coming year. It isn't a scrap book, nor is it book that children can use whenever they want to draw. There is a drawing table in nursery with a wealth of paper for that. This journal is going to capture each child's mark making and early writing journey through planned occasions when children will be asked to draw directly into the book. This purposeful entry will track each child is in terms of their individual mark making development at specific times of the year - usually on entry and every 3 or 4 weeks after that. Staff will date and briefly annotate each drawing, to provide context to the work and a lovely journey of development and progression across all areas of learning, over time.