At least twice a year, staff meet up with parents/carers to share how their child is progressing and the learning that has been taking place. Staff will share handwritten checkpoints with parents, highlighting development across all 7 areas of learning and potential next steps, which we sometimes ask families to support with at home. 

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Every child in school has a journal that captures mark making and early writing at specific points in the year. Staff plot regular times across they year, when they ask their children to draw or write something special for their book. It's usually around twice every half term, as this will enable us to see progress at a glance and plan responsively. These journals are shared with parents/carers during their meet ups with staff. 

 

Staff also write what we call 'checkpoints' for each child - on entry, mid-year and on exit.

Checkpoints invite the key person to comment on each child's playfulness, alongside aspects

of the 7 areas of learning set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage, EYFS. The focus of our

checkpoints is on the progress each child makes over time, identifying some of the things we're

focusing on next, so that parents can also support their children at home.      

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In addition to this, children's work is portrayed on the walls in nursery, captured and documented to tell the stories of learning. This might be documentation of a group of children, or sometimes the learning of just one child. We want everyone who walks through our door, whether that be a parent, grandparent, member of the community, colleague, visitor or Ofsted inspector, to very quickly understand what goes on here and the kind of learning we promote and value in all our children.

 

The reflections for the staff incorporated into the work will highlight the learning, so that every reader can see and appreciate what happens in our school and how we support children's curiosities, questions, lines of enquiry, discoveries, knowledge, vocabulary and expertise. Our walls speak and hopefully shout out the learning to every interested observer and reader who is interested in finding out about the way we work.  

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Each family group will be invited into school for a Family Friday, led by the key person. The purpose of Family Fridays is to demonstrate to parents and carers our approach to teaching and learning. The idea being that families should come away from the session with a clearer picture of The Wingate Way and hopefully, a deeper understanding of how they might support their child's learning at home.