A child’s learning journey is a record of a child’s learning and development throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage, this record will be built up over the years and will show many achievements. The child’s key person will tailor activities and experiences to the child’s individual needs, and records of observations/ photos from these activities will be recorded in the child’s learning journey.
A child’s learning journey may contain the following:
- observations
- annotated photographs
- snapshots of significant achievements
- quotes from the child
- comments from the parents/carers
- contributions from other settings the child attends
It is best practice to liaise with parents to find out what the child is doing at home; this information should be recorded in the child’s learning journey as evidence that nursery and parents are sharing information. Observations of children show significant pieces of information; it informs the key person of the level of progression the child is making, and it also may identify any areas of concern. To help identify children’s progress it is crucial that entries into the child’s learning journey are dated.
Learning Journeys are a great way to celebrate children’s achievements. A learning journey should be about documenting children’s learning in a visual way, it shouldn’t be about ticking boxes, etc. it should be a reflection of children’s wow moments that are new to the child. Parent’s will treasure a child’s learning journey for years.
It is best practice to regularly contribute to the child’s learning journey as it provides a story of the child’s time at the setting. Accompanying documents can be used alongside the learning journey to act as supportive evidence of a child’s learning.
- Summative and assessments
- Progress Summary sheets
- Two year progress summary sheet
- Individual tracking sheet
- Any assessment tools to monitor children’s language development.
All of the above will gather evidence of where the child is at and these should be shared with parents, whereas the child’s learning journey is more of a portfolio containing the child’s achievements.