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Tapestry Newsletter July 2021

by Jack on July 30

Hi, everyone.

I hope you managed to stay cool through those hot days this July and you are all expecting a restful and well-earned summer break. Just a few things from me this month so read on for more info.

 

The New Flags

Firstly, as a lot of you have already seen you can now enable the new EYFS 2021 flag set (and ELG 2021 if you’re in Reception) in preparation for September. You can enable any of the flag sets by going to Control Panel > Flags. But give this tutorial a read for more information on the EYFS 2021 set specifically.

Flags are now visible on both the Android and iOS apps, but you must ensure they are the most up-to-date versions. If you are still using Tapestry Classic, you will need to download our newer app (Tapestry Mobile with the colourful logo) in order to access the flags as well as other improvements and features.

This forum post goes into more detail on the changes we have made and what this means for you, your setting, and your provision.

 

The Areas of Concern Screen Explained

Speaking of the new EYFS, we have a few new monitoring screens which go alongside the new flags. My colleague Ben and I recorded another video recently where we look at the Areas of Concern screen in a bit more detail and breakdown some of the questions we have seen popping up. You can see the video on our YouTube channel here.

 

Product Support

Just a quick reminder that our product support team here at Tapestry HQ runs as normal through the summer holidays. So, should you need to get hold of us during your break, you can email customer.service@eyfs.info whenever you need. Our working hours are 9 – 5 every weekday.

However, we won’t be running our online training sessions between the 1st of September to the 17th of October. This is our busiest time of year so we prioritise answering support tickets.

 

Infographics

Have you ever visited our infographics page? If not, I’d thoroughly recommend having a look. We have over a dozen resources aimed at settings, parents and staff on a whole range of topics: End of Year To-Do lists, a guide to the new EYFS, The Why and How of Adding Observations, and more. You can see the full set here.

 

#ReclaimPlayfulness

This summer, Tapestry is collaborating with Learning With Parents, a charity focused on empowering parents to become involved with their children’s learning. We’ve gotten together to promote playing in our Summer of Play campaign (under the hashtag #ReclaimPlayfulness). We have created some resources that give ideas for playful activities parents can do with their children this summer. Some of the areas they cover are “physical”, “story” and “creative” among others. You can read more about the campaign and download the resources here.

 

Quick Tip

If you are adding new relatives onto your Tapestry account, or will be soon, here are a few tips which might help.

After you have added the relatives to your account (either individually or in bulk), you can check their “status” by going to Control Panel > Manage Relatives:

  • Active – this means they have a password already and should be able to log in as normal. They either set their own password via the welcome email, or you set one for them when adding them to the account.
  • Activating – this means you have sent the activation email to them but they still need to interact with that email to set a password. It’s worth telling them the email may have gone to their spam folder.
  • Not Activated – this means they have either not been sent the activation email yet, or they have been sent one and it has now expired. They have not yet set a password successfully and won’t be able to log in yet.

If any relatives are in the “not activated” stage, don’t worry! You can send them another activation email simply by clicking the cog menu next to their name > ‘Retry activation’. On the following page, you will see a few options but the top one will allow you to send them a new activation email. It’s also worth double-checking the email address for the relative is correct.

 

Payments

If you wish to pay for Tapestry by cheque or BACs please can we remind you:

Cheques should be made payable to ‘The Foundation Stage Forum Ltd’ and NOT Tapestry or the early years foundation stage forum.

Also, please note that our business address changed 2 years ago. If you need to send a cheque, the address is:

The Foundation Stage Forum Ltd

WaterCourt, 65 High Street

Lewes

BN7 1XG

BACS – we moved our service provider for our banking in October 2019 and our bank is now HSBC:

  • Account name: The Foundation Stage Forum Ltd
  • Sort code: 40 18 22
  • Account number: 42445565

Our old bank account with Lloyds will be shut soon so payments made to that account in error will not be processed.  If you need further information, please email the finance team at bacs@eyfs.info.

If you do not deal with finance in your setting, please ensure this information is passed to the finance team so they can make sure their records are up to date.

 

That’s all from me. Again, have a lovely summer break everyone and talk to you again in August.

Take care,

Jack

Jack

Product Support Specialist and Education Advisor

Jack started his career in education as a volunteer in a Brighton-based Charity for children with motor disorders. After which he was hired as an assistant conductor. During his time there, he studied at the University of Brighton to qualify as a primary school teacher. After a short stint as a supply teacher, Jack got his first job teaching Year 6. He remained in that role for a few years before moving to Year 4.
Jack joined Tapestry in August 2019 after many hints from his former housemate and now manager, Emily. In his Product Support role, Jack can be found answering customer emails and offering Tapestry advice on the phone. As part of the Education Team, you'll find him writing articles, recording podcasts and offering words of educational wisdom while drinking mugs of coffee.

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