10 Reflections Over 10 Years

1^st October 2022 was Tapestry’s 10^th birthday. Here we look back over the last decade.

1. The parental engagement ‘toolkit’ is changing with the times

The last ten years has seen a huge growth in the use of digital platforms designed to help us all to communicate in new ways. Current parents and carers of young children will be used to this online communication culture, more so than those ten years ago. Conversations at the end of the day, time to look through their child’s special book, ‘stay and play’, invitations to hear children read – all these remain key to connecting with families. At the same time, the parental partnership ‘toolkit’ has evolved to include digital tools, such as the online learning journal. They offer families and settings innovative ways to take part in two-way communication about a child’s learning and development, sharing experiences in the setting and at home. Having a variety of tools to support parental involvement can help reduce barriers to engagement and have a positive impact on children’s learning.

My child’s childcare setting currently uses your application and I think it’s fantastic! It has helped me feel more settled about leaving him at Nursery.

2. There will always be changes to policy and guidance

Here are just a few of the changes that have happened during the last decade in England alone: EYFS 2012, EYFS 2014 (updated), EYFS 2021, Development Matters 2012, Development Matters 2021, Birth to 5 Matters, National Curriculum 2014, Ofsted Inspection Framework 2019 and 2022. Change is challenging, it requires learning new methods, adapting resources, stepping outside what we know. It should also be an opportunity to build on what we already do, to use our experience in a different way, to reflect and improve. Here at Tapestry, we have seen educators in schools, nurseries and childminding settings adapt again and again to the official changes over the years, and in turn they have inspired us to adapt our software…

I really love the bespoke flags as these can be tailored and matched to planning.

3. Customers keep us inspired

While always keeping the original purpose of enhancing parental engagement at its heart, Tapestry has evolved over the years. Looking back (and continuing forwards) we have woven many customer suggestions into Tapestry. Our knowledgeable Product Support team collate these requests, noticing when people are asking for similar functionality. Discussions between the education team and our creative, problem-solving developers follow, and over time a new feature becomes a reality. Examples of features that have been suggested by our customers are: Bespoke Frameworks, Child Login, Montessori framework. And the Cherry Garden framework was developed in partnership with outstanding specialist school Cherry Garden. All these features are explained in more detail here.

…we love Cherry Garden, we are a non-maintained special school nursery who also have a small typically developing cohort of children. We took the decision this year to only use Cherry Garden as our assessment tool … it actually will suit all of our children so have used it to design our curriculum too.

4. Necessity is the mother of invention

We cannot reflect on the last ten years without acknowledging the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic, which brought with it daunting challenges for educators, families, and children. Overnight, settings and schools had to reach and teach children and families remotely. We found that the needs of our customers and the communities they served directed us in new ways. Our Product Support team adapted seamlessly to home working, advising and reassuring customers, while our developers responded quickly by designing functionality to support home learning. Features and resources developed in those early weeks of the pandemic include Activities, audio only attachments, exporting all videos in a zip file, ability to export longer videos and activity infographics for families. You can find out more about how Tapestry supports home learning here, and access the activity infographics here.

I just wanted to say a huge, huge thank you for all your hard work at team Tapestry for making it such an easy and lifesaving tool for teachers. Setting our online work has never been easier and parents have engaged better than ever down to the easy-to-use format you guys work so hard to provide for us teachers…thank you so so much …

5. Educators are innovators

Meanwhile, as setting and school closures continued for many children during the pandemic, educators found creative ways to connect with and support them. To do so, many educators had to learn new technical skills. We were uplifted and amazed by the innovative ways they used digital resources, including Tapestry, from video story times, to uploading activities, to daily ‘blogs’ about their classes. In 2020, educators shared their experiences in our annual survey which you can read here.

6. One door closes, but maybe lots more will open

Over this decade we have been lucky to reflect on education with many dedicated people. Often these were educators, consultants, lecturers etc who were local to us, so we could meet in person with all the benefits that brings. But as the world shut down in early 2020, like many we discovered the value of on-screen meetings. Now we record podcasts, have online events and are privileged to meet with educators and specialists from all over the country and beyond. These conversations have contributed hugely to our professional learning. And we still enjoy visiting schools and settings in person to meet with wonderful local contacts when we can. Listen to all the Foundation Stage Forum podcast episodes.

7. Having necessary conversations about racism across the education sector

It was after one of those long-distance on-screen conversations, with Liz Pemberton and David Cahn, that we began an ongoing anti-racist journey. We all have a responsibility to reflect on our beliefs, thoughts, biases and actions. Liz explains: Anti-racist practice in education is about making consistent, intentional and conscious choices to challenge racism and disrupt the many ways that it shows up in our practice and its presence within the systems and structures of the education sector. (From A Beginner’s Guide to Anti-racism). Starting is the most important thing. And then keep reflecting on how the work you are doing is unfolding in your provision, for children and with families and colleagues. Download a free copy of A Beginner’s Guide to Anti-racism by Liz Pemberton. And listen to the podcast episode ‘Talking about racism and anti-racism in early years education’ with Liz and David.

8. Changing language and practice for children with learning differences and disabilities

Changes in language and practice begins with individuals, educators who ask themselves who am I listening to, what are my assumptions, what do I need to un-learn? There is such a change happening now, in language and practice for children with learning differences and disabilities. By listening to voices who have lived experience of neurodiversity and of disability, we can develop our awareness of ableism and how we can combat it. We hope to witness this embedded in pedagogical approaches in the coming decade. To support your own reflective practice, A Beginner’s Guide to Ableism by Emily Lees is available to download for free. And you can hear Emily in conversation with Kerry Murphy in the ‘Reflecting on Ableism’ podcast episode.

9. How might ‘observations’ look in the future?

Towards the end of the last 10 years, with the arrival of the new EYFS in 2021, we have seen a positive move away from data-centred assessment, to a child-centred approach. This is changing how early years educators use observations. Now they can be a photo or video clip, providing a valuable prompt when talking about a child’s development, informing reflective practice, and sending to families so they can talk about it with their child. Tapestry are currently project partners in research into using video observations to explore children’s voice and metacognition in their online learning journals. Discover more about the ‘Agency in Digital Documentation’ research project.

10. An online learning journal can be useful in unexpected places

When Tapestry was first created, this new online tool was being designed to be used by educators working with children and families. Ten years on, and we have had quite a few unexpected users. Two have involved animals – a horse dressage centre, and a dog training company. Our settings have spanned the holiday seasons – summer camp and ski school. And families have stayed in touch with the daily care and experiences of loved ones in care homes and hospital baby units.

Thank you to all our customers who keep us inspired, and to all the dedicated voices who speak out for children and keep us learning.

If you would like to take part in professional learning related to the Beginner’s Guide to Anti-racism, or the Beginner’s Guide to Ableism, there are online courses available on Tapestry CPD designed around these guides, and other themes. Find out more about Tapestry CPD.