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  • Early Years

Hull Family Hubs

How Tapestry helps Hull Family Hubs demonstrate their impact on child development

Hull Local Authority has 8 main Family Hubs and 4 satellite hubs, delivered by a mixture of community sector groups and the Local Authority. Each Hub is unique, serving the needs of the children and families in its community.

Helen Tan, who is Early Years Standards Improvement Officer for Hull LA, implemented the use of Tapestry across the Hubs to support good practice.

Using learning journeys to show the impact on child development

The driving force behind introducing Tapestry was to enable Helen and the Family Hub teams to show the impact of the work they were doing. They take a case study approach, with ‘deep sampling’ of individual children’s learning journeys.

"We’re looking for the qualitative information about the progress a child has made. A learning journey on Tapestry tells a story of what attending sessions at a Hub has meant for a particular child and their family. "

Helen Tan

A strategic overview for monitoring and reviews

As a leader supporting a group of Hubs, Helen uses Tapestry to give her an overview of all the Family Hubs across Hull. She can quickly show other members of the LA leadership team any specific areas of impact on child development and what different Hubs are focussed on.

"From my point of view Tapestry makes things so much easier. Wherever I am, I can log in to Tapestry. I don’t need to go and look through lots of paper journals, I can quickly and easily look up a case study to refer to for monitoring purposes. This helps me with performance management as well, which we do for each of the Family Hubs. Tapestry is there to support the practitioners as they talk about a child, helping them remember their learning and development story."

Photo of two practitioners at a Hull Family Hub monitoring children on Tapestry.

Supporting the home learning environment

A key focus for the Hull Family Hubs is finding ways to support the home learning environment, because this can have a positive impact on child development. They use Tapestry to connect parents and carers with their children’s learning and to help them understand how important their own input is.

"We wanted to enable parents to be more aware of how an activity could support their child’s learning, particularly around Communication and Language, or Number. With Tapestry, practitioners can share a photo or video of an activity and how it supports their child’s development. This helps parents to know why it is important and how it fits together. Tapestry also helps us share a child’s experiences with family members who aren’t at the Hub sessions."

Photo of a parent and child reading together at home, as suggested by a Hull Family Hub activity.

Time saving, cost effective and eco-friendly

Prior to using Tapestry, the Family Hubs used paper journals to record children’s experiences. This meant time and money spent printing photos, cutting them out and sticking them in.

"Now all the Hubs use Tapestry, which has saved us time and money, and not printing all those photos is better for the environment too. Tapestry just keeps everything in one central place for us, which means our practitioners can spend more time with children and their families."

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Tapestry Survey 2026 megaphone

46% of early years educators are using AI in their work

Yet 1 in 4 say it has no place in early years. In this year’s survey, 637 professionals shared their experiences in the sector.

Have you seen what they said yet?

Take a look

Using the Care Diary

Give parents a clear picture of their child’s day, from feeding and napping to accidents, incidents and medication. Log everything in one place, let parents sign off forms digitally from their own device, and use dedicated reports to spot patterns and support safeguarding.
Device showing the Care Diary modal for a child on Tapestry

Tapestry CPD

Tapestry CPD offers high-quality, flexible professional development for your team. Created in-house in collaboration with sector experts, courses cover a variety of topics from child development, to getting the most from Tapestry.

Certificates are available on completion, and everything is included as part of a Tapestry subscription.

Screenshot of Tapestry's CPD homepage, with an illustration of an educator at a laptop.

An example Reflection

The Early Years manager at Tapestry Primary School, Gabriel, has noticed issues with storing objects for loose parts play. He adds his thoughts to Tapestry as a reflection, and outlines what he hopes to achieve.

An illustration of an Early Years manager, Gabriel, adding a reflection to Tapestry.

His co-manager, Jules, thinks it would be great to get the children’s families involved, and comments on the reflection to say she’ll speak to the Head about sending out a letter to parents.

Comments from staff members on a Tapestry reflection.

Staff member Katie reports that after the letter is sent out, several parents have brought in some excellent repurposed items to use for Gabriel’s idea.

Tapestry Reflections are designed to be returned to as many times as needed – Gabriel, Katie and Jules can keep adding comments, and report on the impact once everything has come together!

Tapestry Reflections

The Reflections area of Tapestry is a structured, staff-only space for understanding the impact of your provision. You can add individual reflections to record thoughts about specific children, your practice, or even procedures within your setting. Capture notes individually or collaborate as a team to share insights, highlight strengths, and plan meaningful next steps for children and your school or setting.

Reflection talking about purchasing diverse and inclusive books for a setting, with comments from staff members agreeing and making suggestions.

Using Documents

Tapestry’s Documents feature gives you a secure, central space to store and share important files with families and staff. Whether it’s policies, forms, or helpful resources, everything is easy to organise and access when needed.

You can control who sees each document, with built-in virus scanning for added peace of mind.

Screenshot of Tapestry's Documents feature, showing the files and folders that can be used to organise documents.

Unlimited Media

Tapestry allows you to upload unlimited photos, videos, documents, and audio, making it easy to capture and share children’s learning in ways that feel natural and meaningful. Visual media helps bring observations to life, supporting understanding for all families, regardless of language or confidence with written communication.

With no limits, you can focus on what matters most – the moments themselves.

Device showing the media picker on Tapestry, showcasing the different media types you can add to Tapestry via the app.

By encouraging Family Observations

Tapestry allows relatives to add their own observations from home, helping you build a fuller picture of each child’s development. These moments offer valuable insight into a child’s interests, experiences, and achievements beyond the setting.

By involving families, you can create a more connected and meaningful view of each child’s learning.

Device showing an observation being uploaded by a family member on Tapestry.

Using Reports

With Tapestry’s Reports feature, you can choose from a range of ready-made templates or design your own using a flexible editor. This makes it easy to create reports that reflect your approach and your school or setting’s needs.

Reports can be shared with families, helping you communicate each child’s progress, development, and next steps clearly.

Screenshots of a report written on Tapestry, about a child's transition between age groups.

Using Messaging

Tapestry’s Messaging feature makes it easy to communicate directly with relatives in a secure, familiar environment. Whether it’s a quick update before the day begins or a follow-up afterwards, conversations stay clear, private, and easy to manage.

Device showing a messaging conversation with a parent on Tapestry.

Using Activities

With Tapestry’s Activities feature, staff can share ideas for learning at home, helping families stay connected to their child’s development. Activities can be simple, flexible, and easy to fit into everyday routines, making it easier for parents and carers to get involved.

Families can also respond with their own observations, supporting a more complete view of each child’s journey.

Device showing an activity linked to an observation.

Using Memos

Tapestry’s Memos feature allows staff to send messages to groups of relatives, making it easy to share announcements, reminders, and important updates in one place. Staff can even use Memos to introduce themselves to families before a child’s first day, helping everyone feel familiar and prepared ahead of the transition. Everything stays within Tapestry, helping communication remain clear, consistent, and easy to access.
Mobile device showing a Memo uploaded by a teacher, introducing himself to children and their families who are starting in his class soon.

Using Messaging

Tapestry’s Messaging feature allows you to communicate directly with individual staff members or relatives, keeping conversations private, secure, and easy to follow. It’s ideal for sharing updates, asking questions, or having more personal conversations about a child’s day.

Device showing a messaging conversation on Tapestry.

Using the Admin Toolkit

As part of Tapestry’s Admin Toolkit, you can transfer child profiles, together with their connected relatives, between Tapestry accounts. This ensures their learning journey continues smoothly, even as they move settings.

Alongside this, you can customise your account, schedule posts in advance, add unlimited staff and relatives, store unlimited data, and tailor notification settings to suit your team.

Photo of a laptop showing the modal for transferring children open.

Bring it all together

Each part of Tapestry strengthens the next. Use Memos to share reminders or keep everyone aligned for the week ahead. Follow up with Direct Messaging when a parent needs reassurance, a quick clarification, or a more personal conversation. Set Activities to extend learning beyond the classroom – whether it’s practising spellings, noticing maths in the real world, or encouraging creative thinking at home.
Laptop showing the Tapestry main login screen, surrounded by the icons for Observations, Assessments, Reflections, Care Diary, Management System, Invoicing, Activities and Memos.
Together, they keep communication clear, learning connected, and families involved in the everyday life of your classroom.

Bring it all together

Each feature on Tapestry supports the next. Observations capture the everyday moments of learning, with flags helping you highlight what matters as you go. If a child needs extra support, the Areas of Concern screen brings those flagged moments together so you can see everything in one place and from there, Reflections help you plan and record the actions you want to take.

Laptop showing the Tapestry main login screen, surrounded by the icons for Observations, Assessments, Reflections, Care Diary, Management System, Invoicing, Activities and Memos.

Together, they help you celebrate the small moments, notice emerging needs, and plan thoughtful support for every child.

Using Bespoke Frameworks

Build your own curriculum using a CSV file, ready to import into Tapestry. You can create your own areas, aspects, statements and scales, organise them into a structure that suits your setting, and assess against them in observations.

screenshot of importing a bespoke framework onto Tapestry.

Using Flags

Flags allow you to label an observation with specific points of reference, such as the EYFS areas, celebrations, or custom flags you have created. Once applied, these flags can be viewed and filtered for a specific child, or the whole setting, helping you quickly locate relevant observations.

Photo of a child with their educational practitioner, painting together in the classroom. Different Tapestry flags surround the photo, showing the areas of learning and celebrations tagged in the observation.

Using the Areas of Concern Screen

The Areas of Concern screen gives you one place to note where a child may need more support across the EYFS areas. Any observations you’ve flagged in those areas appear here automatically, making it easy to look back at what you’ve seen and what it relates to. You can also start reflections from this screen, helping you keep track of the support you’re planning, 

Screenshot of Tapestry's Areas of Concerns screen, with comments from a reflection that staff have started about a child.

Using Reflections

Use structured staff-only reflections to understand the impact of your provision. Make notes for yourself, or work as a team to share insights, highlight strengths, and plan meaningful next steps for children, or for your setting as a whole.

Reflection talking about purchasing diverse and inclusive books for a setting, with comments from staff members agreeing and making suggestions.

Using Tapestry’s Monitoring tools

Whether you’re using EYFS flags, working with specific frameworks, or building your own curriculum, Tapestry keeps everything in one place. Our monitoring screens give you a clear, holistic picture so you can celebrate strengths and plan for what comes next.

Selection of Tapestry's monitoring tools

Using Observations

Tapestry’s Observations feature allows you to capture photos, videos, notes, and audio in the moment. Add area flags and assessments, link other observations and activities, and build each child’s journal — then share updates with families with a single tap.

Device showing the observations list on Tapestry.