Family information

Ongoing Reporting to families

Your child’s learning story will be the main and only written part of the ongoing reporting format during their time in nursery. The learning you will see is based on observations taken in the context of play within the nursery setting that are linked to Curriculum for Excellence and should reflect these four contexts.

Our framework for learning is underpinned by Curriculum for Excellence which places learners at the heart of their education so that they have opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to adapt, think critically and flourish in today’s world. The Learning Story will be shared along with an overview of their latest achievements. You will be invited to give feedback on the Learning Stories at our Stay & Play sessions.

Over the year, there will be other opportunities for information sharing between nursery and home.

See below:

What is stay & Play?

Stay & Play is part of our ongoing reporting to families. It allows parents or carers to come into the setting and see their child(ren) in the nursery environment. This provides the staff with the opportunity to give an update of the children's learning and development and support with any questions or queries you may have. Stay & Play is a good opportunity for families to see what their children's interests are and what they like to do at nursery. These sessions happen twice a year and there will be information closer to the time with dates and when the sign up sheets will be available. The sessions run for approximately 45 minutes and you will have the opportunity in this time to play with your child, speak to key worker or other member of staff. Due to capacity, Fire Safety and the wellbeing of our children, we will only have 1 adult per child each session, so we hope over the course of the year to be able to see as many parents/carers as possible

At the end we always ask for feedback as part of our self-evaluation and improvement processes so all feedback is welcomed.

What is share my Learning?

To ensure we offer different opportunities across the year for sharing children's learning, twice a year, in line with Stay & Play, we will offer Share My Learning. This will be opportunity for families to come into the Family Room at pick up time to have a look with the child through their learning story. There are sheets provided to allow families share any special news or achievements from home. This is a lovely way for us to be aware and celebrate the children's wider achievements.

We always ask for feedback as part of our self-evaluation and improvement processes so all feedback is welcomed.

Parental involvement

It is really important to the team at Law Nursery that parents, carers and families are involved in the life of the nursery. The children love to share their learning and experiences of outside of the nursery and we love to hear this!

We encourage the children's "special grown ups" to come in and share their skills with us in the nursery as part of our Social Studies part of the Curriculum. If you would be interested in coming in over the year please let a member of the team know and we can organise.

Personal plans

In our nursery, every child has a Personal Plan. This is made up of your child's All About Me (which you complete prior starting nursery), important information, consent forms, any GIRFEC paperwork or information from other agencies if applicable and their Learning Story.

The Personal Plan is a simple, tailored document that helps us understand and support your child’s individual needs, development and wellbeing.

✅ Child-Centered: Focuses on what matters most to your child.

🤝 Collaborative: Created with families and updated regularly by key workers.

🌈 Wellbeing-Focused: Guided by Scotland’s SHANARRI indicators (Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, Included).

📅 Reviewed Often: Updated at least every 6 months.

🛡️ Legally Required: Ensures high-quality, consistent care.

The Personal Plan review includes reviewing your child's All About Me and any other individual information or strategies we have in place to support your child. This will be done via telephone call with one of your child's key workers. You will be asked to sign up for a ten minute time slot with a key worker in advance. This will be organised around key workers’ shift patterns. If a parent or carer has a concern about their child, a phone call or appointment can be scheduled. If a practitioner has any concern, they will contact your directly.

Learning Story

In East Lothian, a Learning Story is a unique and holistic record of your child’s learning journey. It captures their development, achievements, and progress across the curriculum in a way that is personal and meaningful.

🧒 Child’s Voice First: Children help shape their own story, sharing thoughts and experiences (UNCRC Article 12).

👨‍👩‍👧 Family Involvement: Parents and carers are encouraged to engage with and contribute to their child’s learning.

📚 Celebrating Progress: Highlights milestones, interests, and learning moments over time.

🌱 Whole-Child Approach: Focuses on holistic development and achievements which includes opportunities for personal achievement, curriculum and area subjects, interdisciplinary learning and life and ethos of the school as a community.

The Learning Story entries are made up of observations of significant learning and achivements. The team use these observations to plan learning which is responsive to the children's interest and stage of development, as well as including intentional learning based upon our Termly Plan. The key workers then track the children's development through their observations, using the Curriculum for Excellence Frameworks.

Learning Through Play

Please see our Learning at Law page regarding information on how we plan for children's learning at Law Nursery.

The role of a key worker

A key worker helps children feel safe and cared for, ensuring they experience a secure attachment. The key worker supports and promotes children’s wellbeing. This starts from when our children are transitioning into our setting. A child who feels settled, happy and secure is more confident to explore and as a result becomes a more capable learner.

A key worker monitors the child’s care and learning through the whole team’s observations. They collate this information to plan the child’s next steps and to ensure the child is progressing at their own level. However, all practitioners observe all children to ensure observations are not missed. A key worker makes links to outside agencies and monitors support given. They are aware of all those who are involved in supporting the child. They should be involved in reviewing the support given by the EL&C setting through the child’s plan.

Whilst your child will have a key worker, all of our practitioners are responsible for supporting all children and their parents and carers. Our practitioners work shifts, which means that they will not always be in the setting when it’s open. Should you have any queries, please speak to a member of the staff team within the playroom and they will be happy to help you.

the purpose of Gather time

The purpose of gather time is to give our children the opportunity to be a part of a small group, where they can have quality interactions with other children and consistent practitioners. Gather time is a short time where the key workers/practitioners come together with their group of children. We encourage all children to join in, however we respect children’s wishes and understand that some children may prefer to continue to play.

To best maximise the learning opportunities during our gather time, in January 2025 we reduced the size of our gather groups to promote greater adult-child interactions. We recognise the smaller groups can ensure all children have quality interactions with familiar practitioners.

During morning gather, we focus on a well-being check in to allow children the opportunity to share how they are feeling. We prepare children for the day ahead for them to be aware of what’s happening in the nursery. This promotes predictability for children to feel confident about their routine for the day. It is also a good opportunity for practitioners to share the learning experiences on offer around the setting.

During this planning phase, before lunch, the children have a story and engage in literacy learning experiences such as answering questions about the book ie

“Did you like the story? What characters were in the book? Can anyone remember what happened when…?”

Having smaller groups has created more opportunities for children to interact with the key worker and practitioners can tailor their interactions around children’s interests and offer differentiated learning to meet all children’s stages of development. This will provide the children with more consistency of familiar practitioners at gather time, as a result of the teams shift patterns.

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