Using EYFS Moments & Observations

Three choices get you to any statement:

• The area. The top row holds the three prime areas — Personal, Social & Emotional, Communication & Language, Physical Development. Everything else is built on them, and a worry in a prime area matters more, and sooner, than the same-sized worry in a specific area. The second row holds the four specific areas.
• The age band. Birth to Three, Three and Four-Year-Olds, Children in Reception, and the Early Learning Goals. In Birth to Three there is a baby chip: it shows only the statements a baby can genuinely show, with baby examples.
• Or search everything — type what you saw: “scissors”, “turn taking”, “sleep”.

Open a statement and you get, in order:

• Moments to look out for — ordinary ones, each with a one-line example observation.
• Doesn’t count — what looks like the statement but is not evidence of it. Read this one; it stops you over-crediting.
• When it deserves more than a line — one fuller write-up, shaped what happened → what it tells us → what we will do next.
• What you might see next — where it is heading. Not a target and not a deadline.
• What YOU do next — things you change about tomorrow.
• ⚑ When to raise it, on some statements — with a button to raise it with the SENCo.
• Links to other areas — “one moment, two areas”, and “if they are stuck, look here first”.

⚠️ The statements are word for word from Development Matters and the EYFS framework, because that is the document an inspector has. Never reword one. The moments and examples are JLK’s own.

• I can find a statement by area and age band, and by search
• I know which three areas are prime, and why that matters
• I read “Doesn’t count” before I credit a statement
• I know the baby chip shows only what a baby can genuinely show

Ovivio is the record. Every observation still goes into Ovivio. The observation page helps you write it and tells you exactly what goes where. It saves nothing, and it has no box for the child’s name — you choose the child in Ovivio.

Two ways in:

• From a statement — press 📝 Use for an observation. The page opens with that statement locked in.
• To plan for it instead — press 📋 Plan an activity for this (or 📋 Plan this on one of its activities). A new activity plan opens with the area, the statement as the learning intention and the age group filled in. Who it is for stays yours to write.
• From something you just saw — Staff Hub → 📝 Write an observation. Write it first, choose the child’s age group, then press Suggest statements from what I wrote. It is a guess from your words: tap only the ones the observation really shows, and search if it misses.

Then, while the moment is fresh:

1. What happened — what the child did and said. Their words in quotation marks.
2. Emerging, Developing or Secure for each statement — the same choice Ovivio asks for.
3. Next steps for this child — written as what you will put in place: the environment, your support, their interests. Not a statement for them to hit. Add more than one if needed, each with its area.
4. Now put it into Ovivio — press your nursery’s Ovivio button (it opens in a new tab), then go down Ovivio’s form in the order the page shows: select the child, paste the notes, link each statement and set its progress, add each next step with its area.

📋 On a shared room tablet, whatever you copied stays on the clipboard until something else is copied. Paste it into Ovivio and carry on — do not leave an observation sitting there.

• I know Ovivio is the record and the observation page saves nothing
• I check every suggested statement rather than accepting them all
• I choose Emerging, Developing or Secure while the moment is fresh
• I write next steps as what I will put in place, not as a target for the child

• The moments are deliberately dull — lunch, coats, the water tray. If you only look for a statement during a special activity, you miss the normal Tuesday where nearly all of it happens.
• One line is usually enough. Most days deserve a line; some deserve the fuller write-up. A long observation is not a better one.
• Copy the shape, not the words. The examples are a guide. If what you write reads like the example, it is the example — and five children’s files that read the same are what an inspector notices. The page warns you if you get too close.
• “One moment, two areas”: tag both. Passing a cup at snack can be Physical Development and Personal, Social & Emotional at once.
• “If they are stuck, look here first” points from a specific area back to a prime one. A child who will not hold a pencil may need strength and balance first, not more pencil practice.
• Development Matters is not a checklist, and neither is this. You are noticing what a child can do, not ticking them off.
• The Early Learning Goals describe the end of the reception year. They are not targets for nursery children — the note at the top of the ELG band says so.
• ⚑ When to raise it means raising it with the SENCo on the SEND form, not waiting to see. Anything that worries you about a child’s safety goes to the DSL, in person, first.

Next: Observing Well goes much deeper into what counts and what doesn’t, with “fix this observation” exercises. Writing a fortnightly JLK Story for a family is a different skill — see Observation Excellence.

• I look for statements in ordinary moments, not only planned activities
• I write in my own words about this child, not the example’s
• I tag both areas when one moment shows two
• I know the ELGs are not targets for nursery children

Scenario: At lunch, Ava (3y2m) reaches for the jug, pours her own water, stops before it spills, and says “I did it, not too much!”

What a good observation looks like:

At lunch Ava poured her own water from the small jug and stopped before it reached the top. She said “I did it, not too much!” and drank it.

Linked to — one moment, two areas:

• Maths, 3-4 years: “Make comparisons between objects relating to size, length, weight and capacity.” — she judged “not too much”.
• Personal, Social & Emotional, 3-4 years: “Be increasingly independent in meeting their own care needs…” — she poured her own drink.

Progress chosen for each while it is fresh. Notice what it is not linked to: a statement it only looks a bit like.

Next step for Ava: “Put the small jugs out at snack too, so she pours every day, not just at lunch.” — something we put in place, not “Ava will pour accurately”.

What would be wrong: copying the example sentence from the tool and changing the name · “Ava showed excellent independence and fine motor skills” (a label, not what she did) · linking it to five statements it does not really show.

Reflection prompt: open the tool, find one statement for your key child, and write one line about something they did this week.

• I have written one observation for my key child using the tool