ABSTRACT
I read all the records I get from the nursery class because they have been written for me and they give me a clear idea of what each child has had experience of in school. Each record contains a written statement from both the parent and the child and each parent completes a form on the child’s entry to school. This tells me something about likes and dislikes, fears and passions. I work closely with the teaching assistant and with the special support teacher and we each take a group of children in the first weeks of term. These are our key children and we observe them closely and at the end of each day meet together to share our observations. We are looking primarily to see if the children appear to have settled into the new environment. We look to see if any of them are silent, withdrawn,
aggressive, fearful or passive. We note who they play with and talk to, what they choose to do and enjoy doing. We note any leaps in learningperhaps the first time the child volunteers an answer to questions.
