Document no:

NU003

Issue no:

2

Issue date:

2024-11-26

Renewal date:

2027-11-26

Originator:

Nursery Manager

Responsibility:

Director of Student Services and Marketing

Online Learning Journals (Tapestry) Policy- College Nurseries

Leicester College Day Nursery

EYFS Safeguarding and Welfare Requirement Child Protection

Information and Records – Confidential Information and records about children must be held securely and only accessible to those who have a right or professional need to see them

  1. Policy Statement

    • 1.1 Leicester College Day Nursery uses an online system of recording the children’s learning and development in the Nursery called Tapestry.

    • 1.2 Tapestry is a website which can be accessed on a computer or laptop, and also on any Apple or Android device such as a tablet or smart phone. Leicester College day Nursery has chosen this company because they are a secure and also exciting way of keeping track of the children’s development and their time with us.

      Tapestry Statement:

      The Tapestry on-line Learning Journey system is hosted on secure dedicated servers based in the UK. We are registered controllers of data with the Information Commissioner’s Office and are bound by the Data Protection Act. We are compliant with UK data protection legislation (sometimes referred to as the ‘UK DPA 2018’) and EU data protection legistation (sometimes referred to as the ‘GDPR’). Our lead supervisory authority for data protection is the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (https://ico.org.uk).

  2. Procedure

    • 2.1 Tapestry covers the Early Years Foundation Stage and is designed to simplify and improve recording within these programmes. Information can be filtered and displayed in different ways, and assessments and statements can be made for each entry.

    • 2.2 Instead of using the old paper book style way of recording, nursery staff are able to instantly upload photos, videos and observations of the children.

    • 2.3 Parents are then emailed to alert them that something new has been added to their child’s Learning Journal and they can log on and view what their child has Leicester College Day Nursery EYFS Safeguarding and Welfare Requirement Child Protection Information and Records – Confidential Information and records about children must be held securely and only accessible to those who have a right or professional need to see them been doing at the nursery.

    • 2.4 Parents can instantly add their own comments to entries.

  3. Nursery Staff

    • 3.1 All nursery staff have DBS clearance.

    • 3.2 Nursery staff sign a declaration before they are allocated access to ipads for recording observations and Tapestry access. Staff sign an updated agreement at the beginning of each academic year.

    • 3.3 Staff will be allocated time at work to update journals and assess their key children’s next steps. An ipad for each member of staff is provided for this.

    • 3.4 Staff are not permitted to download any photographs of the children onto their own devices. If staff do work on Tapestry at home they should be aware of any other people around them and make sure they are not overlooked. They must logout as soon as they have stopped working.

    • 3.5 If any member of staff suspects that their login details have been compromised in any way, they must inform the pre-school managers and new login details will be created.

    • 3.6 Photographs stored on the tablets are deleted on a regular basis by a member of staff.

    • 3.7 Everything that is added to Tapestry will be added to our nursery account and can only be viewed by nursery staff that use the system and using Parents’ own log on.

    • 3.8 Also, it is our policy that photos or videos are not shared on social media or through other online platforms by parents or nursery staff. Any incidents where this confidentiality is broken will be dealt with very seriously and will result in access to the system being withdrawn.

    • 3.9 Passwords are never saved on devices used by nursery staff.

  4. Parents

    • 4.1 The Tapestry on-line Learning Journey system is hosted on secure dedicated servers based in the UK. All data held on our Tapestry account is owned by Child’s Play; we are registered controllers of data with the Information Commissioner’s Office and are bound by the Data Protection Act.

    • 4.2 Parents logging in to the system can only access their own child’s Learning Journey. This cannot be seen by other parents.

    • 4.3 Parents may input new observations and photos and add comments to existing observations. They do not have the necessary permission to edit existing content.

    • 4.4 Parents are asked to sign a consent form giving permission for their child’s image to appear in other children’s Learning Journeys, and to protect images of other children that may appear in any photos contained in their child’s Learning Journey.

    • 4.5 If parents withhold this consent their child is only ever photographed alone and no shared observations are made including that child.

  5. Parents Without Internet

    • 5.1 For parents without access to the internet, we will print all the information from Tapestry and collate it into a paper Learning Journey. This will be in the setting for the parent to view at all times and will be available to take home.

  6. When Children Leave

    • 6.1 When children move to another setting we will transfer the Tapestry account to the new setting, if they also use Tapestry. If they do not, we will pass on a CD of the Learning Journal to the parent. The Learning Journey will be permanently deleted from our Tapestry account so no data on that child will remain with us once they have left.

  7. Communication and Review

    • 7.1 This policy will be shared with parents and reviewed every three years.