The EYFS paperwork you can safely stop doing

Most childminders are doing considerably more written work than anyone has ever asked them for. Not because the framework requires it — because a training course, a template pack or a Facebook group said it did.

What Ofsted actually says

This is the part most childminders have never read, because it is buried in guidance nobody sends you. Ofsted’s own published guidance for childminders says:

“It is up to you how you assess children’s progress, and inspectors will not ask to see any internal tracking or assessment information.” Ofsted — guidance for childminders on inspection and the EYFS

And on the shape of it:

“You should use whatever approach to paperwork suits you and are free to file it however you like.” Ofsted — same guidance

And on how much:

“Assessments should not require excessive paperwork. You should draw on your knowledge of the child and your own expert professional judgement.” Ofsted — same guidance

Read those three together and the position is unambiguous. Nobody is coming to count your observations. The inspector wants to see that you know the children — and they will work that out by watching you with them and talking to you, not by reading a folder.

What you genuinely must record

The framework does specify records. They are almost entirely about safety and administration, not learning.

• Attendance — a daily record of the children you care for, with hours of attendance.
• Accidents and injuries, and any first aid given.
• Medication administered, with written parental permission.
• Emergency contact and consent details for each child, kept current.
• Complaints, and how you dealt with them.
• Safeguarding — a policy, and records of any concerns or referrals.
• Details of who lives or works on the premises, and the checks you hold for them.
• Risk assessment — you must assess risk, though there is no requirement for a written assessment of every activity.
• Public liability insurance, and evidence of it.
• The progress check at age two — see below.

That is broadly the list. It is short, dull, and mostly things you would keep anyway.

What is entirely up to you

None of the following is required in any particular form. Some are useful. All are optional, and how you do them is your call.

Some of these are genuinely worth keeping in a lighter form. Parents love a photo and a sentence. That is a business decision about your service, though — not compliance.

The progress check at age two

This one is required, so it is worth getting right.

Between a child’s second and third birthday you must give parents a short written summary of their development in the three prime areas: communication and language, physical development, and personal, social and emotional development.

What it needs to do:

• Describe how the child is doing in those three areas.
• Identify strengths, and anything where progress is less than expected.
• Describe what you are doing about any concerns, including involving other professionals where needed.
• Be written in language parents can actually understand.

Where the myths come from

If none of this is required, why does everyone think it is? Four reasons, and it helps to recognise them.

1. Template packs

   Somebody sells a 60-page pack. It has to look worth the money, so it includes everything imaginable. Buyers reasonably assume the contents are requirements.

2. Training built for nurseries

   Much early years training is written for group settings, where a manager genuinely does need tracking data across forty children. A childminder with three does not, and the training rarely says so.

3. Inspection folklore

   “My inspector asked for X” travels fast and mutates. Inspectors ask for what is relevant to what they have just observed. One inspector asking one childminder for one thing is not a rule.

4. Fear

   The honest one. Paperwork feels like insurance. If the folder is thick enough, surely nothing can go wrong. It does not work like that, and the folder is a poor substitute for knowing the child.

A test for any piece of paperwork

Before you fill in another form, ask these three questions in order. If you get to the end without a yes, stop doing it.

Most abandoned paperwork fails all three, and everyone knows it at the time.

What to do with the time

This is not an argument for doing less. It is an argument for putting the effort where it counts.

• Be able to talk about each child. Where they are, what you have noticed, what you are doing next, what you have said to their parents. That conversation is what an inspection actually turns on.
• Act on what you notice, quickly. A concern raised with a parent this week is worth more than the same concern recorded beautifully and raised in March.
• Get the safeguarding records genuinely right. This is the one place where thorough is correct.
• Talk to parents more. Two minutes at the door beats a laminated sheet.
• Take your evenings back. Burnout is a bigger risk to the children in your care than an unwritten observation.

Where to go next