Planning for and extending children’s learning with Storypark

Whether you plan on paper, a whiteboard, face-to-face, or a combination of different ways, we hear the same hurdles over and over… “it’s hard to involve my whole team in planning” . . . “I wish we could better engage parents” . . . “How do I track our planning and assessments over time” . . . “I’d love an overview of what’s happening for a child or a room or my service” . . .

We’ve listened to many educators about how they use planning to extend children’s learning and build on emerging interests and we will shortly be launching a better way to plan with your team. Watch this informative video about what’s new, and what you can do now with Storypark planning.

Here’s what some of our early users have said about the new planning:

“I love it already! I love that I can complete a program, then do an individual program (that includes 5 or 6 children) which contains the links to documents. It is great that each outcome in the EYLF can be colour-coded (which is how my old format was) to link it more clearly. It is fantastic that growing interest in different areas can be shared with families and linked to the program document and extended on. But most of all, the best feature is that all links are totally transparent! I can easily click on a link to a story, note or program and it automatically appears, so that it is very clear to see. This is exactly what I wanted!” 

– Stacey, Director, KU Milperra Preschool.

With new planning you are able to:

• Create and manage your own planning templates, so you and your team can plan the way you want, with who you want.
• Involve all teachers in your planning by inviting them to contribute.
• Build understanding by inviting parents to view and comment on any plans you choose to share.
• Provide an overview of what’s happening at your service.
• Link stories, plans and child notes together, making it easier to visualise the learning journey for each child.
• Keep all your service’s tasks, admin, documents, policies and planning in one easy-to-access place.

What you can use it for:

Because of its flexibility, you’ll be able to use the new planning area across all aspects of your practice. For example:

• Programme/curriculum planning (individual, group, service-wide, projects)
• Child information (‘About me’ sheets, interests, goals and aspirations, family, friendships, emergency contacts, allergies etc.)
• Organisational planning (annual plans, meeting minutes)
• Evaluations (quality improvement plans, self reviews, teacher appraisals)
• Assessments (formative, summative, transitions)
• Professional learning (personal development plans, private reflective journals)
• Regulatory documentation (consulting on and storing important docs and policies)

What this will mean for your current planning?

When this launches, you’ll have a new Planning tab on your services’ profile page that replaces your current teacher planning notes.

Already have some teacher planning notes? Don’t worry, we’ll put them into a special new Archived area.

Do you have questions about the new planning tool? Check out the help centre here, leave us a comment, or get in touch with our friendly customer service team.