How to Write Daily Reports for Nursery Teachers: Keeping Them Separate from the Childcare Diary and the Parent Contact Notebook, and Turning What You Notice in Daily Care into Tomorrow's Next Step

Daily reports from nurseries and nursery teachers tend to become a list of the day's activities and the tasks completed.

For example: 'a walk in the morning, crafts in the afternoon, no particular problems'.

A record of activities matters, but on its own it does not capture what went well and what you were unsure about in your interactions with the children.

Nor does it capture what you will try changing in tomorrow's care.

On top of that, nurseries already have established records required by law or by the nursery's rules.

They include the childcare diary, the parent contact notebook, care plans such as the monthly and weekly plans, and records for each child.

So the daily report easily looks like a task of writing the same things once more.

If it is written in a hurry after the children have gone home or at the end of a shift and nobody who reads it replies, writers gradually settle for a single line such as 'nothing in particular'.

In PDCA terms, the report stops at Do, the record of what happened, while Check and Act fall away.

This article looks at how to reposition the daily report from a copy of established records to a tool.

That tool is for looking back on what you noticed in the day's care and turning it into the next day's care and into learning for the team.

The daily report here does not replace the childcare diary or the parent contact notebook; it is a short reflection for passing observations from one member of staff to another.

Please read it as a discussion about the system, not about blaming anyone.

A nursery teacher's daily report is easier to keep up when the fields are narrowed to roughly the following.

(1) Today's aim, meaning in which moments you will try which kind of interaction or change to the environment.

(2) How it actually went, meaning what worked and what did not go as you had hoped.

(3) What you noticed during the day, such as moments when moving from one activity to the next takes a long time.

Other examples are play that the children were absorbed in, or difficulties with how people move around the room or where materials are kept.

(4) What you want to share with colleagues, such as things to pass between the teachers of a class or between the early and late shifts.

(5) What is troubling you and what you want to consult whom about. (6) Your first move tomorrow.

The key is not to repeat in the daily report what belongs in the childcare diary or the records for each child.

Instead, narrow it to reflection on your own interactions, things to share with colleagues and consultations.

Consider observations such as 'telling the children what came next before tidying up made the change of activity smoother'.

Another is 'staff followed different steps when getting ready to go out to the playground, and the children were confused'.

Conversely, these rarely make it into the established records and can only be picked up in the daily report.

It also helps to make it a rule not to write children's names in the daily report.

Describe situations instead, such as 'the whole class' or 'a few children', so that personal information stays out of it.

Too many fields stretch the writing time and end up with more blanks. Start with around five and adjust them while listening to the staff.

The norolu PDCA format has five parts: P (today's aim), D (what you actually did), C (what you noticed), A (what you will do next) and the next day's P.

Here is an example from a teacher in charge of a class of two-year-olds (the content and figures are a fictional example for illustration).

P: 'After coming back from the walk, move calmly from handwashing to lunch.'

D: 'I invited the children to wash their hands as soon as we got back, but the area where shoes come off and the space in front of the sinks got crowded, and it took about 20 minutes before lunch preparations could start.

The wait grew long, and some children started running around the room.' C: 'Everyone had headed to the sinks at the same time.

The other class teacher and I had not decided in advance who would be where at each moment.'

A: 'Tomorrow, split the children into two groups before we head back, and have the other teacher and me take the sinks and the room separately.'

Next day's P: 'Do handwashing in groups and shorten the wait.' The trick to linking to the next day's P is to write A as one concrete thing to do next.

Rather than 'create a calm daily flow', write 'split into two groups, with the teachers taking separate places', and the next day's report can check whether it was done.

Each child's development belongs in the childcare diary or the individual records; the daily report holds the ideas you tried in your own interactions.

One to three lines per field is enough.

The daily report can also be a place for newly joined teachers, part-time childcare assistants or members not yet used to a class.

They can raise uncertainties and worries early instead of carrying them alone (a fictional example for illustration).

P: 'During free play in the afternoon, be aware of where I stand to watch over the children without stepping into their play too much.'

D: 'When children started fighting over toys during block play, I stepped in right away, but I was unsure how far I should leave it to the children.

I called over a more experienced teacher nearby and we watched together.'

C: 'I did not yet know the nursery's thinking on how far to watch over such moments and when to step in.

It was a busy time of day and I could not find the right moment to ask.'

A: 'At tomorrow's staff meeting, ask the lead teacher how to respond when children fight over toys.'

Writing about uncertainties is not about reporting what you cannot do; it is about letting the team lend a hand sooner.

The nursery director, the lead teacher or more experienced colleagues first acknowledge in a sentence that the member wrote it down.

They then reply with just one useful clue. When this is done, members feel safe writing about where they are unsure.

Keep the fields few so that people can write even on days with a short shift. Avoid replies that blame people for writing about their stumbles.

Nurseries already have established records.

They include the childcare diary, the contact notebook shared with parents, annual, monthly and weekly care plans, and records for each child.

They also include records of health checks and of checks during nap time, attendance and drop-off and pick-up records, and staff attendance records.

These are kept in their own places, based on laws, local government requirements, the nursery's rules and set procedures.

Which records must be kept, with which items and for how long, differs depending on the type of nursery, the local government and the nursery's policy.

The daily report does not replace them. Assume that simply writing 'nap-time checks, nothing unusual' in a daily report does not make it an official record.

The basic split is this.

Facts about how the children were and how the day's care unfolded go into the established records, kept in line with the set procedures.

The daily report, meanwhile, holds reflection on the team's own interactions, observations and next steps.

When a daily report mentions those records, do not repeat the details; a short note such as 'entered in the childcare diary' or 'passed on to the parents in the contact notebook' is enough.

Drawing this line at the start reduces the burden of writing the same thing twice and keeps the daily report as a place for reflection rather than a duplicate of the records.

For which records to keep where, follow the rules of your local government and nursery and the judgment of the nursery director or person in charge.

Notes such as 'a child fell in the playground and grazed a knee' sometimes appear in the C field.

So do notes such as 'a parent raised a worrying concern at pick-up' or 'a child seemed to have an unusual bruise'.

Do not let them end in the daily report; connect them to the procedures the nursery has set.

When you notice an injury to a child, a change in a child's health, an accident or a near miss, do not wait until you write the daily report.

Tell the nursery director, the lead teacher or the person in charge straight away using the set method.

Then report and record it in line with the nursery's procedures.

When you notice signs that might suggest abuse, likewise do not judge alone or reach a conclusion in the daily report.

Tell the nursery director or the person in charge straight away.

That way, recording and contact with the relevant authorities take place in line with the nursery's procedures.

Suppose you feel that things are not moving forward within the nursery.

In Japan, you can then also consult the municipal office's contact point or a child guidance centre (nationwide number 189).

Where to turn differs from country to country.

For how to respond and whom to contact, follow the rules of your local government and nursery and the judgment of the person in charge.

It is important not to settle the cause or responsibility within the daily report, and not to write in a way that casts suspicion on a particular person.

Information that identifies individuals or calls for care should be kept out of the daily report.

That includes the names of children and parents, health conditions and allergies, and family circumstances.

It should be handled in line with the established records and the nursery's rules.

The daily report is the point where something is noticed; it is not the response itself.

A short line such as 'reported to the nursery director' lets the reader confirm that it reached the formal response.

Nursery directors and lead teachers read staff reports every day. Trying to read every one in depth is not sustainable.

So start with A (what you will do next). Then check C (what you noticed) and the consultation field for anything you should help with.

Also check for anything to decide about the next day's staffing or how the day's care will run.

Comments are easier to keep up when they acknowledge one fact and add a single question or next step.

For example: 'Thanks for noticing the crowding at handwashing.

Let's share the idea of splitting into groups with the other classes at tomorrow's staff meeting.'

In some nurseries, staff work different hours, such as early and late shifts, and everyone is rarely together at once.

There, the daily report also becomes a place to hand observations across shift changes.

Even so, consider treating the daily report as a tool for catching observations from daily care early.

Doing so, rather than for comparing staff with one another or scoring the quality of their care, is the precondition for people writing honestly.

Once a week, lay out the week's reports and look back over them.

Discussing them in the KPT format (Keep, Problem, Try) lets you check whether problems keep recurring at the same times or in the same situations.

Such problems include rushed moments or uncertainties. It also lets you check how the interactions and changes to the environment you tried worked out.

That turns one person's observation into an improvement in how the whole nursery runs its daily care.

With the weekly summary in norolu PDCA, you can also look back over a week of observations at once.

Even if a report is missing on some day, start by asking why rather than blaming, and review whether the fields and the writing time fit the flow of the working day.

In norolu PDCA, AI is an assistant that helps with drafting reports, asking questions to prompt reflection, and writing weekly summaries.

That line does not change in nurseries.

AI can tidy up a staff member's short notes or pick out rushed moments and consultations that recur across a week of reports.

But decisions such as how to change the way the day's care runs or how staff are assigned are made by the nursery director or the person in charge.

So are decisions on how to respond to children and parents, and how to deal with injuries, accidents or worrying signs.

It is reassuring to keep information that identifies individuals out of the daily report.

That includes the names, health conditions and family circumstances of children and parents.

As for norolu PDCA, it is designed so that daily report data is recorded in the Google Drive (spreadsheet) of the company using it.

That is, the data goes to your own organisation, following a minimal data retention approach that does not accumulate information on our side.

Keep it separate from the established records, use a short format, and keep writing reports that get a reply.

We believe that steady habit is the foundation for turning small daily observations in childcare into the next day's next step and into better ways of working as a team.