One photograph on the way past. A full written observation a few seconds later. A keyworker's eyes on it before anyone else's. Here's each step, and the same shape everywhere else it matters.
A scribbled note in an apron pocket all day. Typed up in the evening once the children had gone home. Photocopied into thirty learning journeys, each one cross-referenced to the EYFS areas by hand. An observation could take a week to reach a parent — and the ones that got rained on never made it at all.
ChildHive keeps the judgement exactly where it was — with the keyworker — and takes the writing, copying and cross-referencing off their evening.
Open a new observation, tap the children who were part of the moment, and take the photo — the same camera you'd use anyway, on the tablet that's already in the room.
One photo can cover a whole group. Each child still gets their own personalised write-up to review. A voice note is optional, and it's transcribed and folded in.
Who is this observation for?
A few seconds later there's a full observation: what happened, the learning behind it, where it could go next, wellbeing and involvement on the Leuven scale, and a summary written for a parent to read.
It's tagged against every framework the nursery runs — EYFS, Montessori and Waldorf here — in a single pass, and it carries its own confidence score. Anything the model is unsure about is flagged, not hidden.
Observation
Careful, focused, fully absorbed — she places each foot with real intention, testing her balance on one stump before she trusts her weight to the next.
Learning story
Ellie is building a physical sense of balance and calculated risk. She chose this challenge herself and set her own pace across it, adjusting her arms to stay steady rather than looking for a hand to hold.
Framework tags
Wellbeing
Settled and calm; she moves at her own pace with no sign of hurry or worry.
Involvement
Deeply absorbed — her eyes stay on her feet and she ignores the group forming behind her.
Possible next steps
Suggested questions
Parent summary
Ellie spent a happy stretch of the morning crossing the tree stumps in the wood. She took her time, found her own balance, and was clearly proud when she reached the end.
The draft lands in a review queue, never in a parent's feed. The keyworker who knows the child reads it, changes whatever needs changing, and either approves it or discards it.
Nothing is shared until they save it. There is no setting that turns this off — a person, never the model, decides what a family sees.
Careful, focused, fully absorbed — she places each foot with real intention, testing her balance before she trusts her weight to the next stump.
Review and edit anything below before saving — nothing is shared with parents until you save it.
Learning story
Keyworker added the last clause — she'd said “wobbly!” and laughed.
Moment → record → reviewed. Wherever ChildHive drafts something, the last word belongs to a person who knows the setting.
The theme-led planning web your team sketches by hand, made digital — pre-filled with what worked in this month two years ago, on the setting's own rotation. The team shapes it before it's the plan.
The month ahead → a draft plan → your team decides
The statutory EYFS check, assembled from the observations already on file — every judgement linked to the evidence behind it. The keyworker reviews and signs it off before it reaches the family.
Observations on file → a drafted check → keyworker signs off
Every draft — an observation, a month's plan, a statutory check — waits for a keyworker before it counts for anything. That's the whole product in one line, and no setting changes it.