Getting Started: EYFS Administrator Set-Up Guide
EYFS Administrator Set-Up Guide
Welcome to the Learning Ladders family!
Learning Ladders offers an all through system from EYFS to end of Primary. The EYFS module provides separate, Foundation stage appropriate tools with all the benefits of remaining within one joined up whole school system.
This guide is specifically to support EYFS admin users in getting started and prepared for the setup meeting with the EYFS module of Learning Ladders.
Please note: when you log in for the first time you may need to type your password rather than copying and pasting as this can add extra spaces and result in an incorrect password.
Remember, schools cannot log into their Learning Ladders sites via our website www.learningladders.info.
You must go to your school’s unique URL.
Step 1- Add Learning Ladders as a Bookmark
Add Learning Ladders to your bookmarks bar so that you can access your site quickly and easily. Click here to find out how.
Step 2- Import your Students
If your school already has EYFS classes and students in the system, then upon enabling the module these will automatically move into the EYFS module. Please check the classes and students in 'Classes & Groups' are correct.
If your school has an MIS integration in place for the KS1+ module then this will also update the students and parents in the EYFS module. The integration is managed within 'Settings' of the KS1+ module.If your school does not have an MIS integration and do not have classes and students set-up in the KS1+ module then you can import your pupils by following the guide here.
Once you have imported your pupils, your classes will appear in Classes& Groups and in Students.
If you also wish to create groups, you can do this in Classes& Groups> Groups> New Group. Follow this guide on how to create new groups of pupils.
Step 3- Add teachers & admin users
If you are an existing Learning Ladders school and users already have a login to KS1+ Learning Ladders then you do not need to add any users. When the EYFS module is switched on any users associated to EYFS classes will be Users in the EYFS module.
You can add staff as either administrators or teachers. To add users, follow this guide. We recommend adding teachers before your training session so teachers are all able to log in during the session.
Please note: we recommend having at least 2 administrators as only administrators can change passwords for other users.
Step 4- Set up your Curriculum Ladders
The first step when setting up your Learning Ladders is to set up your curriculum.
A good place to start learning about your options is to read the article: EYFS: Curriculum Development in Learning Ladders.
Learning Ladders is set up with Development Matters 2020 statements pre loaded in your curriculum. If you do not wish to use these Ladders then you can delete these Ladders and import your own or Edit your curriculum in the Creation Zone.
We’d recommend making any curriculum changes before you launch to teachers.
Once you have decided on the ladders you are going to use, make sure you put a date in the diary to review your ladders towards the end of the academic year.
Once you have decided on the ladders you are going to use, make sure you put a date in the diary to review your ladders towards the end of the academic year.
Step 5- Customise your Attainment and Progress Descriptors
Learning Ladders' EYFS module provides separate assessment settings to the rest of the school. This is to reflect the unique assessment requirements within EYFS and allows assessment to provide an accurate reflection of assessment in this phase.
Learning Ladders' EYFS module provides separate assessment settings to the rest of the school. This is to reflect the unique assessment requirements within EYFS and allows assessment to provide an accurate reflection of assessment in this phase.
Within the EYFS module half termly and termly professional judgements are entered for assessment. (Read about professional judgements here).
For this reason the EYFS module does not use 'Milestones' or generate judgements from an algorithm but has unique progress and attainment descriptors to align with each school's EYFS assessment policy.
Schools can choose up to 4 Attainment and Progress descriptors. It may be helpful to use 'Do not use' if you are not using any of the descriptors to avoid confusion when adding judgements.
Step 6- Tags
Learning Ladders is a whole school improvement tool. For this reason, particular features have been designed to support senior leaders in roles such as Phase or Subject leadership.
Custom tags enable Phase Leaders to filter observations based on the strengths and areas for improvement identified in their Phase improvement plans. For example, when identifying the outdoor provision as an area of improvement, a phase leader may create the custom tag, 'Outdoor provision'. Practitioners include this tag as part of their observation, enabling the phase leader to monitor the use of this provision by filtering using this tag.
Read the article: Custom Tags to find out how to create and filter observations using your own tags.
Step 7- Observations
Within your team it is useful to decide how often observations will be added to the system and which information you will include to create consistency in recording.
Observations can be uploaded for one child or multiple and can be associated to an Area of Learning Ladder, statement or not associated at all. Read this article: Learning Ladders and Observations to get started.
Settings for Observation sharing can be found in 'Ladders at Home'. Read more about Observation settings here.
Step 8- Ladders at Home parent portal
Building partnerships with parents involves regular communication about learning. Ladders at Home parent portal automates sharing observations, homework and allows 2-way communication.
Read EYFS: A Guide to Launching Ladders at Home in the Foundation Stage and the attached EYFS: Parent Guide for Ladders at Home.
Book a Training Session
Schools have the option to book an hour long online training session for the Learning Ladders EYFS module. Request training here.
You’re all set!
If you need help at any point, just use the Help button in the bottom right hand corner of the page to search related articles or email us at support@learningladders.info. We recommend you keep up to date with our latest updates via the newsletter which is sent by email or by checking your notifications at the top of the page in Learning Ladders.
All the best,
The Learning Ladders Team
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