Milton of Leys Primary School

Early Level

Parent Guide for

Learning Journals https://leys.yourlearningjournals.co.uk

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

The “Learning Journals” are a great tool in helping us to deliver the Early Level curriculum at Milton of Leys Primary School. They allow us to record and document active learning— not all learning is in a written format. You will have access to view your child’s “Learning Journal” at home. You can login to your parent account from a smartphone, tablet or computer.

A child will begin their online “Learning Journal” when they enter Nursery and will continue to use their “Learning Journal” as they progress into Primary 1.

The system is very secure. For the techy types among you the connection is made using a secure server holding a SSL certificate. (Meaning the address starts with https and carries the padlock symbol.) You will be the only one outside of the school that can view your child’s profile and you will access it with a unique username as well as a password and PIN that you create.

The “Learning Journals” are not a ‘daily diary’ or a ‘blog’ – it is an assessment tool to document snapshots of your child’s progress and experiences as they learn. Please note, although the online Learning Journals are a fantastic way to record your child’s early education, it is not possible to capture every moment of learning throughout the school or nursery day.

Your child’s class teacher or keyworker will add “Observations” to your child’s “Learning Journal”. Sometimes these will be created with your child. They may contain a photo and next steps. There is an option to add parent/carer comments.

You will receive emails to notify when your child’s “Learning Journal” has been updated. You can ‘turn off’ emails in the Settings section of your child’s “Learning Journal.”

In Primary 1, pupils will also have a writing folder where original pieces of writing will be kept.

The “Learning Journals” are not only the assessment tools that we will use. In P1 we will also continue to use maths and literacy assessments to inform the pupils’ next steps.

Key Information about the Learning Journal

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

STEP 1: Send an email with your full name, your child’s full name and class or key-

worker group to: P1 Pupils: miltonofleysp1@gmail.com

Nursery Pupils: Please email your child’s keyworker

STEP 2: You will shortly receive an email from “Learning Journals.” Follow the link

provided in the email.

STEP 3: Create a unique password that you will remember for your log-in details

STEP 4: Create a 4-digit PIN for your log-in details

STEP 5: You may see this message “Sorry, you have not been associated with any

children at this nursery.” This means that your child/children have not been linked to

your profile yet. A member of staff will link your child’s account to your parent profile

as soon as possible. Please try to log in later. If you repeatedly see this message, please

speak to a member of staff.

STEP 6: You should now see an image like this:

Observations and

Teacher Assessments

Comments Box

Accessing Your Child’s Learning Journal

Child Info

Curriculum Areas

Intended Learning Outcomes

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

Parental/Carer Involvement with the Learning Journals

At Milton of Leys Primary School, we understand and appreciate the

importance of parent/carer involvement in a child’s early development.

The online Learning Journals provide you with the opportunity to engage

with your child’s learning by seeing, discussing and celebrating their

achievements together at home.

You can add a comment to the “Observations” within the “Learning

Journal” to give encouragement and praise to your child as they progress

through the Early Level curriculum. To do this, follow the steps below:

STEP 1: Log in to your child’s “Learning Journal” at

leys.yourlearningjournals.co.uk by using your unique username,

password and PIN. You should now see your child’s Learning Journal.

STEP 2: Find the observation you wish to add a comment to (you can filter

by curricular area by using the coloured tabs at the top of the “Learning

Journal.”)

Adding Parent/Carer Comments to an Observation

Curriculum Areas

Learning Outcomes

and Progression

Pathways

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

STEP 3: If possible, discuss the “Observation” with your child. Ask your

child what they were learning and how well they felt they met the

intended learning of the activity. By clicking the “Learning Outcomes

and Progression Pathways” you can view the Curriculum of Excellence

outcomes which your child is working on.

STEP 4: Click the box below the “Observation”, titled “Comments”,

type your comment and click “Save” when you wish to add your com-

ment to your child’s “Learning Journal”. Your child’s class teacher/

keyworker will receive a notification that you have added a comment. If

you wish to remove your comment, simply click the ‘bin’ icon.

Delete a comment

Enter a new comment

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

You can add a “Home Achievement” to your child’s “Learning Journal”

to document, celebrate and share the achievements that your child

makes at home with your child’s class teacher/keyworker. A “Home

Achievement” could be success at an extra-curricular club, such as

earning a medal at a swimming competition, or it could be other im-

portant milestones such as riding a bike without stabilisers for the first

time.

Only your child and your child’s class teacher or keyworker will be able

to see your child’s “Home Achievements”. This is a completely optional

feature of the Learning Journal which you are free to use as you see

fit—adding as few or as many “Home Achievements” as you wish.

Follow the steps below to add a “Home Achievement” to your child’s

“Learning Journal”:

STEP 1: Log in to your child’s Learning Journal at

leys.yourlearningjournals.co.uk by using your unique username, pass-

word and PIN. You should now see your child’s “Learning Journal.”

STEP 2: Click the blue button titled “Home Achievements.”

Adding Home Achievements to Your Child’s

Learning Journal

Home Achievements

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

STEP 3: You should now be able to see your child’s

“Home Achievements”. To add a new “Home Achievement”, type a

“Title” in the title box and a brief description of the achievement in the

“Description” box.

STEP 4: You can add a photo to your entry by clicking the

“Upload Photo” button. Click the “Choose File” button to select an

image. Valid image files that can be uploaded are listed. If you are

viewing the Learning Journal on a smartphone or tablet, after clicking

“Choose File” you also have the option to “Take Photo or Video”

instantly by using the integrated camera on your smartphone or tablet.

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

STEP 5: Click the “Submit” button when you are happy with

your “Home Achievement” entry and you wish to add it to your

child’s “Learning Journal”. If you wish to remove your entry,

simply click the ‘bin’ icon. Your child’s class teacher or keywork-

er will receive a notification that you have added a “Home

Achievement.”

Delete a Home

Achievement

If you wish to print your child’s “Learning Journal” to read on

paper rather than viewing on a computer or mobile device, you

can do this easily by converting your child’s “Learning Journal”

to a PDF document.

Follow the steps on the next page if you wish to convert your

child’s “Learning Journal” to a PDF document:

Printing Your Child’s Learning Journal

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

STEP 1: Log in to your child’s “Learning Journal” at

leys.yourlearningjournals.co.uk by using your unique

username, password and PIN. You should now see your child’s

“Learning Journal”.

STEP 2: Click the “Convert Profile to PDF” button on your

child’s “Learning Journal”

STEP 3: You will receive this dialogue box:

Click the button “Proceed” if you wish to continue.

Convert Profile to

PDF

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

STEP 4: When the file has been created it will appear in your

“Downloads” section. Click the “Downloads” tab in the top

right of your child’s “Learning Journal”. It will remain in the

“Downloads” section if you wish to view the file later.

STEP 5: Click “Download” to view and print your child’s

“Learning Journal”.

Downloads

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

Help!

Can I view my child’s Learning Journal on my smartphone?

Yes! The Learning Journals are a web-based system and should work on any

mobile device (tablet, smartphone, netbook etc) or a computer that is

connected to the Internet.

Is there an App I can download for my child’s Learning Journal?

No. There is currently not an App for the online Learning Journals. We suggest

that you save the website: leys.yourlearningjournals.co.uk as a favourite in your

internet browser.

I have forgotten my username or password or PIN and cannot access

my child’s Learning Journal. What do I do?

Visit leys.yourlearningjournals.co.uk and click “Forgot Login.” A reminder will

be sent to your email address. If you are still having problems, speak to your

child’s class teacher or key worker. Please note— if you enter incorrect details

too many times your child’s Learning Journal will be locked for 30mins.

I am trying to view my child’s “Observation” but it still says

“Loading…” or there is a small black/white wheel continuously spin-

ning and the page is taking a long time to load. What do I do?

Refresh the page or logout and try again. If you are still having problems, speak

to your child’s class teacher or keyworker.

Oops! I made a mistake on a “Comment” or “Home Achievement”,

can I edit it?

Sadly, no. You need to delete the entry and submit a new entry.

Can more than one parent account be created for a child’s Learning

Journal?

Yes. Each parent will need to send a separate email from their individual email

accounts to their class teacher or keyworker so that separate logins can be cre-

ated. Please remember to include your full name, your child’s full name and

class/keyworker group in the email.

Milton of Leys Primary School—Early Level

My child has the word “Tracked” or “Achieved” beside their Next

Steps on an “Observation”, what does this mean?

“Tracked” means that your child’s “Next Steps” is a target which they are cur-

rently working on e.g. to be able to identify numbers to 10, and will continue to

engage with activities that focus on that specific area of learning. “Achieved”

means your child has demonstrated that they have achieved their “Next Steps”

and it will be linked to a new “Observation” with the date. e.g. Child A can now

independently identify numbers to 10.

What is the “Reports” button?

The “Reports” section (accessed via the “Reports” button on your child’s

“Learning Journal”) is for your child’s class teacher or keyworker to upload a

report document discussing your child’s progress. We are currently not using this

feature within the “Learning Journals”, but we may do so in the future and

further information will be shared if we do.

What is the “Gallery” button?

The “Gallery” section (accessed via the “Gallery” button on your child’s

“Learning Journal”) allows you to view all the photos on your child’s “Learning

Journal” and read the “Observation” descriptions. Please note— some

“Observations” may not have a photo attached and cannot be viewed in the

Gallery!

I don’t have access to the Internet at home to view my child’s

Learning Journal. What can I do?

Not a problem! You are free to use the computers or devices that we have in

school if you do not have Internet access at home. Please speak to your class

teacher or keyworker to arrange an appropriate time.

How do I change my display name, password or linked email ad-

dress?

If you wish to change your display name or password, click on the “Settings”

button at the top of your child’s “Learning Journal.” Change your details

accordingly and click “Submit.”