Your child's Learning Journey.
Every child at Smithfield has a Learning Journey — a record of their development that grows throughout their time with us. It's not just a photo album. It's a living document: linked to their Individual Learning Plan (ILP) and shaped by the observations their key person makes every day.
The Learning Journey includes:
- Written observations — brief notes from your child's key person on what they observed, and what it tells us about how your child is developing
- Photographs — real moments from their day, not posed pictures
- Development milestones — mapped to the EYFS framework and your child's own progression
- Notes from the five-times-yearly formal reviews
You can view your child's Learning Journey any time through the Famly app. You can add to it too — uploading photos and notes from home helps build a richer picture of your child as a whole person, not just how they are at nursery. Read more about our formal development reviews →.
The Famly app — your connection to the nursery.
Famly is the app we use to stay in touch with families. It looks a bit like a private Facebook — but it's secure, personal to your family, and only accessible to the people you choose.
To get started: Famly is linked to your email address. You'll receive an invitation when your child joins us. You can add other family members — grandparents, a second parent — so they can follow along too.
What you'll see each day:
- Sleep times and duration
- Food — what your child ate and how much
- Nappy changes or toilet visits
- Photos from their day
- Notes and observations from their key person
What you can do:
- Report an absence or holiday — instead of phoning in, just note it in the app
- Book extra sessions — check availability and request additional days directly
- Message the nursery — for anything that doesn't need a phone call, message via Famly
- Contact us out of hours — messages sent outside nursery hours will be picked up when we're next in
- Receive invoices — your monthly invoice is sent to your email through the Famly system
A note on photos: Photos of individual children are only shared with that child's family. Group photos are only shared with the consent of all families involved.
Behind every update, a person who knows your child.
The observations, photos, and notes in your child's Learning Journey don't come from a system — they come from their key person. The member of our team who knows your child best: how they're feeling on a Monday morning, what made them laugh last week, what they're working on this week.
Your key person is your main point of contact at Smithfield. They'll be at the door most mornings and evenings. They write the observations. They lead the five-times-yearly development reviews. And they're the one who'll notice if something's changed — and act on it.
The Famly app keeps you connected between those conversations. But the key person is the constant. Read more about the key person system in our approach to early years care →.
New to Famly?
When your child joins us, you'll receive an invitation to Famly via the email address you registered with. Click the link in the invitation email and follow the steps to set up your account.
If you'd like to add another family member (partner, grandparent, or another trusted adult), you can do this from within your Famly account settings.
If you need help getting set up, speak to us — we're happy to walk you through it.
