Early years observations, written up
You already did the observing.
It just does the writing.
Obsly is EYFS observation software for nurseries, preschools and childminders. Turn a few scruffy notes into a properly written observation, with the Development Matters links already made — each one showing the words that justify it.
Free for up to 5 children. No card, nothing to install.
“put a wooden block under one end to tip it”
Understanding the world · explore how things work
How it works
Three notes across a morning. One EYFS observation.
What you type
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10:32
Oliver's been at the water tray about ten minutes um pouring water down the guttering, it stopped where the two pieces had come apart, he said 'it's going through the gap'
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11:05
went back on his own, pushed the guttering pieces closer together and put a wooden block under one end to tip it, water got all the way to the bucket this time
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13:50
called Amara over to watch, she added another block underneath and said 'it's quicker because this side is higher'
What you get
Notice what happened to Amara. You named her. Oliver’s observation calls her “another child” — twice — because another child’s actions belong in their own record. It happens on its own, every time. You never have to remember.
How it works
Writing up an observation takes about a minute and a half
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01
Jot it down
A few words against a child, typed or dictated with your phone's own keyboard. Seconds, while it's fresh.
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02
Pick the notes you want
One, or all of them from across the morning. You see them as you wrote them, and you can tidy or remove anything before it goes anywhere.
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03
Read it over
Edit anything, reject a suggested link, add a detail you remember. Then sign it off. Your name, nobody else's.
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04
Copy and paste
The full observation, or just the parent summary, or just the next steps. Into whatever you already use.
Roughly 60 to 90 seconds of your time, spread across a day, mostly while you still remember it clearly.
Why it's different
One observation from a whole session, not a single moment
Most tools take one note and expand it. But a proper progress observation isn’t one moment — it’s what you noticed across a morning, joined up. You already work that way: you catch fragments while they’re happening, then write them up properly later.
Select as many notes as you like and get one richer observation from all of them. The joining up is the slow part, and it’s the part you get back.
Why it's different
You can check every Development Matters link in seconds
Every link quotes your own words.
You see which part of your note produced each link, so checking takes a glance instead of a re-read.
The wording is the framework’s, not ours.
Development Matters as published — the exact wording, never a paraphrase. It can only choose from the 300 statements that exist, so it can’t invent one.
Uncertain links look uncertain.
Strong matches are applied; weaker ones sit as suggestions you accept before they count. An honest maybe beats a confident mistake.
“repeat actions that have an effect”
“water got all the way to the bucket this time”
“explore and talk about different forces they can feel”
“pushed the guttering pieces closer together”
Why it's different
Keep Tapestry. Keep Famly. Keep paper.
This isn’t a system to move to. There’s nothing to migrate, no data to transfer, no training day, and nothing to undo if you stop.
You write the observation here, copy it, and paste it wherever your observations already live. That’s where we stop, on purpose.
You can try it on Monday and change nothing.
The honest bit
It writes the observation. You stay in charge.
AI is only good at the part you have least time for, so that’s the only part it does. Here’s where it stops — and none of these are gaps we mean to close.
It won't fill in gaps.
No actions, speech, numbers or durations that weren't in your note, and it won't guess how a child felt. Too little to work with and it says so, rather than padding it out.
It stops on safeguarding.
A note mentioning injury, distress, a disclosure or harm is saved, not written up. You're pointed to your procedure and your designated lead. That isn't a job for software.
It doesn't judge your children.
No scores, no ratings, no "behind for their age", no suggestion a child needs referring. And never what a child couldn't do — only what they did.
It doesn't sign anything.
It drafts; you edit and sign off in your own name. It runs under a contract you hold, not a personal chatbot account, and no child on your roll is named to the AI.
So will Ofsted mind?
No software is “Ofsted approved” — that isn’t something inspectors hand out, to us or anyone. But there’s no required number of observations, and the framework says plainly that assessment shouldn’t mean excessive paperwork or pull staff away from being with children. Less time writing up, more time on the floor is the direction the regulator is already pointing.
For managers
£29 a month for the whole nursery — about half an hour of wages a week
That’s £29 against the median early years hourly wage of £13.02 — about 31 minutes a week across your whole team. You can do that sum without believing anything we’ve told you.
It saves the slow part
Not the observing — the writing up. Joining a morning’s notes into a properly written observation, with the Development Matters links made, is the part that eats an afternoon. It’s the part that happens in seconds.
And if your staff currently do that in their own time, the cost isn’t on your rota — it’s in your turnover. Paperwork load is a known reason experienced practitioners leave, and replacing one costs thousands.
There is nothing to set up
No migration, no data to transfer, no training day, no integration for anyone to configure. Two roles, one login each, and it stops at the clipboard.
You can put it in one room on Monday and change nothing else, and if it doesn’t suit you there is nothing to undo.
Start free
No card, no trial countdown, no call with anyone. Free for one practitioner and up to 5 children.
Manager, and not ready to commit? Don’t. Try it in one room for a month and see whether anyone asks to keep it.