Daily log and key work record. A printable daily log and key work session record — what happened, what the child said and did, and what it means, written so a child could read it.

A daily log is read by inspectors, by social workers, by courts and — if they ask — by the child it is about. Writing every entry as though the young person will read it one day is both the right thing to do and the quickest way to raise the standard of recording in a home.

Separating observation from interpretation is the discipline that matters most. 'Was aggressive' is a conclusion; 'raised his voice, pushed a chair over, went to his room' is what happened, and only the second can be read later against anything else. Labels pile up in a file and follow a child for years.

The child's own words are given their own place for the same reason. A log that paraphrases everything a young person says has replaced them with staff voices, and the sentence that turns out to matter — months later, in a safeguarding enquiry — is almost always one somebody said in their own words.

Key work is recorded on the same sheet because it is part of the same relationship, not an administrative extra. What was worked on, whether the young person thought it was useful, and what was agreed is a far stronger record than a session that happened.