Director guide · Australia
Standard 1.3 asks whether educators take a planned and reflective approach to each child's program. Most services have plenty of documentation. What is often missing is the thread from an observation to what was planned, what happened next and what educators thought about it. This guide sets out what ACECQA's guidance says and how to make that thread visible.
Start with what actually happened: one action, quote, attempt, change, or question. A polished observation is never required.
StoryLoop drafts and checks. The educator reviews, edits, decides what is true, and chooses whether anything is shared.
Reviewed 17 September 2026 · Written by Leo, who builds StoryLoop, in Ōtautahi Christchurch
What StoryLoop does with a note
A real note an educator typed, and the start of the draft StoryLoop wrote from it, unedited, with the EYLF V2.0 links, learning and next steps to follow.
Jack sorted the bear counters by colour into the cups. Then lined up the red ones and counted 8. Put 2 blue ones on the end and said 'now it's ten'.
Sorting and making ten
Jack sorted the bear counters by colour into the cups. After sorting, he lined up the red bears and counted them. Jack counted 8 red bears, then added 2 blue bears to the end of the line and said, “now it's ten”.
What learning we noticed
Jack used sorting, counting and adding in one clear sequence. He noticed the colours, organised the bears into groups, counted the red bears, and then changed the set by adding two more. When Jack said, “now it's ten”, he showed that he was thinking about the total, not just naming the colours or counting by rote.
Type what you saw today. StoryLoop writes the draft here, with EYLF V2.0 links, and shows you exactly what it is built on.
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Your draft appears here, with EYLF V2.0 links that only claim what your note shows, usually in under a minute.
Tip: what the child did, one thing they said, and what happened next. Three lines is plenty.
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Each child's learning is assessed as part of an ongoing cycle of observing, analysing, documenting, planning, implementing and reflecting. ACECQA is clear that there is no one way to document it. Assessors look for the cycle, not a format.
Critical reflection on children's learning, individually and in groups, should drive planning. Assessors may sight reflection journals or jottings and ask how reflection has actually changed the program.
Families are informed about the program and their child's progress in ways that suit them. Assessors may look for a communication approach agreed with families, point-in-time progress summaries and transition statements for children starting school.
Standard 1.3 is about intention. ACECQA describes educators collecting information on each child, analysing what it says about how to support their learning, documenting, planning experiences, putting the program into practice and then reflecting on what was learned. Documentation happens at every stage, not only at the end.
Element 1.3.1 asks whether that cycle is actually happening for each child. Element 1.3.2 asks whether critical reflection, on individual children and on the group, drives what gets planned. Element 1.3.3 asks whether families are kept informed about the program and their child's progress in ways that are useful to them.
None of that prescribes a format. ACECQA's guidance says plainly that there is no one way to meet documentation requirements, and that services should choose methods that fit their children, families and community. A service with fewer, better-connected records is in a stronger position than one with a folder of disconnected stories.
For 1.3.1, the guidance says assessors may sight information showing educators understand each child's learning, dispositions, culture and interests over time; evidence that families were encouraged to contribute and children's views were sought; documented analysis of each child's learning using the learning outcomes as reference points; and clear information for families about what the program offered. They may also discuss how educational leaders help educators understand every step of the cycle.
For 1.3.2, they may sight reflection journals, diaries or jottings covering all kinds of practice, from arrivals and transitions to intentional teaching and the environment, and ask how reflection has led to changes. The guidance values short notes made in the moment and quick conversations between educators during the day, not only formal written reflections.
For 1.3.3, they may look for a communication approach families were consulted on, a range of ways information is shared, point-in-time summaries of each child's progress, the educational program displayed where families can see it, and transition statements for children moving to school.
In most services the observation and the story are there. What goes missing is everything after it. A next step is written at the bottom of a story and never mentioned again. A reflection is recorded but nobody can say what changed because of it. A family comment arrives and stays in a messaging app instead of shaping the next plan.
The fix is not more writing. It is closing loops: noting whether a planned next step was tried, what happened, and whether it is worth continuing; linking a reflection to the change it produced; and carrying what families say into the next observation. Those small links are what let an educator explain the cycle for a child in two minutes, which is exactly the conversation an assessor may want to have.
Coverage is the other quiet gap. Confident, talkative children fill the files. The child who never causes a fuss can go weeks without a single recorded moment, and nobody notices until someone looks for their documentation.
ACECQA's guidance now states that in centre-based services, images or recordings of children may only be captured, stored or transmitted on a service-supplied device, and that personal devices must not be used for images of children. Family day care services may use service-supplied or service-authorised devices.
That matters for any documentation app, including this one. Check your service's device policy first. If you use voice notes, record your own quick summary of what you saw rather than recording the children themselves.
StoryLoop helps with the parts of the cycle that usually break. An educator turns a quick note into a learning story draft with suggested EYLF links and the evidence visible, then edits and signs it off. Each story carries its next steps, and the educator marks them as planned, tried or worth continuing, so the respond and reflect steps are recorded rather than remembered.
On Educator Pro, family replies are kept with the story and carried into the next one, a quiet child radar shows which children have no recorded moments lately (skipping school holidays), and a printable term report describes how each child's learning dispositions showed up, with no scores or comparisons. Centre plans add a planning board built from recent stories and documentation oversight across the team.
It is a writing and planning aid, not an assessment of your service. Your educators still observe, analyse, reflect and decide, and your approach to Standard 1.3 remains your own professional judgement.
Official references
These sources inform this guide. StoryLoop is independent and does not claim endorsement.
FAQ
No. ACECQA's guidance says there is no one way to meet documentation requirements under the NQF. Services choose methods that suit their children, families and community, using professional judgement. What matters is that the assessment and planning cycle is visible.
ACECQA's guidance lists things like information showing educators understand each child over time, evidence that families contributed and children's views were sought, documented analysis of each child's learning using the learning outcomes as reference points, and clear information for families about what the program offered.
Assessors may sight documentation of reflection, such as journals, diaries or brief jottings, and may discuss how reflection informs planning. Short, honest notes that led to a change in practice are more useful than long reflections that change nothing.
ACECQA's guidance says images or recordings of children may only be captured, stored or transmitted on a service-supplied device in centre-based services, or a service-supplied or service-authorised device in family day care. A personal device must not be used for images of children. Check your service's device policy before using any app, and if you use voice notes, record your own summary rather than the children.
No. StoryLoop supports drafting and structure, while educators remain responsible for observation, interpretation, reflection, final editing, and sign-off.
Yes. Stories are editable after generation and saved in history, so educators can add context, adjust wording, copy, export, or regenerate from the original observation.
StoryLoop is designed to avoid generic, poetic AI wording. It asks for real observations, keeps claims evidence-based, and links curriculum only when the observation supports it.
The free plan includes 3 learning stories per month. Upgrade prompts are dismissible, and existing history remains available even if the free limit is reached.