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Whether you are entering your first year as an NQT or moving to the EYFS from a day nursery or older Key Stage, preparing for that first half term can be quite un-nerving. Here is a brief guide to get you started.
What Are The Challenges? Whether you are in a pre-school class or reception class many of the challenges remain the same. A lot of these challenges will come down to the fact that you will be welcoming in an eclectic mix of children. Unlike working in Key Stage 1 or 2 you will not be receiving a full ready formed and ready trained class and this brings some unique challenges. You do not have the benefit of a full handover and assessments from their previous class teacher. You do not have a group of children who have already been through the Tuckman's Norming and Storming model (i.e. the team building theory that a group will go through a sequential process of forming-storming-norming-performing. I will deal with this in another post - promise). You do not know all of the family backgrounds of the children joining you. You may meet children who have undiagnosed Special Educational Needs and you will not have the luxury of Key Stage classes that they come with IEPs and lessons learnt already in place. There may be some children who you do not even meet until the first day. Some children may be coming from a private day nursery, some from a pre-school, some from a childminder and some may never have been away from mum for any period of time. Some children will not have adequate toilet skills, some will struggle with fine (or even gross) motor skills, some will have separation anxiety and some will need to be taught play skills and increased listening and attention skills before they can even begin to learn. Undoubtedly several will have behavioural issues. That is a lot of different 'some's to juggle. I won't sugar coat this - your first half term will be tiring. Entering it with a plan is essential to your survival dear teacher! What Are The Rewards? Before you go handing in your resignation and changing career DO NOT PANIC! The first half term is the hardest but will also lead to the most rewarding year which you will reach the end of feeling triumphant. You are in the privileged position of being entrusted with the most precious thing in people's lives. You have this opportunity to create a magical year for them, build their foundation for making their way successfully and positively through education and helping them turn from babies to school ready children. If you happen to work in an area with many socio-economically deprived families you are also in the tricky but rewarding position that you may be able to provide the first positive experience that some families have had of dealing with a person in authority. This is what your studied and trained for. You are standing at the bottom of Everest and by July next year you will be at the top, surveying the beauty of what you have achieved. So Here Is a Plan... Whether you work in pre-school or reception class getting these things prepared or covered in your first half term will help you to face the challenges that come up in a calm and organised way. 1. Know Your Class Okay I know - I have just made the huge point above that you do not know your class, but there are some steps you can take to get a little bit ahead of the game with this one. If you already work in the setting you may have had the chance to go on home visits, have an induction day or speak to previous day care providers for each child. If not don't panic. Use your first week for this. One thing that is within your power even before term starts is to learn names. Write a list of the children you will have in class. Look at their dates of birth, do you have a lot of summer-borns? Are their a lot of older children? This won't necessarily be an accurate indicator of the ability level your class may have but it might give you an idea. If you have a heavy load of summer born children plan to be working at a lower starting level than if you were getting a lot of older children. Take a look at the pupil data forms or application forms for children. Their primary carer notes should give you an idea of their closest family members, health issues, religion, parent's occupations and (if you are lucky) previous day care setting. All useful information for planning activities that will engage them in the first weeks. 2. Do a Medium Term Plan (and have an idea of a long term plan) If you have read other posts from me you will know that I HATE doing medium term plans however even I acknowledge how essential they are in order to create a structured and well thought out approach to the year. Check whether your school have a specific medium term plan template that they want you to use. If not have a browse of the internet or create your own. Here is the one I use http://preview.tinyurl.com/hsgdt75 Make sure that you include all seven areas of learning from Development Matters (Personal, Social and Emotional Development; Communication and Language, etc) and the three Characteristics of Learning. Plan for children entering 30 - 50 months with an idea (either in the plan or in your own mind) of how you will differentiate for children who are of a higher or lower ability. As far as long term plans are concerned your setting may not require one. If not then just make a basic note for yourself about what you would like to achieve by the end of the year. What percentage of children would you like to be working at a particular level in phonics, maths, 40-60+ months, working at Early Learning Goal, etc. 3. Plan for Your First Week Do a weekly plan for your first week. Tell all staff what activities they are on each day. Make this a week to just play and be led entirely by the children. Don't worry about baseline assessments at this point. Getting to know the children and helping them to feel comfortable will ensure more accurate baseline assessments when you start them in week 2. It may feel like you aren't 'teaching' but it is an investment of time well spent (and actually you shouldn't be focussed on teaching in week 1. This is your time for learning.) For your weekly planning for this week focus all of your attention on providing engaging continuous provision both in and out. If you have enough staff in your team then take turns writing short observations of the children at play. If not then just concentrate on playing and chatting as you learn children's names and all about their play skills and interests. 4. Plan for Week 2 So now you know a little bit about your class. Hopefully your parents are getting to know the routine for dropping off and collecting children making it easier for you to deal with any morning separation anxiety issues. Your children are getting more used to the class and teachers. There are still ups and downs but now is the time to introduce a bit more structure. If you haven't already done so then this is the week to instil a set morning routine for drop offs. Do you have a member of staff on the door and one conducting a song time on the carpet where all children sit as soon as they arrive? Do you tell children to choose a book and sit down with in until register time? Do children go off and play as soon as they arrive while you concentrate on welcoming people in and making sure none of your little angels do a runner out of the door? Your decision will be led by what you learnt about your class in week 1 and will probably change and become more structured as the year progresses. Now is a great week to begin to introduce circle games to learn each other's names and help children begin to gain more confidence. It is also a good week to introduce some more focussed activities such as painting self portraits http://tinyurl.com/z926bzj Now is the best time to begin your baseline assessments. They will take longer than you think! 5. Baseline Assessments Baseline assessments provide two essential benefits. The first is that you are able to assess what level your cohort are working at and so plan accurately for the term. The second is that they show a starting point which allows you to track progress of the children throughout the year. Your school may subscribe to a specific model or system for baseline assessments. If not then you can create your own or find one of the many free or paid for resources available on the internet. Here is one I have used in the past (though I admit to being a bit of a baseline slut and changing it up every year) http://preview.tinyurl.com/htq5ufp Plan your baseline assessments to assess at a 30 - 50 month level of development but make sure you have a basic knowledge of what is in 22-36 months level of development within Development Matters. Make a mental note of children who may be working within 40-60+ months and perhaps come back to these children once all of your baselines are done to see if you should be assessing them at a higher level. Try to loosely group your class into three ability levels. Do not necessarily do work in ability groups (in fact there are many arguments for not doing this at such a young age) but use this loose list as a guide for yourself when planning activities and provision to ensure that you have allowed for all levels of development within your class. Do a basic Phase 2 phonics assessment where appropriate. Do any of the children recognise any letters? Can they hear initial sounds? Can they orally blend or segment? Do a basic mathematics assessment. Ensure you look at counting skills, 2D shapes and counting accurately at the VERY least. Be wary but open minded of assessments coming from previous day care providers of 40 - 60+ months. Some may have been over generous. Some may be entirely accurate but based on a year of more of evidence from their previous setting so don't feel like you are assessing incorrectly if you assess lower than the previous setting did. You will probably find that by the start of spring you have enough evidence that your assessment of them is akin to the one they came in with in from their previous setting. Speak to the head of Early Years to ask them how they would like you to assess these children. Of course the issue will be that you won't know which of the 40 - 60+ assessed children fall into this category and which have been assessed too high by their previous setting so a judgement call or common approach may be needed here. Word to the wise - don't automatically assume that previous judgements are correct but also do not criticise previous day care settings too publically as it may well be that their assessments are completely accurate and you just do not yet have the evidence to agree with the assessment or have a child working below their usual level due to being nervous or more quiet than usual in a new setting. 6. Rules Introduce class rules. Try to have a maximum of five rules and get the children to choose these rules and agree to them (though of course they will be heavily influenced by you and a list you have secretly come up with). Display these rules in the classroom. Refer to them often. Use this point to introduce a behaviour and reward system too - ensuring it is consistent with the rest of the school's approach. Now you are ready to go! Begin to plan according to what you put on your medium term plan for the first half term. Enjoy your new class, write a letter to the parents about what you have played with and learnt in the past few weeks, have fun! It is time to build some little learners. So the end of the academic year has whizzed by again. Teachers have done their end of year assessments, end of year reports, weeks of preparing end of year crafty gifts for the children in their class and the whirlwind of end of year assemblies, presentations, toy days, class parties, school trips and sports days.
Finally with a flurry of tears and goodbyes they reach half three on the last day of term. They look at their now bare walls (or still with work up? Even better maybe with some prep done for next year?) and breathe a sigh of exhaustion. "I will sort it out over the summer" they think and flee the building as soon as possible. Some to plan their celebratory end of term night out, some to collapse in front of the TV safe in the knowledge that no planning or preparation needs to be done for a lesson on Monday. Many will wake up in the morning with either a hangover or a summer cold (having battled their way to the end of term resisting a sick day because there is too much to do and now having a body that thinks 'ok you can be sick now. No school for a few weeks') Yet whatever the teacher does on that first night of the summer hols, almost all will do it with something irking them. A little well meaning, or not so well meaning, comment that has been voiced by a parent, family member or non-teaching friend. If from a parent the comment will usually come in the well meaning form of "I bet you are ready for a break. My work is just beginning". For some teachers this will not be a comment to cause any second thoughts. For those with children of their own who they now need to entertain for five weeks it will probably prompt them to wonder whether the parent who has made the comment truly thinks that their summer will be harder than yours and that your children will magically disappear leaving you to put your feet up and drink tequila cocktails on a sunny child free beach holiday for the next five weeks. But remember that the comment WAS well meaning - the parent's way of acknowledging that you HAVE worked hard all year and must be ready for a break (and to be fair this is the time when I usually do thank God for how lucky I am that I now get five weeks with my children and do not have to worry about paying for childcare for the holidays). The far more annoying comment is more likely to come from a member of your family or a non-teaching friend and will come in the form of "You don't know you are born getting all of those holidays!" or "I only get 25 days holiday a year. You spend most of the year on holiday!". These comments are in no way well meaning and will often prompt you to annoyance, if not pure rage. "But I don't actually get paid for 13 weeks a year" you want to scream, "I spend my whole holiday working!" you feel like shouting, "The weeks when I am in school are like running a marathon... with 30 kids, and 30 sets of parents (some of who I am sure hate me) and 30 different problems that I am trying to help with, AND NO TOILET BREAK!!!" you want to gasp before collapsing in exhaustion. So what do teachers actually do during those long summer holidays? Here is a little insider view of the Secret World of Teachers on Holiday (Channel 4 take note for your next 'Secret World...' documentary). Week 1: This is the holiday week. The bag of work brought home gets dumped in the hallway or a cupboard. The teacher presents (every one of them loved dearly - especially the home made ones) get put away, cards go up on the windowsill. Gin or beer is consumed, housework that has been ignored all term gets done, school shoes get put away and summer shoes come out. For the teachers that planned ahead planes are boarded and photos of beaches and cocktails are Instagrammed or Facebooked. For those with children late nights are encouraged in the hope that the kids will have some lie ins to give you some time without children. Inevitably the children will continue to wake up at 7am and immediately demand food, shortly followed by "What are we doing today?" You will suggest some fun craft activity that other people actually pay to go to summer clubs to do. Your children will look at you scathingly, reminding you that they have seen you recycle these activities for years and quite frankly don't give a toss about making ooblek, playdough or an 'exciting' experiment with baking soda and vinegar or a raw egg. You reach the end of Week 1. Teachers without children are now relaxed. Teachers with children less so, however all teachers are now about to enter the same process over the following weeks. Week 2: Ok you have had your week of relaxation. Now you begin to realise there are only 4-5 weeks left. Seems a lot but not really. You frantically contact old friends and family who you have ignored for the full academic year to try to get some catch up time. If you have kids they have now settled into holiday mode so are slightly less annoying and demanding (though like Gremlins they will still demand to be fed twelve times a day and amused at least three times). "I really should get some work done" you think. But as it is only week 2 of the holidays you decide to have one more week to recharge. No kids? You do a bit of spring cleaning (missed when it was actually spring because you had a final term to plan - your last chance to make sure you had covered the whole curriculum) and decide what should move from your wardrobe to the charity shop. Have kids? Then you plan some picnics, park trips, swimming or a theme park - swimming in the guilty pool of balancing parenthood with being a teacher i.e. spending 90% of your year planning excitement and wonder for children who aren't yours only to be too exhausted to do the same for your own children when you get home. If you do decide to get your head down and work then this will probably consist of emptying and sorting out the bag of work that you brought home, writing a list of what you need to do before school starts again and creating a new file on your laptop named "2016-2017". Week 3: Right your holidays are over. If you have scheduled a housework this week then no doubt you will end up putting 50% of the rubbish that should be thrown away onto a bag for life to take to school. After all that plastic tray from the box of chocolates you finished last week would look great in the playdough area and that odd sock? Surely you could cut a couple of holes in that and use it as your fiftieth idea this year for teaching an effective pencil grip right? Any shopping trips around this time will probably also end up with bags of crafty crap from the pound shop that will sit in the boot of your car until September (then be forgotten until October by which point the new entrant craft you had planned to use them for will be over and done with). Time to fire up your laptop. Why weren't you a better person who pushed yourself to do that dreaded medium term plan when you were still at school? Why, why, why?!?!?! Maybe you could just do your weekly planning for the first week instead. You know what you need to do in those first two weeks. Do you really need to do the medium term plan right now? Maybe next week. You do your first week of planning, create a new class list for your new class, try to remember which child is which, have a brief panic about whether you will be able to remember which child belongs to which parent at home time for those uncomfortable first few weeks. You look at the medium term plan template but decide instead to write a five page document on how you will make sure that you cover every area of the curriculum neatly over the year. You pat yourself on the back that you have started your summer of work and frantically try to plan something for the following day that is non-school related so that you can feel like you had some holiday this week. Week 4: Time to do that medium term plan. You open it and type a few ideas in. You go on Pinterest to get some inspiration. Two hours later you have about a hundred great ideas pinned for exploring autumn, Christmas activities and homemade Christmas gifts but absolutely nothing for the first half term. You break for lunch, annoyed that your morning has been wasted. Idiot! Oh God! You remember what a mess you left the classroom in. You still have three display boards to do and you were going to sort out that cupboard that is like a poorly produced natural disaster movie every time you open it and risk the lava flow or avalanche of notes from past staff meetings, staples that don't fit onto any stapler you own and plastic wallets cascading around your head every time you sneak your hand in for a whiteboard pen. You were going to wash and sterilise all of the building area toys. You need to go through everything in the book corner and pull out the torn books. You haven't even taken down the display of photos of last year's children yet! Will the new parents think you don't care about their children??!?!?!? You plan a day in school. You work hard for 8 hours lugging and washing and scrubbing and wall stapling. If you have children they eat the days worth of food you have packed them in half an hour and check with you every hour "can we go home yet?" You leave at 4pm. The classroom seems as messy as it was 8 hours ago. If not worse. You start to panic about your empty medium term plan. Week 5: You have a week left. Maybe a tiny bit longer. Maybe a bit less. There are those two INSET days you forgot about. You start to dream about going back to scratch. If you work in Early Years you go to sleep each night remembering how many tantrums, tears and toilet accidents you get in the first half term. You are already thinking about this year's nativity. But of course you have settling in, Harvest festival, parent's evening and bonfire night to get through first. Why didn't you appreciate the class you have just lost more in that last term? The term when they were finally getting phonics and knew the rules and rarely had a wee on the floor?!?! Fool! You start to set your alarm for seven to get back into the morning routine. You realise you haven't done any of your own children's homework with them. Or bought them any uniform. Oh damn! Did they bring their PE kit home at the end of term? Where is it? Do their pumps still fit? You spend a day dragging yourself painfully through doing the dreaded medium term plan (that would have only taken an hour if you had just forced yourself to do it when you were still in work mode 5 weeks ago). You begin to hate any form of curriculum or assessment and randomly research schooling in Scandanavian countries whilst seething at the idiocy of the English approach to education. You ruminate to anyone who will listen about how we force our children out of childhood and into standardised testing too soon. Week 6: Back to school! You love this job! The children were all far better than you expected. Apart from that one... oh yes and that one too... and did that parent look at you funny? Do they hate you already? Within seconds you are back in work mode, fuelled by coffee and a love of the EYFS. Maybe this won't be so tough after all. I mean if all else fails you do have a medium term plan right? It's that time where most practitioners get a little teary. The little angels (or monsters) that we have had in our care for a year (in pre-school) or maybe from birth in other settings are ready to spread their wings and fly. We have helped them, loved them, taught them and nurtured them and now they are facing their first big challenge without us. If you want to support the parents of these children then read the earlier post on transitions for parents to help. This post should hopefully help you to help the children in your care as you get them ready to leave you and become grown up schoolies.
1. Do Your Research Whether you visit the school yourself, talk to parents or look at the website, try to learn about the school each child is going to. This will arm you to chat to the child as if you have personal knowledge of the school. For example tell them how much you love the school's outdoors area, that you like the colour of jumper that they will be wearing or that you have heard that Mrs/Mrs.... is a really nice teacher. Hearing these comments from an adult they know and trust will help create a sense of trust and comfort for the child as they face this step. Find out when the child will have transition days and chat about all of the lovely things they did when they get back. 2. Make a Fuss The temptation may be to avoid the subject of starting school altogether. You don't want to upset or unsettle the child in your care. Avoid this temptation. You are the adult and it is your duty to put on your big girl/big boy pants and crack on with it. Tackle this head on. Make a big fuss of the child or children in front of the other children in your care. Make a crown, have a party, do anything! Encourage the mindset that this is an exciting time to celebrate and for this time the child is very special. Avoid the mindset that it is something to be feared like a trip to the dentist. 3. Social Stories Read as many stories and watch as many cartoons and TV shows as you can about first days at school. The children in your care may not be able to visit their new school every day to prepare but you can provide opportunities for the routines and events of starting a new school to begin to feel more familiar and predictable (and so less scary and out of their control). These stories also provide a great opportunity for children to voice their concerns or excitements. Embrace these opportunities. 4. Liase With The School Each child's new teacher should get in touch with you at some point to find out a bit more about the child and family that are transitioning to them. If they have not contacted you by mid-July then contact them. Try to arrange a time to meet face-to-face but if this is not possible have a chat on the phone. In either case also send or handover a transition document with a brief overview of what the child is like when in your care, their personality, likes and dislikes, fears and comforts. Give a brief overview of any family issues the school need to be aware of and give a judgement of where the child sits developmentally, using the Early Years Foundation Stage Development Matters as a reference point (if in the UK). 5. Keep Parents Informed Keep the parents or carers informed of the things you have done each day so that they can be reassured of your contact with the school and also so that they can carry on at home with any learning or conversations that you have had with their child. 6. Expect Changes in Behaviour Children due to start school will often show changes in behaviour. They may have interrupted sleep, suddenly begin to cry when left by mum or dad after leaving them happily for many years or begin to push the boundaries. This is all to be expected. Whether it has been explained to them well, badly or not at all children will sense that a big change is coming and it is one that the adults around them are finding difficult or emotional too, even if the emotions being displayed by the adults around them are happy or excited ones. Continue to have the same rules, boundaries and expectations as you always have had with the children but be ready to give extra reassurance and be extra patient during these tricky times. 7. Be Proud Well done you! The child may be leaving you but look how far they have come. That is the product of your hard work, love and care over the past year or more. Your job is done. Take a deep breath of self-satisfaction, be proud and congratulate yourself on how far you have come together. Transitions into nursery, child minder settings or school will usually be more distressing for parents than for their child however having a child who settles in quickly will help the parents to adjust too.
We have all seen it. Some children will waltz into their new setting happily without a second glance, some will cry at the initial separation from mum or dad but be fine within minutes and some will suffer from a more prolonged separation anxiety (something we will look at in another post). No matter which category a child falls into there are several things we can do to make their time with us happy and settled. 1. Show the Love If you work in a school setting you may be used to staff being nervous about too much physical contact for fear of potential safeguarding misunderstandings but the transitioning period is a time where you may need to use your judgement and set fears aside. Children aged 4 and under do not usually have the mental reasoning skills to be brought out of an upset state by common sense and discussion. They are babies people! They have been on this earth for less time than your favourite pair of jammies or shoes. They are not little adults - they are children and when they are left in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people and no cast iron guarantee that mum or dad will return at the end of the day they need more than a good old chat. They need cuddles. So don't be afraid to get a child on your knee for a good old cuddle and nursery rhyme or story. Of course safeguarding will always be an issue but this can be allowed for in a day care setting or school by making sure that the cuddle time is in the main room with other adults present. 2. Have Different Mood Spaces It's time to bring out all of your arsenal. While some new starters may want cuddles, some may want to be allowed their own space whilst other come in seeking excitement or distraction. Set your room up so that you have areas for exploring, areas with familiar toys and experiences and areas for quiet time. You don't need a large space or multiple rooms to do this. Just make sure that you have play experiences set out that are familiar and reassuring (such as mark making, play dough or painting), activities that offer some challenges or new experiences (duplo, messy play, jigsaw puzzles), opportunities for small world play, opportunities for more active play (toys that move, water or sand) and a quiet reassuring space (indoor tent or an area with books, teddies and cushions). In this way you can make sure that you have covered every type of learner and offered many different tools which children could use to self soothe. 3. Getting to Know You Play some getting to know you activities. If you have done your pre-transition prep you will already know all about each new child (or at least the basics of likes, dislikes and family) but the child will not know this. Plan in lots of games and activities around getting to know each other. Games where you learn the names of each of the people in the setting and other children work well, as do craft activities where you help the child to paint a self portrait or learn about families. (Check out the Settling In page for some ideas). 4. Toy Support Whatever your setting's policy on bringing in toys and comfort items it would be good practice to allow any children who are struggling to settle to have a comfort item from home with them. Some children may need to have the item all day and be slowly weaned off it as they settle, some may need it only to deal with the initial separation from their parent or carer and will happily give their item up with support after ten minutes or so. If you particularly object to children having their own toys into your setting then consider having a bag of 'daytime toys' - a collection of toys which can be used as a special friend in nursery/ school. Introduce these as special friends and let the child choose one that they can keep with them all day whilst in the setting then put on a shelf or bag in its bag at home time until they return the next day. Side note: To pacify or not? Whether we agree with it or not many children will still use a dummy (pacifier) up to or beyond the age of 3. In the interests of Communication and Language if nothing else, consider discouraging the use of dummies within your setting after the age of 2 so as to encourage children to talk more often and more clearly and as a result build relationships with staff and children that will help them to settle more quickly into your setting. Well it is that time of year again. The time when we lose some children from our care and gain others. Working in a school nursery I have children transitioning to our reception class, children moving to other schools and new children due to start from other day care providers or leaving mum and dad for the first time.
Think about starting a new job. Learning what the place is like, the office politics, concerns about your new boss or whether you will make any friends, even simple questions that cause even the most grown up of us nerves; Do I need to ask permission before I go to the toilets? Where do I get lunch? What should I wear? Exciting but scary times huh? It is no wonder that transitioning into a new setting causes parents and children to feel uncertain and scared in an even more extreme way. But lucky us. We have the power to ease these transitions and to help families and children as they move. Here we will first look at how we can help parents with the transition as this is a far more cut and dried process than the less easy topic of supporting the child, which we will deal with in our next blog posting. Supporting Parents A child starting in education or day care for the first time can be terrifying for parents. Many years later I still remember the gut wrenching fear and uncertainty I felt when my children started nursery at 7 months old then school at 4. After all these are tiny, little defenceless humans who we have had sole care of since they were born. No-one else could possibly know them as well or understand them as deeply as we, their parents, do. So the thought of them staring in a setting for the first time or moving to a brand new setting is terrifying. These parents are trusting the most precious thing in their life to you so the best way you can reassure them is to show them how seriously you take this responsibility. Here are some ways in which you could support them. 1. Initial Contact and Home Visits. Your initial contact with parents will probably be initiated by them and often followed up by yourself in writing however you will both benefit greatly from speaking to each other in person as soon as possible. A warm, friendly, welcoming voice on the end of the phone can help set a parent's mind at ease and begin what will potentially be a years long relationship on a lovely level. A follow up home visit will also give them and their child the opportunity to meet you and ask questions in a setting in which the family feel comfortable. It also gives you thr unique opportunity of seeing how the child plays and acts in their own home. 2. Signposting Many of the concerns a parent feels when their child starts in school or day care can be eased by reassuring them that you have procedures, policies and routines in place. If you have one signpost them to your website, give them or direct them to copies of your policies and procedures, let them know practicalities like where the front door is, what your hours are, how and when their child will sit down to eat and the staff they will come into contact with, your health and safety measures, sickness policies and media policies. Be ready to answer questions or feel comfortable saying confidently 'I will look into that and get back to you later today/tomorrow' if you don't know the answer. 3. Setting Visits The next step would be to invite the parents and child into your setting for a brief visit. Be sure to emphasise 'brief' and talk about what you will do during the visit. Otherwise you could end up with a family visiting for over half an hour and, although we do like to welcome families into our settings, half an hour spent with them is half an hour in which we aren't able to fully focus on the other children already in our care. If you just have one new starter to meet then this is best done during the normal working day so that the family can see the other children at play and the way the staff interact with them. Ensure all staff are aware of the visit and the child's name so that they can involve the child if appropriate during the visit. If you have several children due to start it may work better to have a parent's meeting one evening when the setting is set up as if for the start of a session or to have an induction morning where parents attend with their child for a couple of hours to play without the other children there. 4. Regular Updates You should try to have regular updates for parents in the first couple of months while their child settles in. This could be photos, examples of their child's work, an opportunity for a parents evening or daily updates on how many times a child has been changed, fed and activities done (depending on the child's age). Also make sure that parents know they can phone you or talk to you any time during your working day if they have questions or concerns. You may also decide to use social media, online portfolios and text and email to keep your parents updated (but make sure you have one eye on safeguarding and a clear social media policy that parents are aware of and have access to before you do this). We are entering into unexplored waters and no-one yet knows how Britain will be affected by the recent referendum and the resulting decision to leave the EU. After a break of several years from writing, my love of the EYFS is urging me to get back in there. Although I will mainly be writing about fun activities and the joy of the EYFS I felt I couldn't start such a blog without first tackling the issue that most of Britain is puzzling over at the moment. So as a one off detour from the happy, easy going place this blog will be here is a little attempt to make sense of our new political climate and how this will affect us as EYFS practitioners. For those of us working in education alarm bells may have started to quietly chime as Michael Gove throws his hat into the leadership ring. Let us remember that this is the man who supported changes in our curriculums and testing requirements, pursued with vigour the academy and free schools programme and thought nothing of selling off playing fields and relaxing government regulations on how much outdoor space should be required in UK schools. Do we think this will be someone who values the benefits of Forest Schools and outdoor learning? If Gove gets the now not-so-coveted position of PM will we see even more teachers leave the profession? Let's hope that some more education friendly MPs throw their hats into the ring (and keep them there... shame on you Blustering Boris). Apologies in advance if you have come here for answers or predictions as I have none. It is also not a place for lambasting either Leave or Remain voters. What's done is done. All I can offer is some food for thought for educators as you listen to the promises made by potential Prime Ministers in the coming weeks. So what are the leading papers and bloggers predicting as the possible effects on the education system in the UK as we move into these new times? It is all guess work at the moment and the direct consequences for education will rest in the hands of the new PM but here are some possible ways in which leaving the EU could indirectly affect Early Years education. Money It is unclear, as yet, whether Brexit will result in an economic boom or an economic crisis but many financial sceptics feel that the money saved by no longer paying EU membership fees will not equate to the money promised by the Brexit campaigners to go back into our own economy so where will this extra money come from? We can only hope that it is not taken from Child Tax Credits, Childcare Vouchers or entitlements to free childcare as this will then impact on numbers of parents being able to return to work. In addition, without the money and business that EU links provided and were due to provide in the UK, will this mean a rise in unemployment leading to more children staying at home as opposed to attending child-minding or day care services? How would this then affect child care settings? In theory it could mean fewer children needing nursery places and an increase in stay-at-home parents. Would this be a bad thing? Potentially not. We all know that children who have been in some sort of day care setting before starting reception class seem to settle more easily, make friends more quickly and respond better to the rules, routines and hustle and bustle of a busy school. That said, however, most Early Years educators would agree with the holistic benefits provided by many European education systems in which the start of formal education begins much later than it does in England, with children not starting school until the age of 6. That said, with the exit of Britain from the EU, would the government be open to adopting a more European approach to education which many of us want or will there be a Gove style increase in testing and assessments from an even earlier age? As a side note to this, if children are staying at home for longer due to working parents not being able to return to work, will the recent closing down of so many Children's Centres mean that families are not accessing group play and experiences for their pre-school child or will it perhaps have the opposite effect of educated and holistic play proponent parents setting up their own small businesses to offer the experiences no longer more readily available via government funding? Uncertain times indeed! Employment As many EU funded businesses come under threat and employees lose the employee rights previously protected under EU regulations, there is the chance that jobs will be lost and children will need to (or be able to) stay at home instead of starting in nursery. This could most severely impact child care providers that rely heavily on their baby and toddler places for business income. What changes are made to the free place funding for 2s and 3s are yet to be seen. On the other hand there may also be middle income working parents who are not entitled to Child Tax Credits who are affected by reduced options for maternity leave and flexible working conditions who now need to opt for sending their child to day care and returning to work instead of being able to take a career break. Without the worker's rights protection of the EU and with many small businesses sometimes suffering from the staffing hit created by maternity leave will some employers now be supported by the government, no longer answerable to the EU, in reducing maternity, paternity and family friendly leave and working hours? If so will this potentially lead to more childcare places from middle income earning families being filled or more parents being unable to afford to return to work and so not needing child care? Added to that the lower numbers of children coming to the UK via immigration and a potential hesitation of people in their 20s and 30s deciding to try for babies as they wait to see what the outcomes for Brexit will be for their own finances, employment and living situations could we see a drop in numbers in over the next few years? Immigration It is no secret that one of the biggest fears facing voters this year was the increase in immigration (and implicit links to terrorism that were made in many Brexit talks). It is also no secret that over the past few years day care providers have seen a huge rise in children who speak English as an Additional Language. This in itself presents many daily problems as practitioners who are not bilingual try to help and support groups of children sometimes coming from a range of backgrounds with a range of languages spoken however it has also offered many unique benefits and opportunities when tackling the tricky curriculum area of Understanding the World - People and the Communities. Another change which immigration concerns have led to has been the introduction of a new British Values focus in all education establishments. Within Early Years this has been done mainly by the government document which reframes a lot of what we were already doing with an increased focus on open communication and tolerance. Something which I am sure many will agree has been easier to teach in settings which are not all White British Christian (after all how much comprehension of other faiths, lifestyles and religions can a child of 3 have if the only people they have ever seen look, act and talk almost exactly like them?) Thankfully in Early Years education the outcomes of Brexit will have no discernible affect in this area for a few years however it will be interesting to see how teachers dealing with older children in Key Stage 2 and high school are guided to handle the questions that are bound to arise as children try to balance their understanding of how religious and racial tolerance can sit alongside explicitly segregating ourselves as a nation. Over the next few weeks and months many other changes and questions are bound to arise and we would do well to keep an eye on how this will affect our little learners in the future. The best we can do as Early Years practitioners is to treasure each child and each family that we deal with as unique individuals and not let either our own or our colleague's votes or beliefs affect the way we deal with each other. Let's work together to stay educated, keep up to date with the changes to come and how they affect families and always, always, always embrace the joy that working with children in their most precious stage of life brings to us. Carry on loving the mess of the EYFS! |
IMAGE BY MAGDA EHLERS
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