Guest Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 I have just joined. I too would like to find out how others manage, especially the weekly planning. We have had a hybrid model for nearly 2 years (due mainly to low numbers) - 8 Reception in the morning & 24 Reception / Nursery in the afternoon, so I do plan specific Literacy & numeracy in the morning - not formal though -we do cooking, go shopping, PE, etc . We use Hamilton Codebreakers (phonics) while we have our milk & fruit - they love Boris the bat! It is THE best thing for our children!! We have such flexibility to cater for all children's needs. I was really worried about the new Nursery children coming as soon as they're 3 in with 5 year olds, but the older children are so caring. We have separate carpet sessions at the start & finish (but 4 yr old nursery can join the Recep if they want to) but mixed groups for a 20 minute adult-led session, (4 !) on 3 days. The other 2 days adults plan activities for specific groups. They all have an hour of indoor/outdoor free flow play every day & running snack. Recep children have the choice of going on the playground when the rest of the school is out - the novelty soon wore off because we have so much going on. We had OFSTED last September and did very well - "very good provision", so no worries there! BUT I am the sole teacher and I do 2 lots of plans - 1 for morning (Recep) and another for afternoon (nursery and reception together, as 1 class.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted June 6, 2004 Share Posted June 6, 2004 Hi there Glynis, and welome on board. Its great to hear someone talk with such enthusiasm about the unit approach, personally I am a big fan, but dont work that way at the moment. If I understand you correctly, your nursery children only attend in the afternoon, but the reception children attend all day? Could you not have one plan for the afternoon session, just adding to it for the morning sessions, rather than having completely separate plans? It sounds like you have your routines well organised and they obviously work well for you and the children, are you finding that you are doing too much paperwork? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Hi Glynis, I'm afraid I can't help you but just wanted to say hi and welcome. It sounds like you're doing a great job. Looking forward to getting to know more about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Hi Glynis, just a welcome really as I have no experience of FS units although I'd like to! Why is your morning so underpopulated!? Are there more than 8 reception children? If not presuamably these numbers will be changing again soon? Sounds like a tremendous lot of planning, I'm always keen to keep that as flexible as possible and minimal as thats how I work best. There are some planning formats on site but I've a different one that I would think could work so will get that to Steve to put on the new site, launching next week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Hi Glynis, Like Beau and Susan, no experience, 'though it sounds really interesting! Hello and welcome Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 Thanks for the welcome. Yes, the planning is problematic., so any suggestions gratwefully received! I tend to do a LIT/NUM plan for the morning based on the topic or a Big Book. Our Recep numbers were really low this year, although in Sept the balance will shift again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Hi there I too am seeking advice on FS units - I've jut been appointed nursery teacher at an inner city school where ofsted will be inspecting in September. As yet I'm unsure on the numbers but we may have 24 nursery chn in the morning and 20 reception all day in addition to 2 classes of reception chn. I am meeting the fs staff in two weeks and the lea ey advisor so may be better informed then - currently i am teaching in a nursery class and the planning is very good and user friendly and would like to adapt this some how! Will pass on any helpful info i get! Best wishes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Hi Kavmar, We're setting up a unit in September too - if you have any joy with you're advisor please keep me posted. I'm also concerned about a record keeping system - the one I currently have in Nursery works well but it won't fit in well with Profiles - any suggestions?!!! Magenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 Hi Magenta I'm not 100% sure what my new school does yet but currently my nursery has a booklet which I helped to create that starts in nursery and continues into reception - I think this may be the way my new school will want to go? The document is divided into 3 sections - Nursery, Reception and Assessment, each section is colour coded. The nursery and Reception sections are very similar they record the first week, first term in nur/rec (these are based on observations), they also have 4 pages to record discussions with the children (like the FSP) such as them saying what there fav area is and a photo to show them completing that activity, there is a section where you write a brief description of any chats/meetings with parents and get them to sign and date that they attended, there is also a tracking sheet for those 'interesting' children who you may need to focus on - these i do for children on iep's/emag etc. Then the last section is the assessment section and basically what we have done is take the FSP and some of the stepping stones and put them into a chart in the areas as set out in the FSP. We have then numbered the profile points as they are numbered. We then tick and date when they achieve each point and underneath there are 2 comment boxes one for nursery and one for Rec, here we comment or write observations relating to these points. We are training our TA's and nursery nurses to help fill out the assessment sections as they do take a long time to go through as a child doesn't achieve the points only in one area when they do an activity!!! Also they observe alot when they are working too! The very last page is a grid with all the fsp sections and points 1-9, we tick at the end of nursery which ones they have achieved based on our comments and assessment pages, this then gives the next teacher a snap shot of that child in one page and feeds into the fsp! Wow didn't expect this to be so long - sorry! I don't know whether Ofsted will like the document, we only created it in Dec and have one cohort going up to rec with it in september, I think once a routine has been set up to include this assessment booklet in the planning it will work better! Hope this helps -what do you do currently? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 That sounds really interesting. I am always on the look out for any new ideas- I think all of us aren't we? Could you load a copy of this booklet for us to see. Well, they do say copying is the best form of flattery!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 Hi don't mind trying but a bit new to all this how do you do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 Kavmar, That sounds great!! If you can post a copy that would be great. I work in Nursery at the moment, we have a separate system to Reception - they use the Profile Booklets. We really need to change this for September to give more continuity and to make things easier. Currently in Nursery each child has a 'Development Book'. This contains a section for each area of the curriculum which contains - a record sheet - all of the stepping stones on a sheet that is highlighted/underlined when achieved - different colour for each term - a page to add incidental observations - sticky labels - a page to add annotated photos - a record of achievement in each area e.g. I can recognise these colours, I can count to, pieces of work e.g. mark-making from role play, creative work. For Ofsted we had to add Targets!!! e.g. to recognise diff cols., count a little further etc. Didn't like this at first, but we fill these in with the children and they seem to like to see how they have progressed and the targets do help with planning. These do seem to help focus on each child's development but we do need something to follow on to Profiles. Magenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 KAVMAR hi Steve will correct me if I'm wroong but what you need to do have the document on your computer- in my documnets for example. Type out the message in the FS reply section as you normally would. The scroll right down to the bottom and click on the button that says "browse". You can then look for the file with the relevant information in it and open it as a link for us to download . Try it and see if it works. Or check with Steve. He'll know Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 Here goes nothing hope it works and you find it useful! Foundation_Stage_ROA.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 Download successful There seems to be a lot of detailed information within your records of achievment. What happens to this file when the chidl leaves Reception? Does the Yr 1 teacher get all the records of achievemts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted June 19, 2004 Share Posted June 19, 2004 Certainly a very detailed document Kavmar, thanks for sharing it with us. Magenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 We hadn't got that far in our thinking - we did decide that any comments made would need to be carefully worded as the parents would have the right to see the booklet and eventually they would receive them to keep. The problem is how to link the Foundation Stage to Key Stage 1. I believe it would be very informative to the year 1 teachers - but would they read it? Our main aim was to reduce the work load in Reception and to provide a smooth transition from Nur to Rec which would feed directly into the Foundation Stage Profile - another problem we had was how do we encorporate children that have come from different nursery providers as their booklets would be half completed! What do you all think! How do you pass on information to Year 1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Exactly the point I was making in another topic- records of achievment. these records and assessments, though very detailed don't seem to have any purpose other than to keep staff busy. The KS1 teacher glances at it and is honest enough to say that she has neither time or energy to read through all of it. all she wants to knwo is if there is a 'problem' or issue with the child concerned anything that stands out. We have been told not to write down too much as nobody else in KS1 or KS2 is expected to and even then only note the 'wows' and 'ouchs'. Most parents want to know if their child is happy and if they have friends.not if he/she is able to....... I can see parents' eyes glazing over when I start the 'report speak' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted June 20, 2004 Share Posted June 20, 2004 Wow Kavmar thats a piece of work and a half, thanks for sharing with us! I will be interested to know how this develops, what changes you make & why, if any! I was in my LEAs working party devising a FS profile for use in all preschool and nursery settings and then transferrring into Reception. It was intended that we should give credit to the hard work of the preschool setting in the completion of the profile in this way. We used the same format as the profile and worked backwards to give each Goal (statements 4-8), 3 stepping stones incorporating statements1-3 within this. It was quite a formidable piece of wirk this year and I found it almost impossible to have regard to all the points but hope it willl be alot easier next year when children come to Reception with it. We made a spread sheet with all profile points on and sent these as a whole class record to yr1 last year. However, from the comments I heard in the ususal vien of why can't they , or why haven't they etc, I suspect they really weren't looked at with any great understanding! I notice from your attainment sheet that you have notated point 9 as being at level 1 but is is becoming recognised that point 9 actually equates much higher than this in many scales! Good luck in your new job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 Hi there thought I'd let you know how it went today with the EY advisor. We came up with a planning format tweaked from the Tower Hamlets document, reception and nursery will be run as one reception class and 1 mixed nur/rec with 2 teachers! The medium term plans will be the same for both year groups but the weekly plans will be specific to the room and resources of each class (although will use the same format). We are running a 2 year topic programme and will discuss assessment next week! The EY advisor didn't have much to say about the assessment booklet i'd created - I asked about feeding in to year 1 and she just said that it was a common problem! She did tell us a new document will be coming out soon an early years/pre PIPs folder to support phonics in Foundation Stage! Anyway was a productive meeting for us - sorry not much more help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 glad to hear its all going well. It would be interesting to see your planning format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 I'll attach the blank weekly plans - we may change them still don't know how they'll work and you need a magnifying glass as would be enlarged on photocopier at school!!! weekly_planning___blank.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Thanks Kavmar. Thats going to be quite a task! But always looking for new ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Thanks Kavmar, We're still in the process of organising our planning for Sept. Its's great to see other people's plans. The one we're currently using has lots of detail for adult initiated activities, but not enough for other areas - we need to get the balance right! If anyone else has formats for F.S. Unit planning would love to see them. Thanks Magenta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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