Guest flutter Posted April 30, 2008 Posted April 30, 2008 Hi All. Does anyone know what the expectations from OFSTED are regarding child-initiated/ structured play activities linking to topic. Do all activities need to link? The Inspector we had (not EYs experienced we understand!) seemed to suggest that we should have more activities linked. We had approx 50+%. But find some topics easier than others. Would like to hears the views of those more experienced with Ofsted.
womble Posted April 30, 2008 Posted April 30, 2008 At our last ofsted Topic related play did not come up at all, so can't really help sorry Womble
hali Posted April 30, 2008 Posted April 30, 2008 we dont do topics - so didnt come up at our recent inspection either! I would say if what you do works well - stick to it!
Guest Wolfie Posted April 30, 2008 Posted April 30, 2008 I would say that's a rather "old fashioned" view and not one held by most inspectors (hopefully)!
Guest Posted April 30, 2008 Posted April 30, 2008 agree with hali, I'd also say that if for example your topic was 'animals' and a child is playing in the home corner, if THE CHILD was 'inspired' by the subject matter of the topic, then the child would find the link, and possibly (for example) spontaneously role play feeding an imaginary pet in the home corner, (child initiated) if you see what I mean. Most all activities, as you know, can link to most all topics. Actually I don't think children think 'in topics' or experience 'life' in topics, and to expect a 'totally' topic engineered environment, to me is unnatural, and certainly doesn't embrace the 'individuality' of children. Now if I'd just had your ofsted inspector, I would wish that I could have thought of the above words to say to him/her, but again in real life, under pressure, we always think, after the event, I wish I'd said...... Unless they have given this 'advice' as an action point, I'd forget about it and as hali says, do what works for YOUR children. If it is an action point then ensure staff are aware of POSSIBLE links that they can encourage in the event that a child is 'lost' for what to do, or how he/she wants to access a particular activity ie: requires adult interaction, then, and only then would I suggest the adult 'leads' the child to a link to topic thought process within his/her play. Peggy
Guest flutter Posted May 2, 2008 Posted May 2, 2008 Thank you all. Peggy I totally agree with all you said. Was beginning to doubt my own knowledge, as we do!!! It is in the past now anyway just thought I would find out what you all thought.
Aunt Sally Posted May 2, 2008 Posted May 2, 2008 EYFS_Best_Practice.doc Thought there were some good points in this weeks Nursery World and kind of confirmed how I feel about child-initiated play, planning etc "....come inspection, what matters is that early years practitioners are able to 'talk planning' with the inspector. That means being clear about what you do and why". There was a lot of food for thought!
Guest Posted May 17, 2008 Posted May 17, 2008 Any advice? As I am relatively new to the nursery and teaching, I wondered if anyone can give me advice as what to expect when Ofsted come calling. How much time will they spend with us and is everyone interviewed?
Guest Posted May 18, 2008 Posted May 18, 2008 Any advice? As I am relatively new to the nursery and teaching, I wondered if anyone can give me advice as what to expect when Ofsted come calling. How much time will they spend with us and is everyone interviewed? Hi s4mmy, not sure I've said hello and welcome to you before, so hello from me. The time spent in your setting depends on what type of setting you are, full day care is 2 days. Who/how many staff/parents the Inspectors will speak to varies considerably, depending on Inspector. Have a look at the Ofsted site for their publication, "Are you ready for Inspection", plus updates are imminent on changes / guidance re: EYFS Inspections. Try doing a search, just type in Ofsted and you will find many, many previous discussions of different experiences forum members have had. Peggy
Guest Wolfie Posted May 19, 2008 Posted May 19, 2008 Our Centre has a full daycare nursery and the inspector was only with us for one day.....
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