Guest Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Hi all, I could do with some advice please on how to tackle an issue within my school. In September, we are having 2 reception classes. 1 will have 10 of my current YR children (who were the January intake of this academic year) and some reception and I will have the other half of the reception intake and the whole of the January intake. My problem is... (I've already started a thread on my position so won't go into that one again, but briefly I am FS co-ord in sept, but staff not being told) anyway...the 2 teachers who will be job sharing the other class are obsessed with the Y1 children and I've hit a brick wall with how to resolve the situation. They seemed to want to teach them as a separate class to the YR children with different topics and themes etc. I said a good way to do it would be to plan for Reception as normal, and then link in level 1 objectves from the NC to meet the Statutory requirements for the Y1 children (when they are academically ready for it). They kept arguing back at me saying but that isn't enough - they have to be taught about friction, energy, light etc etc. I tried to explain that it was the objectives that were statutory and not the themes or topics that QCA suggest and that they could easily be covered by differentiating the activities up to a higher level for the ones who need it (which may include some YR children) - We need to put the learning needs of the children first. Any advice on where to go with this next would be great thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinkerbell Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 I do agree with what you are saying. The year 1 children should be followinga play based curriculum for the first term as suggested in 'continuing the learning journey' .Perhaps you could direct your colleagues to this document and DVD. I also agree that the objectives should be from the National Curriculum and not QCA....most teachers are trying to get away from using them. Tinkerbellx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Teaching Year 1 and reception as 2 separate year groups with 2 different topics will be very hard - double the amount of planning. I have taught R/Y1 classes for last few years and we have tried a variety of ways of planning . working - one way even included Y1 children moving into a Y1/Y2 class some afternoons for topic. This seemed to work well initially but it was very hard to link any literacy / maths in. I felt that they were too young to have such discrete teaching - they certainly weren't making links between subject areas. I think they will need to take the needs of the majority (whether that is reception or Y1) for planning and then differentiate up or down, making sure that activities are practical and ideally linked to each other. They could use principles of reception but with Y1 themes. Perhaps they could do an intial long term plan for the year that links NC PoS with EYFS ELGs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiny Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Hi 25RED Are you saying they want to plan completely seperately??!! That is going to be a hell of a work load for them, planning twice. If they are going to be teaching Yr1 and Reception different topics etc will they be excluded from the one that is not there age group topic/activity?!? Will that not effectively half their teaching time?? Maybe you should just let them try it!! While you relax and plan your curriculum around the childrens needs!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Thank you both for replying. It's good to hear that you share similar ideas to what I have been trying to explain to them. You often start to wonder if you are doing it all wrong when you have a constant battle. I do a long term plan for YR each year showing when I will teach the ELGs and to which themes, so I can add to this with the NC objectives to illustrate my point. Thanks for that Have tried to share this document but to no avail! RED xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Precisely Shiny!!! Eejits! It's flipping ridiculous! I am FS Co-or so it's on my Head! But I have offered my advice and if they choose not to take it what can I do? RED xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinkerbell Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Lancashire lea does mixed planning for R/yr1/yr2 also Sally Featherstone does mixed planning for r/yr1 with both curriculums The Norfolk planning too has extra objectives for children working on the National curriculum. Tinkerbellx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiny Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 I am FS Co-or Sssshhhh!!! Don't tell anyone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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