Reception Reception Reception Eyfs

[Guest]

LIKE SO MANY OF YOU I FEEL THAT THIS ALL SEEMS TO BE LINKED TO 'SETTINGS' AND I JUST DON'T GET THE FEELING FOR IT IN A RECEPTION CLASS. AT THE MOMENT I CHOOSE A TOPIC BASED ON THINGS THAT CHILDREN ARE INTERSTED IN AND CAN BECOME MORE INTERSTED IN. WE THEN TALK ABOUT WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW AND TAKE IT FROM THERE. I DO MINMUM PLANNING OFTEN HAVING A TITLE AND THEN FILLING IN BOXES AS WE COME ACROSS THEM. WITH CLL AND MATHS I DO TEND TO HAVE A PLAN OF WHAT I WANT TO COVER EACH HALF TERM! BUT CAN BE FLEXIBLE E.G LAST YEAR THE CHILDREN REALLY GOT INTO THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER AND SO WE SPENT LONGER ON DIFFERNT SORTS OF DATA HANDLING. SOMETIME, MYBE I AM CYNICAL, BUT A TOTALLY 1:1 CURRICULUM IS UNMANAGABLE WITH 30 CHN AND A TEACHER AND TA! (PLEASE DO NOT SHOOT ME DOWN IN FLAMES FOR THIS COMMENT )

AGAIN SOME CHILDREN ARE NOT INTERSESTED IN ALL AREAS OF THE CURRICULUM AND WOULD PLAY TRAINS ALL DAY EVERYDAY AND SO WE DO ENCOURAGE AND USE STARTING POINT THE CHILDREN LIKE TO ENOURAGE PARTICIAPATION ON OTHER AREAS E.G. THE BOYS LOVE TRIANS AND SO WHEN WE DID PHONIC SORTING WE HAD THE BOYS SORTING THOMAS, PERCY, TOBY ETC ONTO THE CORRECT LETTER, HOWEVER AFTER ALL THE MODELLING AND SETTING UP OF THESE SORTS OF ACTIVITES SOME CHILDRNE WOULD NOT ACCESS THEM UNLESS WITH AN ADULT - SO DO PELOPLE THINK THIS IS BAD THAT IN A WAY I 'MAKE' CHILDREN TAKE PART IN AN ACTIVITY THAT THEY WOULD NOT OTHERWISE CHOOSE?

AS FOR PORFILES I USE POST ITS ON A WALL AND ADD THEM TO EACH CHILD'S WORK SAMPLES FOLDERS AND JUST HIGHLIGHT THE ELG ON THIER SHEET. HOW I WILL DO THIS DIFFERNTLY IS THAT I WILL JUST SWAP TO THE AGE REALATED MONTHLY STAGES THAT SOMEONE HAS KINDLY DONATED TO THE RESOURCES AREA OF THIS SECTIO ( THANKYOU )

WELL I AM SORRY BUT I HAVE GOT IT ALL OFF MY CHEST NOW AND FEEL A LOT BETTER FOR IT.

SORRY IT WAS SO LONG BUT NEXT WEEK ALL FELLOW RECEPTION TEACHERS I FEEL FOR YOU ESPECIALLY, IF LIKE US A FEW YEARS BACK, OFSTED TURN UP ON YOUR DOOR ON THE 3RD DAY. OH WAHT FUN

ENJOY THE LAST FEW DAYS

[Guest budgie1]

As a fellow reception teacher i understand everything you are saying!! I too "encourage" children to try activities that they normally would not choose and often find that once started they really enjoy something different. I think an individual curriculum for 30 children with 2 adults is something we can aspire to, but we have to be realistic and do the best we can. Dont beat yourself up, I bet you do a great job

[Guest]

so the real problem is 30 children with 2 adults!

[Guest]

Elle, do you have more support in a reception classroom?

would be great if we did

[Rufus]

Ok, here's how it is ladies.

We cannot do what nurseries can do, the ratio is completely different as our practice must refelct that.

Children must be 'made' to do certain things otherwise some chidlren would never do certain activities. They also need to learn that sometimes it is time to do what the adults tell you to do rather than what you want to do!

I am planning to record the children's progress just like you, teacherinpink. I will assess against the deveopment matters statements by keeping post its and observations and then transfering them onto a dev mat sheet (1 for each child) with the date. However I will not highlight the objective until I am happy that I have observed enough to warant crossing it off.

We have a tough job impementing this new EYFS and we can only do our best, when with 30 children and 2 adults, with free flow and observations is a job for an angel!

[catma]

Teacherinpink - you sound like you are already doing a good eyfs job!!! It's certainly not easy doing all this with the ratios we have in schools and also the requirements of an organisation that is not solely focused on the needs of 3-5 year olds but 3 -11 which is very different from other settings. I don't have a problem with the use of "settings" and that is inclusive of Reception classes and helps define their part in the EYFS. I looked at the leaflets for parents etc that have just been produced yesterday and was very annoyed however to se that ALL examples of practice came from nursery and other settings but no reference much to the poor reception class!!

 

You have to be pragmatic, in reception I believe we do have a duty to ensure children have a rounded range of outcomes and that can mean showing them directly things they might otherwise engage in - after all we do not know what we do not know and sometimes its good to have new ideas shared with us - it's the way it's done that matters, say a child really doesn't want to come to do something right now, well i can be flexible and we can agree that they can come back to me later and I can adapt my time to enable that for example, which EYFS will support.

 

My big bugbear at the moment is "key person " - well in reception that is most likely going to be the teacher as they are the one with the responsibility for all 30 children by definitiion of their contract and terms of employment!! I would be interested to hear how others are interpreting key person in reception classes. I think there is a difference between key person and key worker so the choice of language is important here I feel.

 

Cx

[Daz]

hi guys

im in a nursery but have friends in reception and know what a strech it can be at times.

i think its important to introduce children to a wide variety of activities some that they may not choose to do or how will they grow toward new and varied interests. also there are times we all have to follow the lead that might be childrens or an adult i think finding a balance is right. we all have to do things we might not choose to do at some point. all we can to is try our best there are only so manyy hours in a day

[Guest]

My big bugbear at the moment is "key person " - well in reception that is most likely going to be the teacher as they are the one with the responsibility for all 30 children by definitiion of their contract and terms of employment!! I would be interested to hear how others are interpreting key person in reception classes. I think there is a difference between key person and key worker so the choice of language is important here I feel.

 

Cx

 

Catma, I am doing what you say and being key person for all my reception children. Thankfully I have 21 in my class this year compared to 32 last year. The trouble is that although I have a TA with me 4 days a week she is not timetabled to be with me at the beginning and the end of the day, so is unable to build up relationships with parents and carers. She is coming on home visits with me. She will also support me in any observations, assessments etc. I've spent ages thinking about it and this seems to be the only logical way to attack it- at least to begin with. Maybe we can adapt later on in the year?

[Guest]

Hi all,

just thought I'd add my thoughts, I agree with you teacher in pink, catma and rufus, there are going to be a lot of times in reception when children have to understand that there are things they will have to do. Like the rest of you I am the 'key person' and it isn't easy keeping everything as ship shape and bristol fashion as we perceive it should be. But perhaps our perceptions are incorrect?!!

 

I fully believe that just by the fact we are discussing these issues and questioning our own practice, that the children in our care will be getting a high level, broad and rounded learning environment in which the children and us will evolve and change over the year. As long as we don't use all our worry up too soon, a lit bit of worrying followed by open discussions, debate and sharing ideas is a good thing.

 

Good luck to everyone this year.

..and remember how very lucky we are to be able to have this wonderful experience of working with yoing children... even though sometimes it is difficult.

 

 

Goodness it sounds like a sermon.......only wanted to be a little bit uplifting

 

Ruth x

[Guest]

Catma, I am doing what you say and being key person for all my reception children. Thankfully I have 21 in my class this year compared to 32 last year. The trouble is that although I have a TA with me 4 days a week she is not timetabled to be with me at the beginning and the end of the day, so is unable to build up relationships with parents and carers. She is coming on home visits with me. She will also support me in any observations, assessments etc. I've spent ages thinking about it and this seems to be the only logical way to attack it- at least to begin with. Maybe we can adapt later on in the year?

 

Bethie we are also doing homevisits this year (1st time), could I ask you what you do / say on yours?

 

Ta Muchly

 

Ruth x

[catma]

Thankfully I have 21 in my class this year compared to 32 last year.

 

Did you have an additional teacher with you? 32 is illegal under infant class size legislation.

 

Cx

[Guest]

Bethie we are also doing homevisits this year (1st time), could I ask you what you do / say on yours?

 

Ta Muchly

 

Ruth x

 

Hi Ruth,

I think home visits are fantastic. Well worth the time and effort. I go with my TA. To begin with I chat to the parents and work my way through a sheet that I have. It goes through thinks like can they share, can they go to the toilet by themselves, do they know any letters, can they count to 10 etc. This often leads on to quite a bit of discussion about various things. The parents then have a chance to tell me anything I need to know and ask any questions they want to know. While I am chatting with the parents my TA plays with the child. She usual takes a puppet or bear from a the class, a couple of books, simple jigsaw, and i think last year she took some magnetic letters- made a fantastic observation when a child used them to spell his and all of his families names!

Then we swap and I talk to the child for a while. I have given them a book called "all about me" to complete so I go through that with them.

We're only there about 20 mins. We tend to walk to most of them as it's a small village. If we do go by car we make sure we are parked so we can zoom straight off! We also make sure that there is a list of where and when we are going left at school. We don't accept any offers of tea/cakes etc.

Ummmm... think thats about it. Can't believe I'll be doing them come Tuesday! It seems like ages away. Where oh where did the holidays go?

 

 

Did you have an additional teacher with you? 32 is illegal under infant class size legislation.

 

Cx

 

My headteacher was suppose to cover when I had over 30 in but it didn't always happen! I only had 32 part way through the year when we had to do some reorganisation due to staff leaving that we weren't able to replace. It was hard work but actually really enjoyable! I am looking forward to this year with my smaller class!

[catma]

It's still not right!!!! The head teacher should know better- class sizes are for the benefit of young children and 30 is too many let alone going over that! Personally I would have been straight onto my union if it was ever mooted for my class!

Cx

[Marion]

I'm afraid due to the get out clauses classes of over 30 are allowed especially outside normal intake times.

 

Permitted exceptions to the infant class size limit

 

6. Regulations prescribe the limited circumstances in which pupils may be admitted as exceptions to the infant class size limit. These exceptions are:

 

a. children with statements of special educational needs who are admitted to the school after the normal admission round;

b. children moving into the area outside the normal admission round for whom there is no other available school within a reasonable distance. From February 2007, legislation has required admission authorities to get local authority confirmation that a child falls into this category before admitting them as a permitted exception. This means that the LA will need to check whether there are places available for the child at any other school within a reasonable distance of their home;

c. children admitted outside the normal admission round because the person responsible for making the original decision recognises that an error was made in implementing the school’s admission arrangements and that a place should have been offered;

d. children admitted where an admissions appeal panel upholds an appeal;

e. from February 2007, where the child is looked after and the local authority which is the corporate parent either (as admission authority) decides to admit the child to one of its community or voluntary controlled school, or directs another admission authority to admit the child outside the normal admissions round.

[Guest tinkerbell]

Hi all.Everyone sounds to be in the same dilemma.

 

Myself and 2 collegues in our LEA teach R/yr1( we are in small schools) we do get wound up about providing the correct curriculum for all the children...there is no answer....just go with the children and give them what they need.planning and justifying what you do to HT,LEA,Ofsted are the bug bear.

 

Tinkerbell