Guest Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Hello everyone! Please feel free to tell me to shush, but I really am fed up with this EYFS. Fed up with it. As an NQT on my first position in a Nursery, I feel completely out on a raft on this one. I had no training at University, I've never done Nursery bofore and I'm really trying to keep afloat with only stuff I've read about and my own research! (Which, at this point, I would like to say THANK YOU to all you lovely people, without whom I would be in an asylum, slowly repeating "Enabling environments... A unique child..." whilst rocking back and forth!) But, that said, I can only take my learning so far by myself! And now I'm stressed out, now knowing where to go and having my whole system shaken down to the core. The Upper Foundation teacher is implementing EYFS too, and she has different ideas to me, as she has Year 1 too. Where on earth do I plan from? Do I use 40-60 months objectives, silly EYFS "themes", Excellence and Enjoyment??? And what the heck do I assess from? Yet again I've been assessing observations of the children using the 40-60 months objectives and ELGs, but right now that doesnt feel right! And i'm not tracking!!! How can I look for progress if I have no way of tracking!! I really need someone to walk up to me, give me a good slap and say RIGHT, here it is, this is what you have to do. This will stop your children from becoming uneducated yobbos and make the Ofsted inspectors swoon with delight. I'm sorry for the rant, but I'm losing faith. And all this worrying about paperwork is stopping me from enjoying the experiences I have with my children, as I am too busy thinking about how to assess, monitor, evaluate and document their play to just enjoy it! Help me, please. Or slap me, one of the two. Or send me wine! :-) haha! Sarah x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Sarah I am sure you are overwhelmed. Slow down. Calm down! Rome was not built in a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are an NQT you are stressed enough. Take the wine...... I don't feel like sending a slap right now!!! I think maybe a big chat with your upper foundation stage person would be in order. The whole of the FS should be working together..... so push it now, explain your worries and see if together a plan can be hatched. Her priorites will be different but not overly so. She should be able to help you Keep in touch with all on here.......... let us know what your upper person has to say about it all. Nursery on its own is a huge thing to take on................... much as I love it, but all of this too with no prior training its like feeling your way in the dark..... or only seeing a slight glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel........... Take the wine. RELAX! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Thank you Scarlettangel, I've calmed a bit now (and got a glass of wine!) and I'm feeling a little better. I'm also reading the EYFS again, for clues. I'll go and see Upper Foundation tomorrow - we do need to work together on this, you're right - and I'm sure it'll all come out in the wash! Thank you. x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 hI, Just thought you would like to know you are not alone! Been to meeting today and aired our views about the amount of paperwork, taking photos , observations we are expected to do. We said with all this extra we dont have anytime to spend with the chldren and any time to actually teach! We said we are not prepared to be taking learing journals home night after night to keep them upto date either. we are now having another meeting to see how this can be solved. As a team we feel we cant seem to get our heads round all this new paper work and we also said now there is not actually profile for each child to hightlight, how do we record where each child is at. How do we look at a glance where each child needs help as we have not yet done a tracking records either! We have not had any time HOPE THIS MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER YOU ARE NOT ALONE! 0258 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Robinson, you are a STAR! It does reassure me that other people are in the same boat, I'm feeling a lot less "it's me agaist the world" now! Please let me know if you solve your issues, as I'd love to know how youre doing it, especially in terms of tracking. Thank you, and I hope you get everything sorted! xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mundia Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Hi Murgabura. Sorry to hear that yo are feeling all out at sea at the moment, this is quite common with NQTS at the best of times, but is often worse when you are taking on things very new to you. On a practical note, you should have a mentor, and you should have non contact time. Please make sure you are getting these. Then try and get yourself booked on courses that are aimed at the EYFS as part of your induction. If this is tricky, see if you can arrange to visit local schools so you can talk with other colleagues..again using your induction time. Someone in your school will know a good FS person you can go ad talk to. These wont solve your worries overnight but they may give you a place or person just to talk to when things get tough. You are new to nursery and settling children in (I presume anyway?) Your priority needs to be getting to know the children and establishing routines. Hopefully you will have a good TA/NN who is supporting you with this? This year will be a huge learning curve for you, take it one step at a time.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 goodness me hope your feeling better now and get some support - take care Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 You are not too far from the Early Excellence Centre at Huddersfield-open Saturdays to see room setups and buy resources and they run great courses that will inspire and focus you. Early Excellence link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Hi Sarah, Can you tell us a bit more about your setting, eg how many children and staff, layout, structure of the day, etc? If the children are engaged and busy at the moment with all the continuous provision, I'd stop planning completely for a couple of weeks, and just observe the children. Get to really know what their interests are, and aim to do two or three observations each day. Once you've gone through that, you can start to see which children would benefit from some planned input, and plan for that group. Then you can start to plan for another group/individuals. You cannot plan for every child for every minute, especially at this time of year, when you're main role is to help them settle, make friends and enjoy coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 28, 2008 Share Posted September 28, 2008 Hello everyone, Id just like to say thank you for everyones nice comments and advice, I've now arranged to visit two local settings, one with the rest of the foundation team and one alone, and I'll definatly look into the Huddersfield Early excellence centre - Thank you for that! :-) I love this website, it's been a total lifeline! Thank you xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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