blackcat Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hi Although I have been a member for a while this is my first time seeking advice and help from what I can see as an excellent way of sharing ideas and thoughts. I have 11 reception and 6 yr1 in the mornings and and extra 3 yr2 in the afternoon. Have been working since October without classroom support and just been told I am a one man band from now on. Wondering if anyone else is in this situation as I am in need of support on how to juggle and stretch myself between foundation yr1/2 Ofsted looming Please help!! no help from early years team at county as school do not pay into service aggreement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Congratulations on your first post! Sounds like you are feeling a bit stressed, someone will be along soon who will help, I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcat Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Congratulations on your first post! Sounds like you are feeling a bit stressed, someone will be along soon who will help, I'm sure. Thanks for your reply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I can't understand how you are on your own though, EYFS is quite specific about ratios - or are you within these as you only have 11 - are the others not taken into account? If so it's not right. Have you any parents who would like to come in and help? That's how I started, 22 years ago! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queline Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hi Blackcat, Poor you! Just an idea but do you have any parents that might come in and help as parent helpers? If you got somebody in to help regularly, this might really help free you up to work with different small groups, complete your observations or focus on Y1/2s. Also, have you tried wearing a 'hat' or a 'tiara' when you are working with a group and really do not want to be disturbed unless it is an emergency! This really works for me (after a few attempts at drilling it in to the children) and means you can focus in on a group or complete observations. Is there no give in the budget for even a part time TA?? It's so difficult to work with that mix without support. Hope those ideas help a bit! Qx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcat Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hi Blackcat, Poor you! Just an idea but do you have any parents that might come in and help as parent helpers? If you got somebody in to help regularly, this might really help free you up to work with different small groups, complete your observations or focus on Y1/2s. Also, have you tried wearing a 'hat' or a 'tiara' when you are working with a group and really do not want to be disturbed unless it is an emergency! This really works for me (after a few attempts at drilling it in to the children) and means you can focus in on a group or complete observations. Is there no give in the budget for even a part time TA?? It's so difficult to work with that mix without support. Hope those ideas help a bit! Qx I have a parent helper for D/T which I am so grateful, but school are not paying for anymore CRB checks so new parental help is out of the question. Thnak you for your advice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcat Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 I can't understand how you are on your own though, EYFS is quite specific about ratios - or are you within these as you only have 11 - are the others not taken into account? If so it's not right. Have you any parents who would like to come in and help? That's how I started, 22 years ago! I am sure this would of been checked maybe someone reading this can advise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maried6 Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I am sure this would of been checked maybe someone reading this can advise Parents can help without CRB aslong as they are in the same room as you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maried6 Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hi Although I have been a member for a while this is my first time seeking advice and help from what I can see as an excellent way of sharing ideas and thoughts. I have 11 reception and 6 yr1 in the mornings and and extra 3 yr2 in the afternoon. Have been working since October without classroom support and just been told I am a one man band from now on. Wondering if anyone else is in this situation as I am in need of support on how to juggle and stretch myself between foundation yr1/2 Ofsted looming Please help!! no help from early years team at county as school do not pay into service aggreement Ihave 19 reception and 12 year ones. I would really struggle without my nursery nurse, particularly with the pace of letters and sounds and key stage one maths. Do you have a very vast ability range? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcat Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Parents can help without CRB aslong as they are in the same room as you. Thanks I might start asking for help as a starting point but I really want the the children to have freedom to be in or outdoors. I really want to do a good job and give them a good learning environment. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queline Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I am sure this would of been checked maybe someone reading this can advise Unfortunately the legal ratio in Reception under EYFS is 1:30...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcat Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Ihave 19 reception and 12 year ones. I would really struggle without my nursery nurse, particularly with the pace of letters and sounds and key stage one maths. Do you have a very vast ability range? I have quite a range very able yr1 boys and at the other end 4 poor reception having real difficulty with number recognition and letter sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcat Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Unfortunately the legal ratio in Reception under EYFS is 1:30...! wow thats a lot of children to observe that would defiantly make you cross eyed trying to observe 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Hi Blackcat what a very difficult situation. There are some schools around the country who have developed a more creative curriculum so that the Y1s would work in a similar way to the YR and this may be a way forward for you. If you look at the Rose interim review you will see he is advocating that KS1 and KS2 develop more like the EYFS curriculum. Sally Featherstone does a really good book on mixed aged planning and she has a taking the challenge into Y1 series. Could you perhaps run your class as you would if they were all reception and then in your small group time you will work with the Y1 (and Y2s in the afternoon) very specifically. At child initiated time the Y1 children could be given a set of open ended challenges that they have to complete by the end of the week. I have worked in this way in the distant past and found it worked well as sometimes my younger children were achieving higher in an area than my older children so I could meet their needs this way. Also found that as the younger children saw what the older children could do it gave them the confidence to aspire to do the same. I will keep asking for that help though as the better the adult pupil ratio the better the outcomes for the children. Also I would have said as maried6 has already said you only need CRB checks if they are going to work on their own with children and as parent helpers you would always be in the class. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maried6 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I have quite a range very able yr1 boys and at the other end 4 poor reception having real difficulty with number recognition and letter sounds. With reception year one we tend to have some very 'receptiony' weeks, particularly when the children are very into a theme/topic and then it might be followed by a week that is more 'lessony' for the year ones. Despite having a wonderful nursery nurse I still fell very torn about the way I run my class and pulled in all directions. The year ones are summer borns so they still need lots of practical experiences and play. Perhaps you simply manage your class in terms of ability (and try not to beat yourself up too much) and possibly use assembly times for letters and sounds groups? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Hi there I don't know if your school takes students, but we regularly have BTEC or NVQ students into our school. I have a mixed class and i always pounce on opportunities to have them in our classroom. My last student was in every other week for the year and was fantastic with groups of children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackcat Posted February 1, 2009 Author Share Posted February 1, 2009 Hi there I don't know if your school takes students, but we regularly have BTEC or NVQ students into our school. I have a mixed class and i always pounce on opportunities to have them in our classroom. My last student was in every other week for the year and was fantastic with groups of children. Thanks for advise I will check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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