Guest Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 We are part of a Foundation Stage Unit within a primary school. Since September we have been offering 15 hours FFE across either mornings or afternoons i.e. 3 hours at a time. This has worked well and we have experienced few problems. Over the last few months however we have experienced a drop in numbers. No children have left our setting, but we just dont have the numbers. Due to this it has been suggested that we offer full days aswell as half days. Really worried about how this will affect the quality of provision. At the moment planning is usually progressive i.e. if doing a shape topic we may do circle on a monday, rectangle tues etc how will this work if children are coming in randomly on different days of the week? We have spoken informly to the parents and some wish to take up full days and some wish to remain on half days. The parents who want full days do not all want the same days. One particular day we would have 20 children pm and 6 am- what about staffing? But this changes from day to day. Some worries are: Do we need to provide a quiet place for children who attend all day to sleep in the afternoon? What about lunchtime provision? What qualifications does a lunchtime supervisor need? Does it affect children's friendships as they wont always be with the same children? We have an early years advisor coming in to discuss issues surrounding this with us on thursday- How have other people found this? We have heard of settings who have tried it and went back to the original structure of 5 half days. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlettangel Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 It isn't as bad as it seems!!! Honest! Our nursery used to have morning and afternoon sessions. In Sep 07 as part of the educational review we had our afternoon provision closed down (apparently our numbers didn't warrant it!!!!!!) So now we still offer morning or afternoons to parents for their children, but our afternoon session is "private" but still run by the school! So now we have some children doing mornings, some afternoons, some all day every day, some 1 - 4 full days a week! Lunch for us is the start of our "private" provision so we have a 1:8 ratio of staff to children. But I don't think the staff NEED qualifications to be lunch supervisors. My 2 staff are level 3 and working towards level 3. The level 3 then works with me in the afternoon private provision! Planning will be trickier than what you are used to, but it makes for lots of opportunities to revisit, and maybe the children will lead their own learning. We don't have a quiet place for little ones to have a sleep it hasn't been necessary to be honest. As for friendships..... it makes for more cohesion within the group when they move up to reception......... they (morningers and afternooners) have had opportunities to mix and are not entirely separate entities. It hasn't caused any problems so far and has worked out well for some who have have needed a break from certain children. The biggest plus has to have been the flexibility for parents trying to work!! Hope this helps a bit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 We have been offering full days since Sept (but still only providing total of 15 hours per week) We have children attending 2 and a half days children attending mornings one day and afternoons the next and some on the traditional model of all mornings or all afternoons. We do have a "cosy corner" for naps and it is used. Personally don't like it but I'm not the nursery teacher. We have found ourselves in a position where we are unable to provide 15 hours entitlement for children starting at Easter because the remaining sessions aren't convenient for parents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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