Mind Boggling

[Rea]

Hi, probably not the right forum but I had to tell you what I heard today. My deputy was talking to a reception teacher in the school next to us. She was saying how some friends of hers had incorporated some aspects of Regio Emilia into their classes. This teacher had told the head she would like to do the same, to which he replied 'But what about the SAT's results'.

Long way to go me thinks

[Sue R]

Hmmm?!!

 

Forward planning ???

 

Sue

[catma]

Someone I know wants to develop reception outdoor play. HT concerned standards will plummet. Bah humbug.

 

They'll see the light oneday......................

[Guest]

Hi Rea I am the nursery teacher in one of the top 200 schools in the country, although the SAT's results at key stage one are average at keystage 2 we are way above the national average. Our local authority has been tracking children through our school and on to secondary school, where all their Oxbridge candidates went to our nursery.

We have a creative approach to learning and use child initiated activities to promote learning. We rarely use work sheets. I believe we open their minds and lay a strong foundation on which the rest of their learning is built. After all that is why we are called the foundation stage. We have a new Head Teacher who understands children, he has made it very clear he doen't want us to change, he supports our judgements about the children and values the contribution we make. Children when they leave us are confident and have an excellent attitude to learning - Ofsted's discription not mine.

 

It sounds very much to me that the HT at your nearby school knows very little about how children learn.

[Sue R]

Hear, Hear, Mimi!!

 

Fantastic to hear something like that! Maybe Rea's Deputy's friend needs to organise a visit by her Head to your school!

 

Sue

[hali]

well said mimi.....

[Rea]

He came in once, and we actually saw him flinching away from the paint table. I know he had a suit on but really...

[Beau]

Mimi,

That's sounds like a fantastic nursery and a wonderful head. Our local nursery works in this way and the head supports them too. Lots of the parents go away muttering about worksheets, learning letters and numbers etc but since there is such solidarity they can stand firm. It's bad enough justifying to parents constantly but without the head on board it must be impossible. Heads really should be made to keep up with teaching methods, rather than concentrating solely on management issues and SATs results.

[Guest]

Time to get on the soap box!!! If we all start doing it, maybe they will start to listen????

[Rea]

Some people just want formality. Two of our committee members took their children to a school nursery because it was more structured than us at playgroup, they wanted them to be sitting and learning how to write their names, and the nursery in question was happy to oblige. I'm in the process of providing workshops where parents can see at first hand what the FS is all about and hopefully this will enable them to challenge what some nursery schools and reception classes do.

[bubblejack]

Yes Rea I know exactly what you mean and this has happened to our group quite a few times over the years. Children have always learned through play. I have always thought that too much structure destroys a child's natural spontaneity to be curious to learn. Most parents are amazed what their child does learn and gain but their will always be the few that aren't satisfied. What is worse though is when the child attend another group and the child brings in a pre-cut piece of art work done perfectly to show me with the parent looming in the background.