Madmum Posted November 17, 2012 Posted November 17, 2012 Hi! Just wondering if anyone else covers Reception PPA?( I do it as a HLTA) If you do, do you plan or work off the teacher's planning for the week? Up to now, whoever has done reception PPA in our school has followed the weekly plan from the teacher and it has worked OK. However, I am due to have a lesson observation next week and this week had Ofsted in and was observed ( fab time, Children in Need day, Friday straight after lunch!). It was OK, but could've been better and I was very conscious that I was being judged working off someone else's Planning (which was not overly impressive). Given the choice I would plan for the same thing each week but the reception teachers seem to be struggling to come up wiht something I can do week in week out as a 'stand alone' - HLTAs in KS1 and 2 plan and do things like PE/ PHSE/French etc. Any comments ideas would be most welcome!!
Guest tinkerbell Posted November 17, 2012 Posted November 17, 2012 Hi ,you sound to be enjoying the time you are in Reception and having a great time which is lovely for you and the children. My TA covers my PPA time and management time ,2 half days a week.As we also have some year1 children they go to another class tojoin the rest of their cohort so my TA (she is also HLTA )has 16 Reception children.She follosws our 'master 'plan and as we work together is is a pretty seamless carry on. If you are coming into a reception class as a 'one off' session once a week it must be tricky but you do sound to have a good measure of what is going on and are willing to do your own planning.Friday afternoon is a bit of a 'finishing off rounding off' time in our class ,children tired atthe end of a long week and winding down, they can also be a bit 'fratchity'.My TA tends to do a carousel of activities..children choose and a menu is written up of the areas and activities available and they all go and get on,...if behaviour has been boisterous ,she would move them onto a new activity,may call them and have an inpromptu circle time...physical 'dance' joining in a routine on iwb, she is instinctive to the needs of the class and I am blessed to have someone so good. My Management time falls on a wednesday morning and we are a little more planned for that and she has a TA from another class join her so one will do guided reading sessions and the other continouos provision and then after play,one will do a set activity and the other continouos provision,she actually enjoys 'stepping up' and organising the morning. so my advice would be to talk to the class teacher and run your ideas past her,good luck Tinkerbell
Madmum Posted November 17, 2012 Author Posted November 17, 2012 I really enjoy reception and worked wiht most of the children in nursery so it's lovely seeing them 'moving on'! PPA is usually Monday or Thursday as it's a job share, but had already been rearranged. I think the fact that it changes week to week makes it harder to 'fix' what we will be doing, but it's obviously somehting requiring more discussion!!
Susan Posted November 17, 2012 Posted November 17, 2012 When I was teaching Reception, I had a very highly skilled TA working with me and we discussed what she felt happy to cover on her own. She enjoyed music so took responsibility for that and if my PPA time changed, for whatever reason, then the activity moved with it! She was also happy to do a circle time and some handwriting activities or support in continuous provision so often had those as back up too!
Guest Posted November 17, 2012 Posted November 17, 2012 i would say it's unfair you had to cover ppa with ofsted in. all the teachers in our school have agreed that if ofsted came we would have ppa another time.for me it would be unfair on support staff in nursery and the person covering my ppa, and is not a true reflection of our provision. i couldn't sit out and feel that's ok. poor you! i had reception before moving to nursery and ppa person just carried on with our weekly planning. but whatever feels comfortable for you. music session or pe and nice stand alones maybe x
Guest ChunkyMan Posted November 17, 2012 Posted November 17, 2012 I must say that I agree with Sooty99, in my school if Ofsted came all teachers would be in class regardless of PPA, management time etc.
Madmum Posted November 18, 2012 Author Posted November 18, 2012 Interesting to hear that some schools plan so that all teaching staff are in class for Ofsted. We have 3 HLTAs who cover PPA time form FS to KS2 and I was the only one seen. I am wondering if the timetable clearly showed it was PPA and therefore not the class teacher, although I do honestly feel they should see it as it really is and who is at the front shouldn't matter!! Perhaps it's a sign of our head's confidence that we did carry on as usual!!
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