little angela Posted October 13, 2003 Posted October 13, 2003 I currently work in a Reception class and often find myself arguing my case for continuing with active learning through play right to the end of the Summer Term. Issues often crop up about how well the children settle in to Year 1 if the children have not experienced a more formal atmosphere by the end of their Reception Year. I wondered if anyone else had this problem, or if there were any good ideas out there for a smooth transition into Year 1. <_
Guest Posted October 13, 2003 Posted October 13, 2003 I can empathise with both yourself and the Year 1 teacher. I have just started at a primary school as the Deputy and the reception teacher. The children who have just gone into year 1 were taught in a very 'unstructured' way and because of this cannot cope with the rigours of Year 1. The Year 1 teachers job is hell on earth. My main focus for my reception children this year is therefore to make sure that they can:- 1. work independently at their level. 2. think independently 3. partake in an adult led activity for about 15 minutes 4. Love to learn. We should prepare the children for what is to come whilst making sure that we are making it purposeful and enjoyable. I think we owe it to the rest of the staff in the school. Confused? Me too!
Steve Posted October 13, 2003 Posted October 13, 2003 Hi Angela and Lynette - Welcome to the forum and thanks for your first posts. I have to admit to being unqualified to contribute to the conversation you've started off - I'm not a reception/yr 1 teacher - but the subject matter has obvious resonances with other discussions we've been having, and I know that other members are interested in the area, so hopefully they'll pick up on it very quickly. In the meantime you might be interested in these links to other topics that I've followed: Playing for Year 1 Support for FS in mixed age class Welcome again, and thanks for beginning a discussion with such potential!
mundia Posted October 14, 2003 Posted October 14, 2003 Little Angela, This comes up regularly in our school. Thankfully both our reception and year 1 teachers have just been on a course about this transition, and the emphasis has been very much on bringing a more Foundation style curriculum into year 1 rather than bringing a more NC curriculum into reception. They also talked of an announcement due in November about year 1 becoming the 'transition year' which of course would mean something would have to be about SATS. I know no more than this, but Im sure other memebers will (??). I think the days of top down pressure are numbered, thankfuuly....
Guest Posted October 16, 2003 Posted October 16, 2003 Have you seen the Sally Featherstone publication? "Smooth Transitions" - very good and might help you with this issue of reception to year 1. Good hunting. Joyce
Steve Posted October 16, 2003 Posted October 16, 2003 Hi Joyce - Welcome to the forum and thanks for the tip. I'll stick it in the book recommendations page when I get a chance! Regards, Steve.
Guest Posted November 3, 2003 Posted November 3, 2003 Hi Mundia, and others.. So about this announcement, does anyone know anything further? And the course, was that by the LEA?
mundia Posted November 4, 2003 Posted November 4, 2003 The course was run by BASS Birminghams advisory service which has Ros Bayley on board -I believe she is based in Walsall. So maybe not of much use depending on where you are based. I know nothing more about the announcement other than that there was to be one, but will let you know if I hear any more whispers. Mharhi, how are things going with you ?
Guest Trudie Posted November 18, 2003 Posted November 18, 2003 I currently work in a Year One class where we are trialling a new way of working this year. Our Reception classes introduced a '15 split' for most areas of the curriculum last year whereby the children are taught in groups of 15 by the teacher and TA. Each group has a focus curriculum area (linked to a topic quite often). The adult introduces 3 independent activities for the children to choose from in the session and then goes on to work with small groups (around 5 at a time) while the others choose which activities to complete from the choice of three. This means that the children in Reception become extremely independent very fast and also that they have quality time from an adult very regularly. We have continued this way of working in Year One for 3 afternoons a week when we have the adult support available. As we do not have quite as much adult support as Reception, we have had to split the 60 children 3 ways, meaning a '20 split'. However, it still means the adults can focus on small groups of children for specific activities and that the children are still getting an element of choice during this time. This is really hard to explain, but I hope I have made some sense! It has been hard for us to timetable, but alongside the experienced Reception teacher we have managed! It does mean having excellent TA support in your class and having those adults on board and receptive to the idea, but I have to say I have never taught such an independent group of children (they can be left to paint on their own!!!)
Susan Posted November 18, 2003 Posted November 18, 2003 That sounds exciting Trudie. Welcome to the site. In my school the year 1 childrenhave also been working very different with an approach similiar to that in Reception. The timetabling was so complicated that it becomes almost too difficult to explain but due to the nature of our schooland classrooms we set up aroom for more formal table top activities and teaching and 2 open plan rooms for more play based activities. The children rotated through the areas to create a balance of experience over 2 weeks. The children have settled easily, they are very secure and confident with their teachers and talking freely as they were given time! At half term the decision was made to return to 3 self contained teaching areas and begin more, more formal elements. The children are responding well and acheiving. Susan
Guest Posted June 28, 2005 Posted June 28, 2005 My school now understands that P levels are for children with special needs and not for the YR/Y1 transition. Can anyone please help me with where to find the official, government, view on how the FSP should lead into KS1 assessment?
Tigger Posted June 28, 2005 Posted June 28, 2005 I have just recieved my 'continuing the learning journey' materials available from QCA. Being in the need of a large glass of something and a quiet moment I watched the accompanying DVD today and I am very impressed the DVD highlights good practice in Reception Classes and Year 1 with practical ideas of how to achieve them.Some of the ideas had me cheering! ( sad I know sorry) but one teacher had a car a real one for the children to look at the engine and discuss how it works! There was also a Year 1 class that had the children being actively involved in planning the following weeks work. The package is meant as a training package focusing on transition issues and continuing the good practice from the foundation stage to be used as a whole school inset but would equal value within key stage 1.
catma Posted June 29, 2005 Posted June 29, 2005 There is as far as I know no direct correlation from a fsp score to a NC level. Our regional director for FS said that a point 9 is aspects of level 1 to 2c, but not directly linked. The transition training this year is funded through the standards fund grants, which I assume to be similar in LEAs, we decided to have our funding directed at training in transition from FS2 to Y1 for 2 teachers from every school, but that is how we interpreted the use of the money. Other LEAs may have organised their support differently according to local capacity to train/support etc. The focus is on Y1/the rest of the school becoming conversant with the STATUTORY ASSESSMENT that is the FSP and understanding what scale points tell them, so translating them into nonsensical level w should slowly become a thing of the past. (I'm doing my bit in the schools I support!! 2 smt teams have seen the light so far) Continuing the learning journey is a training package that explores these issues and gives guidance on how the profile scores can be used for planning/target setting/school development plans etc and is actually quite useful I think.
Magenta Posted June 29, 2005 Posted June 29, 2005 We had our transiton training on Monday - hopefully Y1 will be making big changes next year. One of the questions Y1 teacher is asking is about planning - next year she will need to plan for chn. still working on stepping stones, chn. on ELGs and chn. on National Curriculum. Does anyone have a format that they use that they could share, or have any LEAs provided any examples?
SmileyPR Posted July 1, 2005 Posted July 1, 2005 Hi ! I hope the attached files can be useful to you. Kind regards, SmileyPR Transition_R_to_Y1.pdf Green_SS__ELG_and_NC_Y1.doc
SmileyPR Posted July 1, 2005 Posted July 1, 2005 I have just recieved my 'continuing the learning journey' materials available from QCA. Being in the need of a large glass of something and a quiet moment I watched the accompanying DVD today and I am very impressed the DVD highlights good practice in Reception Classes and Year 1 with practical ideas of how to achieve them.Some of the ideas had me cheering! ( sad I know sorry) but one teacher had a car a real one for the children to look at the engine and discuss how it works! There was also a Year 1 class that had the children being actively involved in planning the following weeks work. The package is meant as a training package focusing on transition issues and continuing the good practice from the foundation stage to be used as a whole school inset but would equal value within key stage 1. 34345[/snapback] Hi Sharon, How can we get this material? I tried to search it in the QCA web site, but I did not find it. Can you kindly help me? Thanks in advance, SmileyPR
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