Guest Posted November 30, 2005 Posted November 30, 2005 Hi I have recently been offered an interview for 'Foundation Stage Teacher', it means teaching 30 mixed Reception and Nursery aged children in an open plan setting which is open into Surestart area with children from birth to three. I currently teach Reception, and I'm not sure how this would work, any suggestions, I'm not sure what to do about the interview, do I go or not? I know they are waiting on news for Ofsted and the layout needs a lot of work! Any suggestions, I am perfectly happy where I am but the head had mentioned a teacher redundancy. That threat has now gone!
Guest Posted November 30, 2005 Posted November 30, 2005 (edited) Go for it, that sounds really exciting!! I am the co-ordinator of a Foundation Stage Unit in a primary school. We have just completed works on the new building and it's fantastic. It is an open plan room with our own garden space. It is working really well. For Focus groups the children are taught in both developmental groups and mixed ages. Keygroups are a mix of ages. The classes are only split at the end of the day because the nursery go home 15mins earlier then the Reception. So at 3pm we split them and the nursery play a 15min circle game and the reception spend 30mins working on phonics and changing their books. In terms of the Foundation Stage children interacting with the Birth to Threee children in the outside space. I have been to a setting where this happened and it was beautiful!! The Birth to Three children did have a little gate fence around their garden but it had several gates and the foundation stage children were welcome to go in and interact with them and vice versa. The fence was more there to stop the bikes wizzing through. It is a very natual thing to see children from birth to five playing with each other. Sounds great, dream job I say!! Edited November 30, 2005 by Guest
Marion Posted December 1, 2005 Posted December 1, 2005 It's very different from teaching a reception class but I'm finding it a rewarding experience. I have time to interact more with the children, the freedom to work with the children's interests and the support of like minded staff. Will you be the only teacher? How many support staff will there be? Good parental support?
Guest Posted December 1, 2005 Posted December 1, 2005 Not good parental support one teaching assistant, i feel it may be better to stay where I am and develop a unit here before moving on!
Guest Posted December 1, 2005 Posted December 1, 2005 I work in a FS unit and love it, however you do need to have all the team on board or progress can be scuppered. We have two teachers/ NN/ early years practitioner and a teaching assistant. We are able to staff three areas (maths/ language/ outside) and have a faciliatator. We also have separate sessions for specific whole class focus( still a mix of adult/ independent- just not the movement between classrooms). This is our second year and have to say the comments have been from some staff why can't we mix more (timings different for nusrery so easier to separate out at 11.00). Regarding the scupper factor- if the learning is'ny valued then it can be easy for others outside the unit to think that the role of a facilator is not important (so wrong, its vital to success on most occassions and changes as the year goes on). Do need regular meetings to discuss overall unit/ individual class/ groups etc. Can' t think of a better way to work!!!!!!!!! rewards for nursery team are huge ( still get to work with children rather than an artificial cut of and most year 1's still enjoy coming in to play!!!!) Lisa
Marion Posted December 2, 2005 Posted December 2, 2005 Not good parental support one teaching assistant, i feel it may be better to stay where I am and develop a unit here before moving on! 43953[/snapback] Its really important to have a good team as its 'hard work' We've all commented how tired we are at the end of the day but its a great way to work very rewarding for staff and children alike. Is it likely your present setting will change soon? Julia has asked us about letting staff visit to look around so if youre interested maybe contact her
Guest Posted December 2, 2005 Posted December 2, 2005 I work in a FS unit and love it, however you do need to have all the team on board or progress can be scuppered. We have two teachers/ NN/ early years practitioner and a teaching assistant. We are able to staff three areas (maths/ language/ outside) and have a faciliatator. We also have separate sessions for specific whole class focus( still a mix of adult/ independent- just not the movement between classrooms). This is our second year and have to say the comments have been from some staff why can't we mix more (timings different for nusrery so easier to separate out at 11.00). Regarding the scupper factor- if the learning is'ny valued then it can be easy for others outside the unit to think that the role of a facilator is not important (so wrong, its vital to success on most occassions and changes as the year goes on). Do need regular meetings to discuss overall unit/ individual class/ groups etc. Can' t think of a better way to work!!!!!!!!! rewards for nursery team are huge ( still get to work with children rather than an artificial cut of and most year 1's still enjoy coming in to play!!!!) Lisa 43967[/snapback] Lisa, how many children do you have in your FS unit?
Guest Posted December 2, 2005 Posted December 2, 2005 Thanks Marion, Our unit is due to open September 2006. I'ts always good to look at how successful others have been.
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