Guest Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 Just intersted to know how others staff outdoor provision. From September we would like to set up a free flow system with children being able to chhose between the two. Our early years advisor has previously said that there should always be an adult working with the children outside, but we have found that sometimes we can prohibit the children's play. Our head says there is no reason why an adult should be outside as we have a good view (lots of windows and glass doors). We thought we may have an adult working outside for first few weeks to establish safe practice and handling conflicts and then maybe allow the children to play independently choosing from activites for each area of learning. What do others do?
Susan Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 If your head is happy for the children to be outside without supervision that sounds good to me, as long as you monitor it as you would any other area of your classroom. Your idea of staffing it to set up your expectations etc sounds really good so go for it! Have fun.
Guest Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 We try to have an adult outside all the time, but it does make it hard to try and do focused indoor activities! At the mo nearly all the children are outside all the time so we are too
Guest Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 Hi Unicid, I insist on at least 1 adult being outside with the children - they're not allowed out without us. You might be able to see them through the window but can you hear them? So much of my 'watching' the children is done with my ears that I wouldn't be at all happy just being able to see them. Being on the spot also helps when settling disputes. J
Guest Posted May 12, 2006 Posted May 12, 2006 Just intersted to know how others staff outdoor provision. From September we would like to set up a free flow system with children being able to chhose between the two. Our early years advisor has previously said that there should always be an adult working with the children outside, but we have found that sometimes we can prohibit the children's play. Our head says there is no reason why an adult should be outside as we have a good view (lots of windows and glass doors). We thought we may have an adult working outside for first few weeks to establish safe practice and handling conflicts and then maybe allow the children to play independently choosing from activites for each area of learning. What do others do? 56215[/snapback] Hi Unicid We always have one member of staff outside generally interacting with the children. We do, however, sometimes have a further member of staff outside if she is taking a group for a focused outdoor activity. We have a rota where a member of staff is outdoors for the whole day (the staff opted for that). It works very well. Olog
Guest Posted May 13, 2006 Posted May 13, 2006 We have a free flow system between in/out. When I first took over the reception class they have a band system, which limited the number of children going outside. The free flow wasn't too popular with some of the staff initially - I think they felt it lacked control. I persuaded them to try it for a few week and now it works great. Now the weather's nice a lot of the children want to be out there, and at first it was too overcrowded, but that's settled down again now. Going away from the subject... why is it that I literally had to insist all staff took their turn outside when it was a wee bit cold, and I ended up out there the most - but now suddenly they're fighting to get out there!!
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