Alison Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Am I the only one who wakes up in the middle of the night with ideas and then cannt get back to sleep? its always preschool stuff or bills that I suddenly remember I havent paid well I imagine I am not the only one... for a while there have been problems at work not major problems just silly frustrating petty problems like staff bickering, fear of ofsted turning up tomorrow, did I turn the heaters off befor I locked up? those kinds of problems. any way Friday we had decided that sessions have become stale and boring so yesterday we tried a fresh room lay out and different activities and for the first time in a long time when the session ended no one wanted to tidy up and go home, it was great and now instead of waking up in the middle of the night with a problem for the first time in ages I have woke up because Im excited about going to work in the morning and I had soooo many ideas its like starting a new job!. just hope todays session goes as well as yesterdays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 I was awake at around the same time Alison, one of our cats just loves to scratch the carpet next to my bed, and I have no option other than to kick him out, unfortunalty I dont always go back to sleep, but I have got a really clean kitchen this morning Isnt it lovely when you try something new and it works? I used to change the room or the activities termly and whenever someone thought of something new we'd do it. If it didnt work we'd change it, you dont know 'till you try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Think I was just going to bed around that time... ! As they say Alison, a change is as good as a rest (or something like that!). We had the early years team come in a while ago and redesigned our room, only small changes but they were significant enough to engage the children in areas that had been left alone for some time. Unfortunately, the staff are still in a hurry to pack up and go home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddleducks Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Hope today was as exciting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 i think most of wake in the night thinking of work, issues etc, maybe i should try a new room layout...ummmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Just hi jacking this one slightly as I noticed Rea had reached the magic 2000th post! Well done, Rea!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Posted May 16, 2006 Author Share Posted May 16, 2006 Well I am pleased to say day two was just as good!!! one litte problem because a member of staff is not so keen on the changes and rather than speaking up she tutts but I cannt please everyon one and I would sooner have 20 happy children and one member of staff tutting than 20 unhappy bored children and one happy member of staff. well tomorrow is another day and the tutting member of staff is off so maybe we will have a good day again? WOW rea!! 2000 posts.... I dont know how you have the time?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 So now the big question, Alison, what changes did you make?! Glad it was good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Sorry, hijacking again - Well done Rea!!!!! (I have an excuse, was recovering from being away when it happened ) Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 16, 2006 Share Posted May 16, 2006 Congrats Rea on your 2000 post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 I didnt see it change Thanks for the congratulations. My reason for achieving this many posts is because I cant be quiet, even if i have nothing relevent to say, I cant help myself. I'm worse after a drink But it's been fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Posted May 18, 2006 Author Share Posted May 18, 2006 well Rea dont be quiet i wonder what pearls of wisdom will be in your next 2000 posts? as for what did we change in our session? kind of everything!!! I had got lazy the last few months having spent 3 years running around doing a degree looking after a family and managing a preschool it finished last may and from January this year I have had no motivation to do anything at preschool, during the time I have spent doing my degree that has had 3 members of staff leave a 4ths has resigned and 3 new members start and the group of staff at the moment do not get on well together which again is demotivating. no-one seemed to be stretching themselves to help me, even the deputy had stopped I was on the verge of quitting I was so disheartened by it all, week in week out but me and the deputy had a heart to heart on friday I told her my frustrations she told me hers and we declared a clean sweep on the sessions I told her I felt brain dead there are no ideas flowing and it was time she put her mark on the group. well the main thing was a fresh room lay out another thing was rather than having everything set up befor the children arrived we had empty tables and took the children to the cupboard to choose what we would have out and as the play seemed to stop we gave the wandering children the chance to choose something new which got them back to playing, the staff and children stayed engaged in the activities all morning. before we used an activity rota which didnt have all our new toys on it!! and other than making sure a balance of activities went out during the morning it did nothing for motivating the staff to think about what to give the children to play with. We also adjusted our focus activities and keygroups which hadnt been working effectivly for a while because no-one was writing any observations down and helping with the planning the deputy and I have been struggling for a while trying to motivate staff to do their jobs so we spat out our dummies and stamped our feet and said "do it like this" not my style of leadership but it was needed hopefully they will listen and do so tomorrow is the end of the first week of our new sessions and I hope its a good session we are also in the process of replacing a member of staff and I have interviews tomorrow.... who knows what will happen??? Hopefully this will be the last staff change in a long time.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 19, 2006 Share Posted May 19, 2006 Good Morning All! Thought this would be a good place to post! I was up very late (as usual) and I'm amazed I'm up so early, particularly when I have a nice morning off to do my paperwork from home!!! Good luck with your interviews today Alison. Hopefully you'll find the right person for the job and your run of good fortune will continue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Posted May 20, 2006 Author Share Posted May 20, 2006 well..... Clare, well our first interview went well for us it was a good starter having not conducted interviews properly in the past. (they where too informal and didnt ask the right questions) Thanks to Peggy posting some interview questions on another forum we where able to ask some extra questions, Two questions from peggy's list we thought straight forward "what do you know about Birth to three matters?" "why would you carry out child observations and what would you do with the information" obviously I dont want to discuss details of an interview but Im glad I asked these particular questions. well we have spread some interviews over the week and it will be interesting to see the results, hopefully by next Friday we will have come to some kind of desision..... who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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