Target Setting

[Guest]

Hi,

Never actually posted a topic on here yet, but have been enjoying the benefit of lots of your ideas and advice. Which I am trully grateful for!!! Have you any ideas on the best way to set targets?

 

This is probably going to sound very long winded but I feel as though I need to make you aware of the settings arrangements, etc. Before I ask for your advice/ideas.

 

I'm a Nursery teacher in a Foundation Unit we take 30 nursery children for morning or afternoon sessions and we have two Reception classes of 28 children. 1 of the Reception classes has 7Y1 SEN children as well as a number of children who require some sort of support - be it speech and language, or behaviour.

 

We also have a private company providing wrap around within the Nursery.

 

All in all there are myself and 2TAs in the Nursery part, with a teacher & part-time TAs attached to each class. we also have 1 classroom assisstant who supports 2.5 times of the week, mainly in reception.

 

We have rigorous planning in place and are continually recording & assessing. We follow the same medium term plans and have devised a fortnightly activity plan to incorporate all the children and give both Nursery & reception children opportunities to explore and consolidate their learning.

 

Please help

[Beau]

Sorry,

 

Can't help but just wanted to welcome you to the forum.

[Susan]

Hi Mrs D and welcome.

 

Im not sure I can help either. I always think we should have goal attainment as targets so its a question of assessing where the children are and moving them on in small attainable steps but you know that!

 

Are you looking for ways to display targets? You could have a board with general learning objectives.

 

If you are setting targets, I think I would be trying to group the children and give them next steps as you do when writing your IEPs? For you SN children their IEPs will dictate their targets.

[mundia]

Hi Mrs D welcome to the forum and i hope you enjoy time well spent here.

 

We dont actually formally set targets for FS, until the end of reception when they have targets for going into year1. Are you being asked to do them by the school? Obviosulsy as Susan said you will need IEPS for your SEN children which will conatin their targets and we usually have some predefined traget for our performance management but other than that, no we dont.

 

It sounds like you are very orgnaised and if you are happy with your asessments and plannings, so it sounds to me as if yo are doing enough?

 

I would be very interested to hear from other members about target setting and if its just us that doesnt (in schools anyway)

[Guest]

Thanks for your replies. Not sure what I expected!

 

I suppose after nearly 10 years nursery experience I would like someone to wave a magic wand and say this is the way to do it.

 

I do feel organised but I have a young family and only hope that I can keep up all my planning, assessment etc. to the extent that is expected of me and yet still maintain some sort of relationship with my family.

 

I have always planned with the children in mind and continually observed and assessed. however I have never specificaly palnned for target setting as such. (I've only recently returned as a full-time teacher as my oldest son is nearly 3 and my youngest just over 1 year and maybe I have missed something!)

 

I find all this need for target setting rather incidental, and I guess this is my problem!

 

Anyway many thanks X

[Beau]

Sounds like you're doing a great job! Speaking as someone who let work intrude greatly into her families life I can sympathise with your worries. However, you will never get those early years with your children back. They are much more important! Just make sure that you do the important bits of work that have the greatest impact but don't let it get in the way of your family. Peggy is always telling us to be SMART - she is a wise woman indeed!

[catma]

depends on what kind of targets - are they for individuals, next steps from your assessment analysis, or are they curricular which would involve analysis of the bigger picture and also involve discussions at an organisational level about resourcing/learning environmnet adaptations to support all children within the target area, is it to identify barriers to learning for certain groups - your eal/sen/ children or different ethinic groups within the setting and to target their attainment........all different levels of targets which at any time are in play within the setting I think. IDentifying what you are actually targeting and who is being targetted can be a good starting point

Cx