Early Years Mixed Messages.

[JacquieL]

Today I need cheering up. I attended a Primary Strategy Day for Reception Class teachers. We were told: we must get children to acheive all the ELG's or we are letting our Y1 teachers down. (This regardless of age on entry) We mustn't allow messing about such as arguing over equipment etc in role-play. We must begin a set Lit. and Num. in term 3 because transition should be managed at the end of R and not at the beginning of Y1. Last of all Literacy and Numracy in outdoor play involved children copying letters on easels outside, filling in 2 missing numbers on a hopscotch, and taking junk box modelling outside. Somebody is in the wrong job and I didn't used to think it was me. Have i got it wrong!

The final straw was someone saying that her children were ready for worksheets and workbooks and we needed to be the judge of when our children were ready for these activities.

[hali]

Hi Jacquie

 

I know ectactly how you feel and i work in a pre school!!!

I know it is different from reception but We have been told that not only do our children have to follow the foundation stage stepping stones but also now we have to do thier foundation stage profiles as well and gather lots of evidence to back it all up!!!

I thought pre school was for socialisation but how wrong i am -and it seems to me that it is just because the children get funding from the government!!!

[Guest]

Hi JacquieL

 

I'm not sure I can cheer you up, but if it's any consilation I felt just as bad as you last year when I went on a similar course. In our area the powers that be were saying,absolutely no worksheets and it should be all play orientated. Our wonderful 4+ teacher, with 20 years experience, was critised so much she left. Personally, I think she did a great job and prepared the children well for school. I have since moved jobs and work as a TA in a Reception Class. We had our Ofsted just before Christmas and the one critism for the Reception Class was not enough worksheets and writing down. What do these people want!!!!

You are not in the wrong Jacquie - but you are right in saying we are being given mixed messages and so we don't know what to do for the best - you'll find a lot of people feel like you do. In our school the September Reception intake and some of the January intake eventually go in to a Year 1/ Year 2 class. They will have had a transition period in the summer term of reception. The rest of the January ,and Easter intake, go into an exclusively Year 1 class and they have their transistion period at the beginning of Year 1. I feel the Easter intake seem to be very disadvantaged and I can't seem them all achiving all the ELG's by the end of Reception. I will be teaching the summer intake this year and I'm starting to have nightmares about fitting everything in and shorting changing the children right at the beginning of their school careers.

 

You sound a very dedicated teacher Jacquie try not to get too downhearted.

 

Denise

[Guest Jillbetts]

Somebody has forgotten about the IMPORTANCE OF PLAY IN EARLY YEARS!!!!!!!!!!

Some children go to pre-school and do not know how to play or interact with their peers.

So much work that HAS to be completed by the teaching staff that they do not have TIME to interact and support the children anymore. It is all WORK, WORK WORK and the children are left to play alone, if they can. If they can't they mill around until its tidy up time. WRONG WRONG WRONG when are powers that be realise the importance of play in the foundation stage and importance of play in Yr1 and Yr2. I visit a school that has Golden Time on Friday Afternoon and some pupils are allowed to go and spend the afternoon in another class. Can you guess where the whole school would like to be, yes in Reception playing as they call it. Interacting in a social way in a safe environment!

Had better go as I could go on and on and on.

Don't get disheartened you sound a wonderful and caring teacher, but I know how you feel

Jill

[Gezabel]

Hi

Not sure this is the right place to post this! Maybe I too am feeling somewhat disillusioned and feel I am on the receiving end of mixed messages. I work in a small pre-school and have spent many years working with young children, I am also a Mum of four.

 

With all the emphasis on achievement and us being able to tick the right boxes on record sheets I decided to look retrospectively at my 3yr old son and his time at nursery. I have looked at the ELG's and tried to think of something my son has told me about that falls into one of these areas. These are not the only examples I can come up but just wanted to try and think of one example for each and this is what I found.

 

KUW - my son came home and told me that there were people who lived in another country called France. They didnt say the same words as we did and when they said goodbye they said "Oh! river!!"

 

Physical - Oh lots I could mention, gross motor skills outside with the wide range of wheeled toys and climbing equipment etc. Fine motor skills, again many and vaired from constructing with small equipment, to cutting, to holding paintbrush etc

 

Mathematical - again so many, number songs, his understanding of bigger and smaller, exploring 'how many' and he was able to reliably count to 9

 

Language/literacy - he devloped a love of books and enjoyed all the mark making activites using a variety of mediums. He developed his language for questioning, how things work and why etc

 

PSE - I could write reams here! His self confidence soared, he developed consideration for others learnt how to share and take turns. His independance in terms of personal hygiene, own coat etc also improved.

 

Creative - again lots of examples I could think of - he enjoyed the messy activites partiularly hand and finger painting, proudly beat the drum in the marching band, enjoyed the freedom of expression through role play etc etc etc

 

You may be wondering why I am writing this - it is just a little glimpse into the world of my son at nursery and the powers that be insisting we cover the stepping stones, early learning goals etc. I have no doubt I (and my son) was fortunate in my choice of nursery. So what! I can hear you say, there are plenty of excellent nurseries all complying with the Ofsted requirments. I agree there are but what I have typed above is from memory - especially the Oh! river which we still smile about BUT my "3yr old son" is now 25yrs old. There were no early learning goals during his nursery years,

 

Maybe I feel bogged down by the paperwork both in amount and in ensuring its constantly up to date!!

[Guest]

Oh Geraldine

You made my heart soar!!! You are so right. These children are learning so much all of the time and half of the time we don't even know it!

My question is "Who are we here for?" And there is only one answer-the children!!!! they are the be all and end all of what we do. If they are happy and settled, if they are motivated and keen, if they just want to be with you during the weekends and holidays (not a chance!) then what are you doing wrong? Nothing!

I love my job and being with the children but sometimes I want to stop the merry-go-round and say I want to get off!

Linda

[Guest]

There you go Jacquie you are not alone !

 

I enjoyed your post Geraldine! You make a very important point - do we really need to be 'told' what to do all of the time, what strategies to adhere to and how we must complete all the stepping stones or else!

 

Children are inqusitive little creatures, they learn things all the time.whether they mean to or not.They don't really care if they've reached the ELG's it means nothing to them. What are the ELG's really going to do for them anyway? My own son is in Year 1 and I took aboslutely no interest in his FSP and I don't think his teacher did either. This hasn't done him any harm at all. In fact, he is flourishing at school.

I myself never even went to pre-school and it hasn't done me any harm at all! ( although other people who know me might disagree!)

 

Denise

[JacquieL]

Well thankyou everybody it is so good to hear from so many like-minded people all struggling to do thier best for the children.

Denise's post reminds me of what I have always said, especially to NQT's, and that is that 'Children learn in spite of us not because of us, so do your best and don't worry.' Tell that to OFSTED eh!

Thanks.

[Guest]

I do agree that we don't spend enough time playing with the children, and the thing that annoys me most is written observations, which seem to take up so much time where I'm writing about what they do, not actively engaging in the learning process with the children! And who's it all for? Who cares if on some day in February the child was achieveing some goal about talking to themselves as they work? I know the goals are all important, but isn't it more important to be working with the children?

 

Dianne xxx

[Guest]

Having read all of the messages on this topic it has made me realise that I and my EY team are not alone in feeling the way we feel.We are being told to do one thing when our experience and knowledge of our EY children tells us to do another.

 

someone ,somewher,sometime will realise that this pressure on nursery and reception teachers and children is so wrong ,but by then a whole lot of children will have been denied a goood early years education where personal/social/emotional development is crucial .Only when children feel safe ,secure and confident to make mistakes will they take on board literacyhours and numeracy hours.

I am a nursery teacher and I cant help thinking that the youngest child in my nursery was only 2 last february,has been on this earth 2years .Yet now my headteacher is expecting significant progress towards the eELG s .for goodness sake they are barely out of nappies.

Sorry about rambling on but I have been teaching 3/4 yr olds for 23 years and never have I felt so sad or disheartened .It has made me think about leaving but reading these messages has made me realise that I am not alone so thank you for that.

[hali]

here here crestacat

[Guest]

Hello everyone,

 

That was a lovely series of posts.

 

It puts everything into perspective. We want our foundation children to learn though play. AND SO THEY MUST.

 

We need to educate us (the practitioners - we are doing this), our management, and our parents/carers and the government. When we have done this, we will be able to do the right thing for the children.

 

Not a foundation stage thing really, but I have just started working with a severely ASD child on an intervention programme. The 'controller' (from the US) asked why am I doing it. I said because I can see that the child has targets. And that I can work with her to achieve these. This is a nice one because the parents, and all the other workers, are totally committed, so it is real team-work.

 

That's what educating children is all about. Working as a team. Parents and carers do some things, we (as practitioners) do some other things, but not all of us do (or can do) the same.

 

I just say we move on together.

 

Diane

[Guest cat33]

OK. I think mine is the ultimate. After our school Ofsted. the inspector wrote that we used tracing paper in FS1 for handwriting!!!!! We dont even own any tracing paper. The statement was removed for the final report.

I dont know what they want.

I do know I still enjoy working with the children every day.

Hubbie (the head) was asked by a Y6, who spends a lot of time in the office (they were having snack together as part of the boys reward for a good week) Mr.A, can I come to your house for tea?

Oh the joys of teaching!

Chris

[Guest]

I know what you mean about mixed messages and workload ( on paper!!!!) in Foundation Stage. Have worked to midnight all this week updating profiles. Had moderation visit today and everything was negative. Finding it really difficult at the moment to balance the demands in my Year R/1 class. Ok there are things I can work on, but feeling really down tonight. At least it is half-term for us next week.

 

Gail

[Guest]

Today I need cheering up. I attended a Primary Strategy Day for Reception Class teachers. We were told: we must get children to acheive all the ELG's or we are letting our Y1 teachers down. (This regardless of age on entry) We mustn't allow messing about such as arguing over equipment etc in role-play. We must begin a set Lit. and Num. in term 3 because transition should be managed at the end of R and not at the beginning of Y1. Last of all Literacy and Numracy in outdoor play involved children copying letters on easels outside, filling in 2 missing numbers on a hopscotch, and taking junk box modelling outside. Somebody is in the wrong job and I didn't used to think it was me. Have i got it wrong!

The final straw was someone saying that her children were ready for worksheets and workbooks and we needed to be the judge of when our children were ready for these activities.

Well everyone this is the first time I have been on the net for over a week. It has been half term for many but not for me! We have the big O on the 15th March. So I have worked my socks off all week and no doubt will be unsatisfactory as all the paperwork is up to date but I will be too knackered to teach! I firmly agree with everyone on this forum. I have worried about the lack of paper evidence in my children's books and yet I know they are all happy and learning and confident that they are so clever. They all know they are much better than I am at drawing and are all trying to be as good at me at writing. There is someone who no matter what I do still doesn't recognise the colours red and orange! and someone else who knows that 10 lots of 10 make 100! My original baseline scores for 6 in Literacy were 0! and still we are playing! I think that it is about time that the Government let us get on with the job and stop interfering. I became a teacher 6 years ago because I love children that is why I do the job, not to work all hours of the day every day and not spend much time with my own two! The paperwork is ridiculous and as for targets - who are they really for? I personally don't set them and will probably be in trouble in 3 weeks time, but my argument is why? and for who? My child who still doesn't know his colours is certainly not going to remember his targets, bless him. So cheer up everyone out there! We are all in the same sinking ship with the same rats named DFES, QCA and OFSTED. Except we are human beings and the fact that we are all sharing what we feel shows how much we care, despite what the rats throw at us! Hope this rambling makes sense, but when you start typing it makes you realise how many different topics we are all in agreement on! HAPPY WEEKEND - going back to the table to continue work now! only 6 weeks to the next holiday, bring it on!

[Gezabel]

Hi

 

Just thought for all feeling a bit down I would share a classic moment with you!

 

Picture the scene: There I am on my best behaviour and strutting my stuff with a small group of children with Mrs Ofsted VERY close at hand writing away as she watched.

 

We were playing a matching picture game and chatting about the pictures as we paired them off. We had talked about the picture of a bus, the sun, a tree etc etc and the children were perfection personified!!!

 

Then we came to a picture of a tap and I asked the children where I could go to find a tap. They thought for a moment and someone said "on the bath" and someone else said in the kitchen etc etc and just when I thought we had exhausted all the tap possibilities up piped a little cherub with:

 

 

My mummy has got a, er er , a (thinking intently here!!!) my mummy has got a "bee dot" and that's got a tap on it BUT it's not for washing hands, it's for washing dirty bottoms!!"

 

I LOVE my job, hate the paperwork but though the "roundabout" mentioned in an earlier post sometimes seems to spin very fast and getting off seems inviting I know I am on board to stay. Hope all of you who are feeling down will hold on tight too and enjoy the ride!!