Guest Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 I am currently completeing an assignment on short, medium and long term planning and wondered if anyone out there would be willing to show me an example of the methods and format they use? I am hoping to devise my own, and have never seen any! Please help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted April 15, 2003 Share Posted April 15, 2003 Hello Debs and welcome to the site OK, here goes..... long term planning first.... Long term plans specify the learning that you want each child to have access to during their time at your setting/in a year/or in a two year cycle, perhaps. The opportunities you need to be providing are detailed in the sections in each area of learning in the Guidance document, before the stepping stones and learning goals are described. Long term plans are really to do with all staff being clear about what children are being encouraged to do and experience, and understanding the educational benefits of the whole provision, ie what the children are likely to learn whilst taking part in the activities you provide. Your long term plan needs to show a balance between and within the six areas of learning, and you need to make sure that all the aspects of each area have ben included. The Guidance document also states that there must be "sufficient opportunities for children to revisit all aspects of learning regularly and frequently" Is this any help, or have I confused you further?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 16, 2003 Share Posted April 16, 2003 Thanks Helen, that is a great help, and is what I thought I should be doing, however my Tasks is as follows..'Show long0term planning, this should show 8 or so topics, show the number of weeks you will cover each, write a rationale to say why you have planned these'. So i thought I need to briefly say what the children will achieve/experience within these topics in terms of learning objectives.....am I on the right track?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 17, 2003 Share Posted April 17, 2003 Hi debs Yes you are on the right track, but long term plans inmy experience don't need to be very detailed; Brief. The detail comes into the medium term plans and even more so in your daily or weekly activity sessions (shortv term plans ) By the way, so you don't think I'm mad, I am a seasoned teacher of 12 years!!!! Scary or what ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Hi Debs. I too am always looking for new ways to improve my practice. This site may be of some use to you. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/learning/data/...hers/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Flaming technology. Wont let me put the exact page on. Right go to this page ,then click bulletins on the right hand side .That will take you to a page with options .The top is early years and has lots of downloadable profomas for planning etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 Wow, what a fantastic site! I've just visited now, I love the way they have set out their forms etc. and there is some brilliant planning ideas and delivery methods. THANK YOU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 18, 2003 Share Posted April 18, 2003 We were told medium term planning is the topics and ELG you plan to cover in each half term... medium term breaks it down into which objectives each week with some rough ideas for activities... weekly plans - exactly what you're going to do and when. this may well make no sense whatsoever - I've had a few glasses of wine tonight I can't send you mine - they're on a planning package I don't think many people use so you wouldn't be able to open them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 22, 2003 Share Posted April 22, 2003 Thank you so much for the link, it has been really useful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Thanks Unafitz A very good site from Southwark LEA. Debs2000; I'm in line with the others on long term plans, i.e. keep them general and not topic related. However, if you're required by your course to list topics and timescales, I suppose that's what you'll have to do!! What do they mean, then, by medium term plans, because that's what I believe to be what they're calling long term. Sorry, this is harder to explain than I thought....Kate put it better! The supplement that comes with the Foundation Stage Curriculum document, "Planning for Learning in the Foundation Stage" shows a variety of long, medium and short-term plans from different settings. Have you got a copy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Yes have got a copy, and have looked hard and long at it, however, what my tutor wants is long term in the form of topics, medium term in what you will do within those topics, and the learning goals you hope to achieve, and the short term as day to day plans! Now this contradicts what I used to do when I worked at a pre-school, but there you go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted April 26, 2003 Share Posted April 26, 2003 If you have planned out all the topics in a long term plan, how can you respond to the childrens interests within your medium and short term planning? I am trying to get to grips with planning, not helped by the fact that the previous playleader did none and so I am having to start from scratch. That site was a great help and I've downloaded the 'Planning for Learning in the Foundation Stage' document too. Someone told me that topics were not a good idea at all. What do you think about that? <_< Beau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 1, 2003 Share Posted May 1, 2003 I used to enjoy planning via topics for when I was pre-school leader, I find it the easiest method, but that's just my opinion Can anybody help me with a good format for daily planning? By this I have to include a timetable for the day, staff deployment, letters home, visitors etc...thanks Debbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Posted May 2, 2003 Share Posted May 2, 2003 Hi debs Ive been spending the last week trying to explain planning to my staff who are trying to write a simular assignment and needed to explain what our setting does..... we are a playgroup we dont tend to do much planning but OFSTED need to see paper work like a fish needs water. actual planning in our sessions - a mid term plan which is an A4 poster for the wall a long term plan that is filed seen occationally like the loch ness monster ! and a short term plan that frequently goes out the window two minutes into the session I work to a simple rule of thumb with the planning.... my brain cannot cope with too much detail all at once..... and this was what I explained to my staff with regards planning (if it helps?) Long term - a list of topic titles for the year ie one for each half term and a list of over all learning goals that the children would be expected to cover while in the setting ie those in the pink folder, none of the long term planning talks about specific activities. Mid term planing - half term topic with a list of main activities for each week, some brief details about some specific activities but nothing in depth no specific learning goals (just brief aim for each session) make this up as a poster to display for parents to see. short term planning - one week time table discribing each session and one or two goals for each planned activity during the session if there is a range of activities there will easily be a variety of ELGs for each session with out the need to find one for each area of development for each individual activity Good books - Planning play and the early years by Penny Tassoni and Karen hucker Good practise in Implementing the early years curriculum by Sally Neaum and Jill Tallack Planning for the foundation stage Ideas for themes and activities by Penny Tassoni (dont forget to utilise the college library!) I find themes and topics are the easiest way to plan and dont see a problem with them. Most important - no planning should exclude the oportunity for unplanned learning ie when it snows take the children outside to have a look. sorry if Im repeating whats already been said!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 3, 2003 Share Posted May 3, 2003 Hi thanks for that, that's pretty much like we used to do at Pre-school. I now work in a reception class in a primary school and things are much more structured...though we are trying to move away from this. Thanks for all your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 4, 2003 Share Posted June 4, 2003 Hi Folks, I have to say Debs, the concept of topics being part of long term planning sounds very familiar in an early years/ infant school setting. We used to have a long term plan that set out an example of topics ( although this was never rigid!) over 2 years. The idea being that the topics would focus on a range of areas over the two years, whilst the medium term plans covered aspects of all of the areas within this...eg. Where we live...may focus on KNowledge and Understanding, mathematical development etc. ( or in infants, Science, Geog, Maths, History, D&T) Minibeasts...would give a good creative and physical development focus allowing lots of activities based outdoors and focusing on movement etc. The medium term plans would then break down each of the areas within this topic. I have always worked from topics and despite the move to consider this a dirty word in infant teaching a few years ago, I find it essential to have a conceptual peg to hang the learning on. There will always be incidental learning in any situation, but my worst case scenario has been working with a reception teacher who had planned from the QCA schemes of work for sessions of Geography, History, Maths, D&T etc. with no clear contextual links. How can children develop language and vocabulary with such shifting goal posts? Short term plans are the day to day nitty gritty, specific objectives, groupings and organisation, observation or assessment criteria, where relevant. SOme foundation classes do this through a weekly plan with columns for " Starter activity"..then learning opportunities for each of the six areas of learning ending with a finishing activity. Each entry could be support with an ELG, although, if this is evident in the medium term planning, why over egg the cake? Planning serves two basic purposes: AS an aide memoire, to remind the practitioners what to prepare for when and how In which case, it is personal and should be of use to the individuals concerned! As a record for monitoring and accountability In which case, the detail of resources etc. is not so relevant as objectives and organisation, assessment etc. Decide who you are doing the planning for and where you will give details of objectives etc...medium or short term. Long term is a general planning cycle overview to avoid reinventing wheels each term. Short term is the useful day to day nitty gritty. Hope this helps not muddles. Best wishes Debra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 8, 2003 Share Posted June 8, 2003 Hi there, There's a very useful sit - underfives.co.uk - that has lots of interesting information, including planning examples aroung topic themes. Might be useful. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 I am currently completeing an assignment on short, medium and long term planning and wondered if anyone out there would be willing to show me an example of the methods and format they use?I am hoping to devise my own, and have never seen any! Please help Just joined this site so hopefully getting it right has anyone tried using the planning softare by Infoskills in Birmingham - certainly looks impressive and looks as though it could cut down on huge amounts of writing up. Let me know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Hi Nicola - Welcome to the forum, and thanks for posting! I'm not familiar with Infoskills - do you have a reference or link you can give us? There are a number of Info Skills/InfoSkills references on the search engines but none that seem to match what you're talking about. Regards, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beau Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 The problem with buying a planning package is that you may spend a lot of money and find it doesn't work for you. One thing I've seen from reading the messages on this site is that everyones setting is slightly different. It is good to look at other planning formats but at the end of the day you need to find a way of doing it that will suit your setting. I only started in April and the planning I do now bears little resemblance to the planning I started out doing. Beau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 16, 2003 Share Posted June 16, 2003 Good point Beau. I think it would be a great idea if people who use the planning packages around could post a very brief review of the package, along with the name and contact details of the supplier. We could then build up a list of packages which people could use for research and purchase? Regards, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 I've just read "Right from the start" by Vicky Hutchin and it has really helped with reviewing the way we do our planning, and we are all much clearer about the assessment-planning-evaluation cycle. Thoroughly recommended! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 28, 2003 Share Posted June 28, 2003 Hi Nicola -Welcome to the forum, and thanks for posting! I'm not familiar with Infoskills - do you have a reference or link you can give us? There are a number of Info Skills/InfoSkills references on the search engines but none that seem to match what you're talking about. Regards, Steve. Sorry, it was very late at night - the company is called The Skills Factory. I have had a CD which I am evaluating and can do so for 28 days before buying but have been tied up with my BA so havn'e had much time to review it as yet. As anyone else used this. Looks quite good to me from what I have done so far Nikki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 Thanks Nikki - I think I found them after trying a few different search strings. I'll go and have another look. How did you come by the evaluation cd? Regards, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 Is it the case that "long term" "medium" and "short term" are used differently by different people? I have just been reading the planning guidance in the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage and it seems most setting set out which topics they plan to pursue over the year, any events relating to these and the ELGs they will focus on for each topic. However in the book recommended by my Early years course "Planning Children's Play and Learning in the Foundation Stage" the Long term planning is how the different areas in the environment eg. role play, water, sand, can be used to cover the ELGs... then focus activities in these areas come under short term planning... what then is medium term? Can anyone help ?- I'm a bit confused!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 I can only speak for my setting but our long term plans are the yearly ones (devised from rolling programme) medium term plans are termly plans that are a bit more informative and our short term plans are the weekly ones giving exact info on activities and outcomes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted August 11, 2003 Share Posted August 11, 2003 Hi Mharhi, I think you've hit the nail on the head; long, medium, and short-term planning do look different according to the type/size/ethos etc of the setting. Our long term plans cover the six areas of learning, but are more general statements, and they all start with "The children will be given opportunities to...."eg * feel valued and grow to value themselves * initiate ideas in choosing and planning their play * learn to share and take turns *encounter interesting and challenging experiences which give them plenty to talk about * respond to stories, rhymes and songs * explore the world through their senses etc etc. Our medium plans (termly) are loosely topic based, but we don't try overly hard to fit all activities into the topic. Our short term plans are weekly, based on observations carried out on a small number of children the previous week. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 12, 2003 Share Posted August 12, 2003 I was hoping that was the case, I suppose the thing is the plans do the same kind of thing but the way they are done is different! For some more advice, for reception I have been given a medium term planning 'grid' used for KS1- it has weeks numbered along the top then a space for each subject to show what I intend to do in that subject that week. I have been asked to use it after changing the KS1 subjects to early years learning areas eg KUW, Maths.. Hmm, I have used this when planning for year 2 and found it helpful to put the objectives to be covered each week in each subject, but with the foundation stage? When I tried to fill it in it got so 'busy' and ful, it felt like I was just repeating the long term plan in condensed form! Is it just me not using it properly or is the grid innappropriate for reception, please advise! I have written a detailed long term plan along the lines in my book, for each area of provision, (eg construction, water, writing / office) I have given the key learning goals, resources, adult role, etc.) Then I have done a rough plan of the topics we may do over the year and any festivals, book weeks etc). I feel that after that all I need is a rough weekly plan and a detailed daily one, what use are such detailed medium plans when you are trying to build on the childrens interests and their learning from day to day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ALISON KAY Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Hi Mharhi,I think you've hit the nail on the head; long, medium, and short-term planning do look different according to the type/size/ethos etc of the setting. Our long term plans cover the six areas of learning, but are more general statements, and they all start with "The children will be given opportunities to...."eg * feel valued and grow to value themselves * initiate ideas in choosing and planning their play * learn to share and take turns *encounter interesting and challenging experiences which give them plenty to talk about * respond to stories, rhymes and songs * explore the world through their senses etc etc. Our medium plans (termly) are loosely topic based, but we don't try overly hard to fit all activities into the topic. Our short term plans are weekly, based on observations carried out on a small number of children the previous week. Hope this helps We have just started to prepare long term planning around resource areas. I visited an Early Excellence Centre which was using this type of planning - followed by medium and short term planning which was based on the children's interests. We are trying to link this planning with our under threes planning which we have worked hard on in the last year and feel quite pleased with. We are really trying to work from the bottom up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 Hi Alison - Just to say welcome to the forum and thanks for your first post. If you have an interest in planning you'll find a lot here to participate in! It's a perennial favourite Welcome again, and come back often! Best wishes, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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