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Keyworker Group Time


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Please could those of you that use keyworker group time, tell me how it works.

 

How do you identify the children for your group? Do they sometimes change?

 

How often do you have your group time? Who leads it?

 

What are the rest of the children doing at this time?

 

I would also be very interested in hearing any other bits of information too - thanks.

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When I was at nursery in the baby room and we had a new starter, the supervisor looked at the size of each key group and the demands of each child and family (clingy, wanting long chats at the start and end of every session etc) This was taken into consideration as new starters obviously needed more attention in the first few weeks. We also looked at shift times and the expected start/end times of the child. You can't be there all the time, so we had 'back up' workers who were the second point of call and were introduced at the initial meeting.

 

Sometimes a baby showed more preference for another member of staff, so in consultation with the parents and with a planned handover,the key worker was changed.

 

With older children we used keyworker time to do stories, quiet games, treasure hunts, interest walks with our groups. Sometimes we all did keyworker time at the same time and other times it was planned so that one group went on an interest walk whilst other children and staff continued to play in the nursery. We did one or two keyworker times a week where we spent time with our whole group - the rest of the time we stayed as a big group, but observed our key children to plan for their next steps.

 

Everyone has different systems, so I'm sure you'll get a lot of different ideas from different types of settings.

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We have keyworker group time every day. This happens straight after registration time and only lasts for 15 minutes. All members of staff are involved with a group so we do not have any children doing nothing.

All groups are given names, Bears, Lions, Tigers etc. Each group has a maximum of 9 children and they are directed to a different activity daily with thier keyworker, this can be the home corner where they will have a problem to solve, i.e. the baby is sick what will we have to do? They then come up with a solution and follow it through.

They can be taken to the dough table, easels - absolutely any activity that is out. This time is useful for the children to bond as a group, get to know thier keyworker and peers, spend quality time telling them something also good for observations etc. Activities can be adapted for each child depending on age and development.

 

We are a pre-school in a church hall so don't have different rooms for different age groups. My keyworker children range from 2 and half to 4 years old. I find it relatively easy to adapt most activities for my age range of children.

 

We had a visit from our Mentor teacher today and she liked the groups so we can't be doing it so wrong!!! :o

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All groups are given names, Bears, Lions, Tigers etc. Each group has a maximum of 9 children and they are directed to a different activity daily with thier keyworker, this can be the home corner where they will have a problem to solve, i.e. the baby is sick what will we have to do? They then come up with a solution and follow it through.

 

I like the sound of that.... :o

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hi we all do keyworker group times. 4yr olds get one every day others once per week plus a focused activity.

 

we have a maxium of 7 in a group of similar ages and abilities if possible

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We start our small group sessions once we have had time to get to know the children, usually after the half term break in October. We tend to split them according to their age and ability, so how long can they sit for, how involved are they. We then plan our activities accordingly. They may have the same activity but differentiated accordingly or they may have different activities. When new children start during the year they are also observed for a few weeks and then we either put them in one of the existing groups or we start a new group.

Each group has a session every day, especially the older children. They usually last about 10-15 minutes depending on age etc. We initially base them around PSED and CLL and then add activities for the other areas of learning as the year progresses. We have 5 groups so they take about an hour to get through them all. These sessions take place during free play so the other children are involved in whatever else is going on in the pre-school. The small group sessions take place in the office.

Linda

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