The Foundation Stage Forum Community
Welcome to the FSF – a community for early years professionals. Engage in conversations, offer and receive advice and support, make connections. Discover our library of education articles and podcast episodes to enhance your reflective practice. Working together to achieve high-quality early childhood education.
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Cultivating Curiosity in Young Children - A Practitioner's Journey
by Ann-Marie Piper
Early Years educator Ann-Maire Piper reflects on using open-ended play to cultivate curiosity in young children.
Podcast: Moving and dancing with Naomi and Nigel and BBC Teach
Jules chats with Naomi Wilkinson and Nigel Clarke, familiar faces and voices from CBBC. They talk about their BBC Teach series Let’s Move with Naomi and Nigel and share ways to help teachers and children to feel confident about dance.
https://www.bb…
Teacher, Varinder Kaur Johal, reflects on 10 years as an educator
In this reflective article, teacher Varinder Kaur Johal responds to the question ‘is your role as a teacher evolving and how has it changed?’ after a decade as an educator.
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2025.04.25 - Year 6: Writing - Standardisation and Moderation - Southampton
Year 6: Writing - Standardisation and Moderation Friday 25th April 09.00 to 15.30 Highpoint Centre This training will refresh delegates on the key processes in relation to Key Stage 2 writing. Delegates will take part in standardisation activities to develop their confidence in accurate assessment of writing using the teacher assessment framework. Delegates will then be given time to moderate their own pupil's work with colleagues from schools across the city. Please bring along the following • Exemplification materials for writing • Teacher Assessment Framework • Examples of pupils’ writing workbooks for pupils on track to achieve WTS, EXS and GDS Fee for training Southampton City Council maintained schools: £40 Academies, free schools, and other organisations: £45 -
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Sick pay
Hi, and welcome to the forum. we are term time too, I guess it would depend on your contracts really, but if we were sick in the holidays we wouldn’t get sick pay as we’re not contracted to work those closed weeks, if we’re on sick pay before a holiday it would stop during the holiday.- 1
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Sick pay
Our setting is term time only and staff are not paid in half terms or holidays, they are only paid for the hours they work. If someone is off sick over a half term, do they get paid sick pay for that week when nobody else is paid? -
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Does your setting use wet wipes?
Hi all, I'm Elisabeth, and I'm setting up a business to offer a convenient eco-friendly wet wipes service to nurseries. I'm not going to try to sell you anything (nothing to sell yet!) but I'd really appreciate 5 minutes of your time for some market research so I can understand nursery's current use of wet wipes (& other single-use things like wipes, e.g., blue towels). The survey is here -> https://forms.gle/93GsjQmNUi3mM2LUA It's short and anonymous and will help me make this service as good as it possibly can be so that settings can save staff time AND do their bit for the planet. If you're on LinkedIn and want to spread the word I've written a post about this here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elisabethjane_earlyyears-reuse-plasticpollution-activity-7298004247005069312-9M2r Any questions just give me a shout on elisabeth@sprout-innovation.co.uk Thank you so much for your help! -
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2025 - March & May - Portage Workshop: A small step approach to learning for children with SEND - 2024 - Southampton
Portage Workshop: A small step approach to learning for children with SEND - 2024 This two-and-a-half-day course is the basic qualification certificate in the Portage model of teaching. Monday 24 March 2025 9.15am-4pm Civic Centre Tuesday 25 March 2025 9.15am-4pm Civic Centre Tuesday 13 May 2025 9.30-11am Online session Who should attend? Those who work with the 0-5 year’s age range and are interested in delivering inclusive learning and play activities. It will be of particular relevance to those who hold the Early Years Special Educational Needs coordinator role in the r setting or those who wish to move into this position. It would also be highly beneficial for practitioners looking to further develop their SEND practice and as part of their work support individual children or lead small group work including children with additional needs. You will be able to: Understand the Portage Principles and model of support Use the basic skills to deliver Portage under supervision Apply Portage skills in one’s own workplace Understand the history and local development of Portage Understand the range of materials and resources Develop confidence in working together using the Portage Model Demonstrate awareness of the National Portage Association Southampton maintained schools and Southampton PVI Early Years & Childcare providers Price: £120 Academies, free schools and other organisations Price: £150 -
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Level 2 practitioner - room lead?
Hello! I am a new Manager at a term time nursery, and I have been going through staff folders to see what training they may need to do. By doing this I have discovered that a staff member we thought could have a 1:13 ratio, is instead a level 2 staff member which I know is a 1:8 ratio. They were not aware about this as they believed, or were told, their qualification was full and relevant for a 1:13 ratio. This does not cause a problem for the ratio side of things. However, they have also been a room lead. My question is, can they continue to be the room lead as a level 2 practitioner? -
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Reception Teachers Needed for PhD Research!
Hi everyone! I’m a PhD student at the University of Sheffield researching how Reception teachers use digital technology in the classroom. I’m looking for QTS Reception teachers to take part in the interviews (online or in person). 💡 The study explores: ✅ How digital tools are used in Reception classrooms ✅ Opportunities & challenges of digital technology in early years ✅ Teachers’ perspectives on digital learning Participation is voluntary, and all data will be anonymised. If you’re interested, please comment, message me for more details. Your insights would be invaluable—thank you for your support! 🙌
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