‘Free to be me: exploring identity online.’ 

It’s a call to all early years practitioners to respond to the proposed changes to the EYFS. We have until 31^st January to have our say. The ELGs are under the spotlight. They may be the endpoint of the EYFS, but they are part of a lifelong journey that begins at birth and continues beyond the end of Reception - a journey in which all early years educators play a crucial role.

The Education Team here at the FSF added their response last week. We also recorded a podcast about our thoughts. You can have a listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

For more inspiration and ideas on what to look out for, you may want to read what Early Education have to say and check out the Early Years Sector Coalition review. On the FSF, we have a couple of videos of Nancy Stewart (teacher, early years consultant and trainer) and Beatrice Merrick (of Chief Executive of Early Education) speaking at TEC 2 in November and sharing their thoughts on the proposed changes.

The educators who work with children every day, in all their varied settings, are the ones who know and understand what learning really looks like between birth and 5 years old.  It can be hard to find the time to contribute to this kind of document. And it can be hard to believe that our voices will be listened to. This may be one of those occasions when we have to do it anyway, because then at least we can say we had a go. And, who knows…

It was quite a few years ago, on a visit to the brilliant Kintore Way Nursery in Bermondsey, that I realised we needed to think a lot more about the type of resources that we were providing for our children.  The environment looked so inviting.  I imagined being a 3 or 4 year old spotting the various shiny metallic jugs on offer and imagining that I’d found some real life treasure. 

I put my Deputy Head hat back on and thought about how much longer these natural and recycled items would last than the plastic buckets, jugs and containers that frequented our sand and water areas. I considered that the resources I so admired had probably all come from charity shops for a fraction of the cost of items from educational catalogues.  It really seemed like a no brainer to start ditching the plastic, especially considering the number of times I’d recovered broken, sharp bits from outdoor play areas over the years working in an SEND school.

My initial research took me to find The Curiosity Approach website. 

The concept is that settings sign up for a one-year accreditation with the aim of increasing ‘awe and wonder’ in their setting.  One of the clear aims is to become plastic and ‘toy’ free, with one outcome being that children take more care and show more respect for their environment:

How can children ever RESPECT the planet they live upon if they cannot respect the resources and equipment they use? Plastic toys stifle so many opportunities for learning, to understand that items should be treated with careful consideration and to learn that their actions have consequences.

In order to successfully implement a resourcing strategy like this, I think it’s really important to engage everyone who works in a setting.  It might be encouraging the caretaker to bring a bag of shells back from their holiday on the coast.  It could be asking that staff have a nosy in their local charity shop if they’re passing to see if there’s anything that would be interesting for the children.  It might even be keeping an eye out for workers who are discarding old cable reels that would make excellent little tables.  Once the staff who have supported the initiative see how engaged the children are with their contributions (I would expect staff to claim for expenditure!), I believe that they are likely to contribute again, and think of their own opportunities to make a difference.  This in itself can bring a team together and nurture a sense of everyone adding additional value to the children’s experiences.

The list of benefits seems to go on and on, but I’ll end with a slight cautionary tale.  Last year at one of our Stay and Play sessions for 2-year olds with additional needs who weren’t yet in provision, one of our therapists was hit in the head with a metal ladle that was in the large sandpit.  She was hurt and needed to take some time off work due to the ensuing headache.  This was the first time that we had met this young man and so we weren’t aware that he might do something like this.  It obviously taught us that as with any resources, we should always be assessing risk.  You wouldn’t give small beads to a 1 year old for a threading activity, so it’s best not to give a relatively heavy ladle to a child who can demonstrate aggressive behaviours, unless he is being fully supervised.  The Curiosity Approach encourages the use of real ceramics and china in role play areas, with the intention that children will learn to handle these objects appropriately by being exposed to them.  There is currently also a very positive trend for introducing real tools and woodwork to EYFS settings. With both of these examples, a level of risk assessment is obviously crucial, but that is not to say that they shouldn’t be tried. 

In the current climate, where environmental issues are so prevalent, it would be great if more nurseries and schools considered making the switch and aimed to go plastic free.  The benefits seem so obvious.

resolution (noun):

1.       An official decision that is made after a group or organisation has voted.

Okay, so a Nursery isn’t exactly the United Nations, but the process of working as a team and deciding things together, making resolutions, whether they are for the whole world or for a group of children, is still an important one.

2.       A promise to yourself to do or to not do something.

This one is more familiar and more personal, but it can have an impact on those around you at work. Making a commitment to yourself can be part of well-being, of reflective practice, of self-awareness.

3.       The act of solving or ending a problem or difficulty.

Let’s be honest, every setting will have problems or difficulties, big or small, that they’d like to put an end to with a wave of a magic wand. Choosing just one to focus on and finding a resolution for it, would be a pretty good achievement for the start of 2020.

4.       Determination

All early years practitioners have a bit of this – a resolve to do the best they can for our youngest children, even when things seem really challenging.

Whether you’re a resolution maker or not, and whatever your hopes are for the coming year, we wish you a Happy New Year from all of us here at the FSF.

What do we know about the Government’s plans for the Early Years sector?

The answer is not very much. Their election manifesto had little detail on what might be in store for our youngest children and their educators. Here’s a quick round up of what we do know:

·       The current ‘30 hours policy’ looks here to stay

·       There is a commitment to expand ‘wrap-around’ child-care

·       This is associated with a £1bn childcare fund to expand both early years provision and school-aged childcare.

·       There is a commitment to deliver a National Living Wage of £10.50 per hour by 2024

That last one is relevant because of the effect it is likely to have on the financial situation for many settings.  

Not much to inspire an area of education that is the most crucial for children’s learning and development as they grow up, and that is equally central for closing a sadly ever-widening attainment gap. To analyse what is, and more importantly what isn’t, in the manifesto would take all the Coffee Breaks to next Christmas. Instead, here are just a couple of thoughts.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint General Secretary of the National Education Union made a ‘to do’ list for the Prime Minister, one of which was to 'end child poverty' and its overwhelming influence on a child’s experiences and development:

Disgracefully, a third of children live in poverty, and this has a devastating impact on their life chances and their access to education… Ignoring the scale of child poverty and the damage it inflicts isn't an option.

We know that Early Years staff are in the unique position of being able to reach out to and have contact with families. We also know that the greatest factor determining a child’s development is their home environment (EPI, December 2019). So many settings are running workshops for parents, helping families to access support, opening their doors, providing places and people to talk to - and all on a shoestring. Imagine how much more could be done with the right funding and resources. 

And what of the feet on the ground – the staff who work tirelessly to deliver high quality early years education? There was nothing in the Conservative Party manifesto to indicate that practitioners will see their roles receive recognition with improved access to associated qualifications, opportunities to develop skills, or better pay. The EPI report states:

We know that a qualified and skilled workforce is a key component of high-quality provision.

At the same time, Purnima Tanuka, Chief Executive of NDNA, says:

We will continue to fight for the investment and policies the sector needs to deliver this.

The key word here is investment. The message to any political party is that this is not just about winning an election. It is not about staying in power for another term. It is about lives – the lives of children, families and educators. And investment is not just about money. It is about sustainability, quality, longevity, expert knowledge, collaboration and understanding.

So, for this final Coffee Break of the year, we hope for the right kind of investment in the sector, it’s staff and children.

With peaceful wishes for Christmas and the New Year from all of us at the FSF.

At the risk of sounding a bit too 'Trumpy', there have been some cases of ‘fake news’ being spread around social media and on various teaching sites over the years.  The content hasn't involved a certain President, but it has involved what we can or can't use with children!           

If you give egg boxes to children, they’ll all catch salmonella!                                                           

If you let children play with toilet rolls, you may as well let them play in a poo-filled toilet!

Rice is full of bacteria! The children will all get ill if they play with it!

Whilst the thinking behind these statements may be well meaning, the reality is that egg boxes, toilet rolls and rice are no worse to play with than playdoh, finger paints or the mud kitchen!

The Health and Safety Executive have published a number of ‘Myth Busting’ panel findings on their website that try to clear up some of the confusion. 

Egg boxes and toilet rolls are the classic examples.  I’m not sure there are many practitioners out there who would use anything that is covered in the contents of a broken egg, or smeared in the much less desirable contents from a toilet! The guidance from a number of organisations is if they look clean, then there is no reason why they should not be used, as they pose no greater risk than everyday living.  Children are at greater risk from not washing their hands properly after visiting the toilet than playing with a toilet roll!

Many children get to use hammers, nails, saws and axes when they are at Nursery. This might cause some to back away slowly, muttering how irresponsible it is! But as long as the children are taught how to use the tools properly and sensibly, as well as being supervised when using them, then we are providing them with a fantastic opportunity to learn new skills and manage risk which will prepare them for life beyond childhood. To quote the Health and Safety Executive:

“There is no health and safety legislation which bans these activities, in fact HSE is on record as encouraging schools to allow these activities to go ahead. If individual schools choose to ban these activities it is for other reasons, not health and safety.”

The H&S umbrella can get stretched out even further.  The HSE includes a piece about mobile phones being banned in schools for Health and Safety purposes. There may well be a perfectly sensible reason behind the ban of mobile phones in a school, but H&S isn’t one of them! There seem to be a number of instances citing ‘Health and Safety’ as a reason to remove or not allow something, but in reality there are no H&S reasons for a majority of these bans, and all this does is provide a negative view of H&S. The truth is, most Health and Safety issues simply require a strong grounding in common sense. 

So, next time you hear of someone telling you that you can’t do something because of ‘Health and Safety’, don’t just take it at face value – ask them to explain why, especially if you think that, with a good risk assessment and supervision, it would be a perfectly safe and rewarding activity. Because in the long run, if we really did remove toilet roll and egg boxes from our junk modelling areas, mud from our mud kitchen, and rice from our tough-spots it would be the children who would be missing out. 

Every early years teacher wonders the same thing. Is there a formula? A secret formula to getting early reading right in Foundation Stage? We know the system is full of fancy phonics schemes and each one claims to be feeding the children in your class Wonka's finest golden ticket filled with synthetic and systematic phonetic gobstoppers. I'm not here to tell you which candy popping scheme is the best, but I am here to remind you of those basic strategies that will lead to immediate impact and, if we get it right, we can say goodbye to the intervention later on.

Consistency

We talk about it endlessly at Inset meetings, during pupil reviews, in the staff room whilst waiting for the microwave to ping out last night’s veggie curry. If we all follow suit surely no-one will fall behind? Let's all have the same consistent approach and deliver it together. Depending on your school size, ensure you have structure and pace. Remember, aim high, shoot low.

Environment

The classroom is your Adventure Island. Fill it with wonders of the phonics world. For every activity set, ensure there's something linked to initial sounds within close reach. Make it colourful, multi-sensory, innovate and inviting. That's why we wanted to be teachers, right?

Pinterest

It's 2019! We don't expect every teacher to rack their brains for ideas on teaching Phase 1 phonics, especially with a scheme that has been around for a few decades. There are brilliant ideas waiting to be lifted from the internet. Use the government guidelines as your foundation blocks but look for your fellow innovate teaching peers around the globe who have used the Internet to promote their well-documented ideas through the development phases. Remember – use your professional judgement and choose wisely.

Repetition and modelling

This is the key to high-quality phonics. This is the start of purposeful learning. Encourage, embrace and burst into tune at any given opportunity. The more you model and repeat, the more children want to learn and recite just like you. Simple!

Practise

All you need to do is visit the Natural History Museum's ‘Human’ section to read in bold 'practise makes perfect'.  I don't think we need to rely on Mary Poppins' magic here. Our children can produce their amazing outcomes if allowed to practise daily. And with phonics, it needs to be daily to have an impact.

Model for parents

They are our main resource for learning reinforcement. Invite them to phonics workshops at the start of the EYFS journey. Show and guide your parents on the school's methods used so they can adopt your classroom approach. However, be strict with attendance and make it work for them especially if they work full time. Offer multiple workshops and get your Head Teacher on side. This is essential to getting it right!

Reading really is the bedrock of the curriculum. It cements all the subjects, and without it the system would simply crumble into tiny titbits like the old chocolate chip cookie in your bag that's been there since 2018. Remember, as well as fostering phonics, to foster a love of books in your classrooms. Keep your expectations high for phonics, always have the end of year outcomes at the back of your mind and never lose sight of what's in front of you on your phonics journey together. 

By Natalie Williams

Natalie is an FSF and Tapestry website contributor. She has experience as a teacher and Assistant Head, leading in raising standards in reading and phonics across a school. Natalie says: 'I’m mum of two little darling (and demanding) boys, Eden and Byron. Both insist that I pretend to be the big bad wolf multiple times a day or a human goalpost when the sun is shining. I work from home and live in Essex with my wonderful partner in crime, Dom. If I’m having a bad day, I remember Life is beautiful when you have running water at your fingertips!

Stephen Kilgour, SEND Advisor and Outreach Teacher at Tapestry has created the Cherry Garden Branch Maps to support teachers, SEND children and their families. Named after, and used by, the outstanding Cherry Garden special school in London for children with severe and complex learning needs, the Branch Maps are designed to offer a child-centred, flexible approach to assessment.

The Branch Maps allow you to record the uniqueness of a child’s learning pathway. In Early Years we know that learning is not linear, it meanders, moves forwards, sideways, perhaps takes a step back or misses one out altogether. Some leaps will be enormous, some will be the lightest tiptoe. This is also true, and all the more so, for children with special educational needs. Their progress is demonstrated in those lateral moves or those smallest steps.

Using the Branch Maps, you can select the areas to assess in that are most appropriate for a child. For example, you may focus on the PSED sections and not use the PD branches, because the child you are working with is developing within the EYFS/National Curriculum stages for PD.

Stephen has also been working with the developers at Tapestry to create an interactive version of the Branch Maps. The result is the Cherry Garden Framework, offering digital visualisations for staff and parents to celebrate the progress their unique children are making.

You can read more about the Branch Maps and Cherry Garden in this FSF article, including free downloadable versions of the Maps and tutorials about how to enable the Cherry Garden if you are using Tapestry.

Stephen Kilgour worked at Cherry Garden School, an outstanding special school in London for children with severe and complex learning needs, for 11 years, 7 of those as Deputy Head Teacher. He now lives in Newcastle with his young family.

Change starts here. Change starts now. Change starts with us. 

Between 11^th – 15^th November 2019, schools across England will be raising awareness of Anti-Bullying Week, which takes place nationally each year. The aims of this campaign are to help schools, children, parents and carers come together and put a stop to bullying by offering support to everyone who is affected by it.

The effects of bullying, whether physical, verbal or online, can be felt well into adulthood. This is why it is so important that it is tackled and dealt with quickly, with appropriate help and advice given to all involved.

The message this year is all about ‘Change’. As with most things, the prevention of bullying is the best way to tackle the issue. Providing young people with the support and opportunity to change things offers a positive way to tackle bullying – even small changes can make a massive difference.

Some of the small changes that you can make include:

• Talk about the problem
• Speak up honestly
• Let everyone know who they can talk to
• Help young people stick together and spot when someone might be upset
• Encourage acts of kindness towards each other
• Choose respect
• Teach the difference between bullying and falling out
• Celebrate differences between each other

These changes are just a small part of the work we do with our youngest children in Early Years, where positive role-modelling helps them to be respectful, kind, and to cooperate with each other. Continuing to promote honesty, develop self-esteem and establish interpersonal skills throughout their time in school builds on their early learning. With time, perhaps this will stay with them as they move from school into the wider world. 

The Anti-Bullying Alliance have lots of resources available on their website here that are well worth checking out.

The earliest recorded bonfire celebration in Lewes was in 1795. The event has not been without controversy, but this is a tradition that shapes the town. Generations of families have been members of the same bonfire society for many years. 

What has all this got to do with Early Years you may ask? Well, it always gets me thinking about the importance and value of local traditions and the ‘funds of knowledge’ that children bring with them when they arrive at a setting. In Lewes, some children take part in their first Bonfire Parade as babes in arms. It is part of their family’s story.

At our school-based Nursery, we would invite parents in, wearing their costumes of course! They would help the children to make ‘torches’ out of sticks they found in the garden, talking about being safe as they created. The children would make their own costumes out of sheets of fabric, card, whatever took their fancy in the dressing up box. Anything goes! And then the best bit – we would have our very own parade around the whole school, complete with drums to march to!

It was a chance for the youngest children to make the most noise! It was also a moment to recognise something important about the past and present of where they live, to connect with each other and to make links with other celebrations involving light and fireworks.

It was one of my favourite moments in the Nursery year – not because I love Bonfire Night, but because of those connections, children and adults learning together, parents and staff sharing stories and, of course, making LOTS of noise with our marching drums!

Whatever the local traditions are near you, I hope you also find the energy and connectedness that can happen when we all share in an event.

Wishing you a happy and safe Bonfire Night, wherever you are and whatever you do.

They are the foundation, the glue that holds all other learning together; they are the how rather than the what children learn; and they are absolutely central to young children’s learning now, and for the rest of their lives.

Development Matters says the Characteristics of effective Learning ‘underpin learning and development across all areas and support the child to remain an effective and motivated learner.’ I've highlighted 'underpin', 'across all areas' and 'remain'  - the key factors of CoEL are all in this sentence. 

Helen Moylett relates the Characteristics of Effective Learning to the ‘skill, will and thrill’ of learning: 

·       playing and exploring – the skill to get engaged

·       active learning – the will to keep going

·       creating and thinking critically - the thrill of discovery

She is referring to the development of new ways to get stuck in to learning, the resilience and motivation to learn more, and the excitement and wonder of finding something new.

At the Nursery World Show Masterclass in February this year, Dr Sara Baker focused on ‘Flexible thinking in the early years’. She began by talking about the qualities employers looked for in their employees - resilience, initiative, adaptability, problem solving to name a few. Of course, these are all aspects of Characteristics of Effective Learning. It was a reminder that CoEL is about supporting children to become lifelong learners. ‘Knowledge’ isn’t everything, far from it in fact! The qualities we see and nurture in babies and young children – curiosity, problem solving, decision making, observing, exploring, trying, and trying again – these are the qualities we want them to build on and grow old with.

The role of the educator is key to CoEL. Both Dr Sara Baker and Helen Moylett write about how the Characteristics of Effective Learning are developed and embedded when the adult and child learn together. The adult acts as a guide, learning and observing and exploring with the child. Most importantly, the child needs to feel loved, surrounded by positive interactions and developing secure attachments (Helen Moylett).

Then learning how to learn, together, can happen.

References:

Characteristics of Effective Learning: Helping young children become learners for life, edited by Helen Moylett, Open University Press, 2014

https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=c1CLBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=reporting+on+characteristics+of+effective+learning+eyfs&ots=VZFXHQ4Srf&sig=9dKubVrEkd-wdTlXbGzBixNjEz0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Development Matters: https://www.foundationyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Development-Matters-FINAL-PRINT-AMENDED.pdf

Nursery World Show Materclass, Dr Sara Baker (Cambridge University Faculty of Education, PEDAL), ‘Flexible thinking in the Early Years’, February 2019.

We’ve all heard the sayings ‘put your own oxygen mask on first’ or ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup’. They highlight the importance of looking after yourself so you have the energy to look after others. The role of the early years educator is one of constant giving; giving care, giving time, giving fun, giving guidance, giving experiences. Let’s give a moment, to think about the small things settings can do to nurture their staff.

·       Ask a colleague how they are today. If you are a manager, take time to check in with staff.

·       Foster a culture of openness. Is wellbeing on the agenda at staff meetings? Do staff feel able to talk about wellbeing?

·       What is your staff communal area like? Is it possible to be creative, move the chairs, bring in some pot plants, write an uplifting quote or a funny thought on the whiteboard – things that don’t cost money, but that will quietly change the mood.

·       Do you have a wellbeing policy? Was it a collaborative team effort?

·       Do you make contributions to your setting’s ethos? Having a voice helps you to feel valued.

·       Mentor one another. If you are a manager, do you have someone to talk to?

·       Be reflective, create a culture of trust and respect, look for the positives and build on them.

These are just a few ways that early years teams can support each other and improve wellbeing.

Take care.

References:

EYA Minds Matter Report June 2018 https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/sites/default/files/minds_matter_report_pre-school_learning_alliance.pdf

Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, Ten Steps Towards School Staff Wellbeing https://www.annafreud.org/media/8459/school-staff-wellbeing-report-final.pdf

Sonia Mainstone-Cotton in Schoolsweek  https://schoolsweek.co.uk/tips-for-improving-staff-wellbeing-in-schools/

Sarah Fillingham in Nursery World  https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/opinion/article/supporting-the-mental-health-of-early-years-staff

What?

·       Reflective practice is a mindset. Thinking about it like this can help educators to see reflecting as a way of being rather than something extra to do in an already busy day. It is how we look at our own practice, the ethos of our team, and the learning environment as a whole to constantly improve and support positive outcomes for children, families and staff.

·       Reflection is ongoing. It is a journey of thoughts and actions.

·       Reflecting is about asking why and how?

·       It requires mutual trust and respect. Reflecting relies on positive working relationships and an understanding that your workplace is an open, non-judgmental space to review and evaluate.

·       Reflection is about celebrating what has gone well and building on this. Early Years educators are constantly striving to improve so that they can give the children in their care the best possible start in life. Looking for what works, and seeking to develop that, is good reflective practice.

Why?

·       Reflecting encourages staff to talk about their pedagogy and practice – what they are doing and why they are doing it. It helps to focus and reminds you of the purpose of what you are doing.

·       There is an increasing emphasis on professional development in early years settings. Reflecting on ways you can improve your own practice and how you can develop the practice of your team will naturally lead you towards the CPD (in-house or external) that would benefit you and other members of staff.

·       Reflection allows staff to become involved in their own professional development and in shaping the ethos of the setting. Feeling valued in this way supports staff wellbeing.

·       In the end it always comes back to the children and their families. When reflection underpins the ethos of your own teaching and learning then the benefits will reach far and wide!

As we begin a new school year, many settings are getting to know new children and new families.

This first Coffee Break takes a moment to reflect on just a few aspects of partnership with parents and carers in the Early Years.

• ‘Partnership’ is the key word here – it implies trust and respect, working together as equals for the benefit of each child, and staff and families valuing each other’s contributions.
• Partnership needs communication – whether on paper or online, settings are sharing each child’s learning experiences with parents and carers, and families are engaging and adding their experiences from home.
• Partnership requires flexibility – there are so many pressures on family life and things rarely go according to plan! We all have days when we are running late, or it is impossible to get a wriggly baby and a sticky toddler out of their PJs!
• We all need to be given time to talk and to be listened to – parents, carers, children, and staff.
• Some parents and carers are not as well represented as others – how can you find ways of reaching out to, and bringing in, those harder to reach families?
• Working with parents and carers supports children in the transitions they make in their day – home, childminder, nursery, grandparent…the list may be long, and all those adults are part of the care of our youngest children.
• Partnership with parents and carers helps you know each child better. You will know the experiences they bring with them as they arrive at your setting and this will help you plan a learning journey full of ‘awe and wonder’ for each child. As Wendy Ratcliff (HMI) explains in an article for PACEY, knowing each child is a key part of cultural capital in the early years.

This is just a drop in the ocean of the reasons why partnership between the adults in a child’s life is so important.

As you finish this Coffee Break, hopefully you’ll be reminded that all around the country there are rewarding connections with families being made right now.

You can discuss the report on this thread.

You can read our full report here

Here is the agenda for the 2 ½ hour workshops.

• What does the ‘curriculum’ mean for early years?
• Distinguishing the ‘curriculum’ from teaching and assessment.
• What is knowledge? (considering the building blocks of knowledge children need to learn)
• Proposals for the new EIF – the quality of education.
• Busting some of those ‘myths’ about inspection.
• Questions.

All details, including timings, can be found during registration. Please register for these events here.

Feedback about these events is being shared on this thread