JacquieL

Have a lovely day both of you.

Dawn I don't really know what to say except that I feel so sad for you, but you must do what is right for you. Obviously you have given this some thought, and you are feeling very low. Is there not some way that you and the owner can talk this through and agree on a plan of action? You have put a lot of work into your setting. If the deputy manager is a problem will this not be the same for someone else? Is this a situation which needs addressing by the owner, as she will have to replace you and possibly end up with the same problem? Sorry I can't be more helpful. Nothing is forever and there are lots of challenges out there if you decide to move on. Lots of hugs xxx.

Good for you mummyspud. I bet you are loving it. My experience of special youngsters is that it is hard, rewarding and happy work because of the wonderful atmosphere.

Why should the profile be filled then? Scores at such an early age... and not all the areas are assessed equally.

It's good to hear your perspective on this, from the outside of the UK system. In LA maintained settings the children are tracked against these statements each term from entry at 3, and possibly now from 12 weeks, to monitor progress and measure the success of the curriculum in a particular setting. This information is also used by OFSTED when grading a setting and getting it right puts pressure on the staff. Information is then passed on to the schools that the children will go to, and children are tracked onwards and upwards through their Primary years. It is an enormous amount of work and I think we all have trouble sometimes with the statements and their meaning, and there is a lot of discussion around them and moderation across different settings.

I find this Forum a good place for my CPD and I think it is so good that we can ask a question and some lovely person will be able to guide us towards an answer. You all keep me up to date and on my toes.

Sorry no idea why there are two pictures!

But RE is creative and not dull, although it can sound that way on paper. Look at how it has inspired art, music, drama, architecture, etc. The Good Earth is so beautiful with seasons, flowers, animals, environments of all kinds and the wonder of creation. A bird from an egg, a new born child, a tiny seed can grow into an amazing tree. Think of all the wonderful creation stories from different religious beliefs. I love the Dreamtime stories from Australia. Think of all the good things that make it possible for us to live. There is so much that is inspiring in the world. Just a sunset or looking out into infinite space, and the star, the sun without which there would be no life. There is so much that can be talked about and expressed in a creative curriculum. There is the other side, famine, cruelty and the rawness of that nature that means each species preys in some way on another. These are things that can be talked about in circle times.

Look at this by Nikki Parmenter.

Try her website [url="http://www.nikkiparmenter.co.uk

If you Google 'The Good Earth Agreed Syllabus you will come up with a link for you to download the one for Lincolnshire. I can't find a link to post. One unit for KS1 is on this theme and has some good ideas. You should find that your own LA will have a planned unit for you to use as a guideline, which your RE co-ordinator could give you. Within the Agreed Syllabus will be the themes covered and when, and all the units with guideline plans, learning outcomes etc.

It is quite true about the 'love darts' begin required by garden snails when they are mating. It seems that the darts have a chemical on the end to prevent the other snail rejecting the sperm. This is the sort of interesting information I needed when doing GCSE. I can probably still disect a frog but haven't been called upon to do that recently.

If anyone wants snails I have literally bucketfuls in my garden eating my vegetables, and I can't get rid of them, so help yourself to the snails.

Have a wonderful day all you people with birthdays today.

SmileyPR you might find this website worth a visit if you are looking for EYFS resources. There are charts summarizing the developmental matters statements, also the profile, and there is also stuff suitable for transition from FS to KS1 and demonstrating continuity and progression. They are nicely presented as well, and I don't think that they are overpriced.

http://www.acblack.com/featherstone/

Thanks for that it looks very useful.

CRB checks are still free for volunteers, and so will be registering with the ISA, which comes into force from Oct 12th. (I should also mention that the ISA register is being phased in over 5 years for existing staff and volunteers. OH has just done his training on this.)

The trouble with that is that we need a common understanding, so that if one person notes that a child can do something then that means the same thing to someone else. That's why it is so important for us to have moderation exercises for training, where we can discuss observations. I think that we are all on a journey to understanding what we do, and sharing ideas and opinions is an important part of our learning. Perhaps we should be recording our own learning journeys. Learning journeys have no end.

Have a wonderful birthday.

This is really interesting and explains the stages of drawing

http://k-play.com/pdf/The%20Developmental%20Sta.pdf

Well done and keep them coming

Just resurrecting this thread. We would have no trouble with the word oblong if we were French. I noticed that the plum tomatoes in a French supermarket were labelled tomate oblong!

That looks very interesting. I see it is already fully booked. We could have had a FSF delegation dancing around a maypole couldn't we, er or is moshing the National dance?

Isn't this then a matter for training? If we are unable to understand what we are required to identify and support then that means that training is at fault. Taking your example, if we have to support creative development and the development of drawing, painting, and graphics, and this is difficult for some people to comprehend, then something is wrong with the training that is being given. We should understand the developmental stages of children towards representational images. If not then training is not meeting the requirements of the curriculum, or the needs of practitioners and their understanding of child development in this learning area.

We should also understand the word 'concept'. We should know why the 'concept' of a 'word' is absolutely crucial to a child's development of literacy.

Every profession has it's shared language to enable people to communicate effectively, and this is something that we need to enable us to enter into conversation, without the language getting in the way of the discussion.

Exactly so catma. We should be understanding, through our professional knowledge and understanding of child development and learning, what these statements mean. Words like 'concept' are our bread and butter as it is a cognitive unit of meaning. So the example of 'enclosure' means a use of space and 'word' is as catma and Susan describe. All professionals have language which enables them to communicate, and this is our language of learning and understanding.

On the subject of creative development - can anyone explain this statement?

 

"Use ideas involving fitting, overlapping, in, out, enclosure, grids and sun-like shapes."

 

We never know what it exactly means - the fitting, overlapping, in, out bit is fine but the rest we're just not that sure about. What are sun-like shapes? circles?

I think, but don't quote me...that enclosures are about the enclosing of space. In drawing the first scribbles will have developed from lines into joined up random shapes or ovals, circles etc. this would transfer to 3D work where they would be making bricks into circles. squares, and model making with insides and outsides. etc. Sun like shapes would be just that, those circles with bits coming off which might represent people, trees, animals, features and of course the sun!

Grids are as described, creative activiites based on squares and rectangles or something with intersecting lines and would probably involve simple pattern making of some sort in 2D or 3D. I think Jasper Johns uses grid-like shapes in some of his work.

I'm really pleased to see you around again SmileyPR, and of course you know this is the place to come for finding out what's going on in EYFS

RE is religious education in the fullest sense of the word. Each LA will have a locally Agreed Syllabus which has to be taught, and this is education about religions and learning from them, including their affect on World History and discussions about morality. Christianity is the primary religion taught, and then there is usually one other at KS1 and then at least another added at KS2. These will be chosen from the six major world religions. Cait's example from Christian Aid would be learning from religion in practice, and this would provide a cross-curricular link to Citizenship, which is also taught in schools. There are guidelines from QCA for content at each Key Stage. As Susan says RE is taught in all schools, although some GCSE's call it Religious Studies.

Denominational schools are exempt from the local Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education's Agreed Syllabus, and have their own syllabus from their diocese or religious leaders. I think the whole thing is under review.

Don't worry it took me hours and hours to complete and I'm lucky to have the time.

For what it's worth I would be looking at circle time and PSE. You may find something on change in the SEAL materials for Early Years which could be appropriate, especially as the children will possibly be moving on to another class. In fact there is a unit here.

http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/153913

I would also have a look at Jenny Mosley and her materials on quality circle time. There is a good warm up activity where the children change places in the circle which could lead to discussion on change. The little book of circle time might also have some suggestions on change.

SEAL is high on the Governments agenda at the moment and Jim Rose tackled this in his recent report. It may be why you have been asked to do this.