trekker

Welcome back! Yes it certainly is tiring...I'm with toddlers and my knees don't much like sitting on the floor all day (well the getting up and down bit really! 😄)

Hi I think they technically can count in ratio but NOT at the level they are studying - if studying for level 3 they will count as level 2 for ratios. For your 13 children you'd need minimum of a level 3 qualified member AND at least half of any other staff qualified at level 2. So if the level 3 and two apprentices are all you have then no I dont think it works. However since ratios apply across the whole setting not per room (which I've always struggled to understand!) if there are other level 3 staff in the setting it may be. This is what I found on the kinderly website: Students on long term placements and volunteers (aged 17 or over) and staff working as apprentices in early education (aged 16 or over) may be included in the (qualified) ratios at the level below their level of study, if the provider is satisfied that they are competent and responsible (3.49). To assess competence, providers could use the criteria in Annexes C, D & E from the DfE Early years qualification requirements and standards to support them. This change means that someone studying towards an approved level 3 qualification (including qualifications at levels 4, 5 and 6) may count within the level 2 ratio, and someone studying towards EYTS or QTS may count within the level 3 ratio. For reference, not all level 6 degrees give a licence to practice. They must have been assessed in practice and be on the Early Years Qualifications List (EYQL), in which case they will count as level 3 for ratio purposes. To count as level 6 for ratio purposes someone must have EYTS, EYPS or QTS.

Hmm yes that could be an option...bonus of being dustproof too. Failing that I will have to get some fun fabric and get my machine out - its been quite a while but think I could manage something simple 😊

Hi - thank you for taking the time to reply ☺️ I had not been involved in dealing with preparing / storing the bedding in my setting until recently (it had always been set out by other staff as part of transforming the room for sleepers) so I was curious to find out how others did it. Apparently there is a monthly cycle and parents provide and wash them and they are stored stacked together...but that jarred with me a bit. I would think weekly cycle and separation of used sheets would be preferable but there have been no issues raised from parents or other staff at all. Can I ask where you get the little bags? - I've been looking but have only found drawstring ones and they are like shoe bags so quite big.

Hi all Just started my wrapping today - after a last minute shop as I wasn't happy with some of the original presents I brought. Need to knuckle down and get the wrapping done this weekend now. I'll do it while I watch some Christmas films and sip hot chocolate - starting to feel holiday-ish now and ready to settle down and do not very much for a week (one more shift to work on Monday though) ☺️🎄 Hope you all have a great Christmas !

Bit late but thought I'd check in and say hi! 👋 Decorations and tree all complete and enjoying the cosy feel of the twinkling lights in the evenings. Did a bit of a present inventory today and feel like I'm practically done - which came as a bit of a surprise really 😁 so just the wrapping to get to now. I don't finish until Christmas week and then back on 2nd as in nursery now...I do so miss the days of term time only pre-school!

Hello - its me! Just popping in. It's been a while since - no idea why really. Definitely quieter on here isn't it? Anyway quality rather than quantity counts I guess 🤣 Wind is picking up outside so I've duly got out my torches and so on 😬 Hope everyone is well and staying safe. Good to 'speak' with you all again.

The little bag sounds just the thing...thank you. Good to hear another familiar 'voice' again...I'll check out 'Friday' 😀

Hi and thank you ...bit quiet here unless its a Tapestry thing from the looks of it. I've been popping in again after quite a break ...glad to see some names I recognise still 😊

Just a few quick queries about how other settings manage childrens bedding in nursery. 1 Do you provide and wash it, or do parents provide and you wash, or do parents provide and wash? 2 Where and how is it stored hygienically for ease of access? We are a small setting with very limited closed storage space and are struggling to manage the pile! Just wondered if there was a easy solution we haven't considered 🤔

Unfortunately we get no CPD except essential updates to safeguarding, first aid, food hygiene....no inset days or anything....or staff meetings...so a BIG issue 😩

Haven't read it all - just skimmed through really but there are definitely parts I feel are better for the change - e.g. the greater emphasis on practitioner judgement and less need for written evidence. 😊

Me too - I really like the checkpoints - it will be much simpler to identify areas for development that will really make the most difference....should simplify planning and next steps (if you still do them!) and for students and newer staff it will be invaluable - I'd have appreciated something like that when I first started! I hope it will focus staff on the things that matter and reassure them.

I really like the birth to three section rather than the narrower bands of the old one too. I also think that, because it IS so different from the last, it will hopefully make it easier to support staff stand firm against continuing the tick list approach which unfortunately has become a crutch for many...a great opportuniity to let that go for good and take a simpler, less prescriptive and enjoyable approach to observing. Lets finally give staff permission (as this document does) to see the child for who they are and to celebrate what they do rather than stress over which statements they haven't perfomed yet!

Hi Less is more I'd say. I worked for many years trying to include individual planning, key person planning, next steps and yet more often than not it always ended up that we did something not on the plans at all.....and good stuff, stuff that mattered to the children but, because we had a plan, it stressed everyone out because we were trying to evidence that what we planned had happened even if we'd covered the same objectives in other ways or on different days.... so now we are fully in the moment and Ive been working without a weekly, daily, monthy, long, medium, short term plan of any kind for several years now. All we write are the individual observation, with the teaching element highlighted. Basically all the planning happens in the moment, on the day, with some inspiration from seasonal events. We have to have an environment and sufficient resources to enable that sponteneity....that is our long term plan - to build up the resources. You say your staff are already really good at responding to opportunities to extend learning so imagine there are already lots of 'activities' happening that are likely to be meeting childrens needs. I think what you have in place is perfectly fine....but I'd suggest not making it too much of a 'must do' / ' have to do' ....use the books as a provocation but you shouldn't need to write it up as a focus / daily plan at all - you'd have the evidence of it happening in observation records if needed ....but it's unlikely anyone is going to challenge you on whether you read X book on X day as your plan said. The main planning is best focused on building up the environment and resources to support you and to build the skills of staff to be able to work independently of plans and to develop high quality interaction skills - to think on their feet and to make the most of every moment!

hope so!

Don't think guidance specific to early years / nurseries been released yet....primary has and they are now being told NOT to operate to rota basis ...after teachers had been planning on exactly that basis to make it work... so...who knows what advice will come for us....and how much of the planning already done will have to change as a result

Well I would like to think most children’s development should not have suffered too much – I hope most have been with parents who have had lots of time to play with them and engage in conversation and everyday activities like baking, helping with tasks…real meaningful old fashioned and age appropriate learning through play…the main lack they might have had is social interaction with other children…parents have always been highlighted as children’s key educators…children learn at home too! This is why I don’t think these children should be returning first when nothing is clear and we will be so focused on dealing with all the issues - they are better off at home until everything is running more smoothly and has been trialled properly by older groups. We do not need to hurry them back before we know for sure that it is safe for everyone…many don’t even attend settings – they will do just fine too! People are talking like children will fall behind by not returning asap…and parents will worry on that basis and feel pressure to send them back and so we are then pressured to open…but do they really understand they are not coming back to settings anything like the ones they left…for many returning will be traumatic and development will suffer for sure...what impact will rooms empty of many of the resources and activities they used to love, so many changes and rules and inevitable reductions in physical closeness and freedoms have....we are supposed to be developing their love of learning ... the environments they will be returning to are not enabling at all. Children's well being will suffer...no matter how much staff try to reassure them...especially if they cant be with their special friends or key adults. Staff too are scared and worried and unsure about the mixed messages we are getting. One set of advice says face coverings may be beneficial for short periods indoors where there is a risk of close social contact with people you do not usually meet and where social distancing and other measures cannot be maintained, for example on public transport or in some shops…but this does not apply to schools or other education settings where we are definitely going to be in close social contact with people we do not usually meet and where social distancing and other measures cannot be maintained! There is lots of reassurances about how children are less affected, less likely to transmit the virus (but also contradiction about those facts!) but there seems to be no thought about the adults in the setting or adults children will come in contact with who may be more seriously affected! It is a point that has been raised so many times but no one has really answered the question Is it safe for adults too! There is a lack of understanding about how early years work – children do not all attend mon to Friday 9 to 3…many setting have children attending half days, full days, mornings, afternoons and a mix of them all…same with staff….how can bubbles of staff and children that don’t mix on any day or subsequent day be established? Also staff have breaks…you need 2 staff to a bubble even with 4 children to accommodate those – even to allow staff to be washing their hands more frequently or cleaning resources (many nursery settings don’t have separate cleaning staff!)... sorry quite a long one!