Marion

Reception isn't KS1 it is EYFS I'm afraid and the legal EYFS ratio is 1-30 which some teachers are working to. I'm lucky have a TA because we work as a FSU so we have 56 children and 4 adults.

I wish someone would convince my class ...

In the case of reception teachers it's 1-30 Maz!!

Writing reports !!

Why do they imagine having QTS or EYPS means you need fewer adults? or did I just forget to collect my extra pair of hands when I qualified?

http://www.forestschools.com/early-years-a...-case-study.php

http://www.mindstretchers.co.uk/nature-kindergartens.html

http://www.mindstretchers.co.uk/articles.html

http://www.wingatechildrenscentre.co.uk/page.asp?id=40

Well Done !

Oh .......I'm going Wednesday.

Anyone else?

There's a lovely story in the Songbirds reading scheme called Pirates http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Reading-Tre...0987&sr=1-1

Pirate Jack finds a treasure island and digs for treasure while he is having a nap along comes pirate Jade who find the treasure so they decide they will have to fight for it ... after dinner ... after a swim but by that time they like each other so share the treasure and decide to keep in touch.

Is anyone going to the conference next week?

It's even worse in multi agency meetings when the same acronym means different things to education/health/social service

You might like http://www.nfer.ac.uk/emie/content.asp?id_content=363

As a teacher employed by the LA to teach in a school you can't negotiate your pay scale but as an agency worker doing supply the agency can charge what they like and pay you what they want.

Happy Birthday

The ADHD Handbook Alison Munden, Jon Arcelus

Is there anything in particular you want to know?

We have been an Early Years unit since the early 90s and became a fully integrated FSU 5 years ago. In our last two OFSTEDs the FS has been highly acclaimed. Our LA uses our unit as an example of outstanding practice and advises other schools to visit and observe the way we work.... We couldn't possibly have become more play based than the way we worked pre EYFS and our outdoor area was secure and well equipped and we were able to offer free flow throughout the day.. which is why I see this as even more of a retrograde step than possibly it would be for other schools without our history of success.

We now have a new purpose built Children's Centre where our outdoor area once was joined to us by an entrance corridor. One door leads onto the infant playground one door leads onto what remains of our outdoor area and at each end the doors lead into the CC and the FSU. The problem is these doors have been designated fire doors AND security doors. So fire doors need to remain unlocked and security doors need to be locked

They also weigh a tonne and the CC has already had a child squashed!

The nursery teacher is supervising the private day care provision in the CC (half a day a week) and feels nursery should be working closely with their staff and reception should be part of the infants! so only plans for nursery children leaving reception back in no man's land where we were pre FS.

I could go on but basically my heart is no longer in EYs...

thats is what the head has said tailored to his needs but we dont know til he starts whether he will be ok or find the change very hard

I had a little boy (ASD) in my class 3 years ago (2 in fact) who had a horrendous report from his day nursery pre starting school and I was really worried about him starting. His first visit he put his head in a bucket of water because he liked the sensory experience and the second he tried to cut his tongue with scissors (again the sensory thing). He arrived, no support just an observation visit from the ASD team. When they returned for the second visit 6 weeks later they struggled to pick him out from the rest of the class. I remember his mum crying she was so happy.

I guess I'm saying wait until you have time to get to know him and his needs before worrying.

Good Luck

What I meant by treating him the same as other children is his right to full time reception education with his peers not as the head has suggested. The transition has to be tailored to every child's needs and not to the needs of the school.

We no longer have free flow to the outdoors.

We no longer plan and work together as a unit.

Activities have become very "safe" and less spontaneous .

We seem to have lost the "spark" in a mountain of paperwork.

This year I gave those children who wanted one an exercise book to use as they wanted and the up take from my boys has been an eye opener. Most are on their second book and they actually use the book to write! ... words... sentences... stories!

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and exactly how do you get a hyperactive child to have a good nights sleep?

My son has yet to sleep through the night ...and he's 25!

It seems to have had a retrograde effect on my setting we are now where we were 5 years ago

No the support came directly from the school budget.(but different LAs fund SEN in different ways) No one stayed with her at lunchtime but lunchtime supervisors would send a message if they needed a member of staff to change her.

If the parents want him to stay in the nursery they can decide to do that as legally he doesn't need to start until the term after his fifth birth day.

The child in my class needed to be changed frequently (sometime 5 or 6 times a day) and arrived with no support as her nursery had said she was fine. Unfortunately there is a big difference in spending 2hours in nursery to spending 6 and a half in school.

We got the statement just as she was leaving me.

Sorry if I wasn't clear what I meant was if you made different ruling to him starting school (part time or after a statement or the piece of paper people have told you about) to other children you would be in breach of the DDA. I wasn't suggesting you were refusing to let him start school.