Jules

This is the second of two articles about one nursery's experience of an Ofsted inspection with the new framework. You can read part one here, which explains the preparations being made by the team in their daily practice and discussions, leading up to the moment the phone call came at 12.20 on a Wednesday lunchtime early in the Spring Term. This is where we rejoin Rebecca and her team! Pre inspection afternoon The management team took time to complete a full ‘walk through’ the nursery – front to back, inside and outside. We had a close eye on presentation and took the opportunity to clear away/tidy extraneous items. First impressions count and we knew that we would be quizzed on everything we had ‘out’ in the nursery, so we made sure everything was in the right place and ready to go. We checked that all our statutory documents were securely displayed (Ofsted cert, insurance docs). We didn’t want to risk a breach of requirements due to poor Sellotape! All staff were able to review their key children’s records making sure they had important details to hand. This was mostly an exercise in reassurance, giving staff the opportunity to have ‘on paper’ what they generally keep in their head in case their mind went blank when they were nervous. As manager, I downloaded a few of the tracking screens I use on a daily basis so that I would have assessment data at my fingertips if I needed it, guarding myself against a ‘Wi-Fi’ issue on the day. Of particular importance were the summative screens for this term as I use these in my cohort tracking and so have data and explanations going back 5 terms. Staff also agreed with each other what the groupings for the inspection day would be and what activities/resources they wanted (so that there was a broad range of things for the inspector to see that reflected our ‘usual’ provision and also so that staff knew they would have the equipment they needed). We made sure that our Tapestry details were up to date and reflected our knowledge of children’s age/stage at that particular time (rather than within a longer assessment period, as this would be covered in our cohort tracking). Before staff went home (and people didn’t stay after their expected finish time) we made sure everyone was clear about what they were doing, unqualified staff felt confident and were ‘buddied up’ and all staff were working in areas where they felt happy and relaxed. We also asked that our ‘work experience’ student didn’t come in – not because she wasn’t valued but because she was being closely supported by senior staff and they felt they had a lot to think about and would not be able to give her the focus they would like to on the day. Statutory policies were collected together and staff quickly read them through to be sure they felt confident talking about them. I made a quick Q+A sheet for all staff, reminding them of key policy headlines. Staff took the ‘crib sheet’ home if they wanted to. The management team reread the setting’s development plan and the management action plan – we knew we would be talking about this at length so we wanted to be sure we felt confident. Finally, we used Tapestry to let parents know about the inspection (this is a requirement) and we took the opportunity to ask them to email in anything they wanted to tell the inspector about our setting. I sent parents the section of the inspection handbook that detailed the judgement on partnerships with parents. It was vital that parents knew this was important and that they knew what the questions from the inspector would be. This is the Tapestry message I posted: Hello Everyone! We have just had a phone call informing us of an Ofsted inspection tomorrow, we are obliged to tell you that it is taking place. In addition to informing you, we are asked to give you the opportunity to give feedback to the inspector about the nursery. If you have points you would like to share with the inspector they will be used to "contribute to judgements about how well the provision works in partnership with parents to support children’s learning and development, and the promotion of their well-being". This means you might want to comment on how you settled your child when they started, how you talk to staff about your child, how you know how your child is getting on at nursery (e.g at drop offs, pick up, through Tapestry etc). If you would like to speak to the inspector she will be here from 8am, or you can leave a note for her marked for her attention. Alternatively you can put a comment on Tapestry or drop us an email. The consequence of this was that we received 10-15 long emails from parents which were to be given to the inspector. On the day, these proved to be massively important for two reasons: firstly, it boosted our confidence to know that our parents fully support us and appreciate everything we do for the children; and secondly, they showed the inspector from the start that this was an area of our provision that was extremely strong. The day of… Having not had a huge amount of sleep, the team gathered early. The inspector had said she would be with us at around 8am. By 8.30 she had arrived and ‘we were very much off!’ We started with a brief discussion of how the day would map out and we were told that if there were things we wanted the inspector to see then she should be told and she would move to see them. We identified a few things that we felt we wanted her to observe, trying to select staff at different stages of their training, a range of age groups and a range of activities. The arrangements we had planned the previous day were helpful as staff knew what they were doing and were mentally prepared. Once this program had been explained I went to each room and let staff know approximately when the inspector would be with them – it was important that they didn’t feel they had to be ‘on parade’ all day. I also told them about going to get the inspector if they wanted to show something off. I reminded everyone too that questions from the inspector are not a Mastermind quiz: they could help each other out, fetch policies and explain, show documents that they find useful – be ‘a team’. Afterwards, staff told me that this really helped. While I did this the inspector was watching children arrive and introducing herself to staff. It helped that the inspector was smiley and personable and worked hard to put everyone at their ease. The next task was to show the inspector round. Under the ‘old’ framework this ‘tour’ was more to do with familiarising the inspector with the setting. Under the new framework it is a ‘learning walk’ and an opportunity to show, explain and justify absolutely every aspect of the provision. Our setting is quite big so we did it twice – the first time was more of a ‘whizz round’ explaining how and why the rooms and staff are organised as they are. During this walk we discussed how we manage transitions into nursery, between groups and to school. We discussed how staff are deployed in each room and how different qualification levels work together. We discussed free-play, free-flow and focused activity times. We discussed mealtimes and the provision of self-care spaces. You’ll notice that I used the word ‘discussed’ a lot here. It was very much that – throughout the inspection we discussed as professionals the decisions we had made, why we had made them and how they had impacted on the children in our care. We talked about how we tried things and changed things and reflected on our provision. It was seen as a strength (in our subsequent feedback) that we were always evolving, reviewing, adapting, watching and evaluating to be sure that we are meeting the children’s needs. As a manager it was exhausting but exhilarating to be able to explain our philosophies and demonstrate how and why we do things. Following the first quick walk through we had a more intense tour of each room looking closely at how staff were working with the children, what equipment they were using, how resources were stored, what was available for children to freely choose and use. Some challenging questions about CoEL came in here as we discussed the continuous provision resources we have out. During this second walk through I made sure that I explained how were had interpreted Cultural Capital in our setting, by showing a display of all our community visits with children the inspector could see and talk with in the setting (so, not something we had done once, years ago!). I made sure that I brought up the 3 i’s and explained how we, as a team, had worked together to reach a point of confidence in all staff. I showed her our development plan and our staff meeting notes to demonstrate the ongoing nature of the work. I raised them myself to show the inspector that my knowledge is current, relevant and working for the benefit of the children. I found out afterwards that all the things I raised with her as having been part of a collaborate process with the team were ‘checked out’ with individual staff of differing qualification levels to make sure what I had said was correct. We spent a long time in our gardens discussing the developments we had made since our last inspection. The development of the outside area was a recommendation from last time. I explained the training that staff had had and the inspector told me that she had seen the videos I had posted on our nursery Facebook page. I was pleased that the inspector had done her research before coming to us. During this time we were interrupted by staff wanting to show the inspector their activities – one wanted to show off a new yoga initiative she was introducing across the nursery. Another wanted to show their ‘Risk Rangers’ work they were doing in the pre-school room where we are helping children to manage their own risk by being able to confidently identify what might go wrong. Incidentally, both of these activities were ‘name-checked’ in the final report, much to the delight of the associated staff! One important part of the inspection is the ‘Joint Observation’. This observation, involving the inspector and the setting manager, can be of any member of staff doing any activity. It is an opportunity for the inspector to evaluate the effectiveness of the manager. Looking to see how well the manager can identify 'outstanding', 'good' or practice that 'requires improvement', the inspector will discuss afterwards how practice could be improved, staff developed, children better ‘planned for’ etc. We had already decided to observe an outside planting and growing activity. Following the activity we discussed the staff member’s use of open and closed questions, their responses to children’s ongoing learning and her ability to plan ‘in the moment’ as particular learning points evolved. Following this busy morning I met with the inspector for a ‘what have we seen so far?’ conversation. This was a crucial part of the inspection for me. It really gave me a chance to know exactly what the inspector was thinking and what we needed to be sure to demonstrate and discuss in the afternoon. I left this meeting with a list of things I wanted to remind the staff about so that they could be sure to show them during the afternoon. Among the things I asked the staff to make sure they were showing were how we support children’s problem solving skills and critical thinking. Knowing that the inspector felt she hadn’t seen enough evidence to make a judgement in this area was really helpful – it gave us the opportunity to ‘tweak’ our afternoon activities to ensure that we were giving the inspector a picture of everything we do. The meeting also let me know which children the inspector had been ‘tracking’ and so gave me time to organise time away from their group for the respective key people and also gave me time to sort their records ready for discussion later. The inspector then took a short lunch break. Despite us offering her a space in the nursery to use, she went and sat in her car. This gave everyone a chance to prepare themselves for the afternoon. At the busy end of lunch / going home / arrival time the inspector positioned herself in the centre of the nursery and watched as we did what we always do in terms of parent handovers and welcoming children in. As in a ‘normal’ nursery day I was answering the door, and a grandparent I didn’t recognise came to collect his grandchild. As per our policy I didn’t let him in and went to find the child’s key person to confirm their identity. All this under the inspector’s nose. When we did let the grandparent in he was a bit cross that we’d not given him immediate access, but we followed our policy and explained to him why and that the safeguarding of the children was paramount. He went home a bit grumbly. It wasn’t quite the smooth ‘change over’ that I would have hoped for and I knew it would be discussed at the manager’s meeting. For the next couple of hours the inspector spent her time in the classrooms talking to staff and children. Reports from all staff were very similar and the following themes were discussed: · How staff planned for their key children and decided what to do next (the 3 i’s question!) · Staff knowledge and understanding of safeguarding – both signs, symptoms, nursery policy, reporting arrangements and Prevent · Staff wellbeing – workload, management support · Behaviour management – how our policy worked in practice and how it was adapted for children of different ages · Reflective practice, CPD and support for further qualifications The inspector talked to children about their play and asked them about being at our nursery: the ‘what’s it like to be a child in this place?’ question. The inspector then asked me and my co-manager to walk through the nursery together again and she asked questions about how resources were stored and presented to children, how routines were managed and how staff were deployed. Again, this was a discussion and felt like an opportunity to explain our philosophy. Mid afternoon was the ‘Leadership and management meeting’. My co-manager and I sat with the inspector and discussed the full extent of our provision. We made sure we had all our documents to hand and our Tapestry pages ready to discuss. In the meeting we went back over many of the points we had already touched upon during the day and we were able to use our paperwork to ‘back up’ and evidence what we had been saying. We were asked to discuss any safeguarding referrals and the inspector reviewed our documents. We spoke at length about our cohort tracking – how we did it, why we did it in the way we did and how we used it to plan interventions and monitor progression. When we were talking about this I used my Tapestry tracking screens to show how observations linked to assessments, which linked to further observations or Reflections. The inspector was impressed by the way in which we ‘joined up’ the information about each child, whether that was from parents at starting, baseline assessments, snapshot observations or longer more focused observations. She asked in-depth questions about the SEND support we have in place and asked detailed questions about additional funding and how it is used. She asked about complaints we had received and any notifications we had made to Ofsted since our last inspection. We had had a complaint made about us and the inspector looked closely at how we had managed it. It had been a complaint about an accident and the inspector looked at the notes from the related meetings, the risk assessments we had completed after the event and the policy and procedure changes that had been put into place as a consequence. She was happy that we had managed the complaint appropriately. My co-manager is also our SENCo and DSL and she was ‘quizzed’ about referrals she had made and how we work with outside agencies. The situation with the grandparent at lunchtime was discussed at length and the inspector listened as we explained about our safeguarding policy and our duty of care. She asked us if we thought our staff team would feel similarly confident to challenge a grandparent on the doorstep and we said that we were sure they would – she agreed with us and told us that actually she had already asked them! At the end of the meeting we were asked if there was anything else we felt we needed to tell the inspector or show her – we asked for a few minutes just to chat together and go through the inspection handbook to make sure we felt we had covered everything. The inspector was happy to give us this time. And then feedback … “I’m delighted to tell you that you have maintained your outstanding judgement” I didn’t really hear anything after that! The inspector was on site for 9 hours …. Reflecting on the experience This was my fifth early years inspection as an owner/manager and it was by far the most challenging. It was the 'discussion' nature of the inspection that was so challenging – and that was definitely a good thing. Throughout the inspection we had the opportunity to share, explain, justify and evidence everything we do. Staff felt fully involved and were very much part of the process rather than just being ’on display’. That we involve staff in all decisions, cascade training and involve the whole team in reflective practice made the process very much easier. All the staff understand and contribute to the philosophy of our setting and this was a shared inspection during which everyone was keen to show off what we do. We have already got an action plan to take us through to the next inspection … onwards and upwards!

I often listened with jealousy when my partner and friends talked about working from home - later starts, pyjamas all day and constant coffee breaks sounded amazing (insert winking emoji here). Alas, being a classroom teacher, I never imagined a situation where working from home would ever be a possibility let alone a long-term reality. Well, what do you know? It became real very quickly and taught me a great deal about how I teach and how my pupils learn. I am a subject teacher at an independent prep school (I say as I duck to avoid the rotten fruit). I have a sad feeling that “normal teaching” is a long way off. Teaching remotely doesn’t look like it will need to happen in September but it could well be required in the future. I know teaching remotely doesn’t look the same for everyone, but we should all be open to new ideas and strategies and also, where possible, use our own and others’ experience to prevent some easy to make mistakes and time-wasting misconceptions. My pupils are fortunate enough to use tablets and having used these tools for 4 or 5 years both the pupils and staff are comfortable with them. The value of having access to and effective use of technology was totally underestimated when we transitioned from classroom to remote teaching. Long before the lockdown, my classes and I were, when appropriate, sharing resources, editing and annotating activity sheets and providing marking and feedback using this technology. The key change brought about by the pandemic is the way we, as teachers, “transferred” our subject knowledge to the pupils - enter Zoom. Zoom was quickly agreed by our SMT to be the tool that would link our teachers and pupils. Providing “live” or real-time lessons for our pupils was initially considered a logical, appropriate and achievable platform for delivering lessons and as we embarked upon lockdown just before the Easter holidays. That is how remote learning would look. Easter was spent watching YouTube tutorials for Zoom and trying out the functionality on friends and families. However, pretty quickly we came across a number of serious barriers… Live lessons (LL) that mimic the timetable would mean our pupils would need to be on their screens for 6 or 7 hours a day. Similarly, our teachers, many of whom look after children or loved ones, would be expected to be tied in for a similar chunk of the day. (Imagine a parent with two young children trying to deliver 5 different hour-long live zooms every day) Sticking strictly to a timetable isn’t possible for all families and if pupils are prevented from accessing the LL they should not be disadvantaged by missing it. Security on these LL was discovered to be a concern - fortunately we were not affected. While some staff still did LL, most opted for pre-recorded lessons (PRL) instead (without wanting to talk too much tech, Zoom is well known as a live, conference call style platform, but it also allows users to pre-record a chunk of video which can then be saved and shared with the intended recipients - pupils in this case). This system meant the work for the week ahead would be shared via an online platform by 8am on Monday morning. Pupils were encouraged to do English when English appeared on their (revised) timetable and History when it was supposed to be History. At these times, teachers were “online” to respond to questions, offer feedback and handle (m)any technical issues. No live video was expected here. We did, however, explain to parents and pupils that they could do the sessions when it suited them and their family best - we aimed to prioritise flexibility. These are a few (but really significant) advantages of opting for PRL... PRL provides freedom for pupils and their families. Some pupils chose to wake early and do 4 or 5 hours of work so that they were done by lunchtime. Families also had the freedom and autonomy to take a “staycation” or day out so remote learning took a back seat; however, knowing what work had been set meant it could be done in advance or when they returned. We really wanted families to do this. In the weird circumstances of the pandemic, making the most of the weather, precious family time and managing anxieties were all aspects of lockdown we didn’t want to clash with LL. The PRL was (and still is) always available. Pupils could re-watch, rewind, pause the video explanation until their understanding was solid. These videos are available over the summer for pupils to access for reinforcement and recap if they require them. Pupils could self - differentiate by choosing the pace with which they covered the new material. Following on from above, PRL unintentionally became a bespoke revision resource. Teachers have the freedom to work in their own time. The well-being of teachers around the country is something I predict will have suffered immensely over the last 3 or 4 months (and continues…). PRL can be created in the evenings, when children are asleep, using a couple of hours on the weekend or whenever it suits the individual. Opting for this strategy, teachers could manage their homelife, care for loved ones and even leave the house for a few hours to exercise or enjoy the sunshine with their family (perhaps like those with numerous other occupations were able to do). Why are Live Lessons in demand (and by whom)? We did parental, pupil and staff surveys every few weeks during the summer term to gauge what we were doing well and what we could improve. The majority of pupils and staff preferred PRL: reasons for these choices included better understanding, greater progress and more flexible learning styles. When parents showed a preference (sometimes an irrational demand) for LL, their explanation was along the lines of… “online lessons tied their children down and gave them the freedom to do some meaningful work” - there was never a mention of the learning being better due to LL. Government, too, criticised (mainly state schools) for not providing enough LL. Perhaps the government and parents who harbour frustration at the lack of LL feel that if teachers aren’t teaching live, they are having a late start, sitting in their pyjamas and having constant coffee breaks. I can see why many (non-teachers) hold the assumption that LL will be better than PRL, but the evidence suggests otherwise. What have I learnt? Pre-recorded videos are going to become a regular addition to my lessons even when I return to classroom teaching. With a short 5-minute explanatory video, I have provided a resource that can be watched at various speeds and numerous times (differentiation). Additionally, it can be shared with pupils and parents to assist those children who require scaffolding and support at home. It also doubles as a revision tool to use before assessments or at the end of a topic. PR videos can replace my usual explanations in a lesson. Explanations that go off on tangents and get derailed by an unconnected question or incident of poor behaviour. These explanations are “lost” as a resource once they leave my mouth (sometimes thankfully). While pupils watch these videos, it will also provide 5 minutes for me to visit the students, check homework was completed, offer help or assistance while the others are engaged. Chunking is key. I progressed to recording my videos in sections; asking pupils to pause the video, read a resource, complete a short task and then un-pause once completed (the different times pupils take to follow these instructions links to the differentiation mentioned above). I found an obvious improvement in levels of quality and completion rates when compared to a 10- or 15-minute video without obvious breaks and intervals. With a LL or even in real time in the classroom, when I move on with the lesson there will inevitably be pupils who have not finished the task. Delivery makes a big difference. Having taught for 12 years, I’d never seen myself teach. Watching some of the PR videos demonstrated obvious things that I was great at, but also habits and idiosyncrasies that must decrease the effectiveness of my teaching. It felt like personal CPD. In the classroom I would normally give so much guidance and support that almost all pupils submitted the same work - how boring. Seeing the natural variation and the different interpretation of my activities was refreshing and it meant marking and feedback was more enjoyable. I will save so much paper in future. In conclusion, the pandemic shocked us all but it had its silver linings. In over a decade of teaching, I never grew as much or thought as creatively as I did in the weeks we were locked down. It’s easy to worry excessively about the pupils who did not “engage” fully in remote learning. This will have an impact especially on pupils who rely on schools as a safe place, for structure and for something as simple as a healthy daily meal. But it mustn’t be forgotten that over 13 years of school, missing one term amounts to around 2.5% of an education. As passionate and devoted teachers, we should be confident that, with the incredible creativity and progress we have made due to the pandemic, we can not only catch up the missing 2.5%, but we can actually surpass it.

I have worked in Early Years education for nearly 30 years now and this has never been my favourite time of year. Whilst I love the smell of Autumn in the air and the idea of new beginnings and fresh starts, I like it better when there is a routine. When everyone is settled in and we all know where we are at! In staffrooms across the land, the weekly cost of the tea and coffee fund has now been agreed (any milk other than cows…bring your own), everyone has promised not to leave their dirty cups lying around and a new dishwasher rota with passive aggressive undertones has been laminated and sellotaped to the wall (much to the caretakers ongoing angst and disgust), with everyone secure in the knowledge that they will ignore it! But, this year there has been more than the usual feeling of anxiety about going back to work. This is not about ‘getting back to normal’ it is very much about finding that new normal in a landscape that seems to be forever changing. What is recommended today might change tomorrow. We are going to have to be more flexible and adaptable than we have ever been, not only around the learning provision that we are creating for our children, but also in respect of our own thinking and relationships with each other. With lots of aspects of the ‘familiar’ in terms of what we do and how we do it, we are starting from a point of ‘unfamiliar’ and that can cause anxiety and uncertainly. But it is also an opportunity to use this discomfort, as a moment to reflect and re-examine our practice, change it up and make it better not just for the period of the pandemic, but long term. It is rare in the sort of work that we do with children that we have the time (or the energy) to stop and re-evaluate and challenge ourselves about why we do what we do, but if we are looking for any positives to come out of the Corona pandemic, the opportunity to re-evaluate our practice is one of them. The Early Years is built on a foundation of play based learning. Play is the most important and effective tool that we have to enable the children that we work with to become the best that they can be. We talk a lot about the ‘uniqueness’ of children and creating ‘individual’ learning journeys that reflect specific interests of the children in our care, but often this individuality can be squeezed out of our day to day practice by the demands of ‘everything else’. Practitioners that I work with are often put under pressure to ‘teach’ in a way that is not developmentally appropriate for the children they are working with, using more formal methods of delivering knowledge that put children off rather than engage them. On the whole, children are curious and active investigators of the world that they inhabit. It doesn’t take much to actively engage them at a deep level if the environment and resourcing is appropriate. High levels of engagement will result in high levels of wellbeing, progress and attainment. Low levels of engagement result in low level wellbeing and low levels of progress and learning. They also encourage children to develop negative attitudes to learning, which once in place are very difficult to change. As adults our job is not just to deliver facts that we think children need to know, we are the co-constructors of children’s learning. Learning together should be a partnership, a carefully balanced process that is based on the most appropriate way for children of this age and stage of development to learn…play. We want children to have some ‘agency’ in their own learning. This means that they have the opportunity to be independent learners. Using the environment and resources as a vehicle for gathering knowledge and experience as well as incorporating some positive risk taking. For this to happen we need to take cues from our observations of children’s habits, preferences and behaviours in play rather than just our topic planning. Children also need time to play that isn’t restricted by an overly rigid timetable. An environment that is based on skill development and experience, rather than one that is based on topic or theme will provide the best opportunities for engagement. Lots of children really enjoy engaging with a topic, theme or story when an adult is involved in leading the learning. But they often struggle with keeping that high level of engagement when they are playing in the environment with no adult to support them. For this reason, keep any topic or theme (if you have one) to adult led sessions and occasional provision enhancements. I try and make the areas of provision linked to skill development. If children are working in the malleable materials area then I want them to experience lots of skills related to materials of different malleability like, rolling, squashing, imprinting, coiling, modelling, joining, cutting… If they can experience them through their own interests rather than an ‘activity’ that everyone has to do, then they are more likely to engage, learn and retain the information. So rather than everyone making a coil pot for a Diwali candle – whether you want to or not – I would fill my malleable materials area with resources that enabled children to experiment with rolling and coiling. What they make is immaterial, it is their processing of the experience that is important. I would still talk to the children about Diwali, read stories, show artefacts and share experiences. But having to make a coil pot for a tealight doesn’t demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of any aspect of Diwali, so why require children to do it? If they decide they want to make a coil pot, then absolutely let them make one. If they would rather make a MASSIVE snake and they are using all of the same rolling and coiling techniques, then why not? When I think about how my practice has changed over the last 30 years, this move from ‘activities’ and ‘topic’ planning to skills and experiences was by far the biggest and most uncomfortable shift in my thinking. But it is the one that has made the most significant impact on me as a practitioner and the potential for children’s learning. Now that we are thinking about creating a Covid safe environment, an approach that is more skills and experience based rather than activity based lends itself to this sort of planning. Many settings have reduced the number of areas of provision that they have made available for their children and also had to think again about some of their resources. If you are creating an environment that constantly reflects the needs of your children then you will be observing, reflecting and then making sure you establish areas of provision that will support and extend children in their future learning. A good question to ask yourself (and your team) is ‘why have you chosen those areas of provision?’ Are they based on assessment, observation and children’s interests or do you have them because you have always had them or because they are linked to your topic or theme? Once you have established which areas of provision have the potential to really engage your children in their learning, then you can start to think about the resources that you put into each area. To help practitioners think about resourcing, I often get them to refer back to the Characteristics of Effective Learning. These characteristics should underpin the resources that you have in place and will help to ensure that they are not too narrow or topic focussed. So, in any area that you set up, do the resources allow your children to play and explore? In simple terms, do the children want to play with them? Are they interested? Also, is there potential for them to explore their learning. Are the resources open ended enough for different children to interpret in different ways? If they are too narrow, then it is unlikely that the majority of children will want to engage with them. Do your areas of provision promote active learning? We ideally want spaces where children will want to engage and keep trying, even when things get tricky! Once again, if the resources in the areas that you create are linked to interests and exploration then children are able to interpret them in ways that link to their own unique preferences. And finally, do your areas of provision create opportunities for children to be creative and critical thinkers? These are areas that support children in being solution finders, strategy developers and encourage resilience. If an area of provision has only one possible outcome or requirement like ‘make a jungle mask’ or ‘paint a self-portrait’ then we are limiting the possibilities of exploration, problem solving and strategising (not to mention engagement). If instead children are encouraged to ‘cut, stick and join’ or ‘paint using a variety of media and tools’ we open up endless possibilities for learning. We are unique people, working with unique children in some very unique circumstances that are going to test our ingenuity, creativity and resilience. There will undoubtedly be lots of challenges ahead but we must also look out for the opportunities to use this disruption to our normal practice to re-evaluate what we do and improve it.

The homework debate has taken a back foot lately, considering that nearly all work has been homework for the last few months. Or “home learning” or “remote education” or whichever phrase you prefer. But as children return to school the traditional idea of homework will become a reality again so let’s take some time to think about it. In this article we will discuss the pros, cons, and efficacy of homework. Do I have to? In 2018 Damien Hinds outlined his position on homework: “Just to be clear: schools are not obliged to set homework, and some don’t. But when schools do set homework, children do need to do it. We trust individual school head teachers to decide what their policy on homework will be, and what happens if pupils don’t do what’s set. Policy and approach won’t be the same in all cases. Autonomy for schools, and the diversity that comes with it, is at the heart of this government’s approach to education.” This falls into the category, along with so many other things, of the government telling schools to do what they think is best, which on one hand is great. Every school and every child is different so I can’t think of a way a universal, statutory homework policy would work for everyone. However, this approach naturally creates a divide and makes it difficult to get a consistent picture of what educators should be doing and what works best with regards to homework. Will it help? Before talking about what homework works best, we need to discuss if homework even works at all. This article written by Youki Terada, explains the difference in the efficacy of homework on various age groups. The general trend being the older the person, the more useful homework becomes. However, setting too much homework and the associated risk is a factor for all ages, particularly for young adults in high school. Another supporting piece of research for this argument comes from the Education Endowment Foundation which states, “There is a relatively consistent picture that pupils in schools which give more homework perform better, although for primary age pupils the difference is small. However, there are only a small number of studies which have investigated whether this relationship is due to the homework itself, rather than other school factors” This article in The Guardian further exemplifies the difference between homework for primary school children and secondary school children. Professor John Hattie says the effect homework has in primary schools is negligible but makes a bigger difference for secondary schools. So, is it worth the hassle for primary school teachers? Another interesting thing Hattie says is, “The worst thing you can do with homework is give kids projects; the best thing you can do is reinforce something you’ve already learned.” I’m not sure I agree entirely with this, at least from my primary school teacher perspective. Homework can be a good method for reinforcing some previous learning. However, if you consider the average classroom, you have three broad levels of ability: the almost cliched ‘lower, middle, upper’. Realistically, we know each of these categories has their own subcategories. Like your “low-lows” and your “upper-middles”. So, for a piece of homework to be effective in reinforcing something, it still needs to be pitched at the correct level and scaffolded in some way. Especially since you may not know how much support they will be getting at home. How many iterations of this homework are you going to make? Each additional one takes up more time. Time that could probably be better spent planning work to do in the class or running an intervention session. On the other hand, a “project” can mean many things. In my practice, a homework project was based around a topic that was relevant at the time, had a much longer time limit and was more open ended in how it could be completed. An example would be the World War Two project: I set this halfway through the topic to be completed at the end (so around 6 weeks to complete it). The instructions were simple “create something relating to our World War Two topic.” We talked about a few ideas before we went home that day and I could see the children were already excited to get started. This “project” allowed them to use their imaginations and practice a skill they knew they were good at and wanted to use. Some made sculptures, some wrote stories. One child wrote a song and performed it in front of the class! When I set this project, I didn’t set it to fill any gaps in their knowledge or raise their history score. I set it so they could have some freedom in their own learning. Give them an opportunity to manage their own time. Take ownership over it and create something which gave them a sense of pride. All parents were involved in some way or another, and because this was a homework project, they got to see their child working passionately on something. Perhaps what Hattie was saying is that projects with no prior context, where the child has no solid ground to start, are not helpful. There I agree wholeheartedly. Whatever work you set needs to be set in a foundation otherwise it is very shaky ground for the child. Will it hurt? Another criticism of homework is that it actually widens the gap between higher and lower attainers. Generally speaking, it’s your higher attaining students who will be receiving more help from adults, have access to better resources and spend more time when doing homework. If the only reason you are setting homework is to raise academic performance, then this isn’t the group that needs targeting. It’s your lower attainers who would benefit from the extra help. But is homework the best way to provide that extra help? I think in primary school, we shouldn’t be seeing homework as a tool to raise academic achievement. I don’t think the possible risks, pitfalls and time constraints make up for the reportedly small difference it can make. But that’s not to say it should be abolished completely. I think there are a lot of benefits to homework, we may just need to shift the focus of it slightly. Another practical reason why it’s hard to “fill gaps” of learning with homework is that these “gaps” often present themselves on the day of teaching. This is also when you want to try and fill the gap, so it doesn’t carry on and disrupt future learning. But when is the teacher supposed to plan and resource this homework so it can go out at the end of that day? Parental involvement is key. And I don’t necessarily mean parents sitting down with their children and going through the homework every time. In my eyes, one of the most important reasons for setting homework is to give the adults at home another opportunity to be involved in their child’s learning. This involvement can range from checking over the homework and providing some positive reinforcement to sitting down and working through it together. Either way, it can help communicate to them what their child is learning and at what level. What the child is really good at and what they need to improve on. Basically, some of the things you try and squeeze into the 10-minute parents’ evening window, twice a year. Additionally, as well as the research which shows the little impact homework can have for primary aged children, and the risk of widening gaps, and the inherent strain it puts on practitioners, there is worrying evidence to suggest the damaging effects it can have on young people’s mental health and well-being. This report from the Ofsted Parents Panel finds that the stress homework causes is overwhelming and becomes detrimental to their health, self-esteem and confidence. A headteacher in this article from the Telegraph thinks homework and class learning working in tandem with one another can help to develop children’s independence. While I agree, as with all other work it would come down to the individual child. Depending on the content, frequency, difficulty, relevance - and a host of other factors - homework could easily become alienating for a child and detrimental to their confidence. Here is a quote from the article: “The experts disagree on the impact of homework on a child’s wellbeing. On the one hand, Balfour argues that homework encourages “independence and confidence” and “that sense that they can do it, and that their point of view is a valid one”. This may be true in small doses, but are children being asked to do too much homework at a young age? If so, there could be implications for a child’s mental health. “Too much homework, too much pressure, will have an impact on self-esteem: ‘Am I good enough? Can I keep up?’” Dr Fine explains.” What now? It is important for practitioners and SLT to know they control how it should work. They know their children and families best. So, here’s your homework: start with the “why?” Why are you setting this homework in the first place? Is it to fill gaps? Foster life skills? Engage parents? Once you know that, you have a foundation. A strong ground on which to move forward and decide how best to help your children. Your deadline is just before you sit down to plan your next homework activity.

Whilst Deputy Head teacher at Cherry Garden School, for children aged 2-11 with complex support needs, I coordinated the creation of a new approach to assessment in the school. One of the keys to the new concept was that everyone working with the children in the school should have a solid understanding of early child development. The caveat to this is that when working with children with learning differences, we hold in mind that they don't necessarily learn skills in the same way as neurotypical children - it is very important that we are aware of this. We produced a one page ‘Branch Map’ for each of our curriculum areas (in line with the areas of learning from the EYFS). These maps gave our staff an opportunity to quickly assess a child’s current learning level, as well as guide the setting of appropriate next steps. They looked like this: The maps were organised into up to ten branches which corresponded to typically developing ages in months: The different colours on each map denoted ‘strands’. So, in our combined CLL map the strands were: · Language and Communication · Attention and Understanding · Reading · Writing The maps took 2 years to develop and we involved the whole school team in tweaking and improving them over this time. Once introduced, we felt that the maps had a significant impact on the way that we approached planning and assessment in the school, and ultimately the process felt altogether more child centred. There was no expectation that a child would develop in a typical linear fashion. Each child’s map could look entirely different from their peers – but the knowledge of early child development would help all our teachers and support staff in their practice. Once we had completed the six main Maps, we began work on some ‘supplementary’ maps linked to communication books, symbol exchange, transitions, and the MOVE programme. These were all ideal considering the approaches we used in the school. Whilst working at Cherry Garden School I had floated the idea of a ‘Play Development’ Branch Map to run alongside the others, but it is only in recent months that I’ve had the opportunity to create it. The concept of the Play Map isn’t necessarily for assessment or for setting next steps – the intention is to inform practitioners. Just as a knowledge of early child development supports educators who are working with children with learning differences and disabilities, so an understanding of different stages of play and the order in which play generally develops informs and scaffolds provision. It is crucial to be aware that the milestones in the document may not be appropriate for all learners - not all children play in the same way, and we must ensure that all play is valued and recognised. The branches on the Play Map correspond to the same stages of development as those pictured above. I would be really interested to hear feedback on this document, as I would like it to be as helpful as possible. There were several drafts and tweaks made along the way and I’m sure there might be differing opinions on where certain milestones have been placed - as we know, child development is not an exact science. If you do have any suggestions for improvements, please email me: stephen@eyfs.info and I will consider any comments! You can download the pdf of the Play Development Branch Map below: Play Development Branch Map Final.pdf

The past few months have been a whirlwind, causing a myriad of emotions often in a single day. However, we are entering a period of reflection that is guiding us in moving forward in our work with young children. I have had several conversations recently with managers and practitioners about what they feel they have learnt about their practice and provision, in the light of having had to make changes as a consequence of COVID and government guidance. The positives are very much focused on key carer attachment, settling, and emotional well being of the children. Settings found that operating in 'bubbles' enabled practitioners to get to know the children much better and be more effective in supporting their individual needs. Although 'bubbles' are no longer needed, many are going to take forward the lessons learnt from the experience. There was concern about settling children, with parents required to drop off at the entrance to the setting. However, time and time again settings have said ‘you know what, it is actually better!’ They have identified that this is because children don’t have anxious parents hovering around them, they come into a room that is calmer, where the sole focus is the children and not the parents too. Many settings are now looking at different and more purposeful ways of engaging with parents. In relation to settling, it has been found that for babies of around 7-8 months and older it has been much harder. These babies have only experienced being at home, and to suddenly find themselves in a nursery, with the sensory overload that can bring, has been overwhelming. The timing in their development stage also coincides with the stranger anxiety babies begin to develop at around 8 months of age. What can our training focus on? Children's emotional well-being As well as reflecting on what we have learnt from our own settings, it is critical we look at the bigger picture in terms of the experience of lockdown and how it has, in some cases, impacted on children and families. We are all aware of the discussions and concerns about the socio-economic impact. In a webinar on 23rd July, Alison Morton Head of Policy at the Institute of Health Visiting, spoke about the secondary impact of COVID19 on babies and young children and the emerging need of families who have become vulnerable as a direct result of the pandemic. The secondary impact included: · Mental health – stress/anxiety (of the child and/or parent) · Loneliness · Couple conflict · Domestic violence and abuse · Alcohol consumption · Food poverty · Increased unemployment · Child protection/ child in need – increase in safeguarding referrals. What immediately struck me about this list was how it reflects many of the risk factors associated with emotional resilience. This knowledge needs to inform how we move forward, our awareness levels and related training needs. We need to be equipped to support the children in our care effectively. Everything I have just mentioned connects together to give clear direction for potential training and training that will be seen as necessary. A focus on emotional well being/ emotional resilience will mean we are supporting children in the best way possible. Much of this we do as part of good practice, however as the discovery made through the 'bubble' system of stronger key carer relationships shows, there is always room to develop and improve. Emotional resilience is built on protective factors. Whilst families play a key role in promoting these protective factors, the early years setting is additionally significant. It is therefore essential that early years practitioners have a clear understanding of their role in supporting emotional resilience by being aware of the risk factors and the protective factors, and how they themselves make a difference to the children. This knowledge can be provided through training which needs to be linked to a focus on children’s emotional well being as well as reflection on how to support children’s positive self esteem. If training isn’t an option, reading on the subject can be equally helpful, followed up by sharing thoughts and reflections with others. Reflecting on Play and the work of experts As I reflected on the settling of the babies who had lived much of their life in lockdown, I revisited the work of the wonderful Elinor Goldschmied. I recalled this quote, which to me has always been very powerful: “We can never remind ourselves too often that a child, particularly a very young and almost dependent one, is the only person in the nursery who cannot understand why they are there.” This statement seems so relevant for babies who have only been at home, with limited socialising. There has been a shift in their experiences so there needs to be a change in our approach and practice. Elinor Goldschmied’s pioneering work focused primarily on children under three, including the key person system. She is also responsible for introducing treasure baskets and heuristic play. Training to enable understanding of her research and work is always valuable, now perhaps more so than ever. We can’t think about children without considering the significance of play. Play is essential for children to make sense of things. They use play, especially play in the home corner and role play, as a means to unravel, pull apart, re-experience and understand their world. At a time when the world has changed for all of us, play becomes even more significant for children. Many settings have described children exploring and reflecting issues connected with the pandemic in their play, giving staff an insight into their thoughts, understanding, fears and anxieties. Perhaps now is a time for us to remind ourselves of what their play tells us about children and to revisit the findings of the key exponents of the importance of play, such as Froebel and Isaacs. Staff well-being and understanding Mental Health As well as thinking about children, we need to also think about ourselves. All of us have experienced something extraordinary and our ability to cope and be resilient has been tested. It is therefore essential that managers and leaders in settings feel able to support their staff teams whilst also supporting each other. There are lots of resources out there to help you to help yourself and others, such as www.mind.org.uk. and www.acas.org.uk .Training courses can be beneficial as well. On their framework for positive mental health at work, ACAS state that if employers are visibly committed to positive mental health, if managers are informed and open to conversations with their staff and if individuals are self aware and ask for help when needed, a shared goal of positive well being and productive workplaces can be achieved. That isn’t going to happen overnight and there needs to be a process and understanding by all for it to become embedded. Again, whilst this has always been important, it is now even more so. Mental health is something we all have. When we enjoy good mental health, we have a sense of purpose and direction, the energy to do the things we want to do, and the ability to deal with the challenges that happen in our lives. Our mental health doesn’t always stay the same, it can fluctuate as circumstances change and as you move through different stages in your life. Accessing training to support mentally healthy workplaces is valuable. Consider undertaking mental health first aid training, or training to enable you to become more mental health aware. Anti-racism and unconscious bias We must all address diversity in our settings and think about what anti racist practice looks like in the early years. It is very easy to be complacent and think it is something ‘you do’, but it is something that needs to be embedded in your setting's ethos and culture and in your own life. How is diversity reflected, how is it understood, how do you know when to challenge and how to challenge? Training will help you to understand more fully and examine unconscious bias. Whilst everything I have mentioned has been in relation to our pandemic world, it is not new: it has always been important. In the light of this, we should not overlook the regular 'run of the mill' training to develop and support practice, and the benefit of training needs analysis, looking at what else is currently flagged in our settings. Training is about reflection and self-development. It is about challenging yourself to know more, to do better and to be more effective in your role. Out of necessity some working practices have had to change. A positive of the pandemic may well be that we begin to appreciate these changes will ultimately improve our practice. This positive needs to be taken forward, so that we begin to look more closely at other aspects of practice and continually strive to improve. Training is a tool that can help us to take these steps forward. The second positive take away is realising that we should reflect on every aspect of our practice, including those areas we don’t feel or realise could change for the better. Perhaps you can begin by asking the question 'is this being done in this way for the child or for some other reason?' and see where that takes you. Now is the time to reflect on how we can change and adapt practice. Change and adaption have become part of our everyday life and our minds are more attuned to the processes involved; and that can only be a good thing.

It's life but not as we know it We are emerging from life under lockdown and gradually reacquainting ourselves with the routines and habits that we were accustomed to before COVID-19 took a global hold. The education of more than 90% of the world’s children has been disrupted by the pandemic (World Economic Forum, 2020) and while some children are back at nursery and school - and are happy to be so, how far have you been permitted to prioritise children’s emotional wellbeing? The raft of guidance documents issued, while understandably focusing on hygiene and safety to minimise the ongoing threat of COVID-19, are underwhelming in their emphasis on the need to safeguard and promote children’s emotional wellbeing and development. Each child will still be dealing with the stress of this ongoing crisis differently, largely depending on their family’s unique situation and how effectively their parents have contained their anxieties, emotional lability and consequent changes or regression in behaviour. While the likes of the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofsted continue to perpetuate a culture that focuses on academic outcomes and ‘catching up’ during this time, children’s emotional wellbeing will inevitably suffer. Head of Early Years at Bertram Nursery Group, Ursula Krystek-Walton, has been pivotal in embedding self-regulation policies and approaches across their 42 settings, recently creating a post-COVID Self-Regulation Support Plan for children, which is proving highly effective. She told me: Children’s capacity for resilience is swiftly becoming apparent - many practitioners are reporting ‘amazement’ at children’s ability to happily and confidently settle back into the nursery routine. This is mainly a result of our sole emphasis on children’s emotional wellbeing. Emotions – the good, the bad and the ugly Emotions are not fundamentally ‘bad’ or negative - they are essential to our survival, enabling us to identify potential threats in our immediate environment, to make swift decisions in difficult situations and to connect with those around us. Yet emotions tend to be viewed as the poor relation of intellect, due to occasionally causing children and adults alike to act before they think. We all recognise the role of emotions governing our upstairs, rational brain: when making a decision, we might ‘go with our gut’, when we are faced with a challenge or embroiled in conflict with colleagues or friends, we tend to talk of ‘feeling sick with worry’ or having a ‘knot in our stomach’. This is no coincidence given that many of us tend to intuit by following our ‘gut instinct’. During these moments, we are actually receiving signals from our gut – commonly referred to as the second brain. Our gut contains approximately 100 million neurons, communicating with our brain to inform our feelings, mood, stress levels, motivation and higher cognitive functions – all part of EI. (Carabotti et al., 2015). Children who frequently complain of having ‘tummy aches’ and ‘headaches’ may in fact be experiencing feelings of anxiety, insecurity or stress, but some children cannot readily identify it as so, which is why our knowledge of the individual child and their experience of COVID-19 and lockdown is critical. Prioritising time to develop and extend emotional vocabulary is therefore vital in equipping children to exercise self-regulation, build resilience and emotional intelligence. The image below depicts the vagus nerve (yellow) which is one of the biggest nerves connecting the gut and brain and is important in the gut-brain axis and its role in stress. Source: Nicolle R. Fuller/science. The role of emotional intelligence (EI) What if we could enable children to harness the power of emotions to their advantage? In his seminal text, Emotional Intelligence. Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Goleman (1996: 4) emphasises the advantages of tuning into our emotions: Our emotions guide us in facing painful loss, persisting toward a goal despite frustrations, bonding with others. Each emotion offers a distinctive readiness to act; each points us in a direction that has worked well to handle the recurring challenges of human life… Our emotional repertoire thus becomes imprinted in our nerves as innate, automatic tendencies of the heart. Importantly, the emotional repertoire Goleman speaks of, can be a force for good or bad, depending on children’s formative experiences and relationships. The legacy of COVID-19 cannot be immediately fully understood, particularly the impact of trauma and its long-term implications on children’s wellbeing and behaviour. By embedding the five aspects of EI into your daily practice, you can support children to better understand their own emotions and the emotions of others, as well as building their resilience (Shanker, 2019; Siegel, 2007; Goleman, 1996). Remember, just like SR, we are not born with EI, rather it is nurtured through daily interactions and developed over time and with much practice. The five aspects of EI are depicted below: When we break down each of the five aspects, their links to the EYFS become clear: · Self-regulation – controlling own feelings and behaviours, self-soothing, bouncing back from upset, thinking before acting, curbing impulsive behaviour, concentrating on a task, ignoring distractions, Persisting in the face of difficulty · Self-awareness – recognising own emotions and drives, understanding the impact of own behaviour on others, understanding that how they see themselves may be different from how others see them, recognizing own strengths and challenges · Empathy – understanding the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of others. The more adept children are at empathising, the better they can control the signals they send others · Social skills – using effective communication skills to get on well with others, building and managing relationships · Motivation – persisting in the face of difficulties, having a positive attitude and a growth mindset about their learning and abilities. Negative and traumatic experiences inhibit motivation. It is important to note that self-regulation (SR) provides the foundation of EI and that both do not ‘just develop’. SR is wholly dependent on co-regulation from the beginning, in the form of ever-evolving healthy and secure attachments and responsive interactions that model SR in line with the child’s age and understanding. Once a child can self-regulate, they become more adept at applying the core aspects of EI. SR cannot be achieved via an arbitrary tick-box exercise – as is now laid down as part of the revisions to the EYFS. Developing the five aspects of EI in children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) requires abundant focused time and effort, as some children with ADHD, autism and non-verbal learning disabilities (NVLD) may need extra help learning to recognise and respond to others’ emotions. This can be achieved by modelling empathy in the moment, supporting children to recognise the messages from different types of body language, facial expressions and tones of voice and knowing what each means, facilitating lots of role play to help children imagine and understand how another person feels and playing games that help children to tune in to how expressions, body language and tone of voice can show how someone feels. Pause for thought: How will you build EI in children with SEND in your setting? Discuss a plan of action with your team. How to Build EI Moving Forward Settings have quickly adapted to make their environments physically safe by adopting a regimented approach to regular handwashing and disinfecting all resources as well as maintaining social distancing. Let us take a moment to reflect on the importance of ensuring the following are also high up on the agenda in your provision: Prioritise children’s emotional wellbeing Children’s emotional wellbeing must be the priority. Research continues to demonstrate the detrimental impact of stress and anxiety on neuroplasticity, learning ability and creativity (Porges, 2017; Siegel, 2016; Cozolino, 2013; Immordino-Yang and Damasio, 2007). Children under chronic stress exist almost exclusively in their ‘downstairs’, emotionally reactive brain and hence cannot access their ‘upstairs’ rational brain and use the executive functioning skills that are necessary for learning. Do not be afraid to go off timetable while you and the children reacquaint yourselves with the new ‘norm’ – this includes not wasting time trying to ensure children ‘catch up’. Head teacher at Low Hill Nursery School, Natalie Showell, is unequivocal about the positive impact of adopting a trauma-informed approach: Wellbeing is at the heart of what we do and the choices we make, in terms of what is best for the children and staff. Adopting this approach has meant that our school was already operating in a trauma-informed way. This approach to the curriculum has stood us in an excellent position as we began to welcome more children back to our setting. The school is in one of the most deprived areas in the country, but in my opinion, it is full of amazing children and families who thrive through our approach. The children have been displaying some big emotions and need these feelings acknowledged and not dismissed. Staff are skilful in the way they interact with children and how they respond when a child becomes dysregulated. Connect to calm After months away from the setting, children will have missed the company of each other and their trusted adults. Re-establishing connections with each child by making time for talking, playing and being together, with no pressure of a prescribed curriculum will thus need to underpin your setting’s approach. An effective key person system will prove vital in helping children to maintain a sense of equilibrium and to express their thoughts and feelings while knowing they will be listened to without judgement. Mindfulness and yoga are also effective ways to decrease cortisol activity and reduce stress levels. Encourage children to take risks and encounter challenges There is understandably much fear around health and safety as a legacy of the pandemic but we must not lose sight of the importance of encouraging and enabling children to try new experiences, to ‘get stuck’ and to take risks. The benefits are manifold, ultimately creating a growth mindset alongside building tolerance for uncertainty, confidence, independent thinking, motor skills and perception. Close collaboration with all parents Many parents have done their best to home-school their children while simultaneously managing work commitments. Due to the diversity of experiences during the pandemic and lockdown, some parents may be feeling less resilient than others. Ensure you connect with each family to offer reassurance about their child’s wellbeing and development and possible concerns over regression, supporting them in line with their unique needs. A consistent routine Routines are vital in achieving and restoring a sense of security in children, especially as children have had disrupted routines and experienced consequent feelings of uncertainty and confusion during lockdown. Talking to children about their new routine and why it is in place will help them to understand what is happening and why. One childminder explains: The children in my care are embracing the routine, they, as a lot of us, have been winging it each day. The structure of routine is reassuring for a lot of them (and me). Keep it small Keeping groups of children as small as possible can help to minimise anxiety in some children while reducing the risk of infection. One practitioner explains: I work with reception children but ours have loved the small bubble of around eight. Children who usually struggle emotionally are thriving. They are all happy and have learned lots whilst being home - the learning has not stopped. Constant communication with parents and role play have been key. ‘Name it to tame it’ Coined by the eminent psychiatrist, Daniel Siegel, naming it to tame it is integral to EI. It is the action of naming the emotion, the experience or the person that is causing feelings of dis-ease, to help diffuse its intensity. By enabling children to use this simple strategy, their emotions can inform them and not overwhelm them. The key here is working with children to initially notice that they are having a strong emotional reaction, before describing/naming it. Children will be eager to talk about what they have been through these past few months – using these moments to develop their emotional vocabulary and self-awareness will be essential. The great outdoors The transmission of the coronavirus is significantly lower in outdoor spaces and enables practitioners to be more creative in the teaching and learning opportunities they provide, while children reconnect with nature. Learning outdoors also increases feelings of wellbeing while significantly improving personal, social and emotional development. One practitioner describes how they eschewed the indoor learning environment post-COVID-19: We closed down our indoor nursery and moved it all outdoors, creating individual outdoor classrooms, so the children’s new base is completely different to what they were used to before returning, but they are all embracing it and thriving! High EI provides the foundation for good health and success in all areas of life and is a necessary precursor to academic achievement. Let us use the backdrop of this global pandemic to make children’s emotional wellbeing the priority – the rest will follow. Dr Mine Conkbayir’s new self-regulation app is now available to download for FREE on Google Play here. The app provides simple, scientifically proven ways to help children/teenagers prevent flipping their lid and find calm.

In my experience, one of the most significant mistakes we can make when teaching ‘mathematical’ concepts to our youngest children is to push forward with counting before a child is ready. This can be even more profound if a child has additional support needs, and it can be magnified further if the process is formalised and children are expected to evidence their knowledge on paper. Although ‘Mathematical Development’ is an appropriate term for early thinking and problem-solving skills, I prefer to label this area ‘Cognition’. I think it helps practitioners working with our youngest children or those with additional support needs to consider more than just counting in their setting. Mistakes aren’t exclusive to number – on one standout visit to a nursery I was surprised to see that a pre-verbal three year old, who was yet to show any interest in other adults or children in his setting, was sat at a ‘workstation’ completing an inset puzzle hand over hand. To be fair to the setting, they were just following the advice of an advisor. In the first year of a child’s life, or for a child with significant additional support needs, it is my belief that treasure baskets are a great place to start. These baskets are collections of (preferably) natural materials that aim to fully engage a child’s senses. Babies benefit hugely from handling, sucking, shaking and banging these objects – which in turn helps them to learn about weight, size, shape, texture, sound and smell. The key to a successful treasure basket is to stimulate the child’s curiosity – here’s some examples of items that you might want to include (it’s important that you consider your actual basket carefully as well – natural, sturdy, flat bottomed): · Pine cones · Spoons · Small rolling pins · Wooden egg cups · Natural loofahs · Curtain rings · Pastry brushes · Cotton reels As with any area of teaching and learning, it’s very important to reflect on what is working well with the basket and which items are particularly interesting to your child. Refresh the basket regularly and adapt it to best suit the needs of your little one. It should be easy enough to find appropriate items for your baskets when you’re out and about (forest and beach walks can be ideal). Shops that sell items you might use in the kitchen or even hardware shops can be great too. If you prefer, there are companies who put together baskets for you – one company I’ve used is Sensory Treasures (https://sensorytreasures.co.uk/) – they asked about the type of items I was looking for and made me up a personalised basket for my baby – which she loved. If you’re considering using treasure baskets with children with physical support needs you will need to think about access. It might be hard for the child to lift their hands over the rim of the basket and into it to explore – it could be that you look for baskets that aren’t so deep, or even have one edge lower than the others. Heuristic play is a concept that links closely with treasure baskets and was a term coined by child psychologist Elinor Goldschmeid, in the 1980's. It describes the activity of babies and children as they play with and explore the properties of 'objects' from the real world. It is brilliant for developing creativity and expression but also develops ‘thinking’ skills that are crucial in early maths. As an added bonus, it helps in developing those all-important fine motor skills. It is likely that some of the items you would use in a treasure basket might also feature in a set of heuristic play objects. Try to have increased quantities of individual objects – so several corks, or a set of curtain rings. With heuristic play it is also useful to add some containers and larger objects to increase the creative possibilities. These might include: · Cardboard tubes · Mug trees · Metal bowls · Muffin tins These larger objects give children the opportunity to start considering a very important concept – ‘One to One Correspondence’. This concept can often be the bit that’s missing if your child is struggling to grasp counting later on. It is the ability to match one object to one other object or person. A good indication that a child has understanding of one to one correspondence further down the line is that they touch each item only once when counting them (matching each item with a numeral). There are a variety of play opportunities that provide children with a chance to practice this. Egg boxes or muffin trays are perfect – putting one item in each of the sections. Mug trees are also great – hanging one curtain ring on each branch, or not – whatever takes your child’s fancy! There are lots of other engaging opportunities to think about one to one correspondence in day to day life. The majority of young children love to ‘help’ with jobs, and a great one for supporting early maths concepts is setting the table. 1. Each chair needs one table mat in front of it 2. Each mat needs one fork on it 3. Each fork needs one knife with it 4. Each mat needs one glass on it 5. Each glass needs one (biodegradable!) straw in it……. Baking is also a brilliant opportunity for considering one to one correspondence – each space in the muffin tin needs a cake holder. Each cake holder needs a dollop of mixture. Once the cakes are out of the oven – each cake needs a cherry on top. Activities like these are good for establishing an understanding of something that’s vitally important – the meaning of one. If a child doesn’t understand what one means then there is little point in even considering trying to teach what two, three, four and five are all about. A useful way to address this is to provide opportunities for children to make choices between ‘one’ and ‘lots’. Rightly or wrongly this type of thing works particularly well at snack time! It might be raisins, or segments of an orange, or slices of apple. I’ll leave it to you to consider more motivating choices if your child isn’t a fruit lover! There are obviously also lots of opportunities during play sessions – loose parts play is perfect – as always, I’d advise considering as natural an approach as possible. Shells, pebbles, conkers, acorns, pine cones, corks…. the list is endless. Selections of containers that look and sound different will be helpful – metallic pans/colanders are ideal. I’ll finish by sounding a word of warning: don’t get too hung up on ‘testing’ your child’s understanding of these early mathematical concepts - let them play! Your use of developmentally appropriate mathematical language and the way that you play and explore yourself will be just what’s needed. They will show you that they understand when they are ready – and then you’ll know it’s time for the next step.

The Bossy Book (This is the bossiest book in the world)

For Year 6s, the journey down the rabbit hole used to be relatively straight forward. They’d relax for a while on the comfortable primary school bank, the magical promise of ‘Year 7’ would catch their eye, and after feeling dizzy from the whirlwind of the SATs, eventually they’d arrive at secondary school with a thump - the excited, light-headed kind! Usually, at this time of year, secondary school teachers and leaders have been inundated with information that allows us to shape our understanding of the new arrivals. SATs scores have been released, ‘get to know me’ transition booklets have been passed on from feeder primaries and, for the luckiest ones, some Year 6s have already met their new tutors and teachers and spent the day together. I know in my own setting, I relished the ongoing discussions with feeder schools, looked forward to receiving their summer homework and could confidently ensure our opening week of English lessons were pitched perfectly thanks to a mixture of SATs results and a summer baseline test. In fact, year after year, our transition curriculum was only getting stronger and the proof was truly in the smiles on our Year 7s’ faces. However, what fun would a journey be without an obstacle or two? This year, the alarming obstacle arrived in the form of COVID-19. The then... A flashback to September 2019 would take you to a time when all was well. Our new pupils would join us and, after asking “Can I decorate my book?” or “Are you sure I can write in pen?”, they would begin their life as a real Year 7. They would then delve straight into the fantastical world of Myths and Legends or attempt to defy typical conventions of fairy tales and create a ‘Practical Princess’ tale of their own. However, as much as we relished the satirical voices they were developing (and we were not sure if it was thanks to our English lessons or the sass that comes with secondary school), we felt that something was missing. The writing skills being showcased in these opening units were exactly what we wanted to cover: ambitious vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms, varied sentence starters and types, and accurate punctuation. Yet one thing we were noticing was that the length of these writing pieces was short, very short. I soon realised that we were actually only halfway there with our transition unit - the skill focus was correct - we just needed a way of slowing it down and allowing the students to really showcase themselves at their best - the way they would have in KS2. For some, alarm bells might be ringing as it could appear like a step backwards, or ‘dumbing down’ the learning. I can assure you it was not; it was more like pushing them out of their comfort zone while keeping one foot firmly in it. Then, as if by magic, our transition unit ‘The Lost Land’ (version 1) was born. Our Lost Land transition unit was centred around the idea of students creating their own ‘lost land’, allowing their imaginations to run free, and bringing this to life with a series of pieces of writing. Each week would have a different skill focus, writing style and famous examples to steal from. In week 1, the students could be focusing on colour imagery and describing a setting, and in week 4 they might be using their imperatives and time adverbs to instruct someone on how to slay the dragon! This all culminated in the students choosing their favourite 4 pieces, redrafting them until they were happy, and presenting them in a typical primary school style. *The style that all parents dread that involves anything from paint and paper mache, to liquid latex and red nail varnish! The now… Just as I felt we had developed the transition unit to out-transition all transition units, COVID- 19 arrived. I was suddenly aware that our long feared enemy, ‘summer learning loss’, had instantaneously become even greater, and I was left trying to find the answer to what COVID 19 + summer learning loss might truly surmount to. Eager to ensure that my department was doing everything we could to make the transition as smooth as possible, and also very aware that I did not have all the answers, I reached out to a group of people who I can always rely on - Tweachers - aka, teachers on Twitter. The response was overwhelming, and I was inundated with a range of feedback from teachers across the UK. Of course, the tricky thing with transition, and the even trickier thing with this period of home learning, is that we are less sure than ever what the learning gaps will be. Some teachers replied with very specific skills such as sentence structure, grammar and literature analysis, others felt the gaps would be more holistic such as stamina, and a few of the lucky ones were convinced that there would be no lost knowledge or skill at all. Beyond the responses themselves, the analytics of this tweet told me just how important the need to delve deeper had been. With over 40,000 impressions, 6,000 total engagements and nearly 4,000 people expanding the tweet to see the replies for themselves, I had clearly unlocked a secret room. (To unlock the secret room yourself, click here.) This feedback allowed me to take a step back from our original transition unit and examine it with a fresh pair of primary-informed eyes. As our school typically teaches English in ability based sets, the lack of SATs or baseline has meant that we are going into September with mixed ability grouping and then organising our baseline and learning groups two weeks later. Now, of course this is less than ideal, and therefore, was the first thing I needed to attack. With the idea of pupils potentially experiencing upheaval two weeks into their secondary school experience, it was important for me and my team to do whatever we could to support them from the classroom, and from this we produced ‘The Lost Land’ (version 2!). We immediately decided to slow down our unit even further, and rather than each week being based on a different form of writing, we would spend the very first two weeks just on one. To support this even further, and to ensure that all students were getting the same scaffolding and support regardless of class, we designed a booklet which they would eventually take to their ‘real’ English teacher. In doing so, we are also hoping to replace the ‘Here’s my best work, Miss!’ folder experience that was stolen from them at the end of term. The future.. That’s transition sorted then, right? Not quite. What about the transition from overindulging all Christmas to having to be alert and disciplined in January? Or the transition from being a ‘newbie’ Year 7 to preparing for your end of year test that determines your Year 8 set? Of course, transition typically refers to the short period of time, perhaps covering June - December, where Year 6s are handed the little golden key to the stomping ground of secondary school. But it’s important to note that the 2020/2021 cohort are like no other. These children are not only transitioning from primary school, they are also transitioning from home learning, from lack of closure, from loss of routines, and some, from grief. Transition has had an upgrade and now needs to span further than the typical 6 or so weeks given to it at the start of an academic year. With the feedback from my online peers still in my mind, I wanted to find a way that once they progressed through the Year 7 journey of Fairy Tales, Poetry , The Unheard Voices of Shakespeare and Bad Girls of History, that time was still dedicated to building their stamina, particularly in the units that are heavily weighted in the pool of analysis. To combat this we are introducing a fortnightly ‘big write’, with minimal rules, completely unrelated to the curriculum topic, but simply a time for them to be free and practise the art of drafting and redrafting. As an Accelerated Reader school, we also want to ensure that we do everything we can to keep the reading momentum going. The dip in reading and the stagnation of reading age has been widely reported on, with the most recent 2020 Renaissance What The Kids Are Reading publication reporting that from Year 6 to Year 7 the average number of books read dropped by 12 per year, and then as they enter year 8 it drops by another 5. Unfortunately, with the uncertainty around how schools will be able to use their libraries and the sharing of books, this isn’t a straightforward task either. However, until we have more clarity on this, we are still making steps to keep the reading stamina and love alive. Alongside our fortnightly English lesson that is solely dedicated to reading, we are implementing a tutor time reading programme, further spurred on by the research that found “reading two challenging novels over 12 weeks helps weaker pupils make 16 months' progress”. We are also attacking our novel units differently - preloading with 2 to 3 weeks of pure reading and discussion, and then going back to explore the key themes and characters chapter by chapter. Of course, this plan isn’t final, and we can’t promise to have all the answers, but we can promise to make the journey down the Secondary school rabbit hole as pain-free as possible!

What is the MOVE Programme? The MOVE Programme (MOVE) is an activity-based framework that that uses the collaborative approach of education, therapy and family knowledge to teach disabled children the skills of sitting, standing and walking. Started in the 1980s by a US special needs teacher, MOVE has a 40 year history of raising expectations and improving quality of life for disabled children. In the UK and across Europe, the programme is coordinated by the charity MOVE Europe. MOVE is built around 6 steps that are used in all aspects of a child’s life, throughout their day, by all of the people that work and live with them. The 6 steps of MOVE 1. Assessment - What skills does the individual already have? 2. Goal Setting - What achievements would make the biggest difference to their life? 3. Task Analysis - What skills are needed to get there? 4. Measuring Prompts - What support is needed now? What equipment do they need? 5. Adjusting Prompts - How will we reduce the support to achieve the goal? 6. Teaching the Skills - How do we incorporate practices into everything the individual does? This collaborative approach allows the MOVE team to work together to integrate the child’s goals into their daily activities. By providing regular opportunities for skills practice, MOVE enables disabled children to achieve mobility goals that have a profound positive impact on individual quality of life as well as family life. The child and their family are always placed at the centre of MOVE and it is their goals that are worked towards. Visual overview of the collaborative approach, with the child and their family at the centre – based on a school setting Who uses it? 1,050 children in over 120 settings are currently using MOVE in the UK with thousands more benefitting from the MOVE ethos. MOVE Europe delivers training and provides ongoing support to early years settings, mainstream and special schools as well as physiotherapy teams and Health Boards. We work closely with the organisations we train to achieve the best possible outcomes for the disabled individuals using MOVE, and we receive some amazing feedback: “Our pupils are more proactive, confident and social because of the MOVE Programme.” – Class Teacher, London “MOVE makes a huge difference to our students’ mobility, behaviour, access to community and family life.” – Physiotherapist, Edinburgh “MOVE provides a variety of different opportunities to learn valuable skills and reach personal goals.” – Therapy Assistant, Derby How do we know it works? Published research literature supports the effectiveness of MOVE (see details at the end of this article) but we also regularly receive stories from schools and parents that show the real impact that MOVE has on disabled children and their families. Here, Jo shares the MOVE story of her 6 year-old daughter Milly, who has Downs Syndrome, faltering growth and a visual impairment: “Before Milly started on the MOVE Programme, her overall mobility was very limited; she couldn’t walk unaided, she could only stand for a few seconds and her muscle tone was very poor. Reaching basic milestones was challenging and we weren’t sure if she would ever walk or stand properly. However, once Milly began MOVE, we instantly saw a dramatic change, not only in her posture and strength, but also her muscle development. Most of all her confidence grew, which gave her the ability to learn, play and interact with her sisters at home and her peers at school. I can honestly say every moment of every milestone has been overwhelming. In all aspects of her life, Milly has gained so much from MOVE; from being able to sit and be seated, to walk with support, then walk unaided, and now moving onto stairs & steps. Milly can walk into school, walk out in the Christmas play and she loves the fact that she can do it! She is now a more vocal and independent child. I cannot begin to express how much this has positively impacted our lives; it’s something that we thought may not have been within our reach. It seems so easy to say eventually it would happen, but for us it was uncertain and we were fearful of not having the right help and direction. Of course, we do our best as parents at home, but the using the MOVE Programme at school is the reason our daughter is able to be free in life, music and movement.” Cherry Garden School have also shared this amazing MOVE story video with us. Watch Ibrahim’s amazing progress to independent walking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp0ogt9_lOY For more MOVE stories, check out our website linked below! How can you get involved? At MOVE Europe, we are committed to improving the lives of disabled children through learning independent movement. If you would like to experience the benefits of bringing MOVE to your organisation, please get in contact with us on move@enhamtrust.org.uk. Additionally, you can find more information on our website: https://www.enhamtrust.org.uk/move, Twitter (@MOVEprogramme) and Facebook (/MOVEprogramme). Here at the FSF and Tapestry, our SEND Advisor Stephen Kilgour is pleased to announce that Tapestry are going to be adding a brand new MOVE Branch Map to their Cherry Garden Assessment Framework. The Branch Maps provide a flexible, child centred approach to assessing children's progress, and allow for linear as well as lateral progress to be celebrated. The MOVE Branch Map was developed by Cherry Garden School which is an Outstanding school for children with complex learning needs in the London Borough of Southwark. The school have been using the tool within Tapestry to evidence and demonstrate the amazing progress that their children have made, and now MOVE would like other settings to benefit from the work that has taken place. If you would like the MOVE Branch Map turned on for your setting, you will first need to contact MOVE who can then inform Tapestry that you are a MOVE setting.

Makaton is increasingly being used in Early Years settings across the country. ‘Something Special’ on CBeebies helped to bring the language program to the mainstream when it began in 2003, and it has increased in popularity ever since. Makaton was developed way back in 1972 when Margaret Walker conducted research which led to the design of the Makaton Core Vocabulary. One question I have often heard asked is ‘what is the difference between Makaton and Sign Language?’. Annette Butler (2018) summarises this well: “Makaton is designed to be used to support spoken language... Makaton is often used alongside speech to help aid children and adults with communication. It is common for people to eventually stop using signs as their speech develops. British Sign Language (BSL) is a language with its own structure and grammar and uses hand signs, body language, facial expression and lip patterns. It is the language used by the deaf community in the UK and, as with any spoken language, is constantly evolving. The signs used in Makaton are taken from Sign Language and, as Sign Language differs from country to country, so does Makaton. However, unlike Sign Language which has regional variations and dialects, the signs for Makaton will be the same throughout the country.” The thing about Makaton that always seems so effective to me is that it provides further scaffold in a child’s journey to formal verbal communication. When a child is learning new words, whether that child is typically developing or not, additional support like a picture or photograph can be so helpful (think flash cards). Makaton is a different, highly portable way of providing an additional ‘visual cue’ to a child. It is such an effective method that many parents of young babies now attend ‘baby sign’ classes to enable more effective communication and understanding. In my role as a SEND Advisor, I visit mainstream nurseries and reception classes in the North East of England and it now seems to be more common for teachers to be using Makaton with their entire group. This has sometimes been triggered by a child who has additional support needs joining the class, or possibly this was the trigger last year, but the school have decided it is valuable to continue with the approach. The children in the groups I have visited who are using Makaton seem so engaged and enthused by the addition of the approach, and it helps them to communicate more effectively with peers who have speech and language support needs. As the Makaton signs have a lot of commonality with British Sign Language, it is also a highly valuable life skill to know some key words. So far, so good, but here’s my personal issue: I’m just not very good at it! I worked in a specialist school for children with learning differences and disabilities for 11 years, but for the entirety of my time there I was the butt of everyone’s jokes when it came to my signing (especially as for 7 of those years I was the Deputy Head!). I dreaded learning the annual Christmas song in our whole school staff meetings as the entire school would tend to focus on my lack of ability and chuckle their way through November and December. I received as much training as anyone else, participated in countless refreshers, watched my expert colleagues, but I always ended up feeling a bit useless at it! I have pretty much always been comfortable with the basics, I know all the letters so that I can greet any of the children, and am confident with your pleases, thank yous, good mornings and sorrys (usually reserved for apologising to teachers through windows when I was dragging a member of their team away to cover elsewhere!). But I am open to a bit of self-reflection, so here are the reasons why I think I am not the world’s greatest Makaton signer: · As with any area of learning, some people take to things better than others. My most challenging subjects when I was at school were always the languages (including English!). I have always felt much more comfortable with learning (and teaching) Maths and Sciences. · The old adage ‘use it or lose it’ is very relevant when it comes to Makaton. In my first few years as a teacher in a specialist school I didn’t incorporate enough Makaton signing into my classroom. I was generally teaching in classes with very active, autistic children with significant learning differences. I focused most of my time on symbol exchange and rightly or wrongly considered that Makaton wasn’t as high a priority for my learners. Once I became Deputy Head teacher I spent much less time with the children on a day to day basis and this also affected the regularity of my signing. The best advice I can give to people who feel in a similar situation is to try to make the learning of Makaton as fun as possible. In the last few years at my school, our refreshers were generally themed, so we’d have quizzes and competitions that were often very competitive, and therefore usually hilarious too. This different approach helped me to see that I knew more than I realised, and the sessions themselves were memorable so I absorbed more of the new signs I was learning. If you are committed to using Makaton in your setting, I would recommend looking out for any Level 1 training that is taking place in your area. This is usually a one day course that covers the first two stages of vocabulary. If you are just wanting to dip your toe in the water to start with, then there are so many handy resources online. You could visit the Makaton website: https://www.makaton.org/ Or take a look at their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/makatoncharity . The beauty of the approach is that even if you aim to learn one new sign a day, you will add to your communication skill set significantly. A great way to introduce Makaton to children is through songs. Singing Hands are a duo who have lots of videos of familiar songs and nursery rhymes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SingingHandsUK . And they'll even come and perform at your setting if you get in touch with them.

Relatively soon after I started working at Cherry Garden School, in approximately 2009, we had an INSET day with a focus on Intensive Interaction. Dave Hewitt OBE (then just plain old Dave) came to deliver the training and tell us about the approach he and his team developed in the 1980s whilst he was Principal of a school for children with complex support needs. I was instantly struck by the simplicity of the approach and it was at this point that I began to think more about how working with children with additional support needs, and the need for a sound understanding of typical development in very young children, go hand in hand. The concept is based on the interactions that typically take place between a mother or father and a baby in the first 12 months of a child’s life. New parents don’t often attend training on how to interact with their new arrival, it is something that comes very naturally and invariably isn’t even considered as something special. If a baby gives eye contact, we naturally smile and attempt to prolong the engagement. If a baby makes a cooing sound, we make that sound back. If they then respond further, we continue to copy their sounds in an effort to establish turn taking. These simple, and usually unconsidered actions from a parent/carer, are hugely important building blocks for future, more formal, methods of communication. If you consider the expectations for an ‘adult’ conversation, they are based on the same principles as those we start learning in the first few months of our lives: we look at a person when we’re talking to them, preferably making eye contact; we listen and respond once the other person has finished talking; we show engagement in what is being said; and we use facial expressions and gestures to embellish our spoken word. The thinking behind the Intensive Interaction approach is that children with particular additional support needs may well have missed some of these key milestones in the development of their communication skills. Some children might be very withdrawn and show little interest in other people. To the child, other people may not seem useful or interesting. It is the role of the communication partner to become as interesting, engaging and useful as possible. To do this, it is necessary to draw on the natural skills that the vast majority of us possess and to communicate with the child on a level that is appropriate to them. Just as with a young baby, this often starts with adjusting your proximity to the child and mimicking some of their sounds or gestures. The intention here is to grasp a child’s attention. I particularly like the analogy of becoming the perfect ‘cause and effect’ toy. We need to consider how we can become the most interesting ‘object’ in the room. In my experience, Intensive Interaction can be an amazing tool to use, and at Cherry Garden School, we would often film a ‘session’ at the start of the school year and then again in January. The difference in the child in the second video was invariably significant. The child would show more interest in the adult and their faces would be so much more animated and happier. The beauty of the approach is that it can take place anywhere, and the only required resource is yourself. Often the best interactions can take place at the times you would least expect to see ‘learning’, for example whilst getting changed in the bathroom (changing times are a particularly great time to observe interactions between a parent/carer and baby – the positioning allows for amazing eye contact and playfulness). It is important to say that Intensive Interaction isn’t for every child. Children who are wrongly considered to have profound learning differences because of a significant physical need can find the approach patronising. Other children may dislike having their sounds and actions imitated, although from my experience of working with children with complex additional support needs, this is very rare. The other point to note is that newer staff members can sometimes find it challenging to remove their inhibitions and be truly playful and childlike with a pupil in a classroom environment. This invariably passes with time, especially when they see the new responses and interest they are gaining from the child in question. To summarise, I would highly recommend that any nursery/school practitioners who are working with children with significant learning differences take the time to consider using this approach. I would also advocate staff members spending as much time as possible considering developmental milestones that young children typically meet and in which order. To have this knowledge can be very powerful and can support educators in finding gaps in learning as well as setting appropriate next steps. The Cherry Garden Branch Maps for CLL and Mathematical Development may prove useful in this regard, and are free to download here. The first 12 months are covered in Branches 1-3. For more information on Intensive Interaction, you can visit their website.

In the Spring of 2019, I attended the South East launch of the Ofsted consultation for the proposed new EIF. My personal ‘take home’ from this was the apparent focus on ‘Cultural Capital’ – whatever that meant! Afterwards, speaking with sector colleagues it became clear that there had been several ‘headline grabbing’ themes arising from the proposed new framework that had caused intrigue and consternation. The most commonly discussed seemed to be the aforementioned ‘Cultural Capital’, followed by the ‘3 i’s’ (intention, implementation and impact), how ‘off rolling’ could be relevant in early years, and the notion that there was to be a separate judgement for ‘behaviour’, and what all this might mean for settings. EYs press had many articles speculating on the changes and considering what would happen when the new inspection framework was finalised and rolled out across the sector. Cultural Capital, in essence a Marxist construct addressing inequality in society, was given particular focus in the press. The Foundation Stage Forum wrote about it here and here, as did June O'Sullivan in her LEYF blog. Ofsted had very clearly set out their expectations regarding the 3 i’s: “Intent is all the curriculum planning that happens before a teacher teaches the knowledge that pupils need to learn the next thing in the curriculum” As a sector we needed to prove that what we planned for children met individual needs and was part of a longer learning and development experience. Looking at another of the talking points, unsurprisingly the sector press and social media struggled to understand how ‘off rolling’ could be ‘a thing’ in early years, given that it was generally understood to relate to some secondary school students being removed from the school roll prior to exams to avoid the possibility that they would bring results down. People were unclear about how this would be relevant to early years settings. Ofsted themselves didn’t seem to include Early Years when they tried to define ‘off-rolling’ in their online blog. The idea that the new inspections would make a separate judgement on ‘behaviour’ daunted many. What would Ofsted be looking for? Did they expect to see children who could already self-regulate at such a young age (bearing in mind that self-regulation is learned and takes a long time to manage). Ofsted were very quick to reassure that the judgement would reflect how behaviour was managed and how children were supported to learn self-regulation. Taking all these things on board I needed to be able to ensure that my own setting was well prepared. Following the publishing of the finalised document we used the question ‘what do we need to do to remain outstanding under the new framework?’ as the focus for all our staff meetings and professional development. The senior managers attended Ofsted briefings and watched their informative webinars, and in this way, we became as informed as we could be. Applying our new knowledge carefully to our existing development plan we added a section addressing the question ‘what do we think we need to do to be sure we are as fully prepared as possible?’ Here is an excerpt from our development plan: Observation focus in groups – what are you doing? Why are you doing it? What skills are you building and why? How will you know if you have done it? [Intention/Implementation/Impact] RS and RH focus for observations from now Observation questions: Practice: What can children do now that they couldn’t do before? RS and RH focus for observations from now Staff mtg discussion: Do all staff know the behaviour strategies for the children who come up on radar at lunch time? RH will meet and support Staff mtg discussion: Refine / define what we as a nursery mean by Cultural Capital. RS will remind staff to revisit Cultural Capital from the last staff meeting and will look to see how we are capturing ‘awe and wonder’ in the nursery At one staff meeting we examined the phrase ‘Cultural Capital’ and worked together to see what it meant to us. We wanted to capture ‘awe and wonder’ for our children. This wasn’t new for us; we have always been ambitious for our children and sought to broaden their horizons. We go out into the community and notice the world around us. We invite professionals (doctors, nurses, vets, dentists, firefighters, police) into the nursery. We organise local visits and have an ongoing arrangement with a local Care Home. We encourage children to celebrate family events and traditions with us. None of this needed to change. However, we did need to be sure that all staff, regardless of qualifications or experience, understood why such shared experiences were important for the children in our care and how this added value to their learning opportunities. We felt this understanding was crucial to the success of the Cultural Capital aspect of the new framework in our setting. So, as a team we focused on making sure everyone understood the philosophies behind what we already do. The managers have always been determined that all staff should feel empowered to ask questions, make suggestions and changes to our provision for the benefit of children and families. This proved invaluable groundwork for our inspection preparation. Staff already had a sense of ‘ownership’ of their work and were confidently adapting their planning and activities to meet the needs of the different children in their care. In our staff and peer observations we worked hard to build staff confidence in answering the ‘3i’s’ questions. We kept it simple: What are you doing? Who is it for? What are you hoping to achieve? How will you know if you’ve achieved it? What will you do next? All staff became confident with these questions and even found them useful to ask one another when handing over mid-shift or when returning to work after time away. These considerations ran alongside the usual development work of the nursery. Newly promoted staff were keen to try out their ideas and were worried that the new framework preparations might prevent them from being able to test out different methods and ways of working. The managers reassured them that we have always been on a ‘journey’ of development and improvement and so changing how we work for an inspection process would not have been a true reflection of who we are. It was very much ‘business as usual’. As much as we felt we were on track and confident, we knew ‘the proof would be in the pudding’, and so the sector as a whole waited with bated breath for the publication of the first reports under the new framework. Helen Edwards, at The Foundation Stage Forum, carefully read the first 100 reports and produced an extremely useful precis of the outcomes. Worryingly there seemed to be more than a few settings being downgraded. Back at our nursery, we knew we needed to believe in what we do, believe in our ethos ‘Children learn best when they are able to play and have fun’ and most of all ‘hold our nerve.’ Nevertheless, when the pre-inspection phone call came at 12.20 on a Wednesday lunchtime early in the Spring Term announcing inspection the following day, we all needed to take time to calm and gather ourselves. In part two of this double piece, I will explain and explore what happened on the afternoon before, the day of the inspection, and the day after. You can read Part 2 here.