Jules

Parents and carers who do not engage with services are often referred to as ‘hard to reach’. Though the term is not intended as judgemental, it does imply that these families are ‘difficult customers’. Sheringham Nursery School and Children’s Centre in the London Borough of Newham decided to put this notion to question. Julian Grenier, Headteacher of Sheringham, tells us, “We noticed that most of the families of children with SEND were staying away from our Children’s Centre. They only came into contact with us when their child was due to start nursery or reception. We had to think about what we were offering. Perhaps it was our services that were ‘hard to reach’? If you have a young child with SEND, you might not want to come to Stay and Play because it’s too busy or distressing for your child. It could also be that you’re fearful of how other parents or professionals might respond to you?” Some children were starting at Sheringham with a high level of need and developmental delay. Opportunities for early assessment and support were being missed. The families that would most benefit from early help services were slipping through the net. ‘Buttercup Group’ came about as an intervention aimed at addressing this problem. Its entire focus is to provide a setting that is suited to the individual child: being able to fit in or not fit in does not feature. (The term parents is used in its broadest sense throughout, referring to the child’s main care-givers.) Getting started The Buttercup team is led by Sue Cox, former head of a children’s centre. Althea Dove is the Speech and Language therapist and Marie Da Silva and Hazra Patel are the Family Support workers from the Children’s Centre team. The group functions in partnership with parents: this underlines all their work. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) reported in 2018: ‘parents play a crucial role in supporting their children’s learning, and levels of parental engagement are consistently associated with better academic outcomes. Evidence suggests that effective parental engagement can lead to learning gains of +3 months over the course of a year’. Where there is a language barrier other staff or family members are asked to translate, or an interpreter is booked. The parents are encouraged to enrol on classes to learn English (ESOL) when their children start their nursery placement. Initial discussions with parents made it clear that they needed a quieter group with appropriate equipment. They also wanted access to a specialist who could give them support and advice. Thus, Buttercup evolved as a small Stay and Play session, catering for just six children and running on a six-weekly programme. Sue points out, “A time-limited programme ensures that no-one is on a waiting list for more than a few weeks. We use our professional judgement to decide if longer participation would be helpful.” Work preliminary to attending the group Home visiting is the first thing. Sue explains, “We use this time to listen to what the family says about their child’s needs. This includes any cultural or religious perceptions of special needs and disabilities.” It is an important time to start nurturing a trusting relationship with the child and family. The EEF recommends that schools and early years providers should ‘consider offering regular home visits for younger children with greater needs. This can be an effective approach for parents that struggle to attend meetings in settings, and for building relationships.’ This works with Buttercup as every family visited has engaged with the programme. The next step is to collaborate with the family on outlining the child’s priorities and needs. These are addressed using an Early Help Record (EHR). This is written with the family, and focuses on family strengths and needs in relation to supporting the child’s health, early learning and emotional wellbeing. The EHR includes practical strategies that the family can try at home. The Family Support Workers follow these up regularly and offer additional support if needed. Further support is also offered through home visits. The group sessions The primary focus of the group is on children’s communication. The partnership with the Speech and Language Therapy service is, therefore, critical. For the large majority of children, difficulties in communication lead to additional difficulties in learning and distressed behaviours. The latter is usually the most pressing difficulty that parents identify and want help with. The room is welcoming and relaxing. Activities are organised around the three prime areas of learning and development in the EYFS. They are all adapted to meet the needs of the individual children. A variety of play activities helps to engage the children and encourage parents to join in. Adult chairs are located at all activity tables and the staff model interactions with the children. Toys and activities are kept simple so that families can replicate them at home. For example, demonstrating how to make play dough, playing with cars, trains, and variety of construction toys and mark-making with crayons and pencils. The type of development that each activity promotes is explained to the parent. There are a few specialised pieces of equipment, as recommended by Althea, the Speech and Language therapist, to engage the child’s interest and increase their attention span. Parents are supported by staff to use these with their child. During the sessions the staff help parents to develop their confidence as well as understand their child’s needs. “This helps them to support their children in all areas, including emotional wellbeing and managing behaviour,” says Sue. ‘Attention Bucket’ is the last activity, drawing on the work of Gina Davies. The lead adult has a collection of exciting resources in their ‘bucket’ and takes out one object at a time. They play with the object briefly in a fun and engaging way. Parents and children sit together, with the adults modelling anticipation as each object is brought out. This helps children develop joint-attention with an adult, which is fundamental to developing early play and communication. The session ends with bubble machine with the children leaving on a fun note. Assessments and reviews Althea develops individual plans for each child. “Initial assessments are done in a relaxed environment,” comments Althea. “I take case histories from parents and model helpful strategies and tasks that could be useful at home. We then check in with parents on a weekly basis to see how useful they have been. So, progress is constantly and consistently monitored and reviewed”. Althea also does assessments and makes early referrals to other services and agencies. She comments, “My participation means that parents don’t have to attend a health centre. All assessments take place in Sheringham’s Children’s Centre.” Althea also directs parents to high-quality online resources. The ICAN website has guides for parents about language development and how to support it. Althea works with parents to assess their child’s level of development and consider what would be the most appropriate input for their child. Tip Sheets from the Triple P Parenting Programme are also used. Triple P is an evidence-based programme that parents can access at Sheringham. Triple P or Triple P Stepping Stones (an adapted version for families with a child who has SEND) are both on offer. The four most commonly used Tip Sheets are: · Tantrums · Hurting Others · Bedtime Problems · Toilet Training Impact The staff asked parents the open question, “What has changed for your child?” as a means of assessing the impact of Buttercup group. Included in the replies are: - “Before these sessions he would never respond to his name, but this has improved. He was afraid of going out if there would be new people around – now it’s not a problem.” - “She is now using more words and better eye contact.” - “He is more confident, and his speech has improved. He has started using a lot more words.” - “She interacts with many more people now. At first she was very reserved but now engages with lots of others. Her communication skills have improved so much.” - “My child wouldn’t play with toys and explore – now she likes to. She wasn’t babbling but now she’s trying to make sounds. She enjoyed every session. Everything was brilliant!” - “It has changed my son. He plays with others and eats by himself”. Research Research highlights the multiple disadvantages faced by families and by young children with SEND. The Study of Early Education and Development (SEED): Impact Study on Early Education Use and Child Outcomes up to age five years says that, ‘children with an SEN are less likely to use formal ECEC [Early Childhood Education and Care] and are likely to have on average poorer cognitive and educational outcomes.’ (Melhuish and Gardiner 2020, p. 27). It also says that accessing high-quality ECEC is beneficial to children living with disadvantage. Conclusion Educational outcomes for children with SEND are concerning in England. The Education Policy Institute reports that children with SEND are 10 to 15 months behind in their development. This is a huge gap for children who are only 5-years old. Sue Cox states, “We no longer see the families as ‘hard to reach’. Instead, we see that services are difficult to access for the family of a child with SEND. Our children and their families now receive the early support they need during that sensitive period of time”. We can draw from this that Children’s services need to be pro-active in reaching out to families where access to regular services is not happening. Many more adapted groups like Buttercup are needed in order to reduce barriers to engagement. (Find out more: read the full report [PDF] about Buttercup Group)

Considering I had no intention of becoming a teacher, it’s very interesting how almost all of my experience as an educator has been spent supporting children with Special Educational Needs. Despite having considerable experience working with young people through various roles, this baby faced 22 year old had no prior experience working with children who had special educational needs. What’s more, I had never worked in a typical school setting. I had supported young people through sports and youth work but never in a school setting so my first role as a one-to-one for a non-verbal autistic child was a life-changing induction. In the early days of my career, I had supported autistic children and children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and SEMH (Social Emotional and Mental Health concerns). I loved every minute of it. I loved the relationships I developed with my students, my contribution towards their academic success and my influence on their wellbeing. It made me aware of the barriers to learning and the lack of understanding teachers had regarding these barriers. Ultimately, it opened my eyes to the lack of support both students, teachers and families received in mainstream schools when supporting children with complex needs. These revelations inspired me to pursue the SENCO qualification very early on in my teaching career but my first and most crucial decision was to first secure a teaching position in a special school for children with SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health issues). A strange but well-informed decision for a Newly Qualified Teacher. Unlike mainstream schools, there isn’t a statutory requirement for specialist schools to have a Special Educational Needs Coordinator. Some may argue this makes very little sense considering a school exclusively for children with SEN requires a coordinator even more than a mainstream school. Fair point. However, when you understand the roles and responsibilities of staff in SEN schools you realise there is a shared responsibility for the provision of children with SEN. When this is the case, there is an acceptance that everyone is a teacher of children with SEN. This is how it should be. The responsibilities of middle and senior leaders more often than not include an area of responsibility that a SENCO would typically do. For example, the head of school may arrange and facilitate the annual reviews and the head of departments may liaise with external agencies like the speech and language therapists or the educational psychologist service. Despite the shared responsibility of the SENCO role amongst various staff at my school, I made the decision to apply for my National Award in Special Educational Needs Coordination (NASENCO) in my first year of teaching. As If I didn’t have enough on my plate. I devised a 5-year plan for my teaching career and highlighted the NASENCO as the professional development necessary for the roles I wanted in the future. It was an unusual decision because, as I mentioned earlier, my school did not have a SENCO and had functioned for 25 years without a formal SENCO in place. Furthermore, I knew the training would provide me with research, strategies and resources that could be applied to an environment lacking in fresh ideas. With my mind very much made up, I enrolled onto the postgraduate course and qualified as a SENCO in my second year of teaching. Whilst training to be a SENCO, I conducted a research study that focused on an area of improvement for the school. I focused my research study on the poor engagement of parents in their child’s learning and the poor communication between the school and its parents. The research process and its findings presented an opportunity to create a solution to a problem that could improve pupil outcomes. The following year, I used the findings of the research to create a parental engagement initiative that was named “Coffee mornings”. Parents came into school to share ideas and concerns whilst eating biscuits and drinking tea. It was perfect. It’s been a number of years since I took on the challenge of being a SENCO in an all through specialist school. There are 80 children altogether across Key stage 1 – 4 and each and every student has an Educational Health Care plan. In one way, you can say my role is made easier because my students arrive at my school with educational health care plans so no assessments are needed. However, there are 80 students that still require the very best service and to do this, you need everyone on board, playing their part. A huge part of my role is ensuring that the need of every child is being met and the necessary provisions are in place to meet those needs. One of the best decisions I made was to buy in to Provision Map created by Edukey. This allowed me to list what provisions we had available to our children and create the ones we needed according to our children’s needs. The obvious provisions are one-to-one support, mentoring, speech and language therapy etc. Then there are some provisions that are a lot more niche and bespoke such as Lego therapy, music therapy and bereavement counselling. The provision map tool allowed you to list these provisions on a database, assign relevant provisions to each child and review the success of these provisions. A dream. My personal expectation for senior leaders is a high level of teaching ability and a clear understanding of learning. This is no different for me as a SENCO. I’ve been fortunate to spend 5 years of my teaching profession educating children with SEN and I’m currently teaching a year 6 class. My experience and qualifications make me somewhat of an expert in my field – one who can and will get better of course. I use my skills and knowledge to support my teaching assistants and colleagues in areas of teaching and learning and behaviour for learning. This is by far my favourite part of being a leader – the empowerment of others. This can be as simple and as organic as conversations in the corridor and it can be as formal as CPD training delivered by myself or by an external agency. As a class teacher myself, I’m never too far removed from my teachers and I embrace leading by example and setting the standard I expect from others. Class teachers have the opportunity to team teach with me and I make myself available to support them in their planning and resourcing. But it’s not all about the teachers. The silent and underappreciated heroes of our great profession are the teaching assistants. Being a former teaching assistant, I can appreciate the contributions made by our TAs when it comes to supporting children with SEN. I’m also aware that unlike teachers, TAs do not get the same level of support in their professional development. Line managing TAs to teach intervention groups is one thing. It’s important and it’s very well needed but it’s the role of a manager. Recognising the strengths of your teaching assistants and putting them forward for training that will benefit the students, the school and their career is another thing entirely. That is leadership. In September, I will begin my new role of Assistant Head in a mainstream community school as Head of Inclusion. I believe my experience as a teacher and SENCO in an all through specialist school will make me well placed to support the school’s aim in being inclusive. Unfortunately, in many mainstream schools, there is far too much pressure on the SENCO to ensure high quality education for children with SEN in the school. This is what they will be judged on and rightfully so but there should be a shared responsibility of all staff in a school to create an inclusive environment for its children with SEN. I’m looking forward to supporting my SENCO, teachers and teaching assistants in making this possible. I’m looking forward to spotting talent within my staff and empowering those who are struggling and I’m looking forward to strategically planning for the provision of all children across the school, particularly those groups who are far too often excluded and marginalised. I was under no illusion that the role of a SENCO would be hard but the wisdom I’ve gained and the lives I’ve affected has made it well worth the journey. All our primary articles have been moved to Tapestry.info. You can read them and lots of other articles there.

Providing something for everyone is a tough challenge, but Birth to 5 Matters aims to do just that as ‘guidance by the sector, for the sector’. It is designed to support everyone implementing the EYFS, from new members of staff with limited experience and background knowledge of child development to their very experienced and highly qualified colleagues. In order to meet such diverse needs, Birth to 5 Matters(Bto5M) includes a range of formats and various levels of information to form a valuable, flexible resource. So where do you start? Though Bto5M has grown out of previous EYFS guidance, it contains a lot more material than the last Development Matters and engaging with it all could seem like a big project. And how can you use Bto5M in day-to-day practice? If you follow current advice and move away from using Development Matters statements as a ticklist, how can you use Bto5M to help you to understand children’s development and plan to support their progress, day to day and moment to moment? Where do you start? Young children’s experiences lay the foundations for the rest of their lives, and the privilege of working in the early years centres on the chance to offer children the best opportunities and most supportive relationships to enable them to flourish. The introductory sections of Bto5M outline features of the optimal environments, relationships and interactions that will support all children. Settings can consider how they lay this groundwork so they can have confidence that most children will thrive. The Statutory EYFS states that four guiding principles should shape practice in early years settings. Bto5M is firmly based on those principles to support your reflection on how they underpin your practice. As well as focussing on central issues such as play, care, and leadership, the beginning sections of Bto5M provide information and guidance organised under the EYFS principles of A Unique Child – including child development, self-regulation, characteristics of effective learning, inclusive practice and equalities – as well as Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments, and Learning and Development. This wide view of principled practice serves as a resource for practitioners at any level to consider the most important foundations of providing the best for children. For a quick overview, you could simply read through the ‘Key points’ identified in each section. To engage more deeply in any area you could read the full text, and then perhaps go on to explore the extra resources available on the website for more in-depth background, tools, case studies and research. Just as each child is unique, so is each practitioner and each setting. How you refer to these sections of Bto5M will depend on what is most valuable for your individual professional development, as well as priorities for developing the ethos and practice of your setting. These sections deal with areas which are fundamental to excellent practice, but they are not likely to be referred to on a daily basis in your ongoing work with children. If you take the time to become familiar with what is available, however, you may now and then find it helpful to look up particular sections and the linked extra resources in response to situations that arise for individual children or families. Supporting children without ticklists Beyond the background provision for all children, the detail of understanding, supporting and extending every child’s thinking and learning is the marker of excellent early years practice. The Statutory EYFS makes clear that practitioners have responsibility to ‘consider the individual needs, interests, and development of each child in their care, and must use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience for each child in all areas of learning and development.’ It also describes ‘knowing children’s level of achievement and interests, and then shaping teaching and learning experiences for each child reflecting that knowledge.’ This is why the cycle of observation-assessment-planning is at the heart of early years practice. We need to be curious and attentive to notice what each child does and communicates (observation), think about what it might tell us about how the child is thinking, feeling and learning (assessment), and then think what we could do next to support them (planning). In many settings, this thoughtful cycle had been reduced to a fairly mechanical matter of looking for examples of children’s actions to match particular items from Development Matters, ticking them off, and automatically settling on the next statement in the list as a ‘next step’ to guide planning. It gave the reassuring illusion that we knew where children were in their learning, and where they were going. But it was a false picture because it narrowed our view to one prescribed learning pathway, rather than helping us to see and respond to the infinite variety of ways children are thinking, following their own motivations, and making sense of the world around them. The government and Ofsted are both clear in their messages that ticklist assessment and the associated heavy workload of recording evidence are not desirable. But this doesn’t mean that real observation-assessment-planning is to be thrown out the window – instead, it’s an invitation to up our game. Understanding development with Bto5M It’s important to be very clear that reducing paperwork and stopping checking hundreds of statements against each child does not mean letting go of observation, nor of being aware of each child’s learning and development. If we reduce attention to what each child is showing us and just assume that most children will be making good progress within our enabling environments, we risk not making the most of learning moments for each child. So we can’t stop observing, assessing and planning for all the children, but need to pay attention to each child in a different way. The grids in Bto5M look similar to those in Development Matters (2012) but can be used to support you to understand and respond to each child on their own learning pathway, rather than along a pre-set route. The guidance says the Unique Child trajectories ‘illustrate samples of what children may do along that journey. While these present some examples, children will do countless things that do not appear in the grids but are equally valuable for their learning. And as each child winds their individual path through the different areas, they will not necessarily show signs of each of the descriptors, nor in the same order presented.’ So it is up to practitioners to notice and reflect on what a child is doing, not to look simply for what we expect. Similarly, the grids contain ideas for adults but invite you to think for yourself about your children as you plan how to respond: ‘Examples of what adults might do or provide should be seen as suggestions or prompts for thinking, suggesting “next steps” adults might take to support children’s development and learning. Adults should use their creative and critical thinking to develop their own ideas, decide what to try, and evaluate its effectiveness.’ Using Bto5M in everyday practice The guidance can be seen as a flexible friend, to be called on to meet your needs when you would like some support. Some very experienced practitioners with a deep understanding of child development may not often refer to the trajectories, while others may find it useful to dip in much more frequently or even use it as a professional development resource for background reading. The main purpose of the grids is to support meeting children’s needs effectively, so the columns for the adult – what you might do in your interactions or what you might provide in terms of experiences and resourcing – are a critical part of the picture. It is of little use to understand children’s development unless we go on to respond sensitively and closely with what will support them best. So instead of thinking of ‘next steps’ as targets for children, it might be more helpful to think of the next steps adults will take to support and extend development and learning. In a sense, you will be constantly observing the children you work with, and the more you tune in and get to know the children the more information you will pick up. Most of the time you will be assessing and responding in the moment, interacting in ways that depend on the messages you are picking up from the children – what they are interested in, how they feel, what they are attempting, how they are responding to challenges, what they are thinking about. At these times you are not likely to refer to any guidance document. At other times, you may notice a pattern for a particular child, something new that you hadn’t noticed before, or perhaps a similar development for more than one child. In these cases you might decide that a little more reflection about your response would be useful. You might choose to make a record of these occasions, to support your thinking or to share with parents, the child or colleagues. The Bto5M guidance can be useful at times like this, to help you focus your mind on the learning that you are seeing. You could identify which Characteristics of Effective Learning you see in action, and which Areas of Learning and Development are in evidence. Then you can look within the grids to find a general area that reflects what you have noticed in the child. There are no ages listed in the grids, so the age of the child is not relevant here. Just find the rough area of development that matches what the child is showing you. Then the most important part: Have a look at the prompts for adults that are alongside that broad area of development, and decide whether any of these point you in helpful directions to plan how you can support the child’s progress, as in the examples below. Beyond this everyday attention to supporting children’s development and learning, you may at intervals – perhaps two or three times a year – find it useful to sum up children’s learning with best-fit judgements about which Ranges best describe their current development. This can be useful to see where children are making good progress, help to identify children who would benefit from additional support, and to identify any areas where the setting could improve practice. For each child, who is constantly learning in the present moment, the important assessment and response is the sensitive, timely support from an adult who is fascinated to understand more about the child and to help them along their own pathway. Case Study 1 Kim is the key person for Tommy, who has recently joined the nursery at 7 months, and she is keen to build a close, trusting relationship with him. She notices that at nappy changing time he sometimes seems tense, turns his head away and cries. To help her understand Tommy better (her assessment) and decide how to support him (her planning) Kim looks in PSED (Making Relationships) and finds in Range 1: Distinguishes between people, recognising the look, sound and smell of their close carer They will usually calm, smile or reduce crying when they hear their carers’/parent’s voice, or smell their clothing, for example Holds up arms to be picked up and cuddled and is soothed by physical touch such as being held, cuddled and stroked Begins to display attachment behaviours such as wanting to stay near their close carer and becoming upset when left with an unfamiliar person She also notices that in CL (Speaking), Range 1 includes: Lifts arms in anticipation of being picked up She reflects that Tommy is communicating that he still sees her as an unfamiliar person and is expressing his feelings (her assessment). For guidance in how she might respond, Kim finds in the Positive Relationships and Enabling Environments a number of suggestions for building a trusting relationship, including the following: Offer warm, loving and consistent care in your interactions with babies and young children, making good eye contact and handling children gently and respectfully. Respond sensitively and quickly to babies and young children’s needs, holding and comforting each child as they need. Learn from parents regarding caring practices at home so you can establish predictable and familiar patterns within your own interactions allowing the child to feel safe with you. Tune in to the meaning of babies and young children’s communications of crying, babbling, pointing or pulling and respond with interest, watching and understanding the cues they offer so they feel acknowledged and known by you. Spend plenty of time with your key children playing interactive games, finger plays and singing familiar songs that engage you both in mirroring movement and sounds, follow the child’s lead. Use care events to build a close relationship with babies and young children through respectful interactions and taking it slowly. Always explain what is going to happen and invite their participation. Kim decides the next steps for her are to focus on spending relaxed time with Tommy, to build a rapport and trust. She will be sure to slow down and respond to Tommy’s signals, including picking him up only once she has established contact and invited interaction by holding out her own hands, and waited for his response. She will also discuss with parents Tommy’s nappy changing routines at home to make the process as familiar to him as possible. Case Study 2 The nursery has a bed for growing vegetables, and the children have enjoyed pulling up the potatoes that are ready for harvesting. In the process, a few worms emerged and Sara and Elijah were fascinated to watch them moving. Both children picked them up and looked closely. ‘Have they got any eyes?’ Elijah asked. They remained engrossed in the worms for an extended time. The practitioner, Sam, would like to build on their interest and support their learning about the natural world. In UW (The World), Sam finds in Ranges 3, 4 and 5: Is curious and interested to explore new and familiar experiences in nature: grass, mud, puddles, plants, animal life Can talk about some of the things they have observed such as plants, animals, natural and found objects Comments and asks questions about aspects of their familiar world such as the place where they live or the natural world Suggestions for adult support include Use conversation with children to extend their vocabulary to help them talk about their observations and to ask questions. Make use of outdoor areas to give opportunities for investigations of the natural world. Provide story and information books about places, such as a zoo or the beach, to remind children of visits to real places. Provide opportunities to observe things closely through a variety of means, e.g. magnifiers and photographs, phone apps to listen to and recognise birds. Sam decides to enhance conversation opportunities by taking pictures of the worms that can be shared and discussed. In discussion, the staff decide to leave the empty potato bed as a digging place with magnifying glasses on hand, with a challenge to see if the children can find what lives there. Information books will be brought into the nursery, and online images shared. Beyond this, Sam wants to build on the children’s Characteristics of Effective Learning. She recognises that the children have shown: Playing and Exploring Finding out and exploring Showing curiosity about objects, events and people Using senses to explore the world around them Active Learning Being involved and concentrating Showing a deep drive to know more about people and their world Maintaining focus on their activity for a period of time Showing high levels of involvement, energy, fascination Not easily distracted Paying attention to details Sam would like to support the children in the third Characteristic, Thinking Creatively and Critically, particularly in: Making links (building theories) Making links and noticing patterns in their experience Working with ideas (critical thinking) Planning, making decisions about how to approach a task, solve a problem and reach a goal The guidance in Bto5M suggests: Use the language of thinking and learning: think, know, remember, forget, idea, makes sense, plan, learn, find out, confused, figure out, trying to do. Model being a thinker, showing that you don’t always know, are curious and sometimes puzzled, and can think and find out. I wonder? Give children time to talk and think. Make time to actively listen to children’s ideas. Encourage open-ended thinking, generating more alternative ideas or solutions, by not settling on the first suggestions: What else is possible? Always respect children’s efforts and ideas, so they feel safe to take a risk with a new idea and feel comfortable with mistakes. Sustained shared thinking helps children to explore ideas and make links. Follow children’s lead in conversation, and think about things together. Encourage children to choose personally meaningful ways to represent and clarify their thinking through graphics. Take an interest in what the children say about their marks and signs, talk to them about their meanings and value what they do and say. Represent thinking visually, such as mind-maps to represent thinking together, finding out what children know and want to know. Sam decides to support the children to be more aware of their own learning through conversation about what they know about worms, and what they would like to find out. They will be invited to draw what they already know, and then together they can talk about the drawings and how they learned these things. They will share ideas about how they could learn what they want to know, plan what to do next and illustrate these plans on a mind map.

I have been thinking a lot recently about the role of observations in Early Years. Especially with the opportunity to ‘reset’ that this September brings. This mini-series will be split into 3 parts (look out for parts 2 and 3 in August and September) where I will explore each of the following questions in more depth. 1. When to document an observation of a child? 2. Who are they really for? 3. Is there a ‘right’ number? Part 1: When to document an observation? There are so many things to consider when observing and assessing children in Early Years. One of the biggest challenges we face is what should you document and when. I use the word ‘document’ purposely. This is because we observe the children constantly. Everything they say, everything they do. All of it is observed. As you interact with children you are observing them. Effective communication and effective teaching requires observation, you need to observe in order to respond. Whether this response is immediate or planned for a time in the future, all of it requires observation. However, in Early Years sometimes it seems there is a belief that if it is not documented and assessed then it doesn’t count. As a result I often find myself contemplating how do I best focus on extending a child’s learning in my role as an educator whilst also ensuring I collect the evidence needed to observe and assess a child. Now I ask you to reflect on your practice, when you are mid-interaction and see something that makes you think ‘wow this a teachable moment’ or ‘this is a wow moment’ or ‘this would be evidence for x, y or z’ from your framework of choice, what do you do? · Do you always carry a notepad / tablet around with you so you are instantly able to make notes / take a photo to snapshot a child’s learning or when you see a ‘wow’ moment? · Do you ask another adult to take a photo / video or to provide you with some paper / tablet, potentially taking them away from what they were doing at the time? · Do you move away from the interaction to get it yourself? · Do you stay fully engaged in the interaction in the moment and only when it has reached its conclusion do you document it and therefore potentially sacrifice the photo opportunities etc and make notes from memory? It is quite the balancing act and I think all the possible answers have their own problems. I believe first and foremost we have to ensure we continue to provide the high-quality child-adult interactions that children need. Therefore, in order to provide outstanding teaching and learning, to extend a child’s learning as much as possible and respond ‘in the moment’ to the best of our abilities we need to carefully develop an observation method which strikes the right balance. Every adult will have a different method that works for them. Just like children we are all individuals and all work in different ways! If you prefer to write an observation mid-interaction then it is important to examine what takes the most time and what you could do to navigate this. If you usually write the full observation at the time, it is worth considering if it would be easier for you to take photographs in the moment and use these as prompts to verbalise what took place afterwards. Another thing to consider to help ease any possible impact on the teaching and learning in the moment is assessment. The new EYFS framework, Development Matters and Birth to 5 Matters which are all effective from September 2021 are falling more in-line with the recent Ofsted narrative of trying to move away from the need to create lots of assessment. With this in mind it is definitely worth reflecting on whether every observation needs to be assessed and ensuring any assessments carried out are useful to help support a child’s development. Reflecting on both of these will help you to be more comfortable about this new way of thinking. If you prefer to retrospectively document the observation when the interaction is over then there are some pointers that could help to ensure any observation is as accurate as possible. As mentioned above you could use a notepad / post-it notes to make even the briefest of notes or ask another adult to take some photos as prompts. Or if you are going to do it completely from memory you should definitely write it up in full or at least make the notes immediately after. You can always revisit the assessment at a later date. As we all know a typical day in Early Years is so busy and full of so many teachable moments even the shortest delay could lead to key details being forgotten. Both of these strategies are however, not without problems. If you don’t complete the full observation and assessment at the time it can be easy to get overwhelmed with half-finished observations and easily fall behind. It is also easy to feel you aren’t providing parents with the updates they want / need of their child’s development / well-being and this can be exacerbated by not including photos or the learning experience. I would however argue that these cons are outweighed by the improved learning experience, improved adult-child interactions and the opportunity to extend a child’s learning to it’s fullest that can be achieved by making even small adaptations to the observation process, whichever method you choose! Nonetheless it is important to understand there isn’t a blanket approach that works for all or a perfect solution. It is about finding what works for you as an educator, your setting and your children. You can listen to a podcast we recorded with Adam here.

Perhaps it’s an age thing but I find shadows really fascinating. The fact that light has travelled almost 93,000,000 miles in 8 minutes and 20 seconds and in the last split second an object or person blocks it, stopping it reaching the ground, is quietly mesmeric. I love watching shadows, especially when out in the woods here in Devon - the sunlight streaming through the tall trees and the leaves choreographing a silent ballet on the floor. The Japanese word ‘komorebi’ comes to mind in these moments, literally ‘trees leaking through light’ a reminder of the joy of discovering how languages around the world attempt to describe and explain things that for other languages lie ‘beyond language’. To my mind the world is full of these moments - reflections, small sounds, the wind, even seeing the Moon in the daytime. I hope you notice these moments too as there is a real magic to be found in them and they tend to be a reminder to seek a slower pace of life as best we can. And it’s this magic that I love to immerse in. It’s what I call The Gift. It’s my belief that The Gift is what we need to show children, because when we do, they begin to see that objects, animals, the landscape, other people and they themselves all have learning and joy within them. They start to notice what is around them with increased awareness and delight and feel a sense of who they are both as learners and as people. Sharing The Gift requires a subtle shift in perspective from the Adult World. In her brilliant poem ‘Do Not Hesitate’ the late great American nature poet, Mary Oliver wrote the immortal line ‘Joy is not made to be a crumb’. To me, this is a really powerful statement about our interactions with childhood. I believe that it is joy that must come first. When we show the joy of mathematics then childhood leans in. When we share the joy of nature and its connections with us then childhood wants to discover and explore. When we reveal the joy of reading then childhood opens its eyes wider. Learning as Gift, not Graft. Whenever I’m around children, I’m reminded of The One Hundred Languages of Children’ poem by Loris Malaguzzi in which he talks about ‘marvelling’. Marvelling with children is one of the most extraordinary things we can do when in the company of childhood. When we do this, when we begin to give children choices and collaboration and creativity and step into these experiences too with a heart that honours and values the choices of childhood, we then begin to see the magic of children and how it craves to be acknowledged. This is why I am such a passionate advocate of co-play, of the Adult World waking up from its play amnesia to join the flow of childhood. I strongly believe in the ‘play-full heart’, a heart that carries wisdom and love and skills and joy within it, enabling adults to see childhood for what it is – a time and space of simplicity, invention, exploration and solidarity. When we are in this flow, we begin to put something into the world that it needs more than ever: the Bright Shadow. We start to show children that adults listen, have faith in their choices, advocate for them and want to be co-adventurers into learning, story and the world around us. We cast the Bright Shadow to amplify childhood, not diminish it. We are the Bright Shadow because we acknowledge the joy of being a young child, not ‘getting children to write’ but instead showing them the joy of writing so that they want to, so that they see and embrace the Gift. It’s for this reason I created Adventure Island, the Message Centre, Drawing Club, Play Projects and the Inventures of Noodle and Titch – to show both children and adults The Joy of Being You and The Joy of Being Me , to share with them the joy of make-believe, to show them how learning can be used like a spell within the world and how play is in the DNA of childhood and can never be taken away no matter how much the Adult World would say otherwise. It’s why Malaguzzi’s poem ‘The Hundred Languages of Children’ so readily springs to mind when thinking about early childhood and our role within it. In a way, these hundred languages and hundred more are the brightest of Bright Shadows, illuminating life and all its corners. And the Bright Shadow of childhood shines into us too, it can penetrate through to the Adult World showing it how to think and be and feel once more. So much of childhood is about feeling, an intense sensory-fed curiosity that makes the world around it a place for hands-on, heart-on exploration, discovery and invention and it is as though it reaches out and urges us to take its hand and BE. To a degree, when we are drawn into co-play with children, we are creating a Double Bright Shadow, as though both adults and children are a light source to one another, sharing the moment of being together on an adventure into childhood’s dreams of building, drawing, making, imagining, running and climbing. We become two Bright Shadows together. I’m sure you have felt this many, many times if you are one of the Play People, those of you who are passionately committed to the magic of children and singing the song of play. You sense that transmission of the Bright Shadow between you and children as you spend Time Together, seeing how childhood interacts with the world and re-imagines it. In order to witness the magic of children we know that we need to enable them to experience these three things across their days: Creativity, Collaboration and Curiosity. These are what childhood is looking for. It wants the myriad of possibilities that enter the room when we honour children’s problem solving, re-interpreting, the richness of their interactions, their questioning and their desire to unfold the world around them so that they can be within it for themselves. And all three things can only truly happen when we give childhood the ultimate gift of Choice. It always astonishes me that the Adult World, this world of supposed democracy and rights, this world that wants a ‘market’ of consumerism, seems to fall short when it comes to children. So often the Adult World seems to push children to the side of their own lives, dictating the who, the where, the what and the how. When it does this, it is the opposite of the Bright Shadow… It’s as though we too need to make a choice. We have the opportunity to put our finger on the Control Panel of each day and either slide it left towards More Control or right towards More Choice. The more choice we give, the more autonomy we enable. More autonomy, more developing independence and positive sense of self. Because this is the shadow that means the most, that sense of who we are that forms in the flow of childhood and stays with us as we move into the future that awaits. This self-perception, this understanding of our own great potential, our own courage to meet life with a Big Heart is one that can follow us for the rest of our days way beyond the time we finish our years in nursery and school. I deeply believe, and I hope you do too, that children are born with a creative energy and a sense of wonder for the world and as they grow, they need adults and children around them to nurture their inner world of confidence and courage. For indeed one day the children we are with now will be adults and it will be their turn to find their Play-full Heart and to seek the magic of children so that their own Bright Shadow and those of childhood can stand together once more and do the one thing that children want us to do: sing the song of play…

Context Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the world began to reflect on itself. Institutions began to reflect on the structures and systems they had in place, and many had to ask themselves if they are truly representative and this included the Education system here in the UK. There were questions about whether the curriculum was reflective of our students and whether the staff body including those in leadership reflected the student body. Of course, these questions have been asked before – but they were brought to the forefront by the unfortunate killing of an innocent Black Man and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. An opportunity arose to make a real transformation of the education system as we know it. Many of my staff and students began to ask uncomfortable questions. Working with older children who often have access to what is happening in the world meant that I had to prepare for some tough and difficult conversations about why even if Black Lives Matter, it still means that all lives matter and the importance of having Black and ethnic minority teachers. My experience The phrase representation matters has gained traction over the past year. For some it is because they want true change, for others it is a form of tokenism with no real intention behind it. For those that fall into the category of the latter, they don’t seem to understand the value and importance of having representation everywhere, most importantly in the education system. Now I want you to take a moment and to ask yourself three questions 1. Growing up – were you ever the minority in your class? 2. Growing up – did you have teachers that looked like you? 3. How did the above make you feel about your education and what you can achieve? For me, I was always the minority in the classroom, and I rarely had a teacher that looked like me. On reflection, I had about two Black teachers growing up and one Asian. I have never had a Black or ethnic minority headteacher. Personally, this meant that teaching was never seen for me as a profession that I aspired to as I never actually got to see myself represented in the profession. When I got to college, I had two Black teachers. Two Black teachers who changed my outlook on life and outlook on education and how I could succeed. Now, I could only imagine that impact as a 5- or 7-year-old girl. I am now a teacher of much older students, those who have navigated through much of their education already, many of whom have formed a stereotype of what a teacher or headteacher looks like, many of whom have ruled out teaching as an option because they can’t see themselves represented in the teaching and staff body. This is worrying and I have often asked myself what the solution could be. The only way we can change this is if we feed representation into every stage of the education system, including early years and primary school. A more culturally diverse education system can only do good, it can only bring together a diverse amount of thought, ideas, and experiences to create an education system which truly values all. Why is representation important Diversity is important in education. Students need to be able to see themselves in their teachers. Now, this isn’t to say that White teachers can’t bring value to Black and Brown students – they absolutely can. I had many White teachers who made a positive impact on my life. But there is something about having a teacher that you can see yourself in. BAME teachers give minority ethnic students a chance to see what academic success looks like and it also gives them something to aspire to. For children, to see an adult which looks like them possess great qualities and an abundance of knowledge will of course leave them feeling inspired. It provides hope and something to aspire too. You can’t be what you can’t see. This is also extremely important for White students. It helps to dismantle stereotypes and helps them to see the beauty of diversity for themselves. It also exposes them to different cultures and different views of the world. This is so valuable to students, especially if we are preparing them for the wider world where they will interact with people from all walks of life. But this can’t stop with teachers in the classroom. School leaders also need to represent their students. Headteachers and senior leaders must also be diverse. For BAME students, seeing school leaders that reflect them is empowering and it also helps them to aspire to reach those positions. Diversity vs Inclusion Despite all the positivity around diversity, it’s important not to confuse diversity with inclusion. Having a diverse teaching workforce is great but to see the full impact, your institution must strive for inclusion. Inclusion is giving all your staff equal opportunities and to ensure all staff feel comfortable and valued in the workplace. Only then will you see the real impact of diversity in education. All staff should be able to have an input on policy and curriculum if there is truly going to be an education system which values all. I believe that this is something which children should be exposed to from a very early age. Primary school is a time of curiosity and asking questions. If students are engaged in diverse and inclusive environments from this stage in their lives, it means that this will become their norm. When they move through their lives, they will be able to question if certain environments they are in are not inclusive and they can work towards creating this in their own institutions. What can you do? So, let’s think about how you can make change to have a real diverse and inclusive setting for your staff and students. What I am not suggesting is that tomorrow you begin an overhaul of the curriculum, begin to recruit only BAME teachers and hope that this will bring change. Instead take small steps towards a more diverse environment: · Training – it is important to raise awareness and tackle unconscious bias and stereotypes that both staff and students may hold. · Celebrate diversity in schools. Ensure that all holidays are celebrated and recognised · Use images/resources that reflect students. When delivering lessons think about the pictures you use and the names that are used. Can you use the name Emmanuel instead of Harry? Do you typically use images of white people – can you change this? · Get support – my organisation like some others support schools in creating diverse and inclusive environments · Commit to long lasting change for the right reasons. Don’t engage in diversity for diversity’s sake The push towards a diverse and inclusive education system is not easy but it’s worth it. Rhia is founder and CEO of Black Teachers Connect. All our primary articles have been moved to Tapestry.info. You can read them and lots of other articles there.

As the parent of a baby, goal posts constantly change. Routines that work amazingly well, all of a sudden aren’t appropriate anymore. Strategies that were once golden become redundant. There comes a very significant point, typically in the second half of a baby’s first year, when one of the biggest shifts occurs. No longer can your baby be contained in a 1 metre squared space – they have discovered something magical – that they are able to travel around from one place to another! This is usually the point when some serious changes happen to the positioning of objects and furniture in the home, and the number of calories burned by parents increases exponentially. This intensifies further over the coming 6 months when a toddler discovers that it is quicker and more efficient to walk around on their feet. Cue even more alterations to the home environment! The learning and development that is achieved over this period is incredible – and not just in terms of physical skills. The newfound freedom that a young child experiences when they first learn to move independently leads to a wealth of opportunities. For the first time, they can take ownership of the direction that they would like to go and make choices about where and what they would like to explore. This also helps us to understand some of the frustrations that a toddler encounters when we burst their bubble by grabbing them just as they are about to touch something dangerous or stroll somewhere they shouldn’t! Everyone who works in the Early Years is aware of the power of child-led learning. As children follow their curiosity and try new things, they build strong neural connections which develop at their fastest in the first years of our lives. Now, consider a child who has barriers to their physical development. How impactful is this for their learning in all areas? Imagine that a child is permanently ‘restricted’ within a small space and remains entirely reliant on adult support to get from one area to another. What if this child was also not yet ready to communicate verbally, so it was very difficult for them to let others know their needs and choices? The impact of this limitation of movement cannot be understated, especially in the EYFS where our philosophy is based on children taking ownership of their learning. There can also be other knock-on effects for a child who is confined to the same position, for example if they are in a wheelchair for the majority of their day, they may experience constipation or pressure sores. There are multiple reasons why practitioners working in mainstream nurseries or schools feel anxious about how they can best support a child with physical disabilities. It may be due to the fact that they are inexperienced, or nervous about causing pain or discomfort to the child. It could be linked to concerns around other children being too boisterous nearby the child if they are not stationary/in their equipment. There are usually limitations in the amount of training or CPD that is available to Early Years settings linked to children with physical disabilities, and the quality can be variable. It is for this reason that a new programme, designed specifically for those working with children in the Early Years, is about to be launched by a reputable charitable organisation, the MOVE Programme. Since the 1990s, MOVE Europe has been coordinating and expanding the MOVE Programme in the UK. The MOVE Programme is a functional mobility framework that teaches the skills of sitting, standing, walking and transitioning between, enabling disabled children to better access the world around them and make their own choices. The programme aims to upskill the whole team around the child (education, therapy and family) to feel confident supporting the development of children with physical needs. A key strength of the programme is that it focuses on identifying and utilising naturally occurring, motivating opportunities throughout the day for the child to practise and develop their movement skills, which allows settings to continue following a child-centred approach to learning whilst supporting staff to develop their confidence supporting children with physical needs. MOVE Europe typically works with SEND settings, and so the impact of the MOVE Programme is often not seen until a child is over 5 years of age. It is for this reason that ‘Mini MOVE’ is being launched. Mini MOVE is an adapted version of the MOVE Programme, specifically targeting children who are under 5. The aim of Mini MOVE is to ensure that children with physical needs in mainstream early years settings receive high quality support to develop their functional movement skills and improve their physical outcomes as early as possible. Mini MOVE allows settings to effectively meet sector expectations, adapt to the challenges found in the recent ‘Supporting SEND’ report, and create robust evidence for Educational Health Care Plans. By using Mini MOVE, mainstream early years settings can effectively meet the needs of all children, creating an inclusive learning environment and facilitating greater access to learning opportunities. To find out more about how Mini MOVE can be used in mainstream education, specifically early years, you can watch this webinar.

I was chatting to a friend about writing this article, and he told me an anecdote involving his three-year-old daughter, Emily. When he arrived at nursery one morning, Emily’s key person asked to see him. She led them both over to a dilapidated sofa and, looking at Emily, said, “I’m very sad to say that Emily did this to our lovely sofa.” Somewhat bemused, my friend found himself staring at the sofa trying to envisage what one small child could have done to make it look so decrepit. Emily seemed equally baffled, though she picked up that something was amiss. Her father could tell that she didn’t properly realise she was being reprimanded, or why. Emily’s father spoke to her key person in private. I won’t share the details of that conversation. In brief, it turned out that a group of children, including Emily, had been bouncing on the sofa the previous day and ‘broken it’. Emily’s key person had asked to see her father in the full expectation that he would tell her off, there and then, and get her to apologise. This anecdote tells us a lot about apologising in itself, and particularly regarding young children. An apology is something that is said, written or shown through gesture to express sorrow and regret for the hurt or trouble caused. For this to happen, there are two essential requirements: the recognition of a wrongdoing and an expression of true sorrow. We are all familiar with those empty apologies produced in response to, ‘Say sorry.’ A non-apology of this kind could quite easily have happened in Emily’s case. Similarly, we regularly witness public apologies from prominent figures where the main function is to exonerate themselves rather than make genuine amends for their transgression. Having said that, nurturing children who are able to apologise is of great importance and pride to many parents and practitioners. How, then, can this be achieved without getting caught up in the fruitlessness of manners by rote? As long ago as 1931, Susan Isaacs made her views clear on the matter in her parenting column in The Nursery World. In response to an anxious mother, Isaacs (using the pseudonym Ursula Wise) states, “If one cares only for obtaining the form of politeness, the actual words “please”, “thank you”, “sorry”, and so on, one can as a rule get these by strict demands and punishments. But obtained in that way most of us would feel they were quite worthless.” She continues, “The whole point about these conventional modes of speech is surely that they indicate a real wish to please others, and a real sense of considerateness and friendliness. If one can ensure that state of mind, the conventional speech can be left to take care of itself. The state of mind, if genuine, will last on through life and ensure happy social relations wherever the child goes. The form of words, unless it springs from friendliness in the mind, will only last as long as we are there to demand it.” Few people would disagree with Isaacs. An environment in which respect and courtesy is shown to all is likely rub off on some of the children some of the time and, potentially, reap positive effects for years to come. In accordance with Isaacs’s advice, modelling desired behaviour is common practice for those who spend time with young children. It is not unusual for parents to say, ‘Thank you,’ on behalf of their young child who is not yet able to or ready to say it. Similarly, if a group of children are playing and a diligently built tower of bricks gets knocked over, a practitioner may say something like, “Oh, what a shame that happened, you were concentrating so hard on it, and I can see by your face that now you feel sad (or angry, cross, upset). Shall we build it again together?” This sort of intervention acknowledges the child’s feelings, expresses regret for what happened and tries to make amends. Sallie Poppleton, Baby Room Leader at Wood Street Nursery in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, reflects on her practice, “Whilst I’m keen to support and encourage children to be decent, caring and compassionate people, I don't get them to apologise.” She explains why, “Many practitioners insist that children ‘say sorry’ and sometimes include a threat of sanctions. A battle of wills may follow, or the child obliges and says sorry just because they want to get back to playing, or to be obedient. Another child may remain silent and look confused. It can waste so much time.” In line with Isaacs’s reply to the worried mother, Sallie emphasises the value of learning through the example of adults. “I frequently apologise to children, using my apology not only to show empathy, but also to help extend their language and communication skills.” Sallie gave several examples of this, “E aged 20 months, said to me, ‘More banana?’ I replied, ‘Sorry, E, all the bananas have been eaten - we need to buy some more.’ C aged 22 months exclaimed, ‘Mummy!’ when the buzzer rang. I said, ‘Sorry, this is T's mummy, but your mummy will be on the train. She’ll be here soon.’ Also, one day I was changing B aged 26 months, and struggling a bit, so I said, "I am sorry this is taking a long time, I’m getting in a tangle with your tights and dungarees." Saying sorry is a constant thread through Sallie’s practice. “I’m not always sure my apologies and explanations are really understood by the child, but my tone and the context may help lay the foundations for them learning what an apology is”. Sallie went on to talk about how she would handle a situation where she thought the child should apologise, such as cases of hitting and biting, or when one child grabs a toy from another. Her rule of thumb is to talk it through, with particular focus on the various feelings involved. Sallie never asks for a ‘sorry’, but tries to help the child make amends, “I look for ways to repair the situation: for example, to return the snatched toy or fetch a tissue for the upset child.” Alison Kriel, Independent Education and Leadership Consultant, thinks that being able to apologise sincerely is a complex matter and something that many adults struggle with, “It is little wonder that some children struggle with being able to apologise if they are in a context where it is rarely modelled for them. I recall a conversation with a pupil who had been hurt by his parent and his biggest upset was, ‘Mummy didn’t even say sorry’. More hurt was caused by the lack of apology than the physical hurt.” Alison, in her position as Headteacher, spent a lot of time working with children on apologising, “I was often asked to speak to a child because things had gone badly wrong. The first thing I would do was to help them find calm by inviting them to read, or do a puzzle, for example. Though this may have looked like a reward, it’s impossible to resolve a difficult situation from a place of anger, upset, embarrassment or fear.” Alison, in agreement with Isaacs, was not at all interested in the quick-fix ‘sorry’, but wanted to help foster apologies based on listening, reflection, and the desire to become a better person. Alison continues, “When the child was ready to move forward, I’d say, ‘We have a problem and I wonder how we can fix it together?’ This enabled the child to know they were not alone but would have support. It also helped them to acknowledge what the problem was and own their part in it.” Alison found this to be an effective strategy, irrespective of the child’s age, gender, culture. She adds, “Also, I took pride in the fact that when the pupils came to see me they knew I was going to be part of the solution rather than the person they were in trouble with – this trust always felt like a privilege.” It seems, then, that a very clear message has emerged: there is no quick route to children learning how to apologise in a meaningful way. It takes time and work from them and the adults around them. Throughout her work with parents, irrespective of the problem, Susan Isaacs consistently promoted a ‘kind and compassionate environment’, where caring for each other is of the utmost importance. Surely this cannot be a bad place to start? Finally, it is worth remembering Isaacs’s words of reassurance to her correspondent, “If a little girl of 3 years and 8 months were perfectly polite all the time one would surely suspect she was a little machine and not a human being at all!”