Stephen

It's always tricky when purse holders need to justify their spending.  The convenient aspect of the previous incarnation of DM were the age bands where as Helen says, a setting could easily evidence how 'far behind' a child was.  Unfortunately during the reforms, children with learning differences were somewhat of an after thought.  Dingley's Promise are currently undertaking a significant project around what high quality assessment needs to look like for these children, so hopefully their guidance as a result will be well received.

Hi Vandna,

Welcome to the forum!  I worked on a 'Reflection Toolkit' with Doncaster local authority which might be of interest.  The workbook was designed particularly for educators working with children who have learning differences or disabilities and challenges us to consider various aspects of our provision to ensure we are being inclusive.  You can find it here: https://tapestry.info/reflection-toolkit.html

Doncaster have had some nice feedback since their nurseries started using the toolkit, i could try and get some of that for you if that would be helpful?

When I was the EYFS lead in a specialist school we linked up with some of the local nursery schools to share good practice.  As we were coming from different starting points, there was such value in collaborating - generally the nursery schools were more advanced when it came to the quality of their play environments, but we were able to contribute specialist knowledge about working with children with learning differences and disabilities.  The culmination of these discussions was a weekly staff swap where we would exchange 1 or 2 staff members for an afternoon - it was such a great CPD exercise for all involved, and helped to enhance quality across both settings.

I often found some of my best educators started their journey as volunteers.  I found it was beneficial to everyone concerned.  Experiencing day to day life in an early years environment can be the best indicator as to whether the role is suitable, as well as giving leaders an opportunity to see someone in action.  I could usually tell within a few minutes whether someone was going to be good or not!  I actually started advertising for volunteers some of whom became permanent members of staff.

One thing i will say is that it doesn't always work out, and can be time consuming going through the process of registering and sorting a DBS, particularly if they don't come back after one session, but more often than not it was worthwhile.

You can now register for our free event here:

https://tapestry.info/tec/building-a-community-of-practice.html

We are also happy to announce the facilitators for our event:

SEND Advisor Stephen Kilgour, Early Years Teacher and Manager Adam Marycz, Nursery School Executive Head Teacher Dr Valerie Daniel, Teacher and Early Years Consultant Rachna Joshi, Education Advisor Ben Case and Catherine McLeod MBE.

Registration for the event is now open, follow this link to be a part of the event: https://tapestry.info/tec/building-a-community-of-practice.html

We are delighted to announce the keynote speakers for our Foundation Stage Forum event: Building a Community of Practice.

Laura Henry-Allain MBE (She/her) and Catherine McLeod MBE will each share presentations at the FREE event.

Registration opens on Tuesday 13th June.

Find out more here: https://tapestry.info/tec/building-a-community-of-practice.html

Hi, just to share that our latest 'Beginner's Guide' has just gone live - 'A Beginner's Guide to Froebel'. 

We collaborated with Dr Stella Louis from The Froebel Trust to create the new free resource.  You can find it here:

https://tapestry.info/a-beginners-guide-to-froebel-2.html

Thanks Cait, that's good to hear you found it so helpful with your observations.  The responses do seem to demonstrate that it has generally had a positive impact if introduced carefully with good quality training.  As with most elements of education, I think knowing the children you are working with means you have a better chance of tools like this being effective - especially if a child has learning differences and their signs of well-being or involvement might not look the same as their peers.

Here you go: https://twitter.com/Stephen_Kilgour/status/1660964654972129283?s=20

Thanks sunnyday, there's been a couple of comments over on twitter that the training element really is key to using the Scale appropriately, so it's good to hear that this was in place.

Can you remember whether it felt like the scales were appropriate for all learners?  As part of a chapter i am writing for my book, I'm considering whether signs of well-being and involvement look the same for all children.

I've added another discussion topic to Twitter today linked to The Inclusive Early Years Educator.  I'd love to hear people's views on the Leuven Scale and how you use the tool in your practice.  Do you feel it is suitable for all children?

Another new video this morning (special thanks to our multimedia whizz Jamie!):

I've loved working on this project - Rosie is such a little character! I'd urge everyone to have a look at her progress - the 18 months video is such a nice compilation:

This year, I'm writing a book for Routledge with Ann-Louise Lowe who is an Early Years Inclusion Officer in Doncaster.  We have previously worked together on producing The Reflection Toolkit (https://tapestry.info/reflection-toolkit.html).