This week I launched a project that I am doing in the North West of England in conjunction with our Ofsted Big Conversation steering committee. The idea for the project came about after Ofsted released their findings in relation to the number of children who achieve a Good Level of Development (GLD) at the end of the Reception year. This is their Good Level of Development by Local Authority map for 2017/18. You can find it here The North West region, where I live and worked for my entire teaching career, has a high number of Local Authorities where the attainment of GLD is in the lowest National band. The idea of the project is to provide some really cost … Read More
Blowing Activity to Support Speech Development (at least, that’s how it started!).
Increasingly in the settings that I work with, there are more children who are showing some signs of speech delay. This can be for a number of reasons and we should always seek professional advice if we have any concerns. There are some activities that you can do with all children, that are not only fun, but give them the opportunity to explore a range of skills and experiences that also link to the physical development that can support successful speaking. With this in mind I popped into my local packaway pre school – The Ark – (find them on Facebook here), where Sally, Nigel and Janice kindly gave up one of their Tuff Trays. The activity that I wanted … Read More
Mini Maths Measures That Make a Difference
This weeks guest blog is from Juliet Robertson. Juliet is one of Scotland’s leading education consultants who specialises in outdoor learning and play. She works at a national level delivering training, giving keynote speeches, leading and supporting innovative outdoor projects and writing content for websites, documents and case studies. She is passionate about enabling schools, play organisations and early years settings to provide quality outdoor learning and play opportunities for children and young people. You might have already discovered her website Creative Star Learning and her blog I’m a Teacher, Get Me Outside Here! Today, she is going to be talking about mini maths measures… Mini Maths Measures That Make a Difference Creating a maths-rich outdoor environment … Read More
Self-regulation in the EYFS: Unfit for Purpose. Guest Post from Mine Conkbayir
Self-regulation in the EYFS: Unfit for Purpose. I have been writing and talking about the fundamental importance of understanding self-regulation (SR) and the neuroscience of early brain development for well over a decade and in this time, I am disappointed to have not seen it feature in early years (EY) qualifications or training as mandatory practice. However, recently, things have changed and SR (which simply put, is the individual’s ability to manage big emotions and their resulting behaviours and to return to a state of calm) has become the ‘’buzzword’’ in the EY sector. ‘What’s the problem?’ you may well ask. Based on my observations, a few key issues come to mind including the proliferation of unscrupulous consultants who have … Read More