Alistair first gave us the opportunity to write about OP&L in February 2021 and for more detailed information, please refer to our previous blog posts on abcdoes.com. OP&L is an assessment tool, developed by us at Barnet Early Years Alliance (BEYA). We wanted to give our practitioners back time we felt was wasted collecting unnecessary evidence. Who is this evidence for? We know that it is through our interactions that we get to know our children best. We believe that if we are behind an iPad capturing the moment, we cannot be part of the moment. We wanted to share and be a part of our children’s fascinations, their curiosities, the awe and wonder. It also coincided with the key objectives of the … Read More
Guest Post – Julian Grenier – Successful Early Years Ofsted Inspections.
Julian is the headteacher of Sheringham Nursery School and Children’s Centre in Newham, East London and the author of Successful Early Years Ofsted Inspections (Sage, 2016). He is also a National Leader of Education, one of the co-founders of the East London Partnership Teaching School and he works as an additional inspector. He has previously been the senior Early Years Adviser for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and was headteacher of Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children’s Centre in Islington. In his school career, he has worked in primary, special and nursery schools across inner and east London. I’m delighted that Alistair is giving me some space to share an extract from my latest book, Successful Early Years … Read More
Planning for Continuous Provision – Reception and Year One
If you are looking at an effective transition for children into Year One then your timetable will be very similar to a good Reception one rather than a more traditional Year One format. Your children will have periods of direct adult input this could be whole class or group depending on what you are teaching. The children will then spend much longer periods of time in Continuous Provision where the adults will be observing, supporting, challenging and teaching. My preferred style of working in Continuous Provision is that after you have finished your direct input everyone goes into the play together. It know it is tempting to keep a ‘group’ back on the carpet and then rotate through your groups … Read More
Foundation Stage Progress Tracker
Last week had a bit of everything in it for me. I did some work in settings, writing and a conference delivery and the common thread to the whole week was making judgements about progress in Foundation Stage (amongst other things). I started my week in The Friars Primary in Salford. The Friars is about 20 mins away from home so I have done a fair bit of work with them over the past couple of years. Pat (the Head) and the Early Years Team (Sarah and Emma) are also very accommodating and let me ‘try out’ lots of ideas an initiatives on them and their children. At the moment the school have a vacancy for a Reception teacher (all details here) … Read More