Good Level of Development – A National Picture.

Alistair Bryce-CleggABC Does A Blog, Child Initiated Learning, Conferences, Continuous Provision, Creativity, Environment, mathematics, Ofsted, Outdoors, Phonics, Planning and Assessment, Reading, UncategorizedLeave a Comment

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!).

Alistair Bryce-CleggABC Does A Blog, Boys Learning, Child Initiated Learning, Continuous Provision, Creativity, Environment, mathematics, Role Play, Talk, Uncategorized5 Comments

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

Alistair Bryce-CleggABC Does A Blog, Boys Learning, Continuous Provision, mathematics2 Comments

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

Make Your Own Snow

Alistair Bryce-CleggUncategorized2 Comments

As it looks like most of us are going to get the first snowfall or flurry of the year I want to share with you my best and easiest recipe for snow. You can prepare this in advance, but I usually do it with the children or let them have a go on their own. You only need 2 ingredients Bicarbonate of Soda (or Baking Powder) Both bicarb and baking powder work well although the texture is slightly different – not that the children ever seem to notice! Shaving foam How much of the ingredients you use really depends on how much snow you want. I tend to find a little goes a long way (both in terms of the ingredients … Read More