This is part three in Kerry’s series around Neurodiversity. You can find parts one and two below. “Play must be the right of every child. Not a privilege. After all, when regarded as a privilege, it is granted to some and denied to others, creating further inequities. Play as a right is what is fair and just. Although children will engage in play differently, play is a child’s right” (Souto-Manning, 2017) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states in Article 31 that play is the right of all children, yet if we think about it, play is something that we continually have to defend. Through self-directed play, children gain many things, including joy, learning, … Read More
Making Snow…and other Early Years Practice.
Just thought you might like to share some of the sorts of practice that I have been looking at over the past couple of weeks. Last week I popped to Coventry to work with Nicki and the Early Years team at Joseph Cash Primary school. The school has 60 Reception children who work in one open plan space (with a small work room next to the loos!) and a Nursery class who have their own space but share an outside area. I was working with Nicki on the further implementation of objective led planning and looking at their current systems for recording all of their other bits of planning – plus a bit of outdoor evaluation thrown in for good … Read More
Adult Directed verses Child Initiated
The Early Years guidance is very clear that there needs to be a good mix of adult directed teaching and child initiated learning in your setting. What it is not very clear on is how much of each there should be. The reason for that is there is no real definitive answer, as with a great deal of Early Years practice it depends on a range of other factors. Before you even begin to discuss percentages and ratios, the first thing you need to do is to define what you mean and understand by the terms 'adult directed' and 'child initiated'. I often find that these definitions can be tricky to clarify within a team and that practitioners individual interpretations … Read More
Judging Attainment in Reception
When I am not writing or delivering conferences I spend the rest of my time working in a wide variety of EYFS settings. Sometimes it is just a one off visit to do an audit of practice and provision or to help with a specific issue like mark making or outdoor. But there are some very lucky settings who have the 'pleasure' of repeat ABC visits. One of those is Halton Lodge Primary who I 'bother' on a fairly regular basis. I was originally invited by Darren when he took over as the new Head and identified EYFS as an area for his own professional development. We have done some joint observations (much to the sheer joy of the EYFS … Read More
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