Had a great week 'down south' last week and met some truly inspiring people. My southern tour kicked off with a celebration day of the project work that I have been doing with Hampshire LA looking at making great practice even better, not necessarily by changing it, but perhaps just looking at it from a different angle. Everyone I am working with is a Leading Foundation Stage Practitioner (LFSP) for the borough, so they have lots of experience in their field and also support a number of other settings alongside the Local Authority. I have been working with Amey and the team at Little 1's day nursery, Helen and her team at Noah's Ark pack away pre-school, Jodie and her … Read More
Some great EYFS practice – Underneath The Arches…
I have been 'dropping in' on The Arches Primary in Chester every now and then for a little while now. They have a great EYFS team who have been working hard to make even stronger links between their planning, environment and the needs of their current cohort. They have a strong commitment to ensuring that they get high level attainment but not at the expense of child initiated learning, a play based curriculum and some FUN! They have even knocked a hole in their wall so that they can have a permanent link to Year One and vice versa. Imagine that! Thought it was worth sharing some of what I saw on my last visit. I was really impressed with what … Read More
Medium Term Planning in EYFS
Last post we had a brief overview of long term planning. In this one I am going to give you an idea of the sort of planning that I think really impacts on engagement and attainment. If you are tied into a topic approach then your medium term planning is pretty well sorted and that is a real shame. You are missing a brilliant opportunity to inspire your children on a far more personal level and also challenge yourself and your team to ensure that what you plan is based on the identified needs of your current cohort and that you are not just regurgitating 'lovely activities' just because you have 'always done them'. The process for good medium term … Read More
Creativity – I love it!
Ah, the life of an international rock star (I wish)! 6 conferences in 6 days, sounds like something you would be sponsored to do! Well I am half way through my week and it is flying by (despite my mild dose of man flu)! Today was the second creativity conference. Yesterday was PVI settings and today, schools. No matter how many times I talk about this subject I can't help getting a bit over excited about the possibilities that are out there. What is really nice is when my enthusiasm is shared by the delegates, which it certainly was today! There were members of staff at the conference from 4 of the 5 schools in the Creativity Project which meant … Read More