Guest Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 (edited) help! we are moving over to our new school after easter and i went over to look at our new classroom for the first time today. it is fully carpeted and the reception teacher, who will be next to us, said she has been told not to have sand/water inside and preferably no paint/dough, unless carpet is covered and tables too. would ofsted think it is ok to only have these things outside? and i don't know what will happen when the weather gets cold. and there is no cover/canopy outside at all.......... i don't think our new head has an awareness of early years. she wants to keep it perfect. any suggestions? i am soooo worried Edited March 26, 2014 by sooty99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 The husband of one of our staff has just got a carpet for us to use in our garden from a marquee, its 30x30, could you source something similar to cover the carpet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_1469 Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 The building I am in is carpetted throughout too. I got hold of some swimming pool liner from the scrapstore and that goes under the sand tray , dough areas etc. Tables have nice cloths on ( makes a change from newspaper, which I used for many years and always had to try to dodge Page 3!! )........ But, my landlord has now demanded I take down the large display board I have on the end wall ( the focal point of the room really), as he wants to mount something of his own there, which is hugely heavy and the internal walls are quite thin........I have said that I am concerned it will fall off and hurt a child, he says it's going to be professionally mounted, so will be fine), he has agreed that he will provide a screen, or cover to go over his board when he is not using the building.....he suggested a roller blind, which I have said no to, but any ideas what we could do instead??? It's so frustrating............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_11396 Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Oh Sooty99 that is so ridiculous, any premises and especially a new one should be fit for purpose. It's amazing how little some heads are conversant with the EYFS. I can only suggest lots of ground sheets, permermat for the water play. We have some fab covers from Dunelm, you can purchase it by the metre and comes in lots of colours and designs and is quite cheap. As for your dilemma Narnia what is he going to display, if its a piece of art could it not be shown, if not then all I can suggest is either a drape or some of those large cardboard display boards which you could maybe attach a child's creations on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 have also worked in a carpeted place... it is possible but it can be a lot of work.. we laid large tarpaulin down... but now I may look at buying something like a pond liner online as they are very cheap..and for the floor would be fine.. tables we always used a plastic cloth.. one that would go in a washing machine for cleaning.. Dunelm, The Range have them. and this time of year plastic picnic table cloths are often found very cheaply.. we had enough to have one in the wash and one in use.. as to the noticeboard .. we had one in a hall that we could use but had to cover when not there... so we put up a curtain rail and curtains that could be drawn across when we were not there... or alternatively have hooks put above the board so you can hang large pieces of card or cloth banners or Ikea do very cheap lightweight large picture frames that may work depending on size to cover the display with your childrens work on it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 great ideas. we'll make sure children do not suffer. thank you, feeling better now i can see a way forward x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 sand and water does not have to be on offer inside and out.....you need to assess what it is for and whether you can offer an alternative . Rice works well instead of sand as it has a similar flow but is easier to hoover! Don't worry about cover outside you just need the right clothing!!!!! The EYFS only considers cover for sun not rain...we use marquees etc.There are mats available which have a sort of reservoir in them ...but then you have the issue of drying them which is a bit of a pain. Playdough is the most difficult though you may need to think outside the box for this one! taking off shoes before they play? or placing the table inside a large tray (greenhouse type) or putting on the floor ina builders tray will reduce the spread but may not stop it altogether. I would always use homemade dough as it is much easier to scrape from the floor with a slightly serrated knife if needed! Narnia ...i think i would either go with a blind that you can put things on (they would need to be thin to roll up) or a large flat sheet that you could change often,,,,,it could be a lovely display on it's own with the children deciding what it is going to be that month. Sheets are so cheap not it could be changed often! or smaller items could be stuck to it...of course you would need to be able to pin it somehow and that would depend on the material the landlord was putting up i guess. Otherwise maybe consider smaller displays in the areas on cardboard backdrops or small display stands? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_1469 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 The landlord is putting up a huge 'honours' board,(the sort of thing that tells you who was the chairperson last year etc which is massive and extremely heavy, which I don't think the walls will take ( my board is that fibreboard stuff and even that pops out in a couple of places. I have voiced my concerns about the weight and the potential for it to fall off the wall and seriously injure ( or worse!) a child......it would seriously injure an adult for that matter. Their response?? 'You're insured aren't you'? My response?? Unrepeatable on here. They assure me it will be fitted by a professional, who knows what he is doing ( so was mine), so there won't be a problem. It is about 5ft square and it truly is a beautiful thing, but so darned heavy I am seriously scared to bits about it.They have said they will screen it when I am in, they did offer a roller blind, but I said no to that (we once had an Ofsted inspector visit us and she had had to investigate the death of a child in a setting where the child had strangled on a cord from a bag left at the end of her cot...........she said she is obviously very anti things like that and roller blind cords etc) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Narnia i think i would make sure that your response to them is written and minuted and that the question of insurance will be theirs if anything goes wrong (record any conversations ...and send to your insurance company if necessary!). If the roller blind would work then the cord would just need to be secured away so that children cannot strangle themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 if a roller blind would work better then there are lots of safety kits out there for the cords check ebay/ amazon and RoSPA ... at least if they hang it . they will then be responsible for the safety of that being safely attached as well... good suggestion to have a written record of your comment and potential issues with it, and that as it is their building and noticeboard it will be their insurance that has to deal with it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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