Steve Posted December 17, 2003 Posted December 17, 2003 Hi - This is a post originally from Crestacat who posted at the end of a long topic called 'Reception - the Best Way Forward'. I felt that it needed its own space, so I've moved it here, hopefully re-creating the title meaningfully... HELLO EVERYONE.i KNOW THIS IS AN OLD TOPIC BUT i NEED SOME HELP.i AM A NURSERY TEACHER WHO IS NOW RESPONSIBLE FOR ORGANISING THE rECEPTION CLASS DAY ,AS EY COORDINATOR.i HAVENT TAUGHT SPECIFICALLY IN RECEPTION ALTHOUGH WE WERE LAST YEAR AN EY UNIT.oTHER SCHOOLS VISITED TO OBSERVE OUR UNIT .HOWEVER OUR NEW HEAD SAYS THERE SHOULD BE MORE STRUCTURE IN RECEPTION AND EY UNITS ARE ONLY RIGHT FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE MEETING TARGETS SUCCESSFULLY.SO WE HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT NURSERY AND RECEPTION MUST FUNCTION AS SEPARATE STAGES I FEEL THIS IS A STEP BACKWARDS AND NEED SOME HELP WITH PRODUCING A TIMETABLE WHICH STILL ALLOWS FOR CHILD CENTERED LEARNING .ANY COMMENTS PLEASE
AnonyMouse_79 Posted December 17, 2003 Posted December 17, 2003 Hi Crestacat, I shall have to think about this one & get back to you but my first reaction is to agree with you. There are lots of other people who I think will also respond to you in a similar vein, but it seems to be very quiet out there at the moment. Susan
Guest Posted December 29, 2003 Posted December 29, 2003 Who are these heads who keep calling for "more structure" in Reception - it usually means "more sitting still and producing written evidence " - send them all on a crash course in Learning through Play, or at least persuade them to actually read Curriculum Guidance for Foundation Stage and the new Ofsted Handbook - pg 44 - "inspectors will not normally see much recorded work for children at this (The Foundation) stage". If your assessment and record keeping is sound, if you collect other evidence in the form of photographs, video etc. then call this your "structure". A plea to all senior managers - take some time to find out what is really required in the Foundation Stage and support your teachers by providing resources and time for them to provide it properly - targets will be met and progress will astound!
AnonyMouse_75 Posted January 15, 2004 Posted January 15, 2004 Hi I am disapointed to hear the head asking for reception to be more structure and I would echo Angela in saying tell the head to look at the curriculum guidance it seems to be too common that people children learn more by structure I would argue that children learn more from quality guidance and hands on experiences and even the OFSTED inspectors will agree with that maybe you can demonstrate to the head the quality of learning through your planning sit hime down and explain why you do things the way you do talk him through a typical activity and explain the learning it encourages some times professionals have been doing their job for such a long time that they cannt see the wood for the trees he might also respect your ideas better if he can understand the resoning behind the purpose of play. If that doesnt persuade him to change his mind about play centred learning then try plan B - quote a load of theory and lots of names to him, make him feel stupid and they he might just agree with you to save looking ignorant?
Steve Posted January 16, 2004 Author Posted January 16, 2004 Curriculum Guidance for Foundation Stage and the new Ofsted Handbook - pg 44 - "inspectors will not normally see much recorded work for children at this (The Foundation) stage". Thanks Angela for that great quote - I missed it the first time round till Alison replied and drew my attention to it. We ought to stick that somewhere where it can be regularly seen and memorized...
Guest Posted January 17, 2004 Posted January 17, 2004 Hi -This is a post originally from Crestacat who posted at the end of a long topic called 'Reception - the Best Way Forward'. I felt that it needed its own space, so I've moved it here, hopefully re-creating the title meaningfully... HELLO EVERYONE.i KNOW THIS IS AN OLD TOPIC BUT i NEED SOME HELP.i AM A NURSERY TEACHER WHO IS NOW RESPONSIBLE FOR ORGANISING THE rECEPTION CLASS DAY ,AS EY COORDINATOR.i HAVENT TAUGHT SPECIFICALLY IN RECEPTION ALTHOUGH WE WERE LAST YEAR AN EY UNIT.oTHER SCHOOLS VISITED TO OBSERVE OUR UNIT .HOWEVER OUR NEW HEAD SAYS THERE SHOULD BE MORE STRUCTURE IN RECEPTION AND EY UNITS ARE ONLY RIGHT FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE MEETING TARGETS SUCCESSFULLY.SO WE HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT NURSERY AND RECEPTION MUST FUNCTION AS SEPARATE STAGES I FEEL THIS IS A STEP BACKWARDS AND NEED SOME HELP WITH PRODUCING A TIMETABLE WHICH STILL ALLOWS FOR CHILD CENTERED LEARNING .ANY COMMENTS PLEASE I personally think that nursery and reception will have different objectives as the children will be at different levels. for example 3yr olds wil be making steps (stepping stones) towards EG where as reception will have progressed. Therefor planning should take this into account. Children do not diffrentiate between work and play, from what I have observed recently a lot of reception classes seem to be like playgroups (obviously not all and no offence meant to anyone), with no planned activites. Some seem to have little understanding of play and it's benefits and are literally just letting the kids play with no learning objective behind teh planning for play. Remember you are going to be covering the daily literacy and mathematics hour in reception, even if you are not doing the full hour yet. And willhave to plan for these areas seperately
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