AnonyMouse_2268

Unfortunately we get no CPD except essential updates to safeguarding, first aid, food hygiene....no inset days or anything....or staff meetings...so a BIG issue 😩

Haven't read it all - just skimmed through really but there are definitely parts I feel are better for the change - e.g. the greater emphasis on practitioner judgement and less need for written evidence. 😊

Me too - I really like the checkpoints - it will be much simpler to identify areas for development that will really make the most difference....should simplify planning and next steps (if you still do them!) and for students and newer staff it will be invaluable - I'd have appreciated something like that when I first started! I hope it will focus staff on the things that matter and reassure them.

I really like the birth to three section rather than the narrower bands of the old one too. I also think that, because it IS so different from the last, it will hopefully make it easier to support staff stand firm against continuing the tick list approach which unfortunately has become a crutch for many...a great opportuniity to let that go for good and take a simpler, less prescriptive and enjoyable approach to observing. Lets finally give staff permission (as this document does) to see the child for who they are and to celebrate what they do rather than stress over which statements they haven't perfomed yet!

Hi Less is more I'd say. I worked for many years trying to include individual planning, key person planning, next steps and yet more often than not it always ended up that we did something not on the plans at all.....and good stuff, stuff that mattered to the children but, because we had a plan, it stressed everyone out because we were trying to evidence that what we planned had happened even if we'd covered the same objectives in other ways or on different days.... so now we are fully in the moment and Ive been working without a weekly, daily, monthy, long, medium, short term plan of any kind for several years now. All we write are the individual observation, with the teaching element highlighted. Basically all the planning happens in the moment, on the day, with some inspiration from seasonal events. We have to have an environment and sufficient resources to enable that sponteneity....that is our long term plan - to build up the resources. You say your staff are already really good at responding to opportunities to extend learning so imagine there are already lots of 'activities' happening that are likely to be meeting childrens needs. I think what you have in place is perfectly fine....but I'd suggest not making it too much of a 'must do' / ' have to do' ....use the books as a provocation but you shouldn't need to write it up as a focus / daily plan at all - you'd have the evidence of it happening in observation records if needed ....but it's unlikely anyone is going to challenge you on whether you read X book on X day as your plan said. The main planning is best focused on building up the environment and resources to support you and to build the skills of staff to be able to work independently of plans and to develop high quality interaction skills - to think on their feet and to make the most of every moment!

hope so!

Don't think guidance specific to early years / nurseries been released yet....primary has and they are now being told NOT to operate to rota basis ...after teachers had been planning on exactly that basis to make it work... so...who knows what advice will come for us....and how much of the planning already done will have to change as a result

Well I would like to think most children’s development should not have suffered too much – I hope most have been with parents who have had lots of time to play with them and engage in conversation and everyday activities like baking, helping with tasks…real meaningful old fashioned and age appropriate learning through play…the main lack they might have had is social interaction with other children…parents have always been highlighted as children’s key educators…children learn at home too! This is why I don’t think these children should be returning first when nothing is clear and we will be so focused on dealing with all the issues - they are better off at home until everything is running more smoothly and has been trialled properly by older groups. We do not need to hurry them back before we know for sure that it is safe for everyone…many don’t even attend settings – they will do just fine too! People are talking like children will fall behind by not returning asap…and parents will worry on that basis and feel pressure to send them back and so we are then pressured to open…but do they really understand they are not coming back to settings anything like the ones they left…for many returning will be traumatic and development will suffer for sure...what impact will rooms empty of many of the resources and activities they used to love, so many changes and rules and inevitable reductions in physical closeness and freedoms have....we are supposed to be developing their love of learning ... the environments they will be returning to are not enabling at all. Children's well being will suffer...no matter how much staff try to reassure them...especially if they cant be with their special friends or key adults. Staff too are scared and worried and unsure about the mixed messages we are getting. One set of advice says face coverings may be beneficial for short periods indoors where there is a risk of close social contact with people you do not usually meet and where social distancing and other measures cannot be maintained, for example on public transport or in some shops…but this does not apply to schools or other education settings where we are definitely going to be in close social contact with people we do not usually meet and where social distancing and other measures cannot be maintained! There is lots of reassurances about how children are less affected, less likely to transmit the virus (but also contradiction about those facts!) but there seems to be no thought about the adults in the setting or adults children will come in contact with who may be more seriously affected! It is a point that has been raised so many times but no one has really answered the question Is it safe for adults too! There is a lack of understanding about how early years work – children do not all attend mon to Friday 9 to 3…many setting have children attending half days, full days, mornings, afternoons and a mix of them all…same with staff….how can bubbles of staff and children that don’t mix on any day or subsequent day be established? Also staff have breaks…you need 2 staff to a bubble even with 4 children to accommodate those – even to allow staff to be washing their hands more frequently or cleaning resources (many nursery settings don’t have separate cleaning staff!)... sorry quite a long one!

oh my....

I hope I've just got it wrong and there will be much less in reality....perhaps some parents may rethink over the weekend or that firmer guidance is issued / reiterated about ensuring its a minority intake and checks made by the LA ...who knows! I mean im all for supporting the keyworkers but when I saw the list my heart sank...and I feel SO guilty for feeling like that

so compared to normal capacity what sort of numbers of children will you have in next week? We still have about a quarter!! All staff will be in but for slightly less hours. Im shocked its so many AND I think management is suggesting reducing the rooms accessible so children will not be any more distanced than usual.... I don't think is what was intended at all...I don't feel any safer than I did this past week thinking about what next week will be like for us 'keyworkers'!!

I agree. Dressing up often precedes dancing for ours...and some of ours dress up most of the day just because they like the outfits not because they are 'role playing' - what harm does it do really?!