Jules

Journaling is a great way to think about your feelings and reflect. It can help work through difficult emotions, set some goals, acknowledge and enjoy successes, and develop gratitude. It is a way of learning not to self-criticise, but instead to congratulate yourself. It can also be an excellent way to promote children’s developing language skills, encourage their creative writing, support emotional well-being and a positive mental attitude. Children with positive mental attitudes: feel better about themselves see the best in situations and other people stay optimistic and persevere through difficulties seek solutions to their problems know that everyone makes mistakes and that it’s ok overcome failures and persevere with tricky tasks forgive themselves and others Research in the field is limited but there is anecdotal evidence that positive thinking and optimism has an effect on quality of life, for example: Increases life span Lowers your risk for depression Decreases stress Improves resistance to the common cold Overall better psychological and physical well-being Reduces risk of death from cardiovascular disease Promotes better coping skills during times of significant stress Researchers at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley have suggested that gratitude may be associated with many benefits for individuals, including better physical and psychological health, increased happiness and life satisfaction, and decreased materialism: · Several studies found that girls and women report feeling more grateful than boys and men, possibly because boys and men—at least in the United States—may be more likely to associate gratitude with weakness or indebtedness. · Other studies have identified certain traits that act as barriers to gratitude. These include envy, materialism, narcissism, and cynicism. · A handful of studies suggest that people who are naturally more grateful may be physically healthier, and others suggest that scientifically designed practices to increase gratitude can also improve people’s health and encourage them to adopt healthier habits. · Many more studies have examined possible connections between gratitude and various elements of psychological well-being. In general, grateful people are happier, more satisfied with their lives, less materialistic, and less likely to suffer from burnout. Additionally, some studies have found that gratitude practices, like keeping a “gratitude journal” or writing a letter of gratitude, can increase people’s happiness and overall positive mood. · Studies have found that more grateful adolescents are more interested and satisfied with their school lives, are more kind and helpful, and are more socially integrated. A few studies found that gratitude journaling in the classroom can improve students’ mood and that a curriculum designed to help students appreciate the benefits they have gained from others can successfully teach children to think more gratefully and to exhibit more grateful behaviour. · Research suggests that gratitude inspires people to be more generous, kind, and helpful; that experimentally manipulating people’s feelings of gratitude can lead them to be more helpful and generous—as can activities such as writing a gratitude letter. Two psychologists, Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami have done much of the research on gratitude (Harvard Medical School): One experimental group of subjects wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week. A second group wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them, and the third wrote about events that had affected them (with no emphasis on them being positive or negative). After 10 weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. Surprisingly, they also exercised more and had fewer visits to physicians than those who focused on sources of aggravation. Yanique Chambers, (www.kiddiematters.com) a social worker from New York, states that journaling gives children, ‘a judgement free space to self-explore and find their creative voice. They can use their journal as a place to dream and set goals. They can also use journal writing to find solutions to internal conflicts and solve problems.’ It can be hard for a child to get started - it’s natural to feel an awkwardness about exposing themselves through their thoughts and feelings. Help children to start with something that’s not about them - e.g. Describe a day in the life of your favourite character from books, film or TV. How do they feel during their day and how do they respond to events throughout the day? Other suggestions could be: · If you could invent something, what would it be? · Thinking about the invention of the internet, describe how it has changed the world. · What can you do to combat climate change? Then move onto more personal ideas. Providing prompts can really help children to focus on an area to expand on in their writing. You could put these on separate bits of paper and ask the children to pull one out - they can always put it back if they’re not interested in that one today! · If you could do anything at all tomorrow, what would it be? · If you could have a special talent, what would it be? · What would be your dream holiday? · What is your favourite place and why? · Is it ever ok to tell a lie? · What do you think you’ll be like, as an adult? · How do you think other people see you? · Why is it important to congratulate people or compliment them? · Write about a time when you helped someone else? · When did you last have trouble making a decision? How did you think about the choices you made? · What changes have you noticed in nature recently? · What has been your favourite story from book, TV or film. Why? Talk about the characters feelings, if you can. · My favourite character from a book is…. · My favourite character from TV or film is… Seattle children’s hospital (www.seattlechildrens.org) have a helpful list of categories you might want to consider with your children. They suggest making lists such as the following: Affirmations list: personal, positive statements that focus on your specific problems or needs. Make up 1 or 2 and write them down 10 to 20 times, meditating on them. For example, ‘My drawing is getting better every day’. Appreciation list: List everything or everyone you are thankful for in your life. This reminds you of the blessings you have, raises your awareness of good health, and helps make that happen in everyday life for example, ‘Spending time with friends or family’. Success list: Write down all the things you do well. Add new ones when they come along. By paying attention to your successes, you encourage yourself to do more. Outflow list: Make a list of ways you can send positive energy to others around you. When you send good thoughts to others, it helps you in a positive way. Self-esteem list: List all the things you like about yourself. When you pay attention to your positive qualities, you turn on your creative energies and inner healing power. Creative ideas: Write your ideas, dreams or plans for the future, even if they seem impossible. By stimulating your creative thinking, you strengthen your powers of creative visualisation and imagery –some of your greatest healing powers. Linda Stade, education writer and consultant from Santa Maria College in Western Australia said in an interview earlier this year that when children are feeling overwhelmed, in a highly reactive state, journaling can really help: ‘What it does is it activates the narrative function in our minds, which means we take events and feelings and we put them into an order, into a story with a beginning and a middle and an end. That gives us a sense of cause and effect. It also gives us a bit of distance from those emotions and feelings so that we can make sense of them. There’s been research that shows it has a physiological effect. So it has an impact on our heart rate. That of course doesn’t mean that it’s curing the problem. But it is a very useful tool’. (globalnews.ca) Linda has a great idea if children are reluctant to write: ‘You can journal with photographs. I’ve got a friend who takes a positive photograph every day and what that does is it draws her attention to the good things in life and that not only makes her positive each day, but when she is experiencing down days, she has all of those images to draw on and all of these good feelings to remind her that life is generally good. Yes, we have bad days but there are lots of good things as well.’ Children can use an online journey platform such as Tapestry to develop a collection of pictures or photos to create a journal. Tapestry’s Child Login feature makes the process that much more personal and the children are therefore agents of their own learning and journaling. As an English teacher, Linda gave her class a regular opportunity to journal: ‘I was an English teacher so I used to journal at the beginning of each lesson, not only to calm them down after lunchtime or after recess, but also to get their creativity flowing. If they are given a set time, sometimes you give them a prompt, sometimes you just let them write whatever they want and that’s sort of prompting them to start thinking and playing with their language and being a bit more creative. They loved it and they got into the habit of just coming into the room and starting straight away without me asking them to. They found it very soothing.’ In order for children to be able to self-regulate and manage their emotions, they need to be aware of them in the first instance. Journaling is a good way of identifying those emotions. Children can carry out the initial writing and the teacher can then have a conversation about it or add comments to their writing. The child needs to be able to trust the teacher and this takes time. The teacher can ask questions such as ‘How does that make you feel?’ and can give them words to help them identify what they’re feeling. A great idea for starting off journaling with your younger children comes from a book called ‘Gratitude Soup’, by Olivia Rosewood: Olivia states ‘Although gratitude has been a staple of human faith and philosophy for thousands of years, the formal scientific exploration of gratitude only began in the year 2000, and it has been fervently studied ever since. In one study performed at UC Davis, published in the Journal of School Psychology, those who had a daily gratitude activity had more positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, and energy. Gratitude can lead to fewer physical ailments, as well as an enhanced feeling of well being. Children who practiced gratitude showed more positive attitudes toward their school and their families. They are less likely to judge others, and also less jealous. They are more likely to share and to want to help. Without a doubt, gratitude is a powerful life tool! ‘ In Olivia’s book, Violet the Purple Fairy learns how to make Gratitude Soup by thinking of all the things, people, places, and experiences that she is grateful for, putting them in an imaginary soup pot. She is able to shrink her pot of soup with her imagination, and she keeps the gratitude warm and flowing in her heart all day and all night. Some useful gratitude prompts are: · What was the best part of your day today? · What made you laugh today? · Who did you have fun playing with today? · What activity are you glad you got to do today? · The best thing at the weekend was… And take your pick from these! What can you do now that you couldn’t do when you were 4? I am good at… I love… I am brave to try I persevere I try hard I am curious I am kind I practice so I can get better at… If it’s tricky, I can always try… Interview your family and ask them what your best characteristic is Can you remember something you used to find difficult? What does learning mean to me? I might not be able to control everything, but I can choose how I respond I am in control of my words I am in control of what I do after a mistake I can ask for help from… I can control how much effort I put in… I am learning to find solutions When do you feel the most loved/cared for? The book I’m reading makes me think about… When are you at your happiest? If I’m feeling sad or anxious, I know the feeling won’t last forever. I felt anxious when… I don’t know how to do this yet… I can talk to myself as if I’m encouraging a friend… I can take responsibility for what I do I can apologise and forgive myself I can try different ways of getting things right A challenge is good. It helps me to learn something new. I can look for other possibilities or solutions What’s the worst that could happen? If the worst did happen, how would I deal with it? What would the people who care about me say? What’s the best possible thing that could happen? Remember a time when you felt joy. Where were you? What happened? What in nature comforts you? I was proud of myself when… Something that comforts me Something that’s funny Something that’s interesting Something that’s beautiful I learned something new today… I’m up for a challenge I am grateful for… I am a good friend What makes me happy? How I helped someone today The last time I laughed was… I did something scary and… I left someone a happy note and… I said sorry when… When I daydream, I… The last time I gave someone a compliment… I said sorry when… I made a difference today by… I made someone happy when…

The re-opening of schools in September marked a turning point in the government’s response to the pandemic. Pupils needed to get back to their education and school community. The six-month interruption was about to end and the ‘new normal’ – a phrase that now trips off the tongue - of school life was about to begin. Preparations were extensive both in terms of the physical environment and the protocols for anyone who would enter and, indeed, not enter the building. Managers and staff were faced with challenges that would previously have been inconceivable. Just imagine if a year ago we could have seen photographs or videos of September 2020 – a resounding ‘What on earth is going on?’ Well, it did go on! Here senior leaders give us a taste of how the first half of this historic autumn term has been: Harris Primary Academy, East Dulwich. “The process of reopening Harris Primary Academy following the national lockdown has been deeply rewarding.” Betty Johnson, Head of the Academy, and Matt Britt, Assistant Director of Primary for the Harris Federation, worked closely to implement a risk management system that would enable their school community to be as safe as possible, while providing as normal a school experience as achievable. On welcoming the pupils back, Betty said, “I am so pleased with the ways our children and parents have supported us. It has been a delight to see how well behaved and enthusiastic our children have been in returning to school – they really are eager to learn”. Betty talked about some of the adjustments that have been made, “We have had to adapt our teaching, particularly for Year One pupils who missed a large chunk of their Reception year. This has included providing lots of exposure to early reading strategies, storytelling and writing. The children have needed some time to resettle to our expectations and develop stamina in their independent work.” Additional support was offered to pupils to prepare for the new term. Matt explained, “Despite having offered online lessons from day one of the lockdown and providing laptops and Wi-Fi access to those children who needed it, some pupils needed an extra boost before the start of the new school year.” Consequently, during August there were two weeks of live online classes so that the older pupils would be prepared for going back. “We felt this was crucial so they could return to school with the key ground rules already covered and a lot of the catch-up elements secured.” Reflecting on this momentous reopening, Matt reported how they handled an organisational responsibility facing all schools, “One of the biggest challenges we faced was managing the start and end of the school day. The playground only has one entrance and the outdoor space is fairly small. We put in place a one-way system with staggered drop-off and collection times, so that pupils and parents could remain socially distanced. Hand-washing facilities were also made available on arrival.” The staff contributed immeasurably to the smooth running of the day, including making sure that classes started and ended on time. Though our world is full of uncertainties, Betty and Matt pointed out that one thing is certain and plain to see - the incredible value of the pupils being back at school. One of the children made this clear during the first week back, “I am just so happy to be back with my friends and with the teachers who make me feel safe and special.” Charles Dickens Primary School and Nursery, Southwark. “Someone asked me the other day how this term has been, and I described it like being on an extended family caravan holiday; you plan for it, look forward to it, have lovely days, too many rainy days. And, by the end of it, despite the highs you’re rather glad it’s over.” This is the verdict of Headteacher, Cassie Buchanan, at the end of the first half of term. Cassie started by describing the sheer exhaustion of teaching in a Covid-safe setting, “There’s been limited opportunity for things we normally take for granted like spontaneity, coming together as a school community, having regular professional dialogues. As well as this, there is the strain of trying to sustain a cheerful and warm atmosphere against the backdrop of a global pandemic.” Nevertheless, Cassie pointed out that some of the challenges have brought positive outcomes, “The highs have been high, and we have learnt such a lot. One of the main benefits we’ve welcomed has been building stronger relationships with parents. We now have more of a sense of shared responsibility for the children.” Cassie explained how this increased trust has enabled more honest conversations about parenting and, in turn, accelerated getting external support for those children that need it. Another positive Covid-related tweak is that, “We have been celebrating the everyday small successes much more – things like children being able to put on their coats, mark-making, managing their feelings well, and so on.” Cassie contrasted this to the more formal approach of recognising achievements at fixed points in the year. Reflecting on the first few days of term Cassie explained, “Our first major learning curve was teaching the parents new safety routines. We’d hoped that parents would queue on the floor markings. However, this didn't happen, leading to delays and frayed tempers. We had to change our system quickly!” It was decided that drop offs and collection of younger children would move to the school gates rather than classroom doors. Initially, senior leaders saw this as lost time, taking ninety minutes instead of the pre-Covid thirty, “It was seen as neglecting the important stuff but, as term proceeded, gate duty became the important stuff. It’s a valuable time when we learn parents’ names, talk about the children and foster strong relationships”. For Cassie the principal challenge of the term has been supporting children with SEND. The usual intervention groups could not continue due to having to keep year groups apart. “We decided to expand a specialist class we have for older children with autism to a full-time provision. We, too, set up a specialist base in a garden classroom for younger children to come to for part of the day to work individually on language and social skills. This has been an enormous success - many of the group are now able to speak in two and three-word phrases. The children seem happier and calmer learning in a garden environment with chickens wandering in and out”. This is another Covid-prompted innovation they hope to continue with. Cassie ended by talking about the difficulty of staff absence, “Moving staff to cover absence is a laborious process. We have to ensure bubbles aren’t compromised, and that those covering are both comfortable and capable in each cover role.” Consequently, a detailed cover plan was drawn up, “This helped relieve the mental gymnastics of figuring out who was available, safe and suitable”. Cassie looks ahead with a heartening attitude, “As we move into the second half of this term, I think we are now more skilled at adapting to change, more resilient to the lows and more aware of the need to celebrate the joy within each school day. I might need a warmer coat for standing on the school gates though!” Eko Trust, six schools in Newham, Barking & Dagenham and Hackney. “We were amazed and surprised that the children were ready to come back, and at peace with meeting up with friends and rekindling their play – it was as if they’d never been away,” says Cathy Gunning, EYFS Lead at Eko Trust. After the immense amount of planning for the new term, when September eventually arrived staff across the trust were ready to welcome the children back and greet the new starters. “For our returning Reception children, it was a successful and happy start,” remarked Cathy, “We were amazed that the children were so pleased to be back - they took it in their stride, as if they had never been away!” For the new children arriving in Reception the settling was taken more slowly, with their time spent in school gradually increased. Across the trust there was a consensus that the children surpassed our expectations in terms of their resilience and coping strategies. Attendance has been pleasingly high. Cathy put this down to the extensive preparations between home and school, giving both parents and children confidence. “We recognised that parents and carers would have differing levels of anxiety. At one of our primary schools, for instance, a parent was very concerned about being around other parents, so we arranged a separate place for them to bring their child and slightly altered their timings. Similar personalised adaptations have occurred in most of our schools.” Cathy thinks that this bespoke planning, together with the fact that every child’s teacher is in contact with home via email, has alleviated major parental worries about re-opening. Eko Trust also put a lot of time into preparing for the eventuality of bubbles being sent home. Again, this depended on working closely with families so that there could be a smooth transition between working at school and home. Cathy comments, “Having familiarised parents with our online approach –Tapestry for Reception – the switch from school to supporting play and learning at home was easy.” Cathy reports that the teams have found it fascinating talking with the children about the pandemic. “They are very knowledgeable about germs and what they can do to keep safe. One child told their teacher, “If you touch the dirty things and lick your hand you get ‘coronivorus’”. “In all, the children seem to be settled and happy, transitioning back positively. We will be there to continue to help them enjoy school and their learning every step of the way.”

Observations are subject to unconscious bias because they are subjective – they are based on our interpretation of what we can see. Our unconscious biases are often rooted in the feelings, attitudes and beliefs that help us to navigate the world, and can led to prejudice and unfair treatment of others. We can gain our bias from our interactions with: · family · social circles · education · television and film · newspapers · social media · advertising · friendship groups We may perceive children differently because they: · are from another race, culture, religion and/or class · have English as a second language · are non-verbal · have additional emotional and social needs · display behaviour that is viewed as difficult or challenging · have a disability · do not conform to what is perceived as the norm · are male or female Affinity Bias Affinity bias refers to when we display a preference towards children and families who share certain qualities or characteristics with us, or people we like. For example, I once did some work with two groups of families – the first family were Black from the Caribbean and the second family were Asian from Bangladesh. As a Black British Woman of West Indian heritage, I had a natural affinity with the Black and Caribbean group. I shared many cultural traditions with them, which meant I could more easily relate to where they were coming from when they talked about their children. I understood the cultural nuances. It was in those moments that my affinity bias came into play. To counter my affinity bias and to make sure that I treated the Bengali families fairly, I took a number of practical steps which included looking closely at my teaching materials and case studies to ensure that they were relevant to and reflected the Bengali families I was working with. I also questioned and reflected upon my personal beliefs and attitudes about different cultures to help maintain my objectivity. Whilst we cannot fully eradicate affinity bias from our observations, we should be alert to them because they influence how we see children and their families. Many aspects of the Observe, Assess and Plan (OAP) process can be impacted by our natural affinities, particularly if the educator shares the same cultural heritage as the child being observed and assessed. To counteract this, we have to reflect more deeply on our assessments, checking our interpretations and conclusions to ensure that we deal with issues of race, gender and identity honestly and openly. There is so much we can learn about children and their culture, and it is vital that as educators we work with their parents and guardians to understand their backgrounds and cultural norms. This means that we need to make time to listen to families from different backgrounds. Finding out about the important events in children’s lives and respecting every child’s home/family background and culture opens us up to differences in approaches. It is in this way we can begin to break down stereotypes we may have of children and their families, which could have a negative impact on their progression. Case Study Three-year old James was sitting on the carpet looking at a book. A few minutes later he was joined by three-year old Dylan who tried to take the book away from him. James defended the book by gently pushing Dylan’s arm away. Dylan screamed. The educator, asked James “What did you do?’ James replied, “I haven’t done nothing.’ The educators instructed him to go and sit on the time out chair and smiled sweetly at Dylan. When coming over to the book corner, the educator made an initial assessment snap of the situation. Without asking Dylan what happened or further probing James, the educator made the assumption that James instigated the situation and was the only one to blame. The educator showed no empathy towards James and instead favoured Dylan. It is important to note that Dylan and the educator live on the same street. Bias can take many forms and young children may become the focus of your unconscious bias if your brain perceives them as different. Turning a blind eye to bias damages children’s development and learning. When observing and assessing children who are not from the same cultural groups as ourselves, we need to have strategies in place to check our conclusions. At the very least this means we question our OAP criteria for bias in interpretation. Confirmation Bias Confirmation bias is when we search for information or interpret what we see in ways that confirm our pre-existing beliefs. We pay specific attention to information or observations that support our views, leading us to pay much more attention to our assumptions and beliefs than what is actually happening in front of us. We may go out of our way to look for evidence to prove our expectations to be true, while at the same time turning a blind eye to the information that challenges our beliefs. Confirmation bias has an influence on how educators gather information, interpret and recall it. For example, if we believe that a child is under achieving, we might seek out observations that reaffirm the need to limit the opportunities we offer them rather than encouraging us to set up activities that will stretch them. Confirmation bias can also reinforce stereotypes that we have about children. Case Study After reading the reception class a story, an educator begins to ask the group questions about the story. Several white boys shout out the answers to her questions and are encouraged to participate further and share their ideas as the discussion continues. Romeo, a Black boy, then calls out an answer. The educator directs him to put his hand up if he wants to say something and tells him to stop being disruptive, despite earlier encouraging the white children to participate. After several attempts to get the educators attention by putting his hand up with the answer and being deliberately ignored by her, Romeo disengages from the discussion altogether. The next day, Romeo continues to disengage from story time. His parents notice a difference in his behaviour at home. Attribution Bias Attribution bias refers to the errors that an individual makes when trying to find reasons for their own behaviours and motivations or the behaviours and motivations of others. Attribution bias is about when we attribute the cause of a child’s behaviour to their character and not the situation. It can be devastating for children to have their characters judged in this way when in reality they may have withdrawn from an activity due to the situation. For example, when we observe that a child has disengaged from the learning process, we might blame the child for not conforming to our perceived norms, ignoring the fact that we repeatedly refuse to meet that child’s needs to participate in the group discussion. Attribution bias affects how we feel about our own behaviour and think about the children and families that we work with. Our observations of them are like stories, sometime the stories are factual at other times they are based on what we think we see, our attitudes and interpretation of children’s behaviour. How likely are we to put our assumptions, beliefs and expectations into the story in positive and/or negative ways? Case Study In a small rural village preschool two sisters of mixed heritage attend an all white setting. One day the staff set up a role-play area as a hairdressing salon. It had all sorts of mirrors, brushes, shower caps, hairdryers and product packages etc. The sisters raced into the hairdressers with their friends but very quickly came out quiet, despondent. When the educator asked them what was wrong they replied, "There's nothing for us." When their mum came to pick them up the educator had a discussion with her about the children’s lack of engagement. To facilitate the discussion, the educator took the mum into the role-play area. The mum explained that the girls used Afro combs and different types of products in their hair. She kindly gave the setting some resources to use and it sparked lots of positive conversations with the other children about differences in hair and differences between people in general. From this discussion the educator understood that she had not represented the girls’ culture well enough and recognised that she would need to gather more information from the parents in order to counter her Eurocentric practice that had initially excluded the girls. The two girls were not being difficult or challenging because they didn’t want to engage. It is only by observing and listening to children attentively with an open mind, that we begin to avoid attribution bias. Being open to how children learn, their interests and how they think and solve problems, will help us to value them as unique individuals. Effective practice starts with observation and it must involve children’s parents and guardians. Tackling Bias The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results in England for 2018-2019 states that 72% of white children meet the expected standard in development compared to 68% of black children. There is a difference of 4 percentage points. Whilst there are likely to be a range of complicated factors at play here, if our unconscious biases remain unchecked it is highly likely that they, and other underrepresented groups, will under achieve as a result of inaccurate assessments, leading to planning and expectations of learning that does not meet children’s unique and individual needs. Assessment judgments of children’s progress are important decision points for the type of support that children will receive, making it crucial that judgments be as accurate as possible to ensure all children are given the best start in life. As educators we need to be brave and open to having difficult conversations about bias and take the time to reflect on views, attitudes and beliefs. In doing this, it’s important that we are specific about the language that we use when seeking to address bias. For example, if we talk about taking an anti-racist approach to observations and assessment practices, it is important that we are specific with staff about what this means and how we are going to get there. Effective practice involves reflecting on our teaching practices and our interactions - that includes encouraging staff to question their observations and assessments to check whether they are looking at situations through a skewed lens. This should involve carrying out regular analysis on children’s achievements by race, ethnicity and gender and then acting on findings. Observing children is a pedagogical responsibility placed on all educators working in the Early Years Foundation Stage so that they can plan to meet children’s unique needs. It’s important to have on-going conversations about bias, race, ethnicity and gender in team meetings, leadership meetings and CPD days. It is simply not enough to have one off training days as a token gesture to fighting racism, it must be firmly and consistently embedded at all levels of an organisation if it is to make a real impact.

In the Early Years/education sector many of us can feel confused or uninspired about what steps to take next with our career pathways. In the light of the current worldwide crisis, Early Years practitioners, educators, teachers, professionals have come under more stress, with increases in our workloads. We may lack motivation due to the unpredictable state of the workforce, our students and the world. We may have already been feeling lost due to the existing pressures of the job and the pressures of life in general. Some of us have been in the profession for decades and others have just started their journey, but the feeling across the board for many of us is ‘what next?’ The start of this year At the beginning of the year 2020 we all had high expectations of what this New Year would bring and what we would achieve. The New Year/the new school term is always a good place to start afresh and should be a great time to reflect and apply new energy, having recharged our batteries over the Christmas holidays. I was looking forward to finishing the first year of my primary Ed degree and I had visits planned with several schools as a keynote speaker. We all mapped out and planned our year as we normally would. But all that changed in March. I don’t know what you were doing at the time, but I can guess for many of us our day may have started the same way: I walked into my class, greeted my colleagues, and started my morning ritual of setting up the classroom. And then I was told by the team that we had a whole school meeting in the staff room at 8.45am. Now these whole school meetings would only happen if we had training, someone was sadly leaving, or they were giving us some serious news. I knew about the rise of Covid 19, but I didn’t think it would affect us at the school. Yet to my surprise we were told they were planning to close the school. The new norm We were told to start prepping for the closure of the school and about the government Covid guidance. We were instructed to film activities that would be put on YouTube for parents to view. To accompany the filmed activities, we had to create take home bags for each child in our classes. The senior faculty team informed us that the school would close based on government guidelines. They told us our work would not stop but that we would be working from home. Each class would have to hold a catch-up meeting on Zoom or Microsoft Teams every morning and we would have to create more activity videos and send in activity power points daily. Teachers would hold one to one sessions with children and their parents. We didn’t know how long the closure would last, but we knew that this way of working was the ‘new norm’. Reflection I knew that things wouldn’t be the same and that thought echoed throughout the sector. Even now that my school and many others are open again, we are still not back to what we classed as the norm. The pressure of working within bubbles, having to wear a mask, and maintaining social distancing with children who are neurodiverse and neurotypical has added weight to a job which is already demanding. These thoughts and the current climate led me to write this blog. In this time of Covid and worldwide change, how do we regain focus and what steps do we take to continue with our continuous professional development (CPD) and embark on our career pathways. I reflected on my own journey and what helped me to restart and continue THE WORK. I then reflected on a previous article I had written (for Optimus Ed) and thought about the health and wellbeing of my colleagues. Pause Let me give you one word of advice: PAUSE… We all need to allocate a time during the day to do nothing or allocate a time to do the things that we enjoy. We can sometimes become fixated on completing a task or stuck in the routine of work, so we forget about our own wellbeing. A moment of stillness enables us to clear our thoughts and give our own desires and needs some attention. If you’re not feeling motivated… It is good practice to visit other classrooms (within your bubble) or visit websites of other schools (due to the pandemic visits to other schools are off limits). Talk to other members in your team or within your bubble when lost for ideas. You can also use the web if you want to find inspiration – join websites like Pinterest or purchase activity books. Personally, new toys, equipment or paint make me happy, so I always try and treat my class to one of these things. I’ll make suggestions for new resources that my class may need and if there’s a budget I’ll push for it to be purchased. New equipment creates new activities or possibilities. Remember, energy never dies, it is transferred. The energy we bring to work is transferred to all the people we meet in passing. So, if we are full of joy, our positive energy should rub off on our children and our team. Then when they go home, they will share that energy with others in their households. This is also true of negative energy. Here are some wellbeing and CPD tips Jamel Carly’s 3 tips to support mental health and wellbeing: 1. Write a list of all the things you enjoy. Then try to do at least two of these things each week. This will make you feel good because you’re doing things that you like to do, and it will give you something to look forward to other than going to work or the responsibilities of your personal life. 2. Find a special place. A place of peace, maybe a place you visited as a child that holds good memories or a place you aspire to live in. This will help to raise your spirits and create a euphoric feeling of aspiration and motivation. 3. Celebrate your accomplishments. It doesn’t matter if they’re big or small. You have achieved something, so be proud. There is not just one conventional route or career pathway in the Early Years. Due to that factor, making progression or joining the sector can be a daunting task for many. Jamel Carly’s 3 tips to support career progression and CPD: 1. Research current career guidelines and pathways on the gov.uk website. Guidelines and pathways are constantly changing. 2. Some nursery chains and schools have apprenticeship opportunities and ‘learn as you work’ schemes to support aspiring Early Years educators as well as aspiring managers. Ask your manager to contact the learning department at your setting to find out what courses are available and to receive the annual learning/training calendar. 3. I would advise all those who work in the early years to become active online. Join early years groups on your social media platform of choice and visit Early Years CPD provision websites. They often have blogs or links to training, job vacancies or job sites. Each person’s mental wellbeing threshold is like a fingerprint and their wellness needs will be different to mine. These tips are based on my own experiences - I hope they will help you. The Early Years career pathway is always changing. Qualifications don’t determine what roles you can get once you have achieved your foundation qualification of a Level 3 or Level 4. Your employment is based on your knowledge and experience. You need to be actively researching and making steps towards embarking on your progression journey. This is true, even though the way we teach and the daily functions of our schools have changed in a big way with new concepts such as bubbles and remote learning. I acknowledge that during this time senior leadership teams are trying their best to support the children that attend their settings and the teams they employ. Finding the balance of supporting staff and children is a huge task even without a global pandemic, and dealing with the current crisis while maintaining a level of normality has become the main challenge. The Covid crisis has taken centre stage but we can’t allow that to taint the level of care and practice we apply. Sometimes the job can be overwhelming, but we need to take time out to care for ourselves. Health is wealth, and we cannot care for or teach our students if we are not in good health physically, mentally and emotionally. We need to take a moment to acknowledge the fact that the work we do is not easy. But each day we turn up we are supporting the learning of our children and giving them the tools they need to thrive. We make a difference to their lives and you/we are modern day heroes.

One of the few positives to emerge from the first lockdown period has been a renewed interest by parents and professionals in the health and wellbeing of young children. Quite rightly - children’s mental health is a priority – but we should never underestimate the profound link in children’s lives between their emotional equilibrium and need to move. Early childhood is all about being physically active. Not only is movement considered to be ‘the first language’ of childhood – and ‘thought in action’ – it also provides a supportive and effective framework within which friendships are created and sustained, interests stimulated and extended and new skills acquired and refined. Being physically confident and competent is essential for young children. Joining in, keeping up and contributing to physical play has a significant impact on their social/communication skills and overall language development. So, what issues may you have noticed relating to children’s physical development as they return to settings, and how may this area of development be best supported? These are some of the general concerns that have arisen so far: Activity levels Many children have not experienced anywhere near the recommended daily level of physical activity for a very long time, particularly those living in densely populated urban areas. These children may have been kept indoors for extended periods, unable to access available open spaces and prevented from practising the everyday ‘big body movements’ like running, jumping, climbing, digging, swinging, scootering – that provide the necessary means to promote and maintain overall body strength, balance, agility and coordination. How may diminished time being outside and active in fresh air and natural light impact on children’s general health? · Exposure to natural light stimulates the neurotransmitter, Serotonin. This is hugely important for young children because it helps them feel alert, active and able to remember. You may have noticed some children are a bit slower to react to instructions or simply cannot remember what these were. With the changing of the clocks it is even more important to use the daylight hours we do have positively and productively. · Vitamin D in sunlight is also important for supporting children’s immune systems. Vitamin D aids the capture of dietary calcium from the blood into bone structure and helps create a strong skeleton. You may have noticed children’s immune systems are lowered and a higher level of coughs and snuffles are present than is usual for this time of year. They may not be as physically strong as previously noted – so climbing and hanging activities may be a bit more challenging now. · Remember that that the oxygen level inside is around 11% - outside it is 20% - so being outside and active as much as possible is a vital support for health and wellbeing. · Sleep: lack of exposure to natural light negatively affects sleep patterns. The blue light that is present in natural daylight stimulates the pineal gland in the brain that regulates the ‘biological clock’ through alternately raising and lowering levels of serotonin and melatonin production in the body. Being outside and active between 8 am – 12 pm ensures that the evening levels of melatonin that support a good night’s sleep are maintained. You may notice that some children have experienced disrupted sleep routines, or a complete absence of healthy sleep habits for a long time. They may arrive tired and irritable with low energy levels and craving sugary snacks – so being physically active is a vital tool to ensure they return to healthy sleep patterns. If possible, provide plenty of opportunities to play outside, whatever the weather. For at least 45 mins and longer if appropriate. Young children need extended exposure to natural daylight particularly at this time when their health and body systems require proactive support. How may essential body systems be affected by lowered levels of physical activity? Proprioceptive system The proprioceptive system is all about developing body sense, control and management. How we perceive ourselves in space and how we sense where our bodies begin and end relate directly to the maintenance of the proprioceptive sense through continual movement. We all draw on this sense whenever we cook, park, dress, wash hands, brush hair/teeth and navigate our way through crowds. For young children having a fully functioning proprioceptive sense is vital and it may be supported by experiencing ‘big/heavy’ movements including digging, pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying, hanging upside down, jumping, throwing, moving around obstacles and practising how to fit into small spaces. Prolonged periods of inactivity will not have supported children’s growing proprioceptive sense and you may have noticed individuals who find navigating around obstacles and other people particularly challenging. They may also be stressed by large open spaces and keep to the corners or margins where they feel more secure. Remember that much of children’s sense of self-identity is dependent on physical action and interaction with others in different environments. If this has been denied for an extended period, they may also be less confident in their physical play and very concerned about keeping to rules and regulations. It is important to offer lots of opportunities – both inside and outside - that stimulate and support the proprioceptive system. Think of the ‘big/heavy’ movements mentioned previously and find different ways in which children can rehearse them either individually or within a small group. Vestibular system The vestibular system is the first to be developed in utero – at around 17 weeks. The relevant apparatus is located in the inner ear and is linked to balance, postural control and coordination. A well-developed balance system develops through continual bodily movement so that eventually it can operate automatically and unconsciously. This will free-up the body to perform ‘higher level’ tasks like writing and drawing. It is critical that a strong sense of equilibrium relating to space and gravity emerges over time for young children. This comes through experience of the following movements: twisting, turning, spinning, rocking, swinging, rolling, sliding, tipping, tilting, bouncing, moving very fast and rough -and-tumble play. You may have noticed some children are fearful of entering wide spaces alone and have lost confidence in their ability to move at speed or to balance and climb. Rough and tumble play may worry them if this has not been a part of their lives for a while. You may also notice that sitting still and listening has become more challenging. It is well worth checking if they are wearing the right sized shoes – at any one time 26% of children are not wearing the correct size – and this will have a serious effect on their ability to balance and move fluently. If/when appropriate consider providing times when children can take their shoes off and strengthen the muscles in the feet and ankles. To support the vestibular system, try to provide lots of easy opportunities to practise together the movements mentioned previously. Remember this system takes around 7 years to fully develop and needs daily active reminders to function at the optimum level. Vision and Hearing If children have been deprived of adequate time to experience physical play outside and have spent extended periods inside engaging with a screen, their visual skills may not be working as effectively as before. Vision develops through spending time in a stimulating and complex visual landscapes and learning to move through this world with ease and enjoyment. External visual input must be processed alongside internal input that comes through moving in space (linked to the vestibular system) and bodily movement (linked to the proprioceptive system). Good spatial awareness, spatial reasoning and hand-eye coordination will emerge from continual movement experienced in a range of environments. Being active and outdoors supports the eyes in the following ways: · To switch at speed from near to far vision – this is a critical skill needed to engage with many classroom activities · It also supports the ability of the iris to adjust as the body moves from dark to light spaces · The ability of the eye muscles to control fine eye movement and change to a steady gaze is essential for reading · It supports the ability of the eyes to understand contrast, shadow and visual textures and to see tone and shade within colours There is a theory that although extended screen use is known to be a factor in the increasing incidence of myopia in young children – one of the major factors may be their lack of lengthy exposure to natural light in the early years. Natural light is 100-200 times brighter than artificial light and experts consider that daily exposure to 2 hrs of natural light may be an important element in preventing myopia. Over 1M children have undiagnosed vision issues in the UK – so an awareness of the added problems that being at home for so long may have caused is essential. Being able to make sense of the sound landscape – distinguishing between different voices and sounds such as cars, hoovers, birds, dogs, washing machines – is a skill that is gained through exposure and experience. How sounds relate to each other, what they mean, which way they are coming from and where they are moving to must all be processed and understood. Being away from the familiar surroundings of settings and community for an extended period may well have affected children’s hearing ability. Some may not have been exposed to English for a time, others may have become used to a very quiet environment and find loud situations difficult to manage, or are now accustomed to one that is loud and fractious and learning to speak quietly again is a challenge. To conclude In this time of re- emergence and recovery, being physically active as much as possible every day is essential to support the bodily senses and systems that may have been under considerable strain for a long time. Children now need to rediscover their joy in movement - to engage confidently in physical play with their friends, to instigate projects, to investigate different environments and to explore new skills and opportunities in their localities. So, what would my top tips be: Approach the recovery of children’s physical abilities gently and recognise the role of movement skills in supporting their overall development and wellbeing. Physical development supports, informs and underpins all areas of learning so getting this right for children is, perhaps, more important at the moment than addressing their perceived ‘learning losses.’ Remember the value of ‘the basics’ – being outside and active as much as possible and the ‘big body movements’ that are the building blocks for all complex movement skills. Also, think of ‘marginal gains’ – the small tweaks and adjustments to daily routines that can ultimately make a significant difference to children’s overall welfare.

Narrative observations In Part 1 of this series, we looked at definitions and descriptions of narrative observations and how they can be used to describe the learning and development of children. There is often confusion around the nature of observations; how many to do, what they need to contain, how they can be shared with parents and carers and how they can be used to plan effectively for each child. Over the last few years in Early Years, the practice of recording a limited number of quality observations has taken a bit of a backseat. Teachers and practitioners have been moving towards regular, quick observations (many of which are repetitive and don’t say anything new about the child) alongside the practice of ticking statements of expected learning outcomes. It is quite common for teachers and practitioners to ask on social media platforms ‘How many observations and assessments do you do for each child, each week?’ As if the number of observations and assessments has anything to do with the quality of the experience children have in their early years setting, or their learning outcomes. Reams of spreadsheet data has not helped to ensure all children do well in their early years. In fact, quite the opposite. Dr Julian Grenier, author of the new Development Matters, has stated in a vodcast with the Foundation Stage Forum that enormous amounts of data is meaningless to staff and parents and creates ‘an awful lot of work for not a lot of outcomes for the children’. The new Development Matters, he says, offers staff the opportunity to ‘rethink the balance of what we’re doing and make sure we’re putting our efforts where they really need to be.’ With the new EYFS and associated Development Matters guidance, along with clear messages from Ofsted and Dr Grenier, we now have the opportunity to review our methods of observation and assessment, and make them work for us, our colleagues, our children and our families. So we must make sure that any observations and assessments we make of our children are manageable, useful and do not take excessive amounts of our time away from the children. As Dr Grenier says, ‘Let’s put our efforts where they’re going to make a difference, which is in the direct work with the children. It’s the playing, it’s the conversations, it’s helping children to learn something new, it’s the respectful partnership with parents’. If you’re working with colleagues to try a new narrative approach to observations, it might be helpful at first to look at each area of learning individually. In this article, we’ll be looking at the three Prime Areas. Although children learn simultaneously across the seven areas, it’s helpful to look at the areas individually to work out what we’re looking for in a quality observation. Whether you are working with the existing 2017 version of the EYFS programmes, or are early adopters of the 2021 version, you can still use the following suggestions because they are based on open-ended questions to guide you in thinking about the child’s learning and development. The questions are not based on any predetermined learning intentions or targets. Using open-ended questions to help you observe your children will encourage a narrative approach, resulting in an observation unique to each child. No longer will you or your colleagues be writing ‘Sam happily joins in with nursery rhymes and songs’ and ticking the associated statement. Your observations will be detailed, exact and informative, for both you and the child’s parents and carers. And importantly, the information will give you something to plan with, to build on the child’s learning. When you’re observing a child, think about one or two of these questions below - maybe even print them off and have them close by as a prompt. For each section, the earlier questions are generally more suited to babies and very young children, and the later questions for older children within the EYFS. But don’t let this stop you from using them freely. There are no right or wrong questions to answer; these are just prompts to help you and your colleagues think about what you’re looking for when you’re observing children. There are no age-bands to worry about - if you see a question that interests you, with a particular child in mind, then that’s the one to go for. Communication and Language The EYFS 2017 version states: Communication and language development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations. The new 2020/21 version states: The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development. The number and quality of the conversations they have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial. By commenting on what children are interested in or doing, and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added, practitioners will build children's language effectively. Reading frequently to children, and engaging them actively in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems, and then providing them with extensive opportunities to use and embed new words in a range of contexts, will give children the opportunity to thrive. Through conversation, story-telling and role play, where children share their ideas with support and modelling from their teacher, and sensitive questioning that invites them to elaborate, children become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures. Listening, attention and understanding How do they respond to different sounds, e.g. speech or music? How do they react when they hear their own name or to familiar phrases such as, "Where's Mummy?" In what ways do they like to explore? When do they gaze at faces or copy facial expressions or movements? In what circumstances do they pay attention and concentrate? In what ways do they respond to others' body language? When do they recognize or are calmed by a familiar voice? How do they demonstrate their enjoyment of sounds, stories, rhymes and songs? How do they show you they are listening attentively? How do you know they are understanding a story read or told to them? What is their understanding of single words, two-word utterances, or more complex sentences? When and how do they follow directions? How is their understanding of simple concepts developing, e.g. big/little? How do they respond to instructions, or to 'How', 'What' and 'Why' questions? How do they engage in dialogue with others? What strengths do they have in understanding more complex ideas and concepts? Speaking How do they gain attention and communicate their needs? Can you give examples of their speech or gestures? Which familiar words or expressions are they using? What is their understanding of people or things that are not present? When do they use changes in pitch, intonation or volume? How do they use language to express their feelings and thoughts? How do they use talk to organise themselves and their play? In which situations do they initiate a conversation? In what ways are they using newly learned vocabulary? Which stories and rhymes are favourites? In what ways can they use talk to connect ideas or explain their own? How do they use talk to disagree with an adult or a friend? How do they anticipate the future and recall the past? How do they use language in imaginary and role play? How do they use questions or comments to clarify their thinking and develop understanding? In what ways do they suggest or explain ideas or concepts? How do they use talk to help work out problems? How do they use talk to explain how things might work or why they might happen? How do they talk about and retell stories? Personal, social and emotional development The existing framework says: Personal, social and emotional development involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities. The new 2020/21 framework says: Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others. Children should be supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in their own abilities, to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary. Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes will provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later life. Managing feelings and behaviour, self-regulation When and how do they demonstrate a range of emotions, e.g. pleasure, fear and excitement? How are they calmed, or are able to calm themselves? In what ways do they show an understanding of their own feelings? Which objects, actions, or activities soothe them when they are feeling tired, stressed or frustrated? How do they find solutions to conflicts? How do they control their immediate impulses? In which situations do they take turns or wait for what they want? How do they demonstrate an awareness of others' feelings or needs? In what ways do they display their growing sense of will and determination, and how do they respond to appropriate boundaries? How do they use questions to clarify their thinking and develop understanding? How do they demonstrate their understanding of possession? How do they show care and concern for others? In what ways do they demonstrate their understanding of right and wrong? How would you describe their behaviour? How do they demonstrate an increasing capacity for self-regulation with /without adult support? Self Confidence & Self Awareness, Managing self How do they respond to your voice, actions, body language and eye-contact? How do they demonstrate that their own voice and actions have an effect on others? How would you describe their levels of confidence and assertiveness? How do they express their needs, views and feelings? How do they express their preferences? How do they demonstrate their growing independence and positive self-image? In what ways do they set themselves tasks or goals and work towards them? How confident are they to try new activities? To what extent and in which situations do they follow instructions? How do they show perseverance if some activities pose difficulty? How do they cope with transitions? How do they express discomfort, hunger or thirst, or anticipate food routines? In what ways do they demonstrate their developing ability to engage in eating and drinking, or assist during nappy changing or toileting? How do they cope with new social situations or experiences? In what ways do they see themselves as a valued individual? Can you describe their level of independence in dressing, undressing, and personal hygiene? In what ways have they demonstrated resilience? What is their understanding of the effects of activity on their body, or of good practices in exercise, eating, sleeping and hygiene? Building Relationships How do they respond to affectionate attention from a familiar adult? How do they gain attention and communicate? How do they show interest in people and activities, and explore new situations? How are they learning to make relationships? In what ways do they notice or talk about differences between people? Can you describe ways in which they play cooperatively with other adults and/or children? How do they show concern for others? How are they learning to share toys, take turns, and negotiate with others? In what ways do they demonstrate a sense of community? Physical development The existing EYFS framework states: Physical development involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity6, and to make healthy choices in relation to food. The new 2020/21 framework says: Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults can support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination which is later linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practise of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop proficiency, control and confidence. Gross motor skills How do they respond to sounds, sights, and objects? In what ways are they gaining control of their body? What evidence can you see of their increased strength? Which toys or resources do they take pleasure from? What can you say about their positional awareness? How do they demonstrate an interest in sensory experiences? How do they demonstrate their increasing confidence in experimenting with different ways of moving? In what ways are they demonstrating increasing skill in coordination? When do they demonstrate increasing skills of balance? How can you describe the various ways they move energetically? In what ways are they showing increasing independence in personal care and hygiene? In what ways do they show an increasing control over objects? Do they demonstrate different physical skills indoors and outdoors? In what ways do they negotiate space and obstacles? How do they demonstrate agility? Can you describe their level of skill with throwing and catching a ball? How do they demonstrate core muscle strength? How do they demonstrate repeated patterns or sequences in movement? In what ways do they demonstrate increasing understanding of the need for safety and managing risks? Can you describe how they use a range of large and small apparatus? How do they demonstrate an understanding of the factors that support good health? Fine motor skills Which materials or objects do they like to explore? How do they manipulate objects or materials? How do they make choices in tools and techniques? In what ways are their skills developing in mark-making? How do they use a range of small tools, including scissors, paint brushes and cutlery? Can you describe their fine motor skills? How skilled are they in holding a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing? In which circumstances do they show a preference for left or right hand? Remember the guidance available to you, among others, is the revised EYFS which becomes statutory in September (2021), the new Development Matters, and Birth to 5 Matters. In the next article of this series, we’ll be looking at prompts for writing narrative observations in the Specific Areas of Learning in the EYFS. And you can find Part 1 of the series here.

I’ve been working in early years for around 13 and a half years now. The journey thus far has been nothing short of a roller coaster. From working as a nursery nurse, to becoming an early year’s practitioner and even a nursery manager, to care worker, support worker, youth worker, play worker, mentor, to now - owning my own award-winning childcare service. None of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for the various teams and managers I worked alongside over the years. Journey thus far I walked into a nursey at the age of 19 with barely any knowledge of child development or nursery life and no relevant qualifications. Just an interest, big heart and support from my mum who helped me find the job and the amazing manager who gave me the role. This all makes so much sense now - I am a big believer in the old African proverb: It takes a village to raise a child. The village I came from, aka home, prepared me to go out into the big wide world and find my feet, and that particular manager had faith in me, to let me enter her village and learn life whilst caring and teaching life to little souls. In my universe, life always comes back full circle. That opportunity changed my life. This is something I’ve always known, but as I’m typing this it’s really hitting home that I have now reached here … ‘humbled’ is an understatement. But what I learnt in those early days at that nursery turned out to be the foundations of an extensive and heartfelt career in Early Years, one that I’m nowhere near finished with. Heartfelt Practice This is where I learnt good practice, were I learnt about partnerships with parents and how to build healthy and secure child-adult bonds. I didn’t realise then how much it would mould me into the man I am today. It was at that first setting as a nursery nurse 13 years ago that I realised childcare was one of my many vocations. And it’s the children I have cared for over the years who have taught me the most about myself and about my work. Hence, 13 years later, I can confidently say that children are the best teachers. I’ve worked in various nursery settings and even managed to get a Level 3 in Childcare and Development along the way. And as the years passed, I have worked in every possible role you could think of in a nursery setting and with all age groups. Over Time I worked in various settings in and around London, building up a strong repertoire with families across London, especially North London. That’s how Jossy Care came about - babysitting for families from these settings until I got so inundated with requests it gave me the premise to become a Manny. Which I did 3 years ago. But going back a bit further in time, as well as working in nurseries, I ventured into care homes and youth work and that’s where my skill set widened, my heart got bigger and my knowledge grew. Jossy Care So, 3 years ago I became self-employed with a business idea I’d devised over 10 years ago when I created a business card for babysitting. This has now become my own registered childcare service, that I have managed to take around the world, win an award for, break stereotypes and change the narrative for us men in childcare. I devised the term childcare specialist due to my practice and approach being different to most Mannie’s and Nannies. It’s a mix of all my experiences in different care-based settings and roles imbedded in one. As we all know, you can’t approach every child the same way because they are all individuals, regardless of age, gender or race. Well, I hope you know. Heartfelt approach My practice and approach with children is extremely heartfelt and curated to the child’s individual needs, personality and abilities. When I say heartfelt, I mean, soft, patient, child led and full of love. Which allows me to build healthy bonds with them, allowing them to feel secure and at the same time create a safe space. This is something I think all humans need – animals need it too. I have been privileged enough to be in a position where children can let me into their worlds and spaces and build safe spaces with them, whether it be new-borns, toddlers or teens. I just may have the best job in the world. Being a Manny has enabled me to do this more wholesomely and given me time to reflect on my practice. Reflection allows me to hold space for myself, grow, pour back into myself, and still be able to help these little souls have full cups of joy. Love got me here So yes, my experiences thus far have been nothing less than beautiful, life changing and real. Being a man in this field has also added to my journey. Not everyone has accepted it, but over time that has taught me to accept people and respect their views even if they aren’t aligned with mine. Parents have been totally supportive of me being a male nanny. I have always felt this comes from the passion I share for their children. Love see’s love, and who better to see it than a parent watching their child have secure attachments whilst in a safe space with someone who cares about them as much as they do. I’ve been able to do this while staying professional and building healthy relationships with these families. As for love... If I did not have the right amount of love in me, I wouldn’t be able to put love into what I do. It’s the honest, raw emotion children show that has taught me so much. Being able to embrace my own emotions has helped me to support children to learn theirs over time. That’s me being present and showing up for them. I believe if I can’t do that for myself, I can’t do it for anyone. Children do not need fake love or bad energies around them. Men in childcare Children need to see men be vulnerable and emotionally available. They need to see that men can be soft and that men can deal with emotions, so they grow up having varied experiences that represent the world they are in. It is the same for race. We need to make sure that children are exposed to all cultures regardless of their environment, because representation matters, and children need to see positive representations of all races, especially ones that represent them. Race and gender This makes my position in life and work a unique one: a black male childcare specialist. Let’s normalise this because I know there’s more men out there like me in the industry and world who children could learn from and relate to. This has made my role more important, breaking stereotypes, cultivating change and raising awareness, be it gender equality or race equality…. I say this due to me being the minority in classrooms and the nanny world for both my gender and race. We need the childcare industry to reflect every culture and gender on an equal level. I think this is possible if we all keep trying to change the narrative and stand up for what is right. Our children need to see us doing so - it is paramount for the next generation that we break the silence on both issues and keep up the good fight. We can learn how to do this from children, they don’t judge, they embrace and love one another regardless of gender, race or inequalities, especially at nursery age. I let children lead in play and development because I know we have so much to learn from them. My experience has shown me I need to be in-tune with children, letting them show me what they need and don’t need. As adults, we complicate nearly everything. Let’s take a leaf out of the children’s book and learn to love without condition or premise. This is what Jossy Care is about - fighting gender and race equality via the work I do every day. This journey has been a long one, but the journey continues. Where to find Joss: www.Instagram.com/jossycare www.facebook.com/jossycare2 www.twitter.com/jossycare www.Youtube.com/josssimmonsthebrand www.jossycare.co.uk

In this current social climate, the subject of race cannot and indeed should not be avoided. There has been an outpouring of cries from Black and allied communities across the world to protest the need to recognise that Black lives matter as much as non-Black lives. The systemic and direct treatment of Black people both here in the UK, and across the pond in the USA, has sent ripples of devastation and there is a distinct sense of mourning and collective trauma as we all look at the state of the world. Localising this collective trauma to the UK means that as a society we cannot afford to ignore the statistics that show that Black and Brown communities have been disproportionately impacted by COVID as well as the MBRRACE-UK Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care report which highlighted that “Black women are five times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than white women”. These statistics show a deeper fracture with regards to racial inequality than British society would like to admit. With rebuttals such as “All lives matter” and that issues of racism are not as bad as in the U.S, it seems that Black and Brown communities are constantly being gaslighted into believing that everything is in their imagination and that the delineations of what racism actually is have been set by white people who would never have been on the receiving end of this particular type of discrimination. Anti-racism work has had a resurgence and it would seem that since the findings of Sir William Macpherson’s report in 1999 which showed evidence of systemic racism being present in all institutions, namely the Metropolitan police, nothing much has changed. We are still seeing statistics which show a higher proportion of Black men being targeted for stop and search and a higher number of Black people dying in police custody. But how does all of this feed into education, I hear you ask, and more specifically Early Years education? Well what is key to remember here is that the children that we care for are a part of these communities and families. They are impacted by the wider traumas of the societies that they are a part of, and the intersections of where their identities sit mean that the Early Years workforce must be equipped to not only be familiar with these wider issues, but also not shy away from how these things become an integral part of an anti-racist practice that must become embedded within Early Years practice if we are really going to commit to being part of the solution, and not the problem. I am somewhat spirited by what I am seeing by way of dialogue being opened up with regards to anti-racism within the Early Years sector, but I am not under any illusion. There is still an enormous amount of work to be done and many have been doing this work in the sector long before me. As a former nursery manager who worked for sixteen years managing one of three settings owned by my mother who has had her businesses since the late 1980’s, I have first-hand experience witnessing the systemic racism of the local authorities and the regulatory bodies. I recognise that other Black owned nursery settings who came before my mother such as Marcus Garvey Day Nursery which was run by the Harambee Housing Association in Birmingham also had similar experiences. The work of activists, Early Years trainers and scholars such as Dr Stella Louis, Jane Lane, Laura Henry, Professor Iram Siraj OBE, Haki Kapasi and Babette Brown to name a few have done and continue to do “the work”. It is not lost on me that anti-racist work in the Early Years is legacy work which we will not see in our lifetime. I know that the foundations of work done today will pave progress for tomorrow. Over the past 4 months I have developed an online platform utilising the medium of social media, predominantly Instagram. My handle, The Black Nursery Manager has become an extension of my anti-racist training and consultancy business which focuses specifically on the Early Years sector. I have noticed that in that relative short time I have curated nearly 5k followers, predominantly white and predominantly women who are either parents or people who work within the sector. They have been eagerly consuming the content that I provide which ranges from infographics that give guidance about how to make role play spaces more inclusive to reflective quotes which probe for deeper discussions in the comments. The most noticeable measure that I have used to gauge the impact of my work, has been that many of those people are booking on to the webinars I have been creating and delivering over the past 4 months, and the demand and feedback has been incredible. I am able to clearly see that there is a shift happening in the consciousness of white practitioners to want to, in the words of writer Emma Dabiri “ move their allyship into coalition” and implement practical changes in their educational environments to ensure that the antiracist thread is running all the way through the fabric of their practice. One of the most common questions I am asked on my platform is how to open up conversations about race with children under 5, and of course this is very expansive and hinges on a range of factors including what is the race of the child?, what is the race of the adult?, what is the relationship between the two? But for the purposes of the readership of this publication I am going to provide some guidance in the form of 4 tips aimed at white practitioners for pre-school aged children 3 to 4 years old: 1. Children are inquisitive You work with children, so it is no surprise to you that they are inquisitive by nature and they always want to know why? As tiresome as the repetition of this simple question may be, we must equip ourselves with some response and that may be one of two things. A directive for them to go and investigate to find out, for example: Child: “Chloe, is that water warm or cold” Practitioner: “Put your hand in and find out” or it might be: Child: “Chloe, why is your skin pink and my skin’s brown?” At this point what is your response? As a range of things go through your mind it may totally shock you and you become flustered but it is precisely at this point that you must answer this with the ease you would as if it was the question about the temperature of the water and your response must be calm, casual and positive. For example: Practitioner: “Well, in the world there are lots of different skin colours they are all really lovely! Some people are brown, some people are pink, some people are darker brown” And in line with being in the moment I would use this as an opportunity to go to your resources and start an extension activity for expressive arts and design. A simple self portraits activity. We will explore this more in tip 4. 2. Exercise your anti-racist muscles If you, as a white practitioner, are not personally equipped to talk about race then you are not going to be able to bring anything by way of preparation to the setting. Your anti-racist muscle needs to be exercised and this is where your own CPD comes in. Read, read, read and read. There is a range of material that has been produced for you to access as well as courses to attend (my own for a start on the 26th October) but you must be engaged with this material to strengthen your practice. Some of my top recommendations would be How to Be an Antiracist- Ibram X.Kendi The Good Immigrant – Edited by Nikesh Shukla This Book is Anti-Racist – Tiffany Jewell White fragility – Robin Di’Angelo 3. Move away from perfectionism In her book, Me and White Supremacy, Layla F. Saad talks about perfectionism and the desire to always get things right when it comes to talking about race. Do not let your fear of getting things wrong silence you into not having conversations about race, because it is the most dangerous thing to do, especially when it comes to addressing racist incidents. Whether that be with co-workers or between the children, you cannot afford to turn a blind eye because you’re scared of getting it wrong. Here’s a secret…we all get things wrong because we’re human but getting things wrong and being corrected is an integral part of learning. After all this is what we encourage children to do, make mistakes and learn from them. That is the same stance that you must take when it comes to anti-racism, and if a Black or non-Black person of colour corrects you on terminology do not move into a state of fragility, accept it, correct it and move on. 4. Use your resources Inclusive and diverse resources that reflect the society and world that we live in are an integral part of any Early Years environment. Of course, your anti-racist work does not start and end with having a few Black dolls but think carefully about how those Black dolls are played with by the children and observe how often they are selected, think about how you as a practitioner model playing with those dolls. Dr Stella Louis talks about how we must move past noticing and into observing, as noticing is passive and means that we miss the small things that are a big part of how children are making sense of the world. When we observe we pay close attention to the many small things that children do and are able to assist them and extend their learning opportunities based on what we know they are showing us. This is the start of something as a seismic shift is happening within our society. Time has been halted for us to a degree as the lockdown season has forced us to stop and take note. Let us not waste this opportunity in the Early years to be better and do better by those children who need our understanding, advocacy and a real and deep consideration of anti-racist practice. You can sign up to Liz's course, mentioned in the article, following the link here.

‘By patient listening to the talk of even little children and watching what they do…we can wish their wishes, see their pictures and think their thoughts’ (Isaacs, 1971). Susan Isaacs believed that detailed knowledge about a child came from observation. She produced record cards for teachers to use in their classrooms, designed to build up a picture of the whole child; encouraging teachers to enter the magical world of childhood, without interfering in it. Observation is about watching and listening to children’s expressions, actions and behaviours. It requires a sensitive and respectful approach to each child’s activity. More importantly, it requires an attitude of openness, with little expectation of what you might observe about the child. In short, this means disposing of those lists of outcomes, learning intentions or targets that only offer a flavour of what each child is capable of. Children do, say, and know so much more and we owe it to them to capture this learning and development in a meaningful way so that we can best plan for their future learning experiences. You may often be surprised at a child’s capabilities if you remain open, and not focused on looking for evidence to tick off a particular learning outcome. The aim of observation is to know each child sufficiently well so that you can provide a developmentally appropriate curriculum, rich in resources and interactions with their peers and with interested adults. We need to know: · What interests them and which activities they favour over others · How they respond to an activity of their own choosing, or one that has been adult-led · How they interact and build relationships with other children and with adults · Their approach to investigating new learning · How their views of the world are expanding · How their physical skills are developing · How their knowledge is building Justine Howard, in the 4th edition of Mary Sheridan’s seminal work, explains clearly her reasons for creating high quality observations. This new edition builds on Sheridan’s work, focusing on the value of detailed observation for understanding key elements of children’s development: ‘Sheridan’s observations of children’s spontaneous play were invaluable in providing practitioners with an insight into the development of ‘real children in real situations’, allowing the reader to enrich their theoretical knowledge and validate their own experiences.’ Having a sound understanding of child development is the backbone of any early years teacher’s work. Without such knowledge, we cannot effectively provide the resources, experiences and interactions which each unique child needs to continue his or her learning. Howard’s book is essential reading. Similarly, Pikler’s observational approach, as described by Manning-Morton and Marlen (2020), emphasises the importance of quality observations of children. Dr Emmi Pikler (1902-1984), a Viennese-born paediatrician, worked after WW11 at the Loczy Institute in Budapest. The authors explain Pikler’s primary motivation was to use observation as a tool to better understand each detail of the infant’s growth, action and expression. Her ethos was always to look for the child’s ‘competence’ which contrasts with our current model of observation and assessment: largely deficit models arising from a ticklist approach, comparing children’s attainment to pre-determined learning outcomes. ‘Observation of the nature of a child’s movement is seen to give insight into their personal and emotional state and how they relate to others. The purpose of observation is also to build the relationship through developing and retaining the practitioner’s interest in the child and to reflect on and refine their approach’. (Manning-Morton & Marlen, 2020) At Loczy, observation is seen as worthless if it is not discussed. At regular meetings with a senior pedagogue, staff discuss their observations of children’s skills, behaviours and actions. Staff are trained to develop focused observation skills and to reflect upon each child’s unique learning journey. ‘Documentation is not about finding answers, but generating questions.’ (Filippini in Turner & Wilson, 2010) Documenting children’s learning is a process: collecting, interpreting and reflecting upon a child’s learning and development. In addition to informing parents and carers about their child’s learning journey, documentation can help to plan appropriate next steps and learning opportunities for each child. It can also serve as an effective assessment tool without the need for ticklists of expected learning outcomes which often reduce the curriculum and diminish teachers’ freedom to provide an exciting, stimulating age-appropriate learning environment. Documentation developed in the 1970s and 80s in Reggio Emilia. Turner and Wilson (2010) identify one of the important aspects of documenting children’s learning: ‘Pedagogical documentation invites us to be curious and to wonder with others about the meaning of events to children. We become co-learners together; focusing on children’s expanding understanding of the world as we interpret that understanding with others.’ Pedagogical documentation inserts a new phase of thinking and wondering together between the act of observation and the act of planning a response. ‘Rather than looking for what is known through assessment, pedagogical documentation invites the creativity, surprise and delight of educators who discover the worlds of children.’ Sharing our observations of children’s learning with our colleagues helps us all to listen to other viewpoints: other teachers may have an alternative view or aspect of a child’s learning that we may not have considered. By reflecting on our different experiences with a child, and our varying knowledge about the child’s dispositions, interests and skills, we strengthen our professional partnerships and open ourselves up to new understandings. * Observation is not simply a retelling of what a child did or said, although this is the start of the process. High quality documentation offers a deeper understanding and insight into what and how the child is thinking, feeling, interested in, and how their world view is expanding. Once we have this information, and we have shared our knowledge about the child with others, we are in a much better position to respond to that information and to provide exactly what the child needs to sustain his/her enjoyment in learning and to make progress. Turner and Wilson explain: ‘It is when we have made children’s thoughts, feelings, and values visible that we can study the meaning of events to children, offering our thoughts collaboratively so that our own understanding widens, deepens, and takes in multiple perspectives. This process of group study of educators’ attempts to make children’s thinking and feeling visible is what makes documentation pedagogical. Documentation becomes pedagogical because the group study of documentation teaches educators ways that children learn, and ways that adults read children’s learning’. Te Whariki The national curriculum of New Zealand, published in 1996, was a result of the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum Development project, co-directed by Margaret Carr. Her seminal work on Learning Stories has been the fundamental text for exploring how to create effective pedagogical documentation: how learning stories are created, what they are used for, and how they impact teaching and learning. ‘The crucial stages of noticing, recognising, and responding reflect the three components of a learning story as narrative observation, analysis of learning, and planning for future learning. As a teacher or practitioner, you notice many things when working with a child, you recognize and identify some of what you have observed as learning and develop your response to that learning. This means not just describing children’s confidence or participation, but what they have learned in terms of what has changed in their dispositions, behaviours, skills, knowledge, or language. Valuing children’s resourcefulness, creativity, problem-solving and curiosity’. (The Education Hub) Learning stories are not just one lengthy observation, but are multiple narratives created from observations, which create a cumulative picture about a child’s learning. They are observations that are reinterpreted as stories, then analysed and used for planning the most appropriate learning opportunities for each child. The Education Hub describes the process: ‘Developing stories over time and space (in other words, linking separate stories…) enables assessment documentation to show the development of dispositions in different situations, and enables better understanding of the learner in action….Assessment in early childhood needs to reflect the complexity of children’s learning and development, and this doesn’t come via a predetermined list of outcomes children are expected to achieve. Less standardized forms of assessment are often the most appropriate for assessing complex learning in context’. In addition to describing a child’s activity, learning stories also provide information about the environment and interpersonal interactions that the child encounters. As The Education Hub states, ‘Stories might say as much about teaching as they do about learning, and therefore they can provide a source of evaluation of teaching’, especially when used in the process of collective reflection with staff colleagues’. How to move away from ticking statements of expected learning and development Over the last few years, the pressure on staff to write numerous observations of each child, regularly and frequently, accompanied by ticking learning outcomes (for example, Development Matters statements) that were never designed for such a purpose, has really brought some early years staff to their knees. Now is the time to address the ticklist problem; we have a new inspection framework (September 2019), new educational programmes for 2020/2021 and new early learning goals (ELGs) for the end of Reception summative assessment. We can now simplify the observations process, whilst still curating useful information about each child’s learning needs and sharing those with parents and carers. A simple system is required that is effective in taking the children’s learning forwards, without being an onerous task. So, let’s once and for all make those ticklists a thing of the past! Nancy Stewart’s article has been cited time and again by many professionals in the sector attempting to drive the move against the relentless, misunderstood expectations that ticking Development Matters statements is the only way to know where the children are in their learning and development. Or what their next steps should be. In most cases these next steps have simply been identified as the next statement on the list, rather than one identified from an in-depth understanding of each child’s level of development and their current interests. Now we have a new Development Matters document (non-statutory guidance for September 2021), we can still eschew any version of it becoming yet another ticklist to demonstrate progress. Easier said than done, as we can all predict that someone, somewhere, will think that that is a requirement and start the process all over the again. We do have the choice whether or not to follow it, but the pressure can be immense, particularly if senior leadership teams demand numerical data as proof of progress. If we really think about what we need from an observation, we can avoid the ticklist approach to assessment. What teachers and practitioners need is a simple narrative describing what the children can do now. And the best way to create meaningful observations is twofold: · to learn what you’re looking for when you’re observing the children · to make observations something you do as a natural part of your work, not as an add-on Observations of children’s development and preferences should not take up so much staff time that the fundamental purpose of children attending your setting is compromised. Children need attentive, engaged teachers and practitioners who know each child very well and understand how to support their future learning - by spending the vast majority of their time talking and playing with the children. Dr. Julian Grenier, lead author on Development Matters (2020) has explained how early years staff can use the new guidance, without falling back into the ticklist assessment process. Watch his video presentation here. Remember the guidance available to you, among others, is the revised EYFS which becomes statutory in September (2021), the new Development Matters, and Birth to 5 Matters. In the next articles in this series, we’ll be examining what to look for when you are observing children, and how to create meaningful, effective observations. Without a ticklist in sight. You can read Part 2 here. And Part 3 here. * Using an online learning journal to record observations of children’s learning can create a simple and effective platform for reflecting on each child’s learning and sharing our own perspectives. Staff can offer their own perspectives on the children’s learning and the whole process becomes a unifying, group activity. Tapestry’s Reflections feature offers an effective tool to share the learning and development of their children with colleagues, to reflect on them, and to plan for their future experiences.

About the Role of a SENCo The role of a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) is always interesting and impossible to explain succinctly. Everyone has an idea about the role of a teacher but that’s only a small part of a SENCo’s job. The breadth of the role is specific to the school you are in and the needs of your children. Relationships are key to the role (as with teaching) but for a SENCo the reach is wider: you need to develop positive relationships with the children, staff, parents, outside agencies, governors, and leadership teams so that you can achieve and maintain support for children. In the early days I also learned that part of my role was to manage expectations for children, parents and professionals. At this point I have a big confession – I am a rescuer. If I can see a way of making things easier for someone, I will do it. This is how I became so interested in Special Needs. I was fascinated by how I could help this group of children to achieve, to discover their barriers and help to overcome them and to celebrate with them when they did well. However, as SENCo I soon realised people come from many directions. Some staff expected me to teach all the SEND children or to have interventions that removed them from class; some children expected me to be with them all the time and struggled to share that time with others; some parents expected their child to have every intervention possible and to get an EHCP. And I really don't like disappointing people. The biggest part of my job was to develop relationships with our whole school community, to be visible, and to chip away at misconceptions; to deliver workshops and CPD for all staff to explain our provision and my role within it; and all the while continuing to nurture those core relationships. As a rescuer, I find it challenging to maintain a strategic view, but this is a crucial part of the SENCo role. We need to have a clear vision for SEND children in our schools. This means having an overview of the interventions in place and their impact; monitoring progress of individuals; maintaining the SEND register so that we can target the interventions effectively; having oversight of the budget; planning professional development around SEND; providing progress data and analysis to the Local Authority and Governors (and OfSTED when they visit); keeping up to date with statutory paperwork and making all the necessary referrals; supporting teachers to implement programmes or recommendations from outside agencies; and developing consistent transition routines for our vulnerable children. It is a broad and varied role, which is why it is important to maintain that strategic view for your school. There are also the hands-on and practical elements: supporting colleagues with specific needs; ensuring the ‘assess, plan, do, review’ process is happening; working with parents and staff to make EHCP applications; responding within timescales to consultations; liaising with parents and providing support for parents; liaising with outside agencies; being in the playground to meet and greet children and provide soft starts to manage transitions; leading small interventions and assessments: maintaining the staff appraisals process for support staff; ensuring there are consistent visuals being used across the school; and providing SEMH support (THRIVE) for children and staff. Since 2014, SENCos are required to hold a professional MA level qualification, involving research and two academic papers, which I completed in March. That’s how my role looked before March 2020. What happened in Lockdown? In 48 hours, this was all turned on its head. Face to face relationships with outside agencies, each of them reeling from the changes, were now conducted at arm's-length through phone calls/ virtual meetings. These agencies took the opportunity to catch up on report writing and send them to me, and I learned how to ‘Zoom’ and ’Skype’ so that meetings with the Local Authority could still go ahead and new EHCPs could be issued. I phoned and emailed children and families, inviting them in as part of our vulnerable group and planning the additional support they would need. I completed risk assessments for children in school or at home and provided information to the Local Authority and DfE on which children were attending and what actions we were taking to encourage those who weren’t. I continued to write referrals and collated information on any Mental Health and Wellbeing support available to parents, posting it on our website and emailing it to families. I responded to emails from parents, many of whom were experiencing high anxiety and finding the situation very challenging, offering them daily support. I worked with SLT to coordinate the staff team effort to stay connected to our children using video and postcards. With some vulnerable and Key Worker children in school, we covered staff breaks, did the admin in the absence of office staff, staying open over the holidays so there was provision in place for the children who needed it. Parents, children, and staff were scared. My role was to reassure, to let them know ‘we are still here’ and offer consistent, calm support. As we welcomed more children back to school, I was involved in the planning of the additional safeguards, routines and signs for everyone to follow. We set up the school during the May half term to ensure everything was ready for the increasing number of children and staff on site. Our staff have been amazing, and my Head and Deputy have been strong and supportive in their relentless determination to do the best we can for our children. Our Deputy learned how to set up a blog for our school community and we all learned to ‘Loom’ to put the content on so children could see us and stay connected. The announcement of the wider opening brought its own challenges. It raised expectations of parents, who are living in challenging circumstances, with their SEND children at home. Despite everything we had done, some parents were frustrated when we couldn’t meet their expectations. Not all schools were able to open to Yr6, Yr1 and Reception and Nursery children and meet the social distancing guidelines. Some parents were anxious and didn’t want their children to attend, and some parents were simply exhausted and needed to vent. For many families, the pandemic has highlighted the lack of resources in SEND nationally and they needed someone to talk to. But there were some truly golden moments: children who flourished in the small group situation in school, parents who really appreciated how hard our staff were working; ‘Kindness photos’ sent in by families to cheer people up; sometimes just the cheery waves and smiles from everyone in school as they navigated the madness. September 2020 and beyond... Although it has been a steep learning curve, we were in a good position for September. We had to think creatively about our transition processes. We sent photos, inviting children (who weren’t attending) in after school to have a tour of the school and see all the changes and posting welcome videos from new teachers. More was done in the week before the children returned to nurture those relationships. Whole school opening brings its own risks because of the number of people on site. However, we have developed plans in line with guidance, including staggered starts, ends and breaks. Cleaning regimes were all in place for term 6 so this is becoming the norm for staff, and more children will become involved. It will be a team effort, and our whole school community will need to work together to keep each other safe. Communication will continue to be vital in managing the emotions of families, which range from thinking all the safeguards are ridiculous to wanting really strict safeguards in place. The most important part of welcoming our children back is making sure they feel safe. We know they won’t be able to learn without this. This is particularly important for our children with SEND who may communicate their fears in very different ways, and our team are alert to this and focused on wellbeing. Children need space to air their worries and experiences in their own way when they are ready. My team and I are in the playground in the mornings and provide soft starts for those who need it. I am also maintaining contact with children who are not able to return. We now have an established online system and we post weekly videos for those children based around THRIVE activities. Creativity and gratitude are so important to the recovery process for the whole school community. We have a real opportunity to continue to build on the relationships we had to nurture in different ways during lockdown. We know we can adapt and rise to the occasion. The Autumn term will be busy, but never dull!

Labels are certainly useful. Baking a chocolate cake would be slightly hazardous if we did not know which tin contained the cocoa powder and which one the gravy browning. The results could be deadly if the local pharmacy received all their drugs in unlabelled boxes. Labels can be very powerful, especially when linked to clever marketing. It always fascinates me that some young children who show no interest in text or any signs of readiness for reading can often recognise words such as McDonalds or Tesco. Labels can be dangerous. As adults we often trust sources of information when they have particular labels on them and this can lead to trouble when these labels are used by fraudsters. Labels can be mysterious. How often do we long to see what is behind the fence of an area labelled keep out? How much do we long to know the content of a letter or document which is marked strictly confidential? Labels can be life-saving. None of us would readily open a container labelled as hazardous waste. It keeps us safe to have a swimming pool labelled at points with its depth. Labels can be comforting. Many of us stick for years to the same tried and tested brands and panic when they are no longer available. It can raise our confidence levels at an event to be wearing a particular brand of clothing that we think suits us. Labels are, of course, linked to our use of language and are very influential. From professionally created brand names to the everyday use of adjectives, labels can shape how we use and think about things. Think about a street where two families live next door to a household with three large dogs. On one side the adults describe them as ‘lovely dogs’ and are happy to let their children stroke them and throw toys for them to retrieve. The neighbours on the other side have little experience of dogs and they tell their young children to keep away from the ‘scary dogs’. The young children of that family are nervous about walking past the house and cower when the dogs start barking. Both families are describing the same dogs, but the children will grow up with different views not just of their neighbours’ dogs, but very possibly of all dogs well into their lifetime. Labels, however, are not only applied to objects but very often are applied to people – sometimes by themselves and sometimes by others. Sometimes these labels are applied intentionally and sometimes unintentionally but they will influence how others perceive us and how we feel about ourselves. Labels can improve our self-confidence or can weigh us down with depressing baggage. Those of us who work with young children need to bear this in mind on a daily basis. Young children are impressionable and some of the ways we think about ourselves as children are extremely difficult to reframe as we get older. It is very easy to inadvertently label children as we speak to colleagues and, while we may not apply this labelling directly with children, it will impact the way we work as a team, communicating with them and their families. Whilst it is important to be careful about the language we use with and in front of children, we are also in a position where we can encourage them to take on positive labels for themselves and discourage them from taking on board the negative. As children we would recite the old adage, ‘sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me’, but I think we all realised, deep down, that this was not true. It is misleading and we should never under-estimate the effect that words can have. One of the labels that I carried around for a very long time was ‘accident prone’. It still follows me today, just a few weeks ago on a family walk my mother was trying to make my son feel better about breaking something by telling him how many cups and glasses I broke as a child. As I developed through adulthood I gradually began to realise that this was something that did not really define me. The label had led to the idea becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy. I began to understand that small accidents and incidents that would have been forgotten if they happened to someone else began to become part of my story and narrative that backed up the ‘clumsy’ label. As an educationalist I came to understand that all children can have periods of clumsiness as they grow and develop through different phases. As an adult I wasn’t particularly prone to breaking things and could work, decorate, sew and play sports with adequate control and dexterity. I would like to point out that this label was never applied to me in a cruel way and was part of humorous family conversations. However, I do think that on reflection, there are things that I am slightly hesitant about carrying out and things I am nervous about handling because of the long term impact of being labelled ‘accident prone’. On the other hand, there have been times when I have used this part of my narrative to my advantage in training or social situations. When I have needed an amusing anecdote about myself, it has come in handy to quickly be able to recall when I fell in a coal hole, almost sunk a boat and accidently drilled a hole in the classroom table! I am concerned at some of the labels that are being used for children and young people in the current crisis. I am worried that being described as the “Covid generation’, the generation who need to ‘catch up’, or the group who ‘missed school’ will impact on how they perceive themselves as learners. I am not saying that the pandemic has not had a detrimental impact on the education of our young, but I am certain that, with the right support, the experience of these past few months does not need to define who they are and what they can achieve. We somehow need to help them to look at what potential they have and not focus solely on what they have missed. We need to find a rhetoric which motivates them to identify and seize the possibilities and opportunities in life. Using appropriate labels to describe groups of children and learners has always been problematic, precisely because we want to avoid a situation where it leads to them feeling like they have failed in some way or are not as successful as others in their peer group. Terms such as ‘remedial’ and ‘lower set’ have been replaced with phrases such as ‘catch up’, ‘closing the gap’ and ‘support groups’. Nonetheless, I think we need to ask ourselves constantly whether the language we are using is still suitable. In the early years many of us have used the term ‘emerging’ rather than ‘below expected’ because it feels kinder and indicates that progress is being made. However, after a while any phrase begins to carry with it connotations, and we need to re-evaluate the words we use on a regular basis. In my view, the standards agenda that has been prominent in our education system has led to an increase in negative labelling. Testing and measuring at the level that currently happens encourages competition and leaves us trying to find ways to describe those who are reaching goals and those who are not. As the EYFS undergoes reform, I very much welcome the move back to trusting professional judgement and the move away from reliance on data driven assessment. This will take time to embed, and practitioners will need opportunities for excellent professional development to build both their understanding of child development and confidence in their own judgements. It is my great hope that the early years sector will become awash with professionals who are experts in observational assessment and who are able to identify the amazing things that all children can do. On reflection, whilst the use of appropriate and positive language matters greatly, it is not going to make a difference on its own. With a real change of viewpoint and approach we can give all children the support needed to achieve, not by looking at what they can’t do, but by looking at each individual and recognising their differing strengths and starting points. We can then build on what children know and introduce them to new ideas, skills and knowledge in a timely manner which is appropriate to their own rate of growth and development. Surely, this could put us in a position where we are not spending as much effort struggling to find words or phrases to label those who do not meet the requirements of the standard norm and instead dedicate that time to truly enriching the lives and educational experience of this ‘covid capable-generation’. Leslie Patterson Educational Consultant Finding the Magic in the Early Years