Jules

In advance of reading first words, there is so much pre-reading learning that needs to take place. For very young children, or those with additional needs, it’s important that you think about how best to interest your child in the concept of ‘books’ so that when the time comes for formalising their skills, they are truly engaged. It is never too early to begin sharing books with your child. In the initial stages, the process is much more about physical closeness, warmth, soothing and ultimately building relationships. I used to find reading my ‘Boxing News’ magazine aloud to my baby had dual benefits – he was calm and settled and I got to catch up on the latest action! As your child develops, they will generally be more interested in the visuals and increasingly the textures and ‘feel’ of books. The introduction of the ‘That’s not my…’ series of books 20 years ago has been instrumental in changing the mindset of what books for very young children and those with additional needs can achieve (they have now sold over 20 million copies worldwide!). From this stage, typically developing children will likely go on to enjoy listening to short stories, maybe even supporting with turning the pages. You may be asked to read the same book literally hundreds of times! It is sometimes hard for us to grasp how a child doesn’t become bored of the same story, but I find it a useful reminder of the importance of repetition in learning. As a parent of two young children, I try to never say no to two things - a request for a story, or a request for fruit & veg (even if dinner is ready in 5 minutes). The ideas that follow are for the children who aren’t yet ready for the sharing of a story in a typical sense. They might not want to sit down to listen to a story, the likelihood being, they don’t see the benefit – or they might feel that it’s much more interesting to continue with what they were doing already. How can we engage these children in story time? 1) Sensory stories – on the previously mentioned topic of textures in books, sensory stories provide more than just visual and auditory stimulus. Texture in books is one thing but imagine how much fun a story about rain would be if you were also covering your child with water from a sprayer? Or how much more interesting would a story about baking be if the ingredients were actually there to smell and taste. The best bit is, you don’t need to wait around for the perfect rain or baking themed story to land – just create your own! This isn’t as crazy a suggestion as you might first think: let your imagination run free; think of your child in particular - what would they really like to hear? I challenge you to have a go - it’s easier than you think. 2) Personalised stories – following on from the theme, this is where we consider a child’s interests and create a story just for them. Don’t worry about presentation – I promise your child will love your illustrations. You could spend a few pounds on a laminator if you are going to give this a proper go – you can usually get one for £20-ish these days. This way your stories will last much longer. I find the best starting point for personalised stories is familiar photographs. Very young children and those with additional needs are massively interested in the people who are closest to them. There doesn’t even need to be a story line – the book could just be called ‘All About Me’ or ‘This Is My Daddy’. You could add photos, familiar smells, materials to feel (the story might have a bag alongside it that you pull items from – this is Daddy’s shirt, it smells of Daddy’s aftershave etc). If you laminate a few pages, you could hole punch them and add string. This could be a good way to introduce page turning. Alternatively, you can just sit down together and look at some familiar photographs and talk about the people/things that are in them. Often children just want to hear the calmness in your voice as you sit together – even if they don’t understand the actual words. 3) Massage stories – The Story Massage Programme (https://www.storymassage.co.uk/the-story-massage-programme/) is a brilliant concept that works really well for children with significant learning needs, or young children. The storyteller uses repetitive movements on the child’s body as they tell the story. There are many pre-written examples but again, there is an opportunity to create stories that your child would be interested in. These stories are great for children who find it hard to sit still for a book or have lots of energy. The calming nature of the massage means that they are often able to sit for longer and partake in a story session. There are some nice examples online that you can follow, so you can just focus on the actual massage initially rather than trying to read at the same time. 4) Musical books – there’s nothing new about books that make sounds, but as with anything, improved technology means that they no longer need to take the same form as they used to. One of my baby daughter’s particular favourites at the minute is this: Each page has imagery related to a famous piece of classical music, and the little foil buttons to activate the songs are very subtle within the page. This has meant that over recent months, my daughter has initially enjoyed having the buttons pressed for her, but now enjoys the challenge of finding the button and activating the music herself. Even better, if you press the button again the song stops – brilliant for cause and effect and early cognition skills. One additional bonus of a book of this type is that it increases the likelihood of your 4-year-old son saying something pretentious like ‘my favourite song is Spring by Vivaldi’ which happened in our home last week. A final perk of this style of book is that they are often board books and so are hard-wearing. As with any aspect of learning for young children, if they aren’t engaging, it’s well worth trying something different until they do. If you keep forcing a ‘story time’ that isn’t interesting and might actually become upsetting, then it will make it even harder to engage with books further down the line. See if you can give some of these ideas a go.

P.S. How are your family? What have you accomplished? This was part of a message that I received from one of my students. Home learning had begun, and it seemed that even though Ofsted had gone, I was still under scrutiny! I love working with children, they get straight to the point – there is an honesty and spontaneity about the way they communicate that I had been missing terribly since we embarked on our home learning journey. Home learning had its challenges and I was desperately trying to keep up with the steep learning curve. Receiving this message made me reflect on how our students feel all the time: a feeling of being measured, and I wanted them to be free from this in these challenging times. The build up to the decision to close schools had been an emotional one. The week before had seen attendance steadily dwindling and worried looks on the children’s faces as they noticed the empty seats. As a team, we had worked hard to manage the situation and, as is so often the case, I had been impressed with the children’s responses. On the penultimate day, one boy with ASD had calmly said that he thought we should clear out our trays. And so, with heavy hearts, together we sorted his classmates’ drawers. Some children were already self-isolating due to sickness or vulnerabilities within the family and another child in the class had asked if they could deliver those children’s belongings to their doorsteps: the volunteering had already begun. They had led the gradual closing and shown such kindness to each other along the way without having any idea when we would be together again. When I started my new job, one of the tasks I had been nervous about was the weekly blog. My IT skills are notoriously lacking, and it took me a while to get used to the new format. Little did I know that once home learning began this would become one of the best parts of my day. Steadily, my IT skills have improved (though there is still a lot to learn) and in a world where everyone is making up a new way of teaching I have found that I really enjoy blogging – it is the main way I keep connected with my class, and how I remember the date! This is what it has always been about for me – keeping connected. We are physically isolated, socially distanced, and keeping us together has been my priority. The blog started as a daily chat with little tasks to do that concentrated on getting the families involved and responding. In class we have always prioritised the well-being of our children and as we moved towards, and embraced, home learning this became even more important. I set activities that were linked to our ‘Mindful Journals’; three things to feel grateful for, remembering good times and finding the funny. Gradually the structure has evolved. All our families have been sent a curriculum overview for the topic and we are now posting weekly overviews on a Friday so they can read the suggested activities and prepare, ready for the week ahead. Our blogs give each family a daily structure with suggested activities and examples of work that will hopefully inspire them. We have researched games on the Internet, reading resources and topical information that can be easily accessed and engage the families. Now, more than ever before, we really have to try and get the whole family involved: it would be wonderful if families felt even more connected to their school community after this experience. From the beginning the aim has been for the majority of our children to be able to read the information on the blog independently. For those with special educational needs we have produced, with the support of our SENCo, home learning plans (like IEPs) that offer differentiated activities. For me, the blog should be a place where the children can ‘hear’ my voice and feel like we are in the classroom together, learning alongside each other. I am hopeful that the plans that we have adapted can still be used in the future and I have loved researching topics that are more relevant to home learning. Not all our families are posting on the blogs, but the majority are reading them and appreciating the contact and support, and in turn it has become a support for me. Like lots of people, I have sought structure for my day to help shape it and occupy my mind. Thinking of ideas for the blog that will make my class smile and learn has helped me, too. Receiving their messages has truly brightened my day. I am so excited to hear from a child in my class, knowing they are safe and well. Another highlight of my week is when I go into school and get to see some of the children. We are all on a rota, with the team and days changing each week. I really look forward to my time at school. The first few days were eerily quiet, as only the children from keyworker and vulnerable families are asked to attend, meaning up to 13 children in a space designed for many more. It is less eerie now as we get used to the ‘new norm’. We always start the day with Joe Wicks and then, depending on numbers, separate into Key Stages, coming together for break and lunch. The aim is to follow the activities that the children have been set on their blog, though often the children are keen to chat and catch up with us. The staff have all given this priority and find that once the children are settled the other learning begins naturally. In the afternoon we often do activities together and these moments have been truly magical. This week I watched as an older child took it upon himself to read to the younger children, their faces completely engaged as he did all the actions and made them laugh. Last week it was one of the children’s birthdays, and she very sweetly asked if we could have a party in the afternoon. Of course we said yes and the afternoon was spent preparing games like pass the parcel (we all had to make a piece of wrapping paper), a playlist for musical statues and musical chairs, we even managed to get a cake. Watching the children aged 4 - 11 playing these games together was very special and the birthday girl was over the moon. I feel very honoured to be part of these precious moments. At times, the formal learning has to stop as children share their concerns and frustrations, but through it all they have remained supportive of each other and it feels like we are all in it together. So now the media focus is on when we will return to school, and I am unsettled by this. No-one really knows what the return will look or feel like. I cannot imagine teaching with a face mask on. How will they know I am smiling? My daughter says they will be able to see it in my eyes. How will we keep them socially distanced? Do I really want to be policing these strange unnatural rules that contradict so many theories of well-being? But then I stop myself from spinning and think of all that has changed so far, of all that has become the ‘new norm’ and how we have all adapted to such extraordinary times. Yesterday, I had a reassuring conversation with our Advisory Head about the plans they are already making ready for our return. The children will all be sent postcards and given the opportunity to reply with what they are looking forward to about coming back to school and what they are concerned about. Their voice will be heard. I shall probably take the lead from them when we return. I’m sure they will have very strong opinions on how it should be done! They have certainly helped me over the past six weeks. P.S. How are your family? What have you accomplished? To answer my student’s questions: we are alright, we are muddling through, even laughing and enjoying parts of these strange times. We have our ups and downs but there have been some accomplishments along the way: cakes have been baked, books have been read, gardens tended, films watched, and daily walks made together. But I think the main thing that we will have accomplished is staying connected with our family, friends, and our community. When we do return to school, I hope that we will have had an honest, shared experience that we can grow from. Every day of this ‘new norm’ has been a learning day for me. The learning experiences have been varied and each one has been immensely valuable. I hope that this time will encourage us to treasure every type of learning and move away from the increasing obsession with targets and constant measuring of attainment. It will be interesting to reflect on what was considered ‘essential’ during these times, and what school communities have missed most while we have been apart.

The National Curriculum for Music states that: “Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity, and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.” (DfE, 2014) Yet, when the word ‘Music’ is uttered in schools, it is often followed by an echo of groans by other teachers. It is one of those subjects that staff often find daunting to teach unless they have a background in it. Not anymore! Armed with some research, a musical background, an apprehensive set of colleagues and a little bit of trial an error, I have managed to improve the teaching and learning at my school. I want to start by explaining that music has a vital part to play in a child’s brain development. Research has shown that being exposed to and participating in music is thought to improve motor skills, language, Reading and Maths, with some studies even showing it can help to increase SAT scores. I believe the most important tool Music can give children is confidence. Confidence to perform, to believe in themselves and to succeed. To begin revamping your Music curriculum, the first step is to truly understand how the staff feel about teaching Music. What do they know? What don’t they know? What do they need to know? You might be surprised! We started with a ‘pub quiz’ about musical phrases and whilst everyone began that staff meeting with the classic ‘oh, another staff meeting’ attitude, I found the room was soon filled with laughter and people were having fun – what music is all about! Whilst the staff at my school are some of the most talented teachers around, I discovered throughout the meeting that most were not particularly musical and because of this they lacked confidence. They were all very open about this, explaining that they found the language and technicality behind what was being asked very difficult to understand and they felt they lacked musical ability themselves. With their own apprehension came the prevention of allowing children to experience the wonder of music in their classrooms. So many children are not aware of the musical ability within them and it is our responsibility, as teachers, to try and nurture this innate talent and enthusiasm. Whilst my specialism lies in music, I am primarily a classroom teacher and so cannot be there to teach music across the school. I knew the staff needed support and it was just a case of finding a way to provide it. I began the task of finding an online platform that would enable the teaching team to feel confident about their own abilities. I needed a resource that had access to planning which teachers could use alongside songs and tasks, enabling them to get to terms with the language and ways to develop the curriculum in their year groups. This was important because the time that would have been spent on planning needed to be directly focused on pre-teaching themselves allowing them to build their own confidence before stepping out into the classroom. I also wanted something interactive, meaning it could be used on our smart boards with videos and games to engage the children - and most importantly it needed to be fun! Hours and hours of research later, I came across the software for us. I appreciate that schools have different budgets and priorities, but on discovering Collins Connect Music Express I felt it was a reasonable price with an annual subscription cost. Music Express is a fantastic resource. The format is easy to use and once you are logged in you are instantly on a screen with options to select lesson banks, song banks, warm ups, skill builders, instrumental resources and a glossary. The lesson banks are separated into year groups from Early Years – Year 6 and within these there are twelve topics. I feel strongly that Music should not be a stand-alone lesson each week. As adults, we use music in everyday life to relax, get excited, comfort us when we are sad, as a distraction, to dance to and it is also included in most things we participate in for pleasure. Music should be incorporated into the curriculum as much as possible, allowing both children and adults to experience it as part of their everyday learning. The topics on the software I chose all combine with other aspects of the curriculum. For example: ‘Pattern’ has a Maths link, ‘Story Time’ has an English link and ‘Animals’ has a Physical Education link. There are three lessons within each topic which are equipped with detailed lesson plans, interactive resources, and assessment sheets. One of the most beneficial parts of this scheme is the glossary section. Here, you can find a full list of all the musical terminology. Whilst I would recommend investing in a scheme for Music if you don’t have a specialist Music teacher, a glossary type document for staff to access would be beneficial in any Primary school setting and reasonably easy to create too. Whilst implementing a new scheme of work for the Music curriculum enabled the teachers to change their attitude, during this time I worked hard on altering the children’s mindsets too. Often, children associate Music with the singing assemblies they are involved in, where too often I have seen the same songs recycled through the years since I was at Primary School! I began by giving them a choice. I started the singing assemblies by using popular songs they loved, songs that were in the charts or their favourite films. Then, it was down to them. Every week I would allow the children from each year group who were participating with enthusiasm to pick the songs we would sing. What followed was magical. The children would leave the assemblies buzzing, dancing and singing with smiles on their faces – proving the research that shows singing provides your brain with a chemical release of endorphins, which make you happy. We have continued to learn modern songs, but now that I have their attention and they have a desire to learn, we have even given The Beatles a go! I appreciate that many schools lack space, but this school is large and had a room specifically for Music. However, it had become a storage space, full to the brim with unused furniture and old art projects. I spent hours clearing this out and explained to the children they would have their very own room for their music lessons, equipped with a brand-new interactive whiteboard and a range of instruments. The excitement began. To give the children additional musical motivation, I explained that some of them would have the opportunity to perform at ‘The Brighton Centre’, where many of their favourite musicians have played, as part of a Christmas concert. They couldn’t wait and I had many children turn up to audition for their place. I was able to select 20 children and we rehearsed every week. Additionally, they were lucky enough to have music specialists from the Local Authority come in to rehearse with them, teach them body percussion and inspire them. The whole performance was fantastic, with 1,500 children and 1,500 audience members. The children were absolutely amazed. The lasting memories offered by free, outside opportunities to learn music should not be underestimated. The feedback from staff, parents and children has been so encouraging and their support has helped the redevelopment of the music curriculum to be a success. While I had a background knowledge in music to help me implement these things, I truly believe these steps could be introduced by anyone. Music is no longer daunting for the adults to teach and many of them have confessed they enjoy the lessons as much as the children. The children are growing in confidence and beginning to thrive too. However, I don’t feel it is complete and there are many steps I would like to take to continue to improve our Music curriculum. I want to focus on the important link between Music and mental health, give children more opportunities to participate in Music outside the classroom and find new and exciting ways to continue to inspire the school.

Last week, the Department for Education (DfE) published tighter guidelines regarding financial support for Early Years providers during the COVID-19 crisis. In what appears to have been a collective interpretation by the sector on advice meant specifically for Early Years settings it was assumed that all nurseries and other providers would be able to access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, enabling them to furlough staff and cover 80% of their monthly wage, and also carry on receiving ‘free entitlement’ funding for children who are not attending their setting at the moment. The clarification of guidance came on Friday (17th April) via Coronavirus (COVID-19): financial support for education, early years and children’ social care. As well as examples showing where settings will not be allowed to furlough staff, this document also suggests that some providers will be unable to apply for the full amount of financial support to both the ‘free entitlement’ funding and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. It states that: No organisation should profit from the exceptional financial support available, and should therefore only access the support required. For example, organisations which continue to receive government funding should not furlough staff whose salaries that funding could typically be considered to fund, and therefore will not need access to the Coronavirus Job Retentions Scheme (CJRS). The suddenness of this clarification and its implications has left Early Years providers confused and angry. Neil Leitch, from the Early Years Alliance voiced the sector’s concerns: For early years providers across the country who have already struggled for years as a result of government underfunding, to be told weeks into this crisis that the support they were promised may be far less than they were led to believe is a complete kick in the teeth. What the government is proposing would have a devastating impact on childcare settings, and in the worst cases, could lead to permanent closures across the sector. After the initial shock of Friday’s announcement, we examined the figures. We took an example of a nursery with £50000 income per month who gain 90% of their fees through funded hours and 10% through private fees. Let’s say their wage bill is £25000 per month. They receive 90% of fees from the local authority, as usually, providing an income of £45000. If they are then allowed to furlough all staff they receive £20000 of furlough payments. The nursery has a 20% reduction in its wage bill and has received £65000 through funding and the CJRS. Breaking these figures down like this, we begin to see why the government sought to tighten guidance on a scheme whereby settings are potentially benefiting substantially, at a time when the economy as a whole is under unprecedented strain. The issue is that the clarification came far too late. To tell settings that they will receive their funding and are able to furlough staff at the full 80% rate has led providers to make decisions that they might otherwise not have taken. They may have agreed to furlough staff on this basis, only to find that they now can’t afford to do this. Underfunding in the sector has meant that many settings were already struggling financially before this period of lockdown. They will have followed the collective interpretation of the original guidance for early years providers, but as a result of the tighter advice, may now find themselves committed to a financial course of action that will be very hard to fulfil. June O’Sullivan, MBE, from LEYF Nurseries, writes in her blog that this comes at a time when early years educators are being asked to be on the frontline and care for vulnerable children and the children of key workers. She advised settings to reflect and take a closer look at the new document before taking any steps: … look closely at the small print. The Government is not saying you cannot furlough staff, but is saying that the level of financial support the Government is willing to provide will now vary and the more funding a provider gets through Government funding, the less support they will be able to get through staff wages. Tim runs a childminding business, and in the light of Friday’s changes, he looked at the decisions he has made based on what the Government promised at the beginning of the pandemic: In my setting, I have a wage bill of approx. £6000 per month with an income of approx. £8000. Of that £8000, only £1000 (12.5%) is funded as I have mainly under 3’s who do not qualify for means tested funding. I have furloughed staff and expected their wages to be covered at 80%. However, I have all my other non-staff related expenses and am reliant on the ‘free entitlement’ funding to cover these. I have no access to business rate relief grants, as I operate on domestic premises, so if my furlough payment is reduced by 12.5%, I will have to rely on personal savings and possibly loans to make ends meet. Looking at the figures, I can understand why the DfE has changed its mind about financial support for the sector. But I would have been in a much better position had I been able to plan from the outset, rather than now having to react with no business days’ notice before the go-live date for the Job Retention Scheme. We are all in unchartered waters, and hindsight is a wonderful thing. With it, perhaps the DfE could have chosen a clearer path on how early years providers would be funded from the outset of this crisis. Or perhaps they could have chosen to honour the original support for the first furlough period, giving settings notice of the next furlough period, and providing time to adjust. And they could have chosen to announce their changes to the guidance earlier than the Friday before the opening of access to the Job Retention Scheme.

Where are we now? While I will be avoiding the over-used term ‘unprecedented’, the whole world has been left reeling by, but is gradually getting accustomed to, life under lockdown due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Families are doing their best to continue their children’s learning experiences at home while perhaps also working remotely, managing both simultaneously. As a parent and an early years (EY) professional, one thing stands out for me: some parents’ obsession with home-schooling their very young children which is fuelled by some consultants and schools bombarding parents with home-schooling tasks and recommended schedules. I am seeing and hearing of children as young as four being regimented into whole days of home-schooling from 9am to 3pm, and worse still, behaviour management strategies like ‘time out’ being used. While I appreciate that some parents believe their children ‘need structure’, this is highly dependent on the individual child. Factors like trauma (existing, and as a result of the impact of this global crisis), age, temperament, ability to self-regulate and the presence of any special educational needs (SEND) need to be taken into consideration when planning any learning at home. We are all trying to navigate our way through this unknown and frightening terrain, managing our own fears and uncertainty while supporting our children to make sense of what is happening. How long will it all take to subside so that the life that we knew (or at least, the elements we liked), can resume? To quote Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: the waiting is the hardest part. Our resilience will prove critical during this global crisis – easier said than done for many adults, as well as children. Some parents have lost their jobs and are struggling financially, some will be subjected to abuse – which will compound feelings of helplessness, depression and despair. So, what exactly does all this mean on a neurological and physiological level for children and adults during these strange and uncertain times? Understanding what stress is and the ways toxic stress can impact the brain and body is an integral part of keeping our children safe, secure and able to thrive. In small doses it is necessary to our survival - it gives us the motivation needed to overcome danger and get things done. It’s when the stressors are constant or toxic, that stress can be hazardous to our mental and physical health both in the short- and long-term. This is because the human body is not designed to be in a constant, hyper-aroused state. So when for example, a child is continually experiencing adversity (i.e. the present global pandemic) their brain and body become wired for stress – their neuroception (how neural circuits distinguish whether situations or people are safe, dangerous, or life threatening) becomes primed to detect pretty much everything and everyone as a threat. As a result, stressors can be real or imagined but the impact on the brain and body are real and can be debilitating for the child. Consequently, the fight-flight-freeze response will be commonplace, perhaps without us even realising: the stress hormone cortisol and adrenalin are released to help us deal with the threat but toxic stress and cortisol disrupt and damage the neuroarchitecture (the structure of systems of neurons and their interconnection) of the developing brain and negatively impact a child’s ability to self-regulate. Some children will experience tightness in their chest, their face will feel hot/flushed, they may have headaches, ‘tummy’ aches, be constipated, feel nauseated and generally unable to feel calm. Some adults may feel more irritable, ‘on edge’, experience constant free-floating anxiety, experience headaches, gut and chest discomfort, drink more alcohol or comfort eat to alleviate some of the dis-ease, but as we know, these are maladaptive behaviours and do nothing to nurture self-regulation (SR). Figure 1 below gives a brief overview of the visible and hidden impact of the fight/flight/freeze response: Figure 1 The fight-flight-freeze response What about the children? Given we are in the midst of a global pandemic, I would have hoped that parents were instead enabled to help their children understand what has happened and give them strategies for how to not only survive lockdown but also to make it an enjoyable experience for families. It’s becoming even more commonplace to hear of issues including, but not confined to: Clinginess and/or regression – this will be a common response to the disruption caused by the pandemic. Some children may constantly seek cuddles and kisses, some may regress to bed-wetting or thumb-sucking. Reassuring parents that this is expected and not making their children feel ashamed is critical Children will have extra need for reassurance – some more than others. Encourage parents to give this unconditionally and abundantly Emphasis on home-schooling schedules over child and family mental health Anxiety - adults and children who are prone to anxiety may suffer symptoms more frequently and intensely Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) – to instil a sense of control, when the world feels so out of control Depression Developing self-regulation is integral to managing our stress response and therefore minimising these issues, but how do we create a sense of normality when nothing in the world is ‘normal’? This is a very overwhelming and frightening experience for our children. Children are wondering why they cannot see their friends and family, why they cannot go to nursery or school and why all their usual activities have ground to a halt. Some have been bereaved, some are experiencing abuse, with nowhere to turn. Our children will return to school traumatised – when school itself is a traumatising experience for some children. We must now use this crisis as an opportunity to prioritise our children’s mental and emotional wellbeing. Figure 2 below, illustrates the impact of trauma on children’s wellbeing and resilience – while attempting to home-school. Figure 2 The challenge of home-schooling during a traumatic event In essence, a stressed brain cannot learn. This is because connectivity is reduced between the emotionally reactive, downstairs brain (home to the amygdala - brain’s ‘panic button’) and the thinking, upstairs brain (home to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) - where our executive functions reside). This reduced connectivity happens when a child is dysregulated – has ‘flipped their lid’ (Siegel, 2012): so, when the amygdala has been triggered, this results in the amygdala hijack, with the upstairs brain losing control of the downstairs brain. This is shown in Figure 3: Figure 3 The downstairs and upstairs brain during the fight-flight-freeze response Nurturing self-regulation: co-regulating children’s responses to stressors How we as parents and EY professionals respond to children’s fears and behaviour during this crisis could shape their resilience to a wide range of adversity in the short- and long-term. Dr Shanker (2016) says: In simplest terms, self-regulation refers to how efficiently and effectively a child deals with a stressor and then recovers. SR cannot develop without co-regulation taking place first – and as you have learned, this co-regulation needs to be in place from birth. Infants are highly receptive to the emotions and responses and facial expressions and tone of their primary caregivers and these all influence how a child learns to self-regulate (or not). Your three ultimate aims when co-regulating emotional responses, are to: reduce stress levels help the child return to a state of calm model/provide SR strategies for them to use in the future. How you can help to create a ‘keep your cool’ tool-kit for families: Below are just a few free, tried and tested strategies that practitioners could take and pass on to families to help co-regulate their children’s SR. I like to use the concept of a ‘keep your cool’ tool-kit to use at home and professionally. This tool-kit includes: Figure 4 shows some fun SR exercises for children to try at home or in the setting: Figure 4 Self-regulation exercises What next? When our children return to nursery/school, what do we hope they will have gained or learned? Would I be happy knowing that my child completed all her home-schooling tasks provided by her school, is able to recite her times tables and can give ‘at least 12 examples of prepositions’? Not really. On a personal note, given my propensity towards intense anxiety and hyper-sensitivity, I would instead like to think that my child, along with other children: Has developed resilience Can identify when she’s starting to feel anxious and in need of reassurance Knows how to self-soothe Knows when and how to use the ‘keep your cool’ tools Has grown in self-confidence Has expanded their creativity and imagination. Encourage families to use this time to focus on their needs as a family, as opposed to forcing children to engage with arbitrary school tasks. We are in the grip of a global pandemic - children’s mental health and wellbeing must be the priority. When schools re-open, parents need to feel confident enough to ask staff how they will ease their children back into the routine and their plans to better nurture their mental and emotional wellbeing post-COVID-19. We must not go back to the ‘bad old ways’ where academic achievement was the priority, to the detriment of many children. Practitioners can re-write the rule book and now is the time to do so. As former head teacher, Phil Sharrock asserts, it’s about sticking two fingers up to the system and doing what’s right for the children. Parents need to be empowered and enabled to prioritise their child’s unique needs, strengths and interests as the starting point for their children’s development and you are best positioned to make this happen.

Makaton is increasingly being used in Early Years settings across the country. ‘Something Special’ on CBeebies helped to bring the language program to the mainstream when it began in 2003, and it has increased in popularity ever since. Makaton was developed way back in 1972 when Margaret Walker conducted research which led to the design of the Makaton Core Vocabulary. One question I have often heard asked is ‘what is the difference between Makaton and Sign Language?’. Annette Butler (2018) summarises this well: “Makaton is designed to be used to support spoken language... Makaton is often used alongside speech to help aid children and adults with communication. It is common for people to eventually stop using signs as their speech develops. British Sign Language (BSL) is a language with its own structure and grammar and uses hand signs, body language, facial expression and lip patterns. It is the language used by the deaf community in the UK and, as with any spoken language, is constantly evolving. The signs used in Makaton are taken from Sign Language and, as Sign Language differs from country to country, so does Makaton. However, unlike Sign Language which has regional variations and dialects, the signs for Makaton will be the same throughout the country.” The thing about Makaton that always seems so effective to me is that it provides further scaffold in a child’s journey to formal verbal communication. When a child is learning new words, whether that child is typically developing or not, additional support like a picture or photograph can be so helpful (think flash cards). Makaton is a different, highly portable way of providing an additional ‘visual cue’ to a child. It is such an effective method that many parents of young babies now attend ‘baby sign’ classes to enable more effective communication and understanding. In my role as a SEND Advisor, I visit mainstream nurseries and reception classes in the North East of England and it now seems to be more common for teachers to be using Makaton with their entire group. This has sometimes been triggered by a child who has additional support needs joining the class, or possibly this was the trigger last year, but the school have decided it is valuable to continue with the approach. The children in the groups I have visited who are using Makaton seem so engaged and enthused by the addition of the approach, and it helps them to communicate more effectively with peers who have speech and language support needs. As the Makaton signs have a lot of commonality with British Sign Language, it is also a highly valuable life skill to know some key words. So far, so good, but here’s my personal issue: I’m just not very good at it! I worked in a specialist school for children with learning differences and disabilities for 11 years, but for the entirety of my time there I was the butt of everyone’s jokes when it came to my signing (especially as for 7 of those years I was the Deputy Head!). I dreaded learning the annual Christmas song in our whole school staff meetings as the entire school would tend to focus on my lack of ability and chuckle their way through November and December. I received as much training as anyone else, participated in countless refreshers, watched my expert colleagues, but I always ended up feeling a bit useless at it! I have pretty much always been comfortable with the basics, I know all the letters so that I can greet any of the children, and am confident with your pleases, thank yous, good mornings and sorrys (usually reserved for apologising to teachers through windows when I was dragging a member of their team away to cover elsewhere!). But I am open to a bit of self-reflection, so here are the reasons why I think I am not the world’s greatest Makaton signer: · As with any area of learning, some people take to things better than others. My most challenging subjects when I was at school were always the languages (including English!). I have always felt much more comfortable with learning (and teaching) Maths and Sciences. · The old adage ‘use it or lose it’ is very relevant when it comes to Makaton. In my first few years as a teacher in a specialist school I didn’t incorporate enough Makaton signing into my classroom. I was generally teaching in classes with very active, autistic children with significant learning differences. I focused most of my time on symbol exchange and rightly or wrongly considered that Makaton wasn’t as high a priority for my learners. Once I became Deputy Head teacher I spent much less time with the children on a day to day basis and this also affected the regularity of my signing. The best advice I can give to people who feel in a similar situation is to try to make the learning of Makaton as fun as possible. In the last few years at my school, our refreshers were generally themed, so we’d have quizzes and competitions that were often very competitive, and therefore usually hilarious too. This different approach helped me to see that I knew more than I realised, and the sessions themselves were memorable so I absorbed more of the new signs I was learning. If you are committed to using Makaton in your setting, I would recommend looking out for any Level 1 training that is taking place in your area. This is usually a one day course that covers the first two stages of vocabulary. If you are just wanting to dip your toe in the water to start with, then there are so many handy resources online. You could visit the Makaton website: https://www.makaton.org/ Or take a look at their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/makatoncharity . The beauty of the approach is that even if you aim to learn one new sign a day, you will add to your communication skill set significantly. A great way to introduce Makaton to children is through songs. Singing Hands are a duo who have lots of videos of familiar songs and nursery rhymes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SingingHandsUK . And they'll even come and perform at your setting if you get in touch with them.

Everyone is being affected in some way by this pandemic that is sweeping the planet. I expect many of us have found a reason to feel sorry for ourselves at some point already as we start this long journey back to what we hope will be some kind of normality. Perhaps we’re missing out on things we have been looking forward to for a long time, or just missing loved ones we see regularly but now aren’t allowed to. Lots of us will be experiencing ‘cabin fever’ – possibly magnified by having young children around the house! Or we may be struggling with the disruption to routines that help to keep us balanced. In the week where school closures were first discussed and then implemented, I found myself thinking a lot about the families of children that I worked with up until last year at Cherry Garden School in London. The school is for children with severe and complex learning needs, and as Deputy Head teacher I was acutely aware of the reliance some families had on the school community. In its simplest form, the school day often provides a level of respite for parents who have been coping with relentless nights of broken sleep for years on end, or for families whose child has energy levels that professional athletes would pay good money for! A number of children at Cherry Garden School find it hard to sit down calmly for more than 30 seconds at a time. I discussed in my previous article, written after Gavin Williamson’s announcement that all children with an EHCP would continue to have access to school, about the practicalities of such a decision. I concluded that it was going to be almost impossible for Head teachers of specialist provisions to remain open at full capacity during this crisis – the main reason for this being the need for such high staffing levels, not only at school but also when travelling from home and back. Invariably, schools are needing to restructure what they can offer, with the outcome being that only a handful of children are actually in full time attendance. The knock-on effect of this is that huge numbers of children with additional needs are spending much more time at home than they would have done, even without taking into account the social distancing measures that we are all having to adhere to. Thankfully, the nature of schools and the professionals working in them is that they care enormously about the children who attend – regardless of sector. It has been very apparent that most establishments are trying to provide parents with resources and activities that children can be ‘working’ on at home. This is generally a bit more straight forward for children who are engaging in ‘formal’ learning (Y1 upwards), but for those in Early Years or in Special Schools, it isn’t necessarily appropriate to send home ‘work’. Some examples of the types of resources I felt would be beneficial to parents of children with additional needs were: · Sensory story videos – ideally a sensory story read by a teacher with props that could easily be found around the home. The parent could then watch the video with the child or read it themselves. · Massage stories – a similar concept, but even fewer resources needed. These could also help with children who have additional sensory needs. · Messy/explorative ideas – creative opportunities for children who might not engage with typical ‘art’ activities, again the key is that any resources are easily found at home. · Computer/iPad programs – it is obviously important to be aware of screen time for children during this period, but for children with additional needs, technology can be hugely motivating and important for working on early cognitive skills. I contacted my old school and they were already working on similar suggestions. We agreed that we would share the resources on a wider scale so that others around the country could benefit. In order for the resources to be easily found and accessible, I have created the hashtag #SENDAtHome. The intention is that other settings can then also contribute any resources or ideas they have been preparing so that the bank grows. Over the last few days, the hashtag has gathered momentum and other schools and professionals are starting to add to the collection of ideas. It would be naïve to think that a few videos or resource ideas on Twitter will make life significantly more straightforward for those parents who have children with very significant needs. As I mentioned earlier, even if a child does show a level of engagement, this might be very fleeting, which can cause despondency (anyone who has worked in a specialist setting and spent hours creating a resource only for it to be trashed five minutes into the school day will sympathise). As with many things, communication is key. I would hope that schools are maintaining regular contact, especially with those families with the most severe needs. I also hope that these families have other relatives or friends who they can ‘let off steam’ to. My current role of SEND Advisor and Outreach Teacher has changed a lot in the last few weeks. Obviously school visits and training sessions have been postponed, and much more of my time is being spent trying to support from afar. If you are aware of a family who would benefit from some support or advice, I am providing free video consultation sessions during this time. To access this service, please email me: stephen@eyfs.info, and we can arrange a convenient time to chat.

The Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has announced major plans for school closures from Friday. There is however some significant small print – and it seems it will certainly not be the case as reported by many news outlets last night that ‘all schools will close’. The majority of articles and discussions since the announcements have focused on who ‘key workers’ are, and what is going to happen to those students who would have been sitting exams this summer. There has been very little mention in mainstream media about the huge concerns that are circulating in the world of special needs and how schools can continue to educate and care for our most vulnerable children. This week has been hugely challenging for school leaders, regardless of sector. The significant portion of challenge lies with nurseries and school’s capability to staff their settings appropriately. This issue is magnified when it comes to specialist settings. Even when we are not in the midst of a global pandemic, organising staffing can be a real headache. Obviously children with EHCPs need a higher level of supervision and support than their typically developing peers. This may be down to a significant learning delay, behavioural challenges or complex medical needs. All three areas require staff that are knowledgeable and sufficiently trained (particularly for any medical issues). In a standard week, gaps can be plugged by bringing in additional support staff from an agency or moving trained practitioners from a different class to cover. As soon as absence levels among staff become more serious, it can feel as though a tightrope is being walked with the health and safety of the children potentially at risk. This is the scenario that special schools are finding themselves in this week. It is my impression that most in the specialist sector presumed they just needed to make it to the weekend before changes would be made. The surprise announcement that all children with a social worker or an EHCP would continue to attend school, even after closures, has understandably caused panic. It is essential that some additional clarity is provided ASAP. It is the opinion of the Head teachers I have spoken to or read comments from on social media that it would be impossible to carry on as normal. One school sent all ‘vulnerable’ staff home for 12 weeks yesterday (often those staff who are older and more likely to have underlying health needs are the ones who have a wealth of medical knowledge and training). Generally, every child who attends specialist provision has an EHCP, so the expectation after the announcement would be that these settings would function as usual. Here are some burning questions that need addressing: · What about teachers and support who have their own children attending mainstream provision? How can they remain at school if their children are at home? · How are the children with profound medical needs going to be shielded from the virus? · What additional measures need to be in place to ensure the adults in the school remain safe and well? · Who is going to provide medical assistance for children whose key workers are self-isolating or ill? · Home to school transport can be vital for children with additional needs – how can this continue given that many of the trained escorts are themselves in vulnerable groups? The coming weeks and months are going to be immensely challenging for everyone. Consider the fact that parents with children with significant needs often rely on our amazing specialist provisions to provide them with support and a level of respite. The thought of staying at home for three months in a small flat with an incredibly active, non-verbal autistic child is a reality that many parents may have to come to terms with. For reasons like this, I think it is vital that a level of support and schooling is still available, but there needs to be a considered strategy in order to make this achievable. Schools are potentially going to need to make difficult and unpopular decisions about which children can actually attend, and how often. It is my view that the Education Secretary needs to address these concerns, and the questions posed above, as a matter of urgency.

Relatively soon after I started working at Cherry Garden School, in approximately 2009, we had an INSET day with a focus on Intensive Interaction. Dave Hewitt OBE (then just plain old Dave) came to deliver the training and tell us about the approach he and his team developed in the 1980s whilst he was Principal of a school for children with complex support needs. I was instantly struck by the simplicity of the approach and it was at this point that I began to think more about how working with children with additional support needs, and the need for a sound understanding of typical development in very young children, go hand in hand. The concept is based on the interactions that typically take place between a mother or father and a baby in the first 12 months of a child’s life. New parents don’t often attend training on how to interact with their new arrival, it is something that comes very naturally and invariably isn’t even considered as something special. If a baby gives eye contact, we naturally smile and attempt to prolong the engagement. If a baby makes a cooing sound, we make that sound back. If they then respond further, we continue to copy their sounds in an effort to establish turn taking. These simple, and usually unconsidered actions from a parent/carer, are hugely important building blocks for future, more formal, methods of communication. If you consider the expectations for an ‘adult’ conversation, they are based on the same principles as those we start learning in the first few months of our lives: we look at a person when we’re talking to them, preferably making eye contact; we listen and respond once the other person has finished talking; we show engagement in what is being said; and we use facial expressions and gestures to embellish our spoken word. The thinking behind the Intensive Interaction approach is that children with particular additional support needs may well have missed some of these key milestones in the development of their communication skills. Some children might be very withdrawn and show little interest in other people. To the child, other people may not seem useful or interesting. It is the role of the communication partner to become as interesting, engaging and useful as possible. To do this, it is necessary to draw on the natural skills that the vast majority of us possess and to communicate with the child on a level that is appropriate to them. Just as with a young baby, this often starts with adjusting your proximity to the child and mimicking some of their sounds or gestures. The intention here is to grasp a child’s attention. I particularly like the analogy of becoming the perfect ‘cause and effect’ toy. We need to consider how we can become the most interesting ‘object’ in the room. In my experience, Intensive Interaction can be an amazing tool to use, and at Cherry Garden School, we would often film a ‘session’ at the start of the school year and then again in January. The difference in the child in the second video was invariably significant. The child would show more interest in the adult and their faces would be so much more animated and happier. The beauty of the approach is that it can take place anywhere, and the only required resource is yourself. Often the best interactions can take place at the times you would least expect to see ‘learning’, for example whilst getting changed in the bathroom (changing times are a particularly great time to observe interactions between a parent/carer and baby – the positioning allows for amazing eye contact and playfulness). It is important to say that Intensive Interaction isn’t for every child. Children who are wrongly considered to have profound learning differences because of a significant physical need can find the approach patronising. Other children may dislike having their sounds and actions imitated, although from my experience of working with children with complex additional support needs, this is very rare. The other point to note is that newer staff members can sometimes find it challenging to remove their inhibitions and be truly playful and childlike with a pupil in a classroom environment. This invariably passes with time, especially when they see the new responses and interest they are gaining from the child in question. To summarise, I would highly recommend that any nursery/school practitioners who are working with children with significant learning differences take the time to consider using this approach. I would also advocate staff members spending as much time as possible considering developmental milestones that young children typically meet and in which order. To have this knowledge can be very powerful and can support educators in finding gaps in learning as well as setting appropriate next steps. The Cherry Garden Branch Maps for CLL and Mathematical Development may prove useful in this regard, and are free to download here. The first 12 months are covered in Branches 1-3. For more information on Intensive Interaction, you can visit their website.

In the Spring of 2019, I attended the South East launch of the Ofsted consultation for the proposed new EIF. My personal ‘take home’ from this was the apparent focus on ‘Cultural Capital’ – whatever that meant! Afterwards, speaking with sector colleagues it became clear that there had been several ‘headline grabbing’ themes arising from the proposed new framework that had caused intrigue and consternation. The most commonly discussed seemed to be the aforementioned ‘Cultural Capital’, followed by the ‘3 i’s’ (intention, implementation and impact), how ‘off rolling’ could be relevant in early years, and the notion that there was to be a separate judgement for ‘behaviour’, and what all this might mean for settings. EYs press had many articles speculating on the changes and considering what would happen when the new inspection framework was finalised and rolled out across the sector. Cultural Capital, in essence a Marxist construct addressing inequality in society, was given particular focus in the press. The Foundation Stage Forum wrote about it here and here, as did June O'Sullivan in her LEYF blog. Ofsted had very clearly set out their expectations regarding the 3 i’s: “Intent is all the curriculum planning that happens before a teacher teaches the knowledge that pupils need to learn the next thing in the curriculum” As a sector we needed to prove that what we planned for children met individual needs and was part of a longer learning and development experience. Looking at another of the talking points, unsurprisingly the sector press and social media struggled to understand how ‘off rolling’ could be ‘a thing’ in early years, given that it was generally understood to relate to some secondary school students being removed from the school roll prior to exams to avoid the possibility that they would bring results down. People were unclear about how this would be relevant to early years settings. Ofsted themselves didn’t seem to include Early Years when they tried to define ‘off-rolling’ in their online blog. The idea that the new inspections would make a separate judgement on ‘behaviour’ daunted many. What would Ofsted be looking for? Did they expect to see children who could already self-regulate at such a young age (bearing in mind that self-regulation is learned and takes a long time to manage). Ofsted were very quick to reassure that the judgement would reflect how behaviour was managed and how children were supported to learn self-regulation. Taking all these things on board I needed to be able to ensure that my own setting was well prepared. Following the publishing of the finalised document we used the question ‘what do we need to do to remain outstanding under the new framework?’ as the focus for all our staff meetings and professional development. The senior managers attended Ofsted briefings and watched their informative webinars, and in this way, we became as informed as we could be. Applying our new knowledge carefully to our existing development plan we added a section addressing the question ‘what do we think we need to do to be sure we are as fully prepared as possible?’ Here is an excerpt from our development plan: Observation focus in groups – what are you doing? Why are you doing it? What skills are you building and why? How will you know if you have done it? [Intention/Implementation/Impact] RS and RH focus for observations from now Observation questions: Practice: What can children do now that they couldn’t do before? RS and RH focus for observations from now Staff mtg discussion: Do all staff know the behaviour strategies for the children who come up on radar at lunch time? RH will meet and support Staff mtg discussion: Refine / define what we as a nursery mean by Cultural Capital. RS will remind staff to revisit Cultural Capital from the last staff meeting and will look to see how we are capturing ‘awe and wonder’ in the nursery At one staff meeting we examined the phrase ‘Cultural Capital’ and worked together to see what it meant to us. We wanted to capture ‘awe and wonder’ for our children. This wasn’t new for us; we have always been ambitious for our children and sought to broaden their horizons. We go out into the community and notice the world around us. We invite professionals (doctors, nurses, vets, dentists, firefighters, police) into the nursery. We organise local visits and have an ongoing arrangement with a local Care Home. We encourage children to celebrate family events and traditions with us. None of this needed to change. However, we did need to be sure that all staff, regardless of qualifications or experience, understood why such shared experiences were important for the children in our care and how this added value to their learning opportunities. We felt this understanding was crucial to the success of the Cultural Capital aspect of the new framework in our setting. So, as a team we focused on making sure everyone understood the philosophies behind what we already do. The managers have always been determined that all staff should feel empowered to ask questions, make suggestions and changes to our provision for the benefit of children and families. This proved invaluable groundwork for our inspection preparation. Staff already had a sense of ‘ownership’ of their work and were confidently adapting their planning and activities to meet the needs of the different children in their care. In our staff and peer observations we worked hard to build staff confidence in answering the ‘3i’s’ questions. We kept it simple: What are you doing? Who is it for? What are you hoping to achieve? How will you know if you’ve achieved it? What will you do next? All staff became confident with these questions and even found them useful to ask one another when handing over mid-shift or when returning to work after time away. These considerations ran alongside the usual development work of the nursery. Newly promoted staff were keen to try out their ideas and were worried that the new framework preparations might prevent them from being able to test out different methods and ways of working. The managers reassured them that we have always been on a ‘journey’ of development and improvement and so changing how we work for an inspection process would not have been a true reflection of who we are. It was very much ‘business as usual’. As much as we felt we were on track and confident, we knew ‘the proof would be in the pudding’, and so the sector as a whole waited with bated breath for the publication of the first reports under the new framework. Helen Edwards, at The Foundation Stage Forum, carefully read the first 100 reports and produced an extremely useful precis of the outcomes. Worryingly there seemed to be more than a few settings being downgraded. Back at our nursery, we knew we needed to believe in what we do, believe in our ethos ‘Children learn best when they are able to play and have fun’ and most of all ‘hold our nerve.’ Nevertheless, when the pre-inspection phone call came at 12.20 on a Wednesday lunchtime early in the Spring Term announcing inspection the following day, we all needed to take time to calm and gather ourselves. In part two of this double piece, I will explain and explore what happened on the afternoon before, the day of the inspection, and the day after. You can read Part 2 here.

In celebration and appreciation of World Maths Day on the 4th of March, World Science Week starting on the 6th of March, and International Day of Mathematics on 14th of March – let’s talk about STEM (and STEAM). Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are crucial subjects for everyone wanting to grow up and engage in our fast-paced, technology-driven society. Short of hiding yourself away in a wood cabin in the depths of some forgotten wilderness, you’d be hard-pressed not to have some interaction or practical use for STEM. Even in that extreme example, you’ll probably be building traps (engineering, technology), navigating by the stars (science) or ruminating on the fact you no longer have to wait for trains, and counting that as a blessing (mathematics) Given that STEM subjects are so integral to our everyday lives, why is it they always seem under threat? There’s always been an underrepresentation of women in these fields, teachers consistently report they have low confidence in teaching science, and according to Koren & Bar (2009) “Science is often perceived as unappealing”. Children’s perception of these subjects is troubling. A recent survey from The Institute of Engineering shows the interest in subjects such as Science, D&T and Computing amongst our 9 – 12 year-olds is dropping by up to 10, 12 and 14 percent respectively. As Carl Sagan says, “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.” And I think it’s important, as educators, to ask ourselves why that is. I think we can all agree that in most cases, after the family, educators are the most important factors in a child’s life for nurturing and developing certain interests and passions. As Anthony from Teaching Personal puts it, “This means primary teachers have a profound responsibility to make STEM subjects as engaging, interesting and rewarding as possible, nurturing an interest in students that extends beyond the classroom” Research compiled by the Department of Education suggests that school years 5 to 10 are the most critical for developing a child’s attitudes to STEM subjects. But paradoxically, Bennet and Hogarth, 2009 have found children aged between 11 and 14 showed a significant decline when it came to positive attitudes to science. Like everything, it begins at the beginning. The early years are pivotal to every aspect of a child’s development and even at such young ages, a love for STEM can be fostered. Alison Graham, STEM coordinator at Atkins’ Cardiff office spoke to the Telegraph about the importance of raising the status of STEM to children in primary school. She said not only do the children learn a lot and enjoy the practical activities in which STEM subjects can manifest, it helps tackle other issues such as the gender bias. The beauty of starting to foster a love of STEM in the early years is that all these subjects rely heavily on a child’s natural skills: curiosity and creativity Children love to ask questions. If you have spent more than 30 seconds with a young child, you will have learned that the hard way. Half of science is asking questions. As is engineering. Maths, often seen as a fairly prescriptive subject with a lot of rules, is often the one that generated most questions in my classroom. And only about half of them where “Can I go to the toilet, please?” When approaching any kind of STEM subject, with any year group, questioning should be at the heart of it. What happens to this biscuit after I eat it? How come I can’t throw this frisbee into space? How many stars are there? How could you get to school faster? If you live to 100, how many minutes would you have spent on the loo? As the teacher, you should be doing equal parts asking and being asked. Not all these questions will be answered. But that’s another beautiful part of the experience of teaching and learning STEM. Not everything needs an answer, it’s the process that’s important. The thinking. The problem solving. The conversations it generates. If there’s one thing children love more than asking questions, it’s making a mess… no, hang on, I mean being creative. The practicality of these subjects is often what makes them appealing. Mud kitchens, sand pits, number magnets, water trays, playdough. These are staples of the Early Years classroom and are invaluable resources when it comes to learning through doing. Recent years has shown a growing trend in STEAM. This is STEM with the addition of Art. TTS describe STEAM as an “integrated approach to learning that uses all of these subjects to guide children’s questioning, critical thinking and dialogue.” Settings adopting the STEAM approach are concentrating on interweaving all these subjects and allowing children to explore them through play. An article written by practitioners Jane Blant and Amanda Hubball sees them explaining what each of these subjects can look like and what they can bring to the table. The most important thing to remember is that these subjects can be so much fun, for teachers and students alike! In my experience they work best when they are child-led, making them even more applicable to the early years.

As professionals we all need to demonstrate a commitment to continuing professional development. CPD keeps us fresh, ensures we are aware of evolving and changing practices and research, and is a valuable tool for enabling reflection. We need to ask ourselves about what we do and why we do it and how we can do it better or differently. As Mary Calnan of Blue Allium HR Ltd says “to stay relevant in your field of expertise taking the time for CPD is critical.” She goes on to say “failure to keep up to date can lead to incorrect advice being given and acted upon. This can result in loss of trust and reputation.” CPD helps everyone keep their knowledge and skills up to date, boosts confidence and facilitates the sharing of new ideas. It also ensures that the professional standard of qualifications is maintained and contributes to a shared sense of direction. For leaders and managers, one of the benefits of CPD is ensuring that standards across the setting are high and consistent. CPD promotes greater engagement from practitioners and general commitment to job roles. CPD also contributes to maximising staff potential, improves staff morale and provides a useful benchmark for appraisals. Without CPD, we would stagnate and consequently so would the opportunities and provision for the children. In an ever-evolving society, the needs of children are changing and we need to keep ourselves up to date. So, what are some of the ways in which we can access CPD? · Training · Staff meetings · Peer observation · Setting library · Staff swaps · Research and feedback TRAINING Gone are the days when you could easily access a plethora of interesting training courses provided by your Local Authority. Many now offer just the mandatory training. The opportunities they do offer are often expensive or limited. In addition, it can be challenging to release staff to attend training when recruitment and staffing is a problem. We need to be more creative in accessing training. Online training is extremely helpful, especially for mandatory training or when time is of the essence. However, it is good as far as possible to access face to face training to enable discussion and questions. If you do use online training, consider dedicating part of your staff meetings to questions that arise from the training and points for discussion. Keep an eye out for training offered by different trainers/training providers locally to you. Many trainers will be happy to come to you to deliver setting specific training or more general training. Joining forces with another setting can be a good idea as this enables you to split the cost. In house training can also be delivered by a member of the team. On the job training can be effective, with a more senior member of staff modelling good practice and discussing what they are doing and why. Whatever the way you and your team access training, it is important that it is valued by everyone. Staff members should know why they are attending or undertaking the training and have a clear idea of what they are hoping to learn or gain from the experience. Training identified through the appraisal cycle will be meaningful and focused. Prior to doing the training, a ‘focus form’ should be started so the individual can reflect on what they hope to achieve. This should be completed after the training, identifying what knowledge and skills have been gained and how this will impact on practice. They should have an opportunity to share this in the setting. Remember, training provides many wide and varied benefits for practitioners: · It can boost confidence · Will develop skills and knowledge · Can act as a motivator as practitioners return to their setting fired up with new ideas, which can permeate through the whole staff team · Develops, and therefore promotes, best practice · Helps to ensure knowledge is up to date · Can provide an opportunity to share and discuss issues and practice with practitioners from other settings · Provides an opportunity for reflective practice · Is stimulating, thought provoking and interesting · If a practitioner is sent on a training course outside the setting, it shows that they are valued by the manager/leader - this needs to be consolidated though, by the practitioner being given the opportunity to share what they have learnt · Settings which invest in training staff tend to be happier and more productive places to work, with better staff retention and a better provision for the children STAFF MEETINGS Both whole staff meetings and room meetings provide a valuable opportunity for supporting professional development and should be valued as such. Meetings also strengthen the team, boosting morale which will more than likely generate further CPD as staff discuss and work together. Although meetings can sometimes be difficult to arrange, they are essential. Without regular meetings, there is no way of discussing and reviewing practice together, no opportunity for collaborative reflection or discussing new initiatives and developments as a team. Key benefits of meetings as a tool for CPD: · A chance to share ideas · Opportunity to review and evaluate practice and policies · Inclusive - everyone is involved if the meeting is managed successfully · Promotes teamwork and strengthens relationships · An opportunity for open discussion and interaction · Can be used to clarify ideas, procedures and practice · An opportunity to deliver key messages, ensuring everyone receives the same message · A forum to discuss and develop ethos and share common goals · Staff can be publicly praised for good work and innovation · Opportunity to cascade what has been learned on training courses · A chance to discuss together to solve a problem · Issues that will benefit from open and honest discussion can be raised and it can give an opportunity for everyone to say what they think Minutes of the meeting provide a valuable record and a point of reference regarding discussion, reflection and further exploration of key issues. RESEARCH AND FEEDBACK Asking individuals or teams to find out about a theorist, a particular methodology or a piece of research and to feedback their discoveries in a staff meeting is another effective training method. Staff can include how their findings will impact on their practice or is already reflected in their practice, providing a focus for discussion and the development of future plans. This can then be documented in the meeting minutes. An alternative to this is providing practitioners with different professional articles to read prior to a meeting, so the content can be discussed. This can be quicker, requiring less preparation, but is just as effective. PEER OBSERVATION Peer observation, learning from each other, can be a highly effective form of CPD. Each member of the staff team is observed and in turn has the opportunity to observe. Feedback should be positive and constructive and given immediately. Following individual feedback, all the observations are gathered together for discussion at staff meeting. No-one is singled out, but good practice is identified and areas for development are flagged up. Peer observations need to be introduced sensitively and it is suggested that you begin by encouraging staff to observe alongside the leader in the setting to help gain an insight into the process and view it as positive. Once this has been done, you should then begin with more experienced and confident staff. In the DCSF document Challenging Practice to Further Improve Learning, Playing and Interacting in the Early Years Foundation Stage (DCSF 2010) it states that: ‘observation......will confirm strengths; validate what people are already aware of; highlight aspects of practice that need development; support practitioners and leaders to be self reflective and improve the quality of practice.’ How to do peer observation: · You need to plan when the observations are going to be done · It is important that everyone is involved and on board with peer observations and that the benefits are explained to them · It is vital that leaders and managers are observed, as well as new practitioners · As an introduction to peer observations you could do short narrative observations · When you introduce peer observations it is a good idea to start by using one question at a time and thoroughly researching it – for example, Is the adult interacting appropriately with the children? Really consider this question in depth for every member of staff observed · If necessary, carry out a second or third round of observations only asking this question and then move on to adding further questions, still remembering to cover question one · During the observation write down what you see in response to the question · During feedback it is often most helpful to ask the person being observed how they felt the observation went and what they felt they did well. When you both feel more confident you can discuss what could have gone better. This needs to be recorded on the observation for feedback to a staff meeting · All the observations are then gathered together over a month or so to be evaluated and discussed at a staff meeting · Always highlight what both the observer and the practitioner being observed learned and gained from the experience. What might they do differently? STAFF SWAPS This is a system whereby staff in two settings swap places for a day or a session. All team members experience working in a different setting and gather new ideas about developing practice and provision. It works best if the swap is between two similarly registered settings and staff need to be equally qualified, to maintain ratios. Lucinda Byron Evans of Young England Kindergarten in London, who is an advocate for staff swaps, explains the idea came from a discussion with other setting leaders about ways to keep their teams inspired. Lucinda says, “After the swap the staff member feeds back to the team one thing they thought that worked really well in the other provision and something that they will implement within our setting as a result. We have been doing this for about two years now and all the staff have experienced at least one swap. We feel it is a really great way to support the staff’s continual professional development and we have had some really excellent results.“ SETTING LIBRARY A resource library in the setting is another great way to individualise CPD. A collection of professional books, DVDs and magazines and journals, gives staff an opportunity to find out more about good practice. Articles can be stored divided by subject and you could include a reflection sheet recording one key point practitioners take from an article which could be discussed with them as part of their supervision. Cassie Holland of Archfield House Day Nursery in Bristol, describes the key advantages of her setting library: “being able to refer to literature at the drop of a hat when doing supervisions or CPD talks, staff having access to reading materials at all times, and the provocation for CPD especially for unqualified or inexperienced members of staff.” In summary, CPD enables us to improve our skills and knowledge, and therefore our practice. We feel more confident and better able to perform to the best of our abilities. To keep motivated we need to challenge ourselves to grow and learn and be enthused about new and fresh ideas and initiatives. We benefit, and as a result the children benefit as well. To find out more about the training Jenny offers you can go to her website.

Our childhood years are often considered to be our happiest. As early years professionals we get to experience the joy twice; in actuality and later on, by proxy. Yet, nearly two-thirds of practitioners report they are suffering from work-related stress or mental health issues. In my article, Practitioner Well–Being: In Theory, I identified (and explored the reasons for) a drop in the morale of my team and the ensuing need to develop a sustainable framework to support our well-being. Further research revealed a general feeling of low well-being and high stress among workers across the whole early years sector. Evidently, in the business of providing quality care for our children we had not made time to care for ourselves, nurture individual voices and hear one-another’s stories. As well as the problems which are idiosyncratic to individual settings, Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) also remains a poor relation within the hierarchy of national education. In conjunction with the apparent relaxation of quality protecting government policies, changes have also been made to the level of funding for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund has led to nurseries reporting insurmountable difficulties in meeting the needs of very young, vulnerable children who have special needs. Lack of support has had a detrimental impact on children and staff, causing ‘tremendous stress’ and practitioners ‘handing in their notice’ (Gaunt 2018). In response, I believe there is an increasing need for organisations to make time to hear the viewpoints of their teams; what Mezirow and Taylor call a ‘narration of personal experience’ or ‘facilitated storytelling.’ Thinking of my team’s well-being, I wondered what their stories are and whether they are given a chance to tell them. Identifying the Framework We decided to use our staff meeting time to give the team a chance to discuss issues which affected their well-being at work. When researching practitioner well-being it became apparent that we were not looking for a cure - prevention would be more beneficial. We needed to develop a support model, or framework, for these meetings which would be both financially and practically sustainable. I felt it was important to aim for obtaining a balance of time spent on action and reflection and challenge and containment. Through further research, I was able to identify the coaching model as most likely to achieve the desired outcome, in the desired way. This would also enable me to work from within the team, as opposed to from the top down. The GROUP (Brown and Grant 2010) coaching model structured our discussions and helped us to consider the experiences of others. The skills required to coach a team are to have the ability to: listen to people empathise with others impart knowledge know how to ask questions. These coaching sessions would be about levelling the field, drawing out people’s hidden skills ‘which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable’ (Sullivan in Kinder et al. 2008, p.290). By definition, coaching is: ‘A supportive relationship in which the coach serves as a thinking partner to the coachee.’ (Warren 2015). Identifying the themes. To determine what well-being looked like for the team I asked my colleagues: What constitutes a happy working environment? This unearthed some common themes. (Fig. 1) The majority of the team cited their environment, training opportunities and flexibility within the working day as important factors for high well-being and job satisfaction. Nearly everyone put being able to receive regular, constructive feedback and develop good working relationships as a high priority. Finally, the whole group agreed that a healthy balance for action and reflection was paramount for a happy team. All we needed to do now was to unpick each theme and get to the essence of what is required to sustain staff well-being. I shared the themes (shown in fig.1) with the team and we agreed to use them to frame each of our staff meetings, using the coaching model. Developing the framework. I devised a template to use during the meetings to enable me to take notes and to make sure we stuck to the agreed framework (fig.2). Theme: Date: Goal What do we want to achieve? Reality What is happening at the moment? What is going well? What is not so successful? Options What are our ideas to affect change? Understanding Others How will affect colleagues, the children, the families, other services? Perform What are our action points and what is the time frame? (Fig.2 I used each section to provoke discussion (as noted on the chart in fig.2). The general remit of each meeting was to agree on what we wanted to achieve from the session, establish what was happening at the moment, discuss ideas to implement change, consider who it will affect and draw up an action plan. Notes taken within this format were put in the reflective journal for staff to read and validate. The action plans utilise suggestions, note skill-sets, motivate action, encourage further discussion and identify training needs (see fig.3). Theme: Training Date: 2019 Goal What do we want to achieve? For staff well-being the team stated they would like to see: More ongoing ‘enriching and inspiring’ training opportunities. To look at outside and in-house opportunities to make this possible. Reality What is happening at the moment? What is going well? What is not so successful? At the moment staff feel ‘In a rut and stale.’ We are only accessing statutory training and not ‘enrichment’ training. Is this because of funding and time constraints? Can we manipulate this at all? Staff are ‘uninspired’ and feel they are ‘in a bubble, out of touch with other peoples’ practice and ideas.’ Options What are our ideas to affect change? We discussed using the training opportunities from the council more regularly and to celebrate our skill-sets with in-house training and activity programmes. Staff would like to see more regular training and more choices – connected to their own interests. Some in-house training needs identified were: generating a basic vocab in our families’ languages, managing behaviour, core books/songs, equalities. Understanding Others How will affect colleagues, the children, the families, other services? This can have a knock-on effect, leaving the team short when someone is out training. Children and families may miss their key person if they were on a course, but the rest of the key group can help. But the feeling was that the benefits generally out-weighed this. Perform What are our action points and what is the time frame? Management to make available the council training booklet and for people to choose one they are interested in. To look at the possibility of visiting other nurseries on a study day – e.g. Chelsea Open Air. To look at devising in-house training using existing skill sets. (Fig.3) During the meetings I reflect my colleagues’ words back to make sure I understand their meaning and to illustrate my engagement, for example: “So to clarify - you are saying that we have too many transition times during a session?” I use coaching style, open ended questions, for example: “How does receiving feedback from a colleague make you feel?” or “What could be put in place to make lunchtimes less hectic?” instead of “Is it really uncomfortable receiving feedback from a colleague?” or “How about splitting the group at lunchtimes to make it less hectic.” These subtle differences help my colleagues to discover and present their own opinions and suggestions. Team Feedback (direct quotes shown in speech marks). The over-riding opinions of the staff team seem to consider the structured format and how it kept us focussed. One colleague pointed out: “As a team, we tend to go off subject, so it’s better to have someone leading it and keeping to a framework.” Another colleague backed this up saying: “We had to be more ‘boundaried’ about our thoughts which kept us on topic.” Themed meetings with the coaching framework “have been useful to garner in-depth discussions in a way that is not really possible in usual meetings.” Staff see the coaching sessions as “a good way to see different viewpoints of the same subject” and called the process “more consultative.” Colleagues also feel the meetings are a “brilliant format for sparking discussions and involving everyone.” It is important that team coaching sessions enable people to generate new thinking together and they leave ‘more focussed, energised and connected’ than before they turned up (Hawkins 2017, p.6). Another important part of the process to emerge is the ‘so what’ element. For a support model to be authentic and for people to invest in it, there must be an outcome. “I like the action plans because sometimes what we agree to do doesn’t match what we actually do, and it needs monitoring.” Britton (2013, p.33) affirms this by high-lighting the importance of ‘letting the group do the work in finalising the action plan.’ She believes it is a key component in the sustainability of the coaching model. The physical aspect of being in a group situation is also appreciated and beneficial. “It’s a rare opportunity to be together as a whole group, getting an actual, physical feeling of being present within the team.” Thornton (2016, p.11) believes mutual learning can only happen face to face, the ‘wealth of non-verbal communication’ (seeing and reading body language) is paramount. Another team member added: “It helps me to feel more included in the team because I am part-time.” As far as celebrating individual skills and capabilities, my team think the coaching sessions “shift the focus from being trained to looking inwards at our existing expertise and experience.” Thornton (2016, p.6) verifies this by stating: 'The opportunities for learning are multiplied by the number of different individuals in the coaching relationship since everyone brings different skills and experience to the table.' When coaching a team of people you need to remain aware of individual insecurities and eccentricities, finding the balance between containing and challenging (or encouraging). My colleagues illustrated sensitivities in this area. “It has helped me to begin discussions on situations which I wasn’t sure how to voice before and to put forward ideas.” This team member went on to say: “The positive feedback from my team is really motivating and has made me want to do more to boost my confidence.” Benne and Sheats (1948) believe that teams consist of different roles, each one integral to achieving an agreed project outcome. Throughout the process and individual reflections, I could see evidence of my colleagues beginning to understand their individual worth within the team and take ownership of their roles. “It is good to take a problem we have within our working day and to be able to all have a say in what it feels like from our individual points of view.” Colleagues state they “feel a sense of empowerment being involved in the decision-making process” and “have a platform to share and debate ideas.” Some of the team report having the “confidence to speak out in a group but realise others might not.” One member of staff talked about waiting for others to bring up certain issues because they felt they weren’t yet able to: “And when I didn’t, and the issue went unresolved, I wish I had spoken up. Maybe I will feel more able to do this when I am more comfortable with the process.” I feel coaching sessions alone may not be enough to support team well-being. The model has a place alongside our shared reflective journal, formal and informal one-to-one discussions, staff development reviews and usual staff (and key group) meetings in building a culture of communication and feedback, consequently supporting team happiness. Coaching sessions are just one piece of a larger jigsaw; helping to build an overall picture of effective communication (fig.4) which is the essence of team well-being. (Fig.4) To conclude, I turned to the words of Gloria Steinem; author, feminist and advocate for gender equality: How we keep our spirits up is being together and listening to each other’s stories, obeying simple rules of democracy…. if you have more power than most, remember to listen as much as you talk, and if you have less power, then talk as much as you listen (2017).

The first experience of school, Reception, should be a year full of play and exploring as the children settle into their new learning environment, grow into their uniform and build new friendships. Play is key to a child’s development as they learn how to use their language skills, control their emotions and become more creative. Let’s also not forget that, at the beginning of Reception, some children may already be 5 years old, while some will have only just turned 4 – only 48 months old! This is why play is so important. It allows children to meet and reach across the developmental stages, learning to deal with frustrations, social situations and how to follow the expectations that are set when they start school. These are just a few of the areas a child navigates during the Reception year. This is before they have to cope with learning to read, write and count! If you look at the all round progress a child in Reception makes (not just academically) anyone involved in the development of an Early Years child should feel very proud of what they achieve. Fast forward 12 months and those children are now entering Year 1. Again, some of them will already be 6 years old, but some may have only just turned 5, the same age that some of their peers started in Reception, when they had a whole year of play ahead of them. What can a child expect to experience during the first few weeks of Year 1? I know what I would expect them to experience – the same as they had just a few weeks before when they were in Reception. When I led Year 1, I made sure that for the first few weeks we had a timetable that was the same as the children had been used to before the holidays. I found this helped ease the transition as it was a routine they were used to and so they knew what to expect. This was helped by the fact that I moved up into Year 1 with that year group, so I knew the children and what they were capable of and, more importantly, understood how they learnt best. During those first few weeks we did a lot of learning through play. I worked with small groups (which meant I took children away from their play), and we used our outside area. By carefully resourcing activities, we were able to guide the children to achieve their learning when they were self-selecting in the classroom. Our theme was The Skeleton, and we focused on the fantastic book 'Funny Bones' by Allan and Janet Ahlberg. We didn’t need to have ‘taught sessions’ where the children sat on the carpet, struggled to concentrate and to listen to the teacher, then went off to the tables and did a task that they may have found really easy or too hard. Instead, we had activities in the learning environment that allowed children to explore skeleton models by pulling them apart and putting them back together, books to share with each other (that also had some great pop out skeletons!), apps on the Chromebooks and tablets that allowed the children to see a skeleton by peeling away the skin and muscles. There were also art resources to encourage children to use models and pictures to create their own versions of skeletons and labels to encourage writing and organising. Some of our more able writers chose to produce instructions for putting a skeleton back together or to add to the lyrics for the skeleton song! Great fun was had in PE when we did a skeleton dance and used the time to explore how we could get our own skeletons to move as well as always using the appropriate vocabulary for the different parts which the children had been rehearsing in their play. We were then able to sit and work with small groups and support them through teacher led activities, allowing us to really engage with those children who understood the skeleton, and with those who needed further support. The children enjoyed looking at the books about skeletons well beyond the end of the topic, and they were able to refer to different parts of the body when we investigated animals later in the year. This proved to me that they had really understood, they had experienced the knowledge alongside developing their skills, mixed in with a healthy dose of self-directed learning, rather than just being able to label a diagram correctly. This style of teaching, especially in Year 1, can seem very chaotic to an observer. But look closer, and the engagement and curiosity of the children with their learning will become apparent. It may be a bit different to the play that they experienced in Early Years. Personally, I feel this is fine as they are slightly older and many of the children can handle being more focused on a task. The important part is ensuring that the child still has ownership over their learning and is able to approach it in their own way. The question is – how should this transition be achieved? I am a firm believer that Reception is not there just to prepare children for Year 1 – it is a different phase of their education and should be treated as such. Reception is all about the freedom to explore the world and make sense of everything. Year 1 is the start of the National Curriculum. The best way those working in Year 1 can provide this type of environment is to ensure that they have communicated effectively with the Early Years staff. The transition of knowledge about the children is key to making this a success. The Early Years Handbook states that: · Practitioners and Year 1 teachers should work together to ensure that a pupil’s transition between the EYFS and Year 1 is seamless · Pupils' experiences in the final year of the EYFS should be valuable in themselves and prepare the ground for Year 1 · Year 1 should build on the successful principles and approach encapsulated in the EYFS This really highlights the importance of the Year 1 teachers getting to know the children in Reception as early as possible. I appreciate that SLT may not know who will be teaching where the following year. But this is such a valuable part of a positive transition for children that it is worth breaking with tradition and (as soon as SLT are confident to do so) announcing Year 1 teaching staff before other year groups. Radical, I know! There have been a number of case studies which show how effective the play-based approach to teaching in Year 1 can be. Putting the emphasis on the child investigating a topic for themselves is a great way to create a motivated learner and allows the teacher to work with children in a way that engages them. It allows the teacher to observe each child’s process and give them the individual extension and support they need. If your Year 1 classroom closely resembles the Reception class at the beginning of the year, how does that evolve as you navigate your way through Year 1 to prepare children for Year 2? The previous example of my Year 1 class and their skeleton explorations occurred early in the year. After October half term we began to introduce some more formal learning sessions – especially in our maths as we were introducing the children to Inspire maths which, if you know about it, is fairly formal! That didn’t stop us learning the songs and lines for our Nativity, which was a full production on our stage, with lighting and props. Our phonics was a ‘formal’ taught session (as it had been in Reception) where we split the classes up into smaller groups for a daily 25-minute session. We did this for the whole year and came out with a result that was in line with the national average. The key is to introduce the more formal sessions gradually, so the children don’t really notice it happening. A few minutes more here and there over the weeks and you’ll soon find that by February half term, most of the children are participating in structured sessions for longer periods of time. Some children may be able to cope with this more quickly than others, but that’s where this way of approaching the transition really works – you can focus those children who are ready without losing the others. It can also help children with additional needs and who may take longer to adjust to the more formal approach, as they are no longer left on the outside whilst the rest of the class move on. The transition is a journey over the year – slow and steady wins the race! As the case studies show, the children who have been allowed the freedom and autonomy of learning through play in Year 1, settle more quickly and are better prepared for Year 2. The transition from a play-based approach to more formal learning should not be happening while the children are still in Early Years – which is what occurs if Reception staff know that the approaching Year 1 is more formal - it should be happening once they leave Early Years. In other words, during Year 1. When you look at your Year 1 classroom at the beginning of the year, does it look more like Reception or Year 6? Then ask yourself, are you ensuring these children are achieving their full potential in the setting you are providing?

I was born in the North West of England and have settled on the South Coast. My story of moving away from my childhood home to seek new adventures is not an unusual one. Transience is common. For some, like me, this is a self-chosen path. A chance to experience new things, meet new people. For others there is no choice. According to the UN Refugee Agency there are over 70 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, with nearly 30 million of those being refugees, half of whom are under the age of 18 (UNHCR, 2019). Within the UK, Brexit has meant a time of uncertainty. Journalists report rises in racially motivated attacks, far-right groups, and breakdowns in community cohesion. Extremist views are more prevalent, and certain groups have become more marginalized. Alongside this we see support services being cut, which means increasing pressures. Stop Start (Sutton Trust, 2018) reports 1000 UK Sure Start Centres have closed since 2009, twice as many than reported by the government, despite being shown to be hugely beneficial to children and families. Kathy Sylva, the report’s lead author, stated that ‘at a time of increasing pressure on families with young children, there is an urgent need for evidence-based services to support them.’ (Sylva, 2018) Early Years practitioners’ roles in supporting vulnerable families is increasingly vital. One initiative, Schools of Sanctuary (part of Cities of Sanctuary’s, 2019, national network) believes in creating places which foster a welcoming, safe and inclusive culture, working in communities to support understanding of equality and what it means to be seeking sanctuary. The programme focuses strongly on creating places of sanctuary for refugees, and others, fleeing violence and persecution. Thinking about our own inclusive practice within a culturally diverse setting, we often reflect on how we can create our own cohesive community. One in which everyone feels they belong, are safe, valued and respected. This vision led us to embark on the journey to become a nursery of sanctuary, a journey which is made up of three processes. The first is to Learn what it means to be seeking sanctuary. Courses were provided by our local authority which highlighted the traumatic, very real experiences of refugees. These courses provided a great starting point, but they were just that, the beginning of our learning journey. As a team we gasped at statistics, cried as we watched video footage, and unpicked our own preconceptions of what it really means to be a refugee. This process was not over in one staff meeting, but rather took months of reflection and revisiting issues and ideas. The team needed to support each other on this journey as we broke down unconscious biases and readdressed our understanding together. We thought not only about the horrific forced displacement some families have to endure due to war and persecution, but also about displacement closer to home, within our own communities and even within families. One member of the staff team even felt able to share for the first time some of her own first-hand experiences of what it means to be a refugee, something she had not felt able to do before. Once we had reached a place where we as a team felt secure in our understanding, we then opened these ideas up to our families and to the children within the nursery. This continuation of our learning journey became the start of the next step in the Schools of Sanctuary process; to take positive action to Embed concepts of welcome, safety and inclusion within our nursery and the wider community. To support this next step a professional from the local Ethnic Minority Inclusion Service visited the nursery and completed a diversity walk, a form of equalities audit, highlighting areas of strength within the nursery, as well as giving suggestions for improvement. Our setting aims to create an environment which is inclusive, diverse and celebratory of all. Our use of language, the images we display, and our resources send a message without directly saying anything at all. This is our hidden curriculum (Martin, 1983, as cited in Colwell, 2015 p.202). As a team we think deeply about the images we have on our walls to ensure they depict a wide range of cultures, experiences, circumstances and life choices. We aim to reflect on and refresh them regularly, ensuring they positively communicate our ethos. Suggestions from the diversity walk prompted us to ensure that images were not only depicting diversity but also represented the activities that took place in each area of the nursery making the environment easier to navigate for those with little or no language or experience of nursery. Another suggestion was to expand on how we displayed a variety of scripts within the nursery, for example writing an Arabic speaking child’s name in both Arabic script and English on their coat peg, showing the child and the family that they, and their home language, are valued and respected within the nursery. Language is hugely important when it comes to nurturing a sense of belonging and as a team we regularly reflect on our use of language, both verbal and non-verbal. Of equal importance are the things we choose not to say. These form part of our null curriculum (Finders et al, 1986), the messages we send by omittance. Inclusive practice is constantly evolving, and it can be difficult to always feel confident when discussing issues around diversity and equality. But avoidance is not the answer. This can send a message of insignificance or exclusion. Creating a culture of trust, respect and open communication, as well as a willingness to learn alongside each other, is vital within an inclusive setting. This can in turn nurture practitioner well-being and their own sense of belonging within the nursery community. While considering how feelings of security and belonging are fostered, we thought a great deal about how people are welcomed into the nursery, both during the settling in period and day to day. A simple ‘hello’ to all people as they arrive, or a smile, can go a long way in helping them to feel welcome and safe. Giving time for relationships to develop, providing opportunities for practitioners to get to know families and being approachable and available to families when needed, not only nurtures a sense of belonging, but also supports practitioners to carry out their role in terms of ongoing safeguarding duties. Social events provided the opportunity, not only for families to come together, but also for us to open up conversations about community and sanctuary, and what these terms meant to them. By reflecting on how we offered family social events, including how they nurtured a feeling of belonging and welcome, their format took on a new lease of life. What had previously been quite formal events became rich, fun filled open afternoons with families playing alongside their children and each other. Practitioners were able to model practice while chatting informally about children, early years practice, and other aspects of life. We saw a nursery community, children, families and practitioners, from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, heritages and life experiences, come together through play. One such event took place on the United Nations Day of Families (15th May) and was a real celebration of family and all it’s different guises. We saw families with little shared language playing a game of hopscotch together in the garden, a game instigated by a parent and building on a child’s interest in number play. Others planted seeds or participated in painting, while one Dad brought along his guitar and played music to accompany a group who had started dancing. All of our social events now take on a similar format and as a result we have seen a significant increase in the number of families who engage with these events, and a rise in the number of families who engage with each other outside the nursery setting. Refugee week (15th-21st June) provided a platform from which we could explore ideas of welcome further with the children and think about what it meant to be a refugee seeking sanctuary. We used books such as ‘My name is not Refugee’ by Kate Milner and ‘Welcome’ by Barroux as a basis for a range of activities, such as creating our own stories, mapping journeys and writing funny poems about our home and family. Children’s collective art work from a Syrian Refugee camp in Jordon inspired our own paintings. And Todd Parr’s ‘The Family Book’ helped us to create pictures of our own families which we laid out on the floor together giving a visual representation of our nursery community. And alongside all of this we have developed our use of the persona doll, creating a persona for a Syrian child, opening up and supporting conversations with the children about what it means for them to feel welcome and safe. These are just some examples of how our nursery has worked to embed the principles behind the Schools of Sanctuary programme in our day to day practice. The final step is to Share your vision and achievements – be proud! So here I am sharing our journey so far with you, and yes, I do feel proud. Not only of the journey we have been, and continue to be, on but also to be part of a community that is looking to the journey ahead. Undertaking this process was not just about achieving an accreditation. Inclusion and true inclusive practice are a journey not a destination and we very much view becoming a nursery of sanctuary as one step on a continuous journey. Early Years settings may not be in a position to change the political or economic stability of nations but their daily contact with families means they are ideally placed to offer a safe space, create cohesive communities, and provide support within an environment which is nurturing, inclusive and welcoming... a sanctuary for all.

The FSF and Tapestry Education Team are all trained teachers and we like to keep our skills sharp and our knowledge up to date so that we can give the best advice to support Tapestry users and FSF members. For this reason, we occasionally visit schools and nurseries. I was very lucky to be invited to visit Blue Door Nursery, a day care setting for babies (Kittens), toddlers (Cubs) and pre-school (Lions), owned by FSF Rebecca. I was keen to spend some time with the children there, getting a feel for what it is like to be a small person at the nursery, as well as chatting to some of the staff. Rebecca began by reminding me of the story behind Blue Door. She had been teaching in primary schools for 15 years, and was on route to headships, but as she said, ‘I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit.’ And so began the search for a suitable location for a nursery. The church hall Rebecca found already had a nursery running in it, much loved by staff but ready for a new approach. After writing an action plan and putting her business proposal to the Church committee and the local Diocese, the building and the nursery eventually belonged to Rebecca and her family. Why ‘Blue Door’? Rebecca says, ‘I wanted something visual, so people would know they were in the right place, and there was something about ‘Blue Door’ that reflected my personality!’ And yes, the original church hall door is actually painted blue! One little boy pointed to the logo on my visitor’s lanyard and said, ‘that’s the blue door of the nursery!’ He clearly knew where he was! Rebecca gave birth to her second child within eighteen months of opening Blue Door. She has memories of her son being at nursery with her from a very tiny baby all the way through pre-school. She used her own experiences as a working parent to shape the way things are done at Blue Door. For example, pricing is all inclusive, there are no hidden extras. Parents know their baby can arrive in PJs, no need to struggle with clothes if it has been a challenging morning! The space itself is influenced by the way Rebecca’s son moved around it as a baby and small child. It is light and open plan, while still having spaces within spaces, little gates that can be open or closed, ways to see what everyone is doing, or not, as the mood takes you, whether you are an adult or a child! When I arrived, those Cubs who were moving up to the next age group had joined the Lions for their morning snack. The children were pouring their own water, negotiating over cups and jugs. There was a lot of self-sufficiency going on! I began in the baby space. They were about to do some painting with chunks of fruit and Victoria, a Junior Manager at the setting, explained the learning journey so far. Some of the babies have been interested in eating and in mixing things, while one baby has been less keen to eat altogether. With this in mind, earlier in the morning they had been outside with lots of cut up fruit – apples, oranges, cucumbers. The babies embarked on some exploratory play, squeezing, sliding, biting and tasting the fruit. By the time I joined them, part two of the activity had moved inside to a low tuff spot. Victoria explained that some of the babies were pulling themselves up and doing the activity at this level allowed them to sit and pull up around the low surface. In the tuff spot were fruit and paint and four babies were ready to explore! As we watched, Victoria was noticing their different approaches: one was busy eating the apple, another was using the cucumber to spread the paint around the tray, one moved immediately to painting his face with his hands, while another watched and eventually followed suit. The babies communicated their interest and excitement with their whole bodies. Victoria brought out mirrors to show the face painters how they looked – cucumbers were now being used to get the paint all over the cheeks! Then it was time for a wash. While the one almost completely covered in paint had a shower, the clean-up was becoming so much fun for everyone else that it was taken outside, more water added, and everyone ended up sitting in a big tray of water for a splash. What I noticed was how responsive the educators were to the babies and the interests they were showing. ‘In the moment planning’ was happening, with the addition of mirrors to see their painted faces and even in the washing at the end, learning opportunities were explored and supported. Victoria showed me how the planning happens in the day. A big wipe-clean sheet on the wall is used to record the journey in a sort of flow chart or pathway of the activities, what came before and space and flexibility to add what is coming next according to what the children are showing you. This system is used throughout the nursery. The staff focus on planning a mix of new experiences or new skills for children. With some red paint on my nose and jumper as proof of the fun I’d had and the learning I’d done, I headed off through a little gate to where some Cubs were busy making their own playdough. Cassie, who is a level 2 nursery assistant, explained that all the children in the nursery were learning to make playdough themselves. She was learning with a small group of children and she told me that one of them was just transitioning into being a Cub. He stood snuggled in between her arms while he poured flour and water into a bowl. Two other children had already made their dough and they were squishing, pressing, pulling and rolling it. ‘Look! You can poke it if you like!’ ‘I made mine red. Yours is green.’ ‘My hand’s right in it!’ Cassie observed them, listening carefully to what they were saying, while continuing to support the transitioning Cub, quietly putting into words what he was doing. I could see how she was both modelling the actions and giving him the vocabulary to talk about the experience. Through another little gate and I joined some Lions who were also making their own dough. The difference in provision of this activity for the older children was clear. Each had their own bowl and they were adding their ingredients with guidance from Maggie who is qualified at level 3. The energy at this table was part George’s Marvellous Medicine and part ‘Potions’ lesson in Harry Potter! Flour was wafting up in puffs and water was making puddles and in each bowl some dough was magically forming! The children added colour and smells. Maggie told me the motivation and journey behind this activity – the children had been collecting natural loose parts in the garden the day before and had been sticking them in things outside. This morning they were learning the skill of making their own dough, and that afternoon they would gather the loose parts they had collected and explore them with the dough. Maggie discussed the process with them as they added ingredients and mixed with spoons or hands. ‘Smell mine. It’s vanilla. Do you like it?’ ‘It’s too stiff now.’ ‘I made it a bit sticky. I need more…water!’ I had now added flour and water to my red paint splodges, and I was ready to catch up with Jane, Manager and Team Leader for Under Threes at Blue Door. Jane was at the Nursery before Rebecca became the owner, and we talked about change. She explained that there were lots of changes, to the building itself and to the practice, and this kind of change can be difficult for everyone. But she said that change was adopted as a team effort and taken slowly. Jane also talked about the change in her own role when she became a Manager. She explained that, like many staff who change roles, she wondered whether she would still be able to stay in touch with all the things she had always done and loved doing. What she has found is that one role has enriched the other. She feels she understands what it is like to be a member of staff, and she has a detailed knowledge of early years which she brings to her job as Manager and this helps her to understand the team and how to support them. Jane also spoke about the community served by Blue Door and the importance of meeting the requirements of that community. It is a good business model to adapt and be flexible, listening to what parents and carers need. Each setting is unique. Jane pointed out that even two settings in the same town will not be the same as each other. My time was nearly up, and I found Rebecca again. We finished by talking about training new staff. Rebecca is very clear that Blue Door is a place where everyone is learning, and that includes the staff. When someone new to early years and child development joins them, Rebecca takes time to sit with them, Development Matters open in front of them, while together they observe children playing. She gave a recent example when she and Amy, who is beginning her Level 2, watched a little person aged 22 months having a go at feeding himself with a spoon and fork. On the journey from bowl to mouth he would turn the spoon over so all the food fell off. She discussed with Amy the activities that could be offered to help him learn to keep his hand and the object on the same plane – carrying cups of water during water play outside, walking with a bean bag in a scoop. They discussed the language that can be added to this play – ‘keep it up’, ‘look it’s straight’, ‘tip’. They also thought about how to support him to use the fork to skewer his food – sticks in the sand, tools in playdough, again accompanying this with language – ‘jab’, ‘stick it in’. All the language as well as the physical practice, then becomes the supportive trigger to help him when he is back at his lunch again! I left Blue Door having gained some smudges of red paint and a dusting of flour, but also having seen good practice first-hand, planning that moves with the children, and of course having had some most excellent conversations with small people!

‘The promise of happiness, or at least the pursuit of it, is the great and charismatic narrative of our country - powerful, frustratingly elusive, dangerously malleable—and therefore worthy of our attention’ (Black and D’Albertis 2011, p.109). Yet, nationally the well-being of early years practitioners is at an all-time low, with 57% of participants surveyed by The Early Years Alliance in 2018 admitting to having suffered from work-related anxiety. Within the last year there has been a reported 84% decrease in students enrolling on the Early Years Initial Teacher Training course and a large amount of qualified early years teachers leaving the sector due to poor pay, progression and conditions. Surely our emotional welfare is a major contributing factor to child development? Theories relating to facilitative pedagogy seem to presume the practitioner is emotionally robust. For example, Elfer et al (2011) suggests the early years worker in their role as ‘key person’ should be intrinsically connected to the child and their carers. They should be emotionally available and a significant person for the family during their time at nursery. Similar to when air stewards encourage us to ‘first put on our own life-jackets’ in an emergency, ‘to really help the children we are working with, we need to first stop and look at ourselves and think about how we are, how good our well-being is’ (Mainstone-Cotton 2017, p.10). More than ever, it is important for leaders in the early years sector to discover ways in which team cohesion and well-being can be supported and sustained to nurture the retention, skills and well-being of their existing work-force. Each setting and team is unique, bringing with it an individual set of idiosyncrasies and requirements. Therefore, support models cannot effectively be ‘one size fits all’ and I would suggest settings should either develop or adapt a system which best suits their needs. So, where do we start? Most good practice happens when informed by theory, and from then onwards it becomes cyclical. In this instance, it would be helpful to look at the theoretical frameworks for practitioner well-being and models of support. Well-being When looking for a definition of well-being, my favourite was from the New Zealand Curriculum. Under the strand of Health and Physical Education, well-being is considered holistically and known as Hauora (a Māori philosophy of health). ‘The concept of well-being encompasses the physical, mental and emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of health’ (Ministry of Education 1999). Societal (if not political) understanding and support regarding mental health issues has increased significantly over recent years. But, while there is evidence of robust research on the emotional and physical stress teachers working in primary and secondary schools are facing, insufficient consideration has been given to the experience of early years workers – despite local and national pressure on practitioners being higher than it has ever been. Early years workers are particularly susceptible to stress-related illness, yet they report high job satisfaction. What is causing this contradictory evidence? ‘Many people who work with children do so from a sense of vocation’ (Clifford-Poston 2002); a feeling of deep-rooted affinity. A significant number of ECEC practitioners cite love as a ‘key professional quality’ (Taggart 2011, p.89). On closer inspection, I would suggest it is not the job itself which is the cause of high anxiety levels, but uncontrollable outside influences; the ecological systems Bronfenbrenner (2009) describes as the exosystem and macrosystem. Hochschild (2010) goes so far as to describe our work as ‘emotional labour.’ Overall, work with children is underpaid and undervalued. A lack of resources and sometimes poor working conditions are daily reminders to practitioners that their skills go unrecognised (Clifford-Poston 2002). Bertram (1996) discussed the importance of the facilitator’s professional well-being and sense of belonging. He believes that strong self-awareness and knowledge of one’s professional persona assists with the adult’s engagement levels, which is comparable to the child’s well-being and involvement (Laevers 2012). An engaged adult is a ‘systematic and rigorous observer, constantly seeking to improve the environment she provides for children’s learning’ (Bertram 1996, p.155). So, Bertram is suggesting that adult engagement is as beneficial to the adult as it is to the child. ‘When adults display engaging qualities, they tend to have an improved sense of professional well-being and professional self-image’ (Bertram 1996, p.155). Bettner and Lew (1990) claim there are four basic cornerstones (or dispositions) to well-being. We need to feel that we connect with others, that we are capable, that our opinions and actions count, giving us the courage to face new challenges. Considering the ‘Crucial C’s’ is a ‘quick and effective way to help participants to move from blaming to understanding themselves and others, so they might better meet their own and others’ needs’ (John 2008, p.62). Support models – the theory There are three possible models of support which can be used within this context: supervision, mentoring and coaching. Figure 1: Three models of team support (Warren 2015) Supervision Supervision has ‘medieval and Latin origins’ (Sullivan and Glanz 2013, p.8) and was originally used as a ‘process of scanning for errors or deviations’ (Smyth 1991, p.30) when overseeing inexperienced school teachers. Today, supervision used in its broadest sense is usually carried out between an employer and employee, where the skills of the supervisee are aligned to accomplish the goals of the company. Leaving the ‘autocratic past’ (Sullivan and Glanz 2013, p.14) behind, the supervisor role democratically nurtures the well-being and the development of the supervisee, regarding them as ‘a fellow worker rather than a mere cog in a big machine’ (Newlon 1923). In a ‘helping’ or ‘caring’ profession, clinical supervision is an important part of containing the container; supporting the person who offers care and support to others, forming a triangle of care or ‘therapeutic triad’ (Hawkins and Shohet 2012, p.4). Mentoring ‘Mentor’ was a character in Greek mythology, a respected and wise elder who guides Telemachus along a perilous journey. Today’s definition of a mentor is a hierarchical, dyadic relationship. A mentor is someone who ‘imparts wisdom to and shares knowledge with a less experienced colleague’ (Patti and Kibbe 2018, p.10). Coaching and mentoring have some overlapping processes but essentially ‘coaching is short term task-based and mentoring is a longer term relationship’…. ‘A coach has some great questions for your answers; a mentor has some great answers for your questions’ (Brefi Group 2018). Mentoring can be theoretically linked to Vygotsky, who believes successful learning happens when we are encouraged by a ‘more knowledgeable other.’ With such guidance, we can perform beyond our ability – within certain limits. He defined these limits as the zone of proximal development. Coaching It is widely agreed that the term ‘coach’ originated in the 1830s where it was used at Oxford University as a slang for a tutor who ‘carried a student through an exam’ (Cox et al. 2014, p.2). Coaching continued to be used in the sporting sector until finding itself in the workplace at the beginning of the twentieth century. In its current form, coaching is a relatively new phenomenon which celebrates the individual’s skills and attempts to unlock the potential to maximise performance. It is helping to learn rather than teaching. Grounded theory for coaching is in complete contrast to empiricist viewpoints that we are all born empty vessels, waiting to be filled with knowledge. Whitmore (2009) offers the analogy that we are acorns, all born with the capacity to grow into great oak trees. ‘We need nourishment, encouragement and the light to reach toward, but the oaktreeness is already within us’. I don’t know about you, but I was sold on ‘oaktreeness’ and so were my colleagues! So we developed our support framework from a coaching model. How this worked in practice will be explored in my article entitled ‘Practitioner Well–Being: In Practice’. There is a level of agreement amongst several academics and coaching practitioners that the following three theories are particularly relevant and underpin most coaching interventions. Andragogy, the theory of adult learning introduced by Knowles in the 1970s, focusses on the premise that adults need to know what they will be learning. They prefer to be self-directed and treated as equals. Knowles believes adults continue their drive to learn throughout most of their lives. They learn best when there is a specific issue or problem to address and are internally motivated to problem solve. Experiential learning as propounded by Kolb (2014, p.xviii) is ‘a particular form of learning from life experience’. A concrete experience should be the basis for observation and reflection. The reflections are then assimilated through analysis into a theory from which implications for future action are deduced and finally a plan for moving forward into another experience can be formulated. Experiential learning is most effective when the learner or coachee is guided through the stages of an experiential learning cycle. The transformative learning theory of Mezirow (1994) involves a deep, fundamental revision of our beliefs, principles and feelings and implies a shift of perception that has the potential to alter our understanding of ourselves and others. Transformative learning requires the person to go through a series of stages, resulting in experiential learning. These stages begin in the comfort zone of being in equilibrium to being moved into a state of disorientation through being challenged about their thinking. Then, assisted through the skilful use of facilitative questions (from a coach in this case) to a state of reorientation and finally back to a new (but modified) state of equilibrium. ‘In order to ensure that coaching conversations stay goal focused, many coaches purposefully structure the coaching conversation’ (Brown and Grant 2010, p.37). There are many simple models which can be used as a basic structure for running a coaching session, one of the better known is ‘GROW’ (Whitmore 2009): Goal. What is your goal for the session? Reality. What is the current reality (in respect of the identified goal)? Options. What options are available to help you reach your goal? Ways forward. What are you actually going to do in order to reach your identified goal? I felt the GROW model lacked the ability for us, as a team, to look beyond the individual and take in the perspectives of others; in our case – colleagues, children and parents. On further research, I discovered the GROUP model (Brown and Grant 2010). This model (Goal, Reality, Options, Understanding others, Perform) follows the same initial phases as the GROW model but is used within a group or a team. The variation comes in the ‘Understanding others’ phase. This phase enables a team to ‘reach a higher level of consciousness and creativity through the gradual creation of a shared set of meanings and a ‘‘common’’ thinking process (Scharmer 2016, p.42). I also recognised common threads running through the theory behind team coaching and the Crucial C’s of well-being. Team coaching gives a person the opportunity to work towards a shared vision from within a connected team. Their feeling of being capable would be fostered through the model’s style of open-ended questioning, leading to autonomous ideas and suggestions. The coachee’s opinions will feed into the action plan and ways forward, enabling all members of the team to feel they have a voice and they count. The overall experience of team coaching should promote a ‘can do’ attitude and the courage to learn from experiences. Wendell-Holmes famously states (in Adair 2007, p.85 ): ‘Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.’ To conclude this exploration of the theory of well-being in the early years setting, here are some quotes on happiness and how we might achieve it. When Thomas Jefferson wrote about happiness in The United States Declaration of Independence (1776) he saw it as a basic human need: ‘The pursuit of happiness was not trivial pleasure seeking. It was fundamental to the condition of people’s lives and to their efforts to change and improve them’. In contrast, Csikszentmihalyi (2002, p.2) states ‘happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue,’ it is not something that just occurs by chance, it needs to be ‘cultivated’. Rosenberg (2010, p.10) believes we have a fundamental drive to be happy which motivates our choices and decisions. The pursuit and cultivation of happiness is strengthened by reflective practice. ‘Increased happiness enhances a leader’s ability to transform self, groups and organizations.’ Click on the link to read Emma's companion article, Practitioner Well-Being: In Practice.