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A quick reminder, particularly for those employing staff, that the annual leave entitlement changes on April 1st to 28 days (pro rata for part time employees). Read more about this here, including an online holiday pay calculator.
The April competition will follow the theme of 'The Big Read' - we will be inviting you to submit your own review of your favourite (early years) children's book. Look out for more details!
We'd like to welcome back members from the following authorities, which have renewed their LA subscription - members need do nothing, their individual accounts will automatically be re-subscribed:
Welcome back to you all!
Topics Support: The Farm
The penultimate in our series of topic support articles, containing 12 focus activity plans, a booklist and a mindmap.
The Fish Who Could Wish
Martine Horvath suggests some lively activities based around the very popular storybook.
The Multi-sensory Approach
This is the third in a series of articles examining current research into the way children learn and how this can be applied in the early years setting. The multi-sensory model links long-held beliefs about learning with the everyday experiences of young children.
Here's a small sample of some of the discussions since the last newsletter:
Links between settings - when a child goes to more than one
"...Sitting here trying to thing of a better way to make links between settings ... currently ours is very informal and nothing is recorded. We need to, in line with EYFS, make this more formalised. I'm interested to here what other people do. I've thought of having a planned phone call with a Q + A sheet, thought of having a book that goes backward and forwards between settings, thought of having parents as the link ... not wholly happy with any of the above! Has anyone got something that actually works?!..."
Do you allow open visits to prospective parents?
"...If someone knocks the door at your setting to put their childs name on the waiting list and asks to "have a look around" do you let them in or do you make appointments/check identification etc.?
I know the childcare information bureau used to say to parents that settings should have an "open door" policy and that if settings didn't let you in then they were probably hiding something.... but what about security issues for the children in our care?..."
A sense of community
We seem to be struggling to provide support with this one, so if you have any ideas, please pay a visit:
"... I have recently found out that I am going to be moderated next term so I am busily making sure that I have enough evidence to support both my nursery assessments and my reception profiles. Does anyone have any ideas for really good "sense of community" and "communities" lessons which will allow me to collect evidence to demonstrate that the children are aware of other's beliefs and also that they should respect these beliefs? Any ideas will be greatly received as I really want to give them lessons and activities that are "real" to them. It's probably important to say that I do not work in a multicultural school where I could invite in parents (which would be amazing!)..."
'Letters and Sounds' - how often in nursery?
"...I am a Nursery teacher in a class attached to a primary school. We concentrate on Phase 1 from Letters and Sounds and love it!!! Would just like to know how often other Nursery classes do activities from the scheme. Feel we need to do it more but not at expense of other things. Ideas?!..."
Inappropriate TV viewing?
"... I have been out of the setting on training today. As soon as I got home I rang my deputy to see how the day had gone - her first comment was 'xxxxxx was so poorly behaved again', but guess what he had been watching? Star Wars immediately before coming in (again). This child is completely obsessed with Star Wars and it directly impacts on his behaviour - all paintings, models, drawings based on Star Wars - play is shooting other children, using all available resources to make weapons, light sabres etc. Now I fully understand that we are meant to be supporting children's interests but his behaviour is just so awful when he is in Star Wars mode...
I have made gentle hints to his mum that I really don't like Star Wars - but is it, do you feel, appropriate to comment on what he is doing at home and sharing our thoughts on how this affects his behaviour?..."
Staff appraisal form
"...I wanted to give something back to the forum, as you've all been so kind in answering my questions. The attached form is a combination of two forms I found on here, with some changes of my own. I'm planning to use it for staff appraisals next term (I'm committee chair), hope some others find it useful..."
EYFS admission policy - birth order?
"...Our current admission policy first of all states that the child should be living in the area, then we go on to Looked after children, followed by birth order.
We are now finding that this seems a little unfair as a child could have been on the list for ages but is then pushed down the list because someone older comes into the area. The next problem is that children with birthdays in the Summer might never get into our setting especially as the feeder schools around us have started taking only 1 intake.
EYFS states birth order as being the main criteria, and I totally understand the reasoning behind this, but we are trying to be as fair as possible and our current systems isn't allowing this.
Any suggestions on how to get round this. And would love to hear what's been working for your settings too..."
Local Forum discussions
If you subscribe via one of these LAs, why not pop in and join in on the current conversations? (NB - you'll only be able to access the pages if you're a member from that authority). People are saying hello to each other in Southampton. Are you from anywhere near Basingstoke in Hampshire? Or discuss story making with colleagues from Bath and North-East Somerset. Remember, your local forums are only visible to you and your local colleagues! If you want to receive an email reminder whenever a new topic is started in your local forum, read 'Tips and Tricks' below.
If there are forum areas which you're particularly interested in (for example your local forum if you're subscribing via a local authority), you can get the FSF system to email you a notification when a new topic is started. You'll only get an email when the first post in a forum is made, so you won't get inundated with each new reply unless you choose. Simply go to the relevant forum area, and click the 'Forum Options' button at the top right of the list of topics. Then choose 'Subscribe to this Forum' from the options. You can always 'unsubscribe' through your 'My Controls' page.