Welcome to the January newsletter!

(NB - if you're reading this newsletter from the website, are an existing member, but are not receiving newsletters by email, then your email settings need changing. Please contact us to find out how to change this).

First of all, a slightly belated Happy New Year to you all. Rather than hoping it's going to be prosperous for you it's probably more appropriate to hope you're not being credit crunched too badly!

Two quick item of FSF news:

Those of you who are subscribed via your local authorities will now find that your local forum appears at the top of the forum index page. You'll only find your local forum there - and local authority forums are now only accessible to their own members. We found that, as the number of local authority members has risen (there are now approaching sixty), it became more difficult to distinguish local conversations from others.

Our January competition is now closed and you can vote on the entrants. Members were asked to make up their own meanings to common acronyms and abbreviations in the early years world. Ten were listed (CWDC, DCSF, OFSTED, SALT, SENCO, EYPS, EYFS, IEP, EAL, SEAD). If you're currently a subscribing member you can see the entries and vote for your choice here.

The FSF Local Authority scheme

We're delighted to welcome South Gloucestershire, Reading, Staffordshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Thurrock, Darlington and Guernsey to the local authority scheme and the FSF. Apologies to South Gloucestershire who we unaccountably missed from the last newsletter! Teachers, practitioners, and other providers from these areas can now register and subscribe free of charge (visit the LA index page to learn more).

Additionally the following authorities have renewed - members need do nothing, their individual accounts will automatically be re-subscribed:

second year - Salford
third year - City of York
fourth year - Bracknell Forest

Welcome back to you all!

New Content

We have a fair few articles this month, starting with a wintry one that may come in useful!

Topics Support: Snow and Ice
A topic support article on a seasonal theme, with 12 focus activity sheets, a booklist and a mindmap.

Biscuit Box Banter
Martine Horvath presents some fun ideas to get children talking, and to help them develop their speech and language skills.

What can we learn from the first of the Ofsted reports on EYFS provision? (Part 4)
The final article of the series looks at the judgements that inspectors made within the theme of Learning and Development, and on the abilities of settings to self-evaluate and maintain policies.

What do the most recent Ofsted reports tell us? What have inspectors focused on, during the first weeks of the EYFS? (Part 3)
The third article of the series looks at the judgements that inspectors made within the theme of Enabling Environments.

What do the most recent Ofsted reports tell us? What have inspectors focused on, during the first weeks of the EYFS? (Part 2)
This article illustrates the focus of Ofsted reports during the first weeks of the autumn term. Statements within the reports are presented under the theme of Positive Relationships.

Playful Pedagogy and Transitions in Children's Mathematics
The natural beginnings of written mathematics start within children's imaginative play. In this article, Maulfry Worthington describes children's mathematical graphics; children's own mathematical marks and representations, and gives examples collected over many years of research.

The Importance of Young Children's Mark-making: Beginnings, Context, Meaning and Mathematics
Mark making has an important place in the development towards children's understanding of standard symbolic languages, for example mathematics and writing. This article discusses children's mark making with reference to practice and pedagogy particularly in Redcliffe Children's Centre, Bristol.

Using Music to Support Foundation Stage Learning
Mary E. Maunder presents musical activities to support young children's development and learning across the six areas

What do the most recent Ofsted reports tell us? What have inspectors focused on, during the first weeks of the EYFS?
Having read all of the PVI Ofsted reports for the first few weeks of the EYFS, a definite picture is emerging of the specific areas that inspectors have focused upon. This article, the first in a series of four, will provide FSF members with information to help them review and evaluate their provision within the "Unique Child" theme.

Good Intentions
Inclusion, equality, diversity - these words are scattered over official documents including the EYFS, and we all think they are ‘A Good Thing'. But how do these principles get turned into what actually happens in settings? Sue Griffin discusses the issues.

Thinking Creatively about Creative Development
Martine Horvath's belief that all children are born creative is one that many practitioners share. In this article she describes what creativity means in the early years and how we can support this crucial area of learning and development.

Forum Topics

Here's a small sample of some of the discussions since the last newsletter:

Holidays - do you still claim funding?
"...At our community run preschool we always claim the nursery grant even for the time that some of the parents take their child out for holidays. Are we allowed to do this or do we have to ammend the hours at the end of the term and give the funding back? What do you do?

I ask as we had our chairperson say that because her son would be away for a week next month that she was going to use those hours to pay for the shortfall in funding we have at the end of term. I am now completely confused ! (which I know doesn't take much to do) as the parent asked us for five mornings a week, we only open from 9-12, mon-fri..."

How long did your OFSTED inspection take?
"...My setting is due to be inspected soon and I was wondering if they are now done in one day? My last inspection took place over two days. The Inspector came in one day and then came back two days later. In between I was able to gather evidence I hadnt been able to show her....."

Planning from children's interest: Overview of "curriculum coverage"
"... For all of you out there who have abandoned themes and topics as a starting point for your planning, do you still monitor, through paperwork, your overall, long term coverage and promotion of all aspects of each area of learning in what you provide for the children in your setting?

In other words, do you have some "long term" system of ensuring that the activities, experiences and resources that you provide in your indoor/oudoor environment enable the children to work towards the full range of goals across all six areas? And if so, how do you record this monitoring and use it to inform your future planning?..."

Operational file - would anyone share their index page
"... Are there any pre-school people out there who would be willing to share their operational file index/contents page or tell me how they set it out? I'm panicking and Ofsted due any day!!! I have done a search but I'm just so confused with it all...."

Sustained Shared Thinking
"... How can I make sustained shared thinking viable (during focus activities) in class of thirty children if it's most effective on a 1:1 level?

I can understand the thinking behind it and it makes absolute sense - I try to use it all of the time when I can but cant see how I can involve 24 children in their groups involved in sustained shared thinking with a scaffolding adult while i am with a focus group. Would it be better if the TA moved around the classroom scaffolding while I worked with my focus group? ..."

Inspirational text - A thought for the future
"... One day a teacher asked the children to list the names of the other children in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the lesson to finish and as the children left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each child on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday she gave each child his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. 'Really?' she heard whispered. 'I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!' and, 'I didn't know others liked me so much,' were most of the comments...."

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). Discuss the Nottingham City Tracking and Transition project. Drop in and say hello to Essex members. And hello to colleagues in Worcestershire.