Summer term 2011

 Thank you for all our lovely Easter gifts – not helpful with the diet but very scrummy!

I hope that you all had a wonderful break and made the most of the sunshine….

Theme

We will be looking at our Golden Rules this half term. Recent studies on emotional intelligence illustrate the importance of children being taught skills to develop empathy, self control and to recognise and deal with emotion. Early Years practice supports the concept of offering developmentally appropriate opportunities that will encourage children to take responsibility for their morality. At Preschool we involve children in the process of thinking through moral issues and encourage positive social behaviours such as sharing, helping, comforting and empathy.

The use of ‘golden rules’ within the setting is a valuable example of how to encourage empathy and moral understanding. The rules are a basic set of regulations that cover aspects such as; we are kind and gentle, we share, and we are helpful. They express what children should do rather than what they shouldn’t. By using positive vocabulary we shift focus from what is not acceptable and encourage an awareness of the desired behaviour. The rules use pictorial prompts, which are characters from TV shows that are recognisable to the children, enabling them to relate the behaviour to something familiar. Using pictures also helps younger and less able children or a child with an auditory processing disorder to focus on the behaviour that is expected.

There is a poster in the foyer showing our ‘golden rules’ and we would appreciate it if you would discuss them with your child – in fact those children that have been with us for a while will probably be able to tell you what the rules are! There is also a new planning web for this half term in the foyer and in the main hall on the staff notice board. Please take a look so as you know what our aims are for this half term.

Key persons

Key Person’s are there for you as well as to care for your child. They are always happy to have a chat and in fact it is vital that you do communicate as we need to build a holistic picture of your child in order to look after them effectively. The Learning Journeys are updated regularly and your Key Person loves to add things from home – particularly observations that you make. So please bring in any observations/photo’s/pictures that are done at home so we can add them to the journeys.

EYFS changes/ Tickell report

A review was commissioned in July last year by the Department for Education with the intention of making the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) less bureaucratic, with plans to implement its recommendations from September 2011.

The final report is full of proposed changes as to how the EYFS will operate - probably the ones that are most exciting are recommendations to cut the number of early learning goals from 69 to 17, and a change in focus to three 'prime' areas of learning.

Dame Clare Tickell has recommended that the EYFS is radically slimmed down to make it easier to understand, less arduous and more focused on making sure children start school ready to learn. Setting out her recommendations, Dame Clare says that while parents and Early Years Professionals agree that the EYFS has had a positive impact on children’s outcomes and helped to raise standards, in its current form there is far too much time spent filling in forms and not enough interacting with children. She says the EYFS needs to be simplified and made even more accessible for parents and practitioners. (Hooray!!!!)

The current EYFS has 6 areas of learning and 69 learning goals!! These goals are used to monitor children’s progress while they are in pre-school. At the age of 5 they are assessed against these goals, on a 117 point scale, as part of the EYFS profile.

To reform the current framework and make it less bureaucratic, Dame Clare’s recommendations include:

• Significantly reducing the number of early learning goals children are assessed against at age five from 69 to 17 – (brilliant!)
• Parents to get a summary of their child’s development, alongside the health visitor check at age two, to help identify any early problems or special educational needs – (very significant - in my opinion!)
• A new focus on three prime areas which are the foundations for children’s ability to learn and develop healthily: personal, social and emotional development; communication and language; and physical development (logic returns!)
• Beneath these should be four areas of learning where these skills are applied: literacy, mathematics, expressive arts and design and understanding the world.
• With the three new prime areas of learning, a greater emphasis on making sure children have the basic social, emotional communication and language skills they need to learn and thrive at school – things like being able to make friends and listen effectively (hallelujah!!)
• Freeing the workforce from unnecessary bureaucracy so they can spend more time interacting with children – including scrapping written risk assessments for nursery trips and outings.
• All Early Years Practitioners to have at least a level 3 qualification. (Currently all but one (who will be training later this year) of our staff hold a level 3 – and I am level 5).
• Ofsted should be clearer on what is required of settings when they are inspected to help reduce high levels of paperwork.
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The report makes a lot of sense and I hope that the government will take heed! Watch this space and as soon as I know more I will let you know.

Sun tan lotion/ sensible shoes

As the sun has graced us with some glorious days we need to think about keeping safe in the hot weather. The children always have access to fresh water and we encourage them to keep hydrated. Can we ask that you please apply sun cream to your child before coming into Preschool and that you bring a sun hat? Just a reminder – when your child started at Wendover Preschool you signed a permission form for staff to apply sun cream - If you would like to withdraw consent and you DO NOT want us to apply top up sun cream during the morning please write a letter which will be kept on file.

　Bringing in things from home

As you may remember I have made many pleas in the past for children not bring in toys or special things from home. This was because they got lost or broken or there were tears because somebody else wanted to play with them. We have had a re-think about this and have decided that, as some children enjoy bringing things in, we will have a ‘going home storage basket’ in which we will keep these items (including – hair clips/cardigans etc). Please check this storage basket in future if your child comes out of Preschool without everything they arrived with!

Letters in pockets

We use the named pockets in the foyer to send home letters and other communication. Please remember to check them regularly. You are very welcome to use the pockets if you have birthday invitations or other things that you would like to send home to parents.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful team here at Wendover Pre-school – both practitioners and committee (oh - and the admin lady!) for all their hard work. They make the Pre-school a happy and caring environment in which children flourish – as well as a great place to work.

Have a great half term – this is just a short one and will be gone in a flash!

Sharon

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January 2011

 Happy New Year to you all and welcome back to a new term.