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I know through my interactions with you online that many of you would like a little bit of support in setting up a provocation. 

Firstly I hear you ask, what is a provocation? A provocation can come in many different forms, but it is always intended to provoke thoughts, ideas, and actions that can help to expand on a thought, project, idea or an interest. These are an important aspect of child led learning seen in the Reggio Emilia Approach. By setting up a provocation we are allowing young children to see, experience and make decisions about the world themselves through their own explorations. It could be from a book, a photograph, interesting objects. The interaction with the provocation can involve problem solving, working imaginatively, form new ideas and make their own conclusions. 

As the provocations are open ended with the concept of the child finding their own answers rather than being told them there is no right or wrong outcome from working here. The process of the learnin...

Here are a few tried and tested ways to start the new school year in a smooth way.

A tour of the school/ setting in small groups and showing who works in school and what they do. 

Tour of your provision in small groups and giving little teams the same tidy up job to do each day.

Share some getting to know you stories like Owl Babies. Offering children the chance to talk about who’s important to them and the things they like. 

No phonics or maths sessions! Instead have a focus here on building relationships and developing a routine. Lots of small group circle times and getting to know you games. Lots of opportunities to revisit phase 1 of letters and sounds. 

Make birthday crowns and display these around your setting. When it's a child's birthday they then get to wear it for the day!

A focus on good sitting, good looking, good listening during small group time. I like to reinforce the spoken words with makaton actions and symbols too.

I used to love writing a story about teach child'...

My obsession with classroom environments began when I first visited St John’s C of E Primary School. From the moment I walked in I was struck by the calm atmosphere and serenity it brought to their children. My colleague and I whispered to each other is disbelief “it’s just so calm”. Upon walking back into my own classroom I was smacked in the face with bright colours and loud noises! Everything felt over stimulating and busy by comparison; as if there were balls of high energy bouncing around the walls! From then onwards I was hooked into finding ways of calming my classroom and moulding the environment to generate the same serene feeling I’d experienced at St John’s.

I began with the lights! First of all, I wanted to reduce the lighting, I’m lucky to have two large windows and a half glass door within my room; meaning that most days there is sufficient natural light filling the space. So I borrowed a set of ladders and set about reducing the fluorescent lighting. All of my ceilin...

I get asked all the time...'Where do you get your resources from?'

So let me share this with you (please note these are all personal recommendations and not ads or gifted products)

Firstly, many of the resources we use in Early Years can be collected, reclaimed or re-used for free. Some of my favourite summer loose parts are;

When it comes to buying resources i have always worked in schools and settings with very little money to spend on resourcing. Any money that we did have would be spent on;

1. High quality staffing

2. Block Play resources

3. Books

4. Small world imaginative play

I feel that when we spend our budget in this way we support open ended and holistic child led learning. We also have the staffing in place to support, challenge and extend the learning. 

Block Play

Block play is one resource that allows all areas of learning to happen and is great for supporting child led play and exploration. I have always invested in buying unit blocks from Community Play...

The Art of Letting Go by Cornisheyfsteacher

I was often told that it takes a certain type of person to become a teacher – even more specifically; an early years teacher. Passionate, caring, organised, dedicated, inspired, motivated, resourceful, thoughtful… the list is endless. The responsibility and privilege that comes with the job, having a chance to make a difference and be a part of, arguably, the most important stage of a child’s development, is an honour to say the least. I love my job, I enjoy my job, but I completely understand why it is one of the most challenging professions to be in. The workload, the expectations, the weekends lost to ‘I just need to catch up on…’, the last minute scrutinties, lesson observations, it is never-ending. I am at the start of my career. Now approaching my third year of teaching in a Reception class. I want to share the start of my journey, some of my biggest revelations and the sense I have made of a sector that is continuously evolving.

Well hello there!

Many of you were be thinking about going back to work and how you can effectively support the transition into the school or setting for new children. So in this weeks blog I'm going to give you three ideas to try.

1. Create a Sense of Belonging

Here one of my fabulous members of the Hygge in Early Years Accreditation has reflected on ways she can create that sense of belonging during self registration. Look at these individual peg dolls that can be moved to show "I'm here!"

2. Why not recommend to parents reading this wonderful book 'A Kissing Hand for Chester Raccoon.' This is a beautiful story that's sure to help with separation anxiety. Can't wait to get your hands on the book? Head to this You Tube link (Turn the volume on mute) and read the book together. 

3. Ask your children to bring in a family photo or drawing that you can display in a frame or on the wall.

4. Why not record a video of you and your team telling the children how excited you are to se...