What we remember…………. Part 2

We all know that there are many many articles about how children nowadays spend too much time indoors or on the computer and how they rarely play outdoors anymore – many factors have played a part in that. BAND are quite a small staff team of varying ages and we all have different memories of play and what play means to us. So I thought that I would talk to the team and find out what they remember playing with or doing when they were younger……

Jenny (Young in the 70’s, freedom to roam in the 80’s)

I grew up in a suburb of North Bristol, living in a terrace of 3 houses in the middle of the High Street.  When I was too young to go out and about on my own, I used to play with my big brother (when he let me)! We would play cowboys and Indians or ‘forts’ from the top and bottom of the stairs. I spent a lot of time dancing, my favourite thing to do was dress up in hand me down party frocks and dance to Top of the Pops for my family – much to their intense enjoyment!

There were a large group of children who were of similar age and we all used to go to school and hang out in our free time together. Once old enough to take myself out and about we spent a lot of time in my best friend’s cul-de-sac playing hide and seek in the big pine trees and trying not to get caught by the adults as we weren’t supposed to climb the trees!  We also used to go down to the big field by the Portway and play softball, rounders and cricket, all followed by a sprint home so I wasn’t late and could go out again the next day!

Our favourite thing to do was to walk through Penpole Woods, past Kingsweston House and then onto Blaise Castle, once there we would eat the packet of crisps and bottle of squash we’d taken, play on the really tall slide that used to be there, go for a paddle in the pool that used to be there and then catch the bus home, if we hadn’t spent the money on ice cream!

Tell us here at BAND what you remember doing…we’d love to hear from you!

ellie@bandltd.org.uk

What we remember...play memories

Over the coming weeks BAND will be updating our Blog with a serious of short articles from members of the staff team, based around their memories of play. Some of the articles will also appear in the BAND newsletter which is available by contacting the office admin@bandltd.org.uk 

 

What we remember………….

 

We all know that there are many many articles about how children nowadays spend too much time indoors or on the computer and how they rarely play outdoors anymore – many factors have played a part in that. BAND are quite a small staff team of varying ages and we all have different memories of play and what play means to us. So I thought that I would talk to the team and find out what they remember playing with or doing when they were younger……

 

Ellie (Young in the 80’s):

 

I lived in a small cluster of houses in a little village in the New Forest and the thing I remember the most is a distinct lack of adults! I was lucky enough to have a huge garden too. I remember playing with my fried Hilary who was my age and my little sister a lot – mainly making dens and hiding out in them. I remember my older brother, who had 2 friends his age – tom and Philip, playing a lot of tricks on us – the main one I remember is falling in rather a large hole that they had covered over with twigs and branches and they thought that was hilarious!

 

I remember rolling down hills, getting very muddy, jumping in fords and getting my wellies stuck in mud which I seemed to be attracted to (and still am…) I remember playing badminton with a distinct lack of rules, and when we were inside, I remember being in our playroom and dressing up a lot – in fact there are rather a few incriminating photos of me ‘modelling’ some rather atrocious dresses! 

 

I remember believing that there was a ghost on our stairs, trying to dress up the cat (!) and playing doctors and hospitals with friends. But I honestly don’t remember many adults being around. Apart from a loud voice at tidy up or dinner time and feeling rather annoyed with them……..

 

Tell us here at BAND what you remember doing…we’d love to hear from you! ellie@bandltd.org.uk

 

 

New Ofsted Inspections Begin

New Ofsted Inspections Begin

Ofsted inspectors have been busy inspecting settings under the requirements of the Revised EYFS 2012 framework, since it was introduced in Spetember.  Several settings in Bristol (both early years and out of school settings) have now been inspected, although at the time of writing, most of the reports hadn’t been published.  Feedback from these Bristol settings, about their experience of the inspection process, has been fairly positive and we look forward to reading the inspection reports. 

Although we haven’t seen many Bristol inspection reports, inspections took place throughout England within a few days of the new framework being introduced and we have been reading the published reports with interest to identify any key points that might be useful to share with Bristol settings.

These reports clearly state what the inspectors focussed on during the inspections, for example:
The inspector observed activities in each of the playrooms, including joint observations with the provider.

• The inspector spoke to the provider, deputy manager, childcare staff throughout the day and recorded observations of their interactions with children.
• The inspector held a meeting with the manager, which included carrying out a joint observation of a story session.
• The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of the suitability of practitioners working within the setting, the provider's self-evaluation form and a range of other documentation.
• The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day and in information in the self-evaluation form.

The inspection reports give information about why the setting has been awarded a particular judgement and why it hasn't been awarded a higher grade.

Detailed information about the findings of the inspection is given under the headings:

How well the early years’ provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend.

• The contribution of the early years’ provision to the well-being of children.
• The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years’ provision. This section particularly focuses on how well practitioners understand and implement the safeguarding procedures, risk assessments, supervision, team work, staff’s  understanding of their roles and responsibilities, monitoring and observation of staff practice, staff appraisals and self evaluation.  

It is very clear that out of school settings are being inspected on the learning and development requirements of the EYFS.

 To see the new style Ofsted inspection reports visit www.ofsted.gov.uk and click on “inspection reports/find an inspection report”.

This post is the lead article from the Winter 2012 edition of BAND News which is due to be mailed out week commencing 10th December 2012 - for more information about this blog or the BAND newsletter please contact the office on 01179542128 or admin@bandltd.org.uk.

PAWS 2012 Illustration Workshop

PAWS 2012 Illustration Workshop, a set on Flickr.

Led by local childrens illustrator Chris Fisher

Photos of the PAWS Fire Workshop led by the Ape Project

PAWS Fire Workshop 2012, a set on Flickr.

EYFS 2012 is here

Following years of consultation and speculation and months of preparation, EYFS 2012 finally came into force on 1st September.

Since the revisions were published in April, settings have had to adapt working practices to meet the changes, “supported” by the Government’s bizarre tactic of producing information and resources in piecemeal fashion over the following months.

At the start of the year, Ofsted also launched a consultation on proposals to revise the regulation and inspection of childcare settings – again to come into force from 1st September 2012. The mid April launch of EYFS 2012 seemed to jump the gun a little – with at least one published revision being part of the consultation on regulation and inspection that only closed on 6th April! What do these changes mean to settings? The Government and Ofsted claim the changes will streamline bureaucracy, make registration and inspection more robust and enable settings to have greater autonomy and flexibility; all with the aim of safeguarding and supporting our children in improved outcomes through promoting high quality care, learning and development. These aims may well be intended, but many take the view that by devolving certain responsibilities to providers, safeguarding is compromised. A very brief summary of changes and concerns includes:  

• Responsibility being transferred from Ofsted to the providers for checking the suitability of the Nominated Person (except for new registrations) and for vetting and checking the suitability of the Manager. Our concern is that providers (whether voluntary managed, trustees, private providers etc.) may not have the skills, experience or time to check suitability, particularly in those settings with a regular change of committee.
• Removing the standard conditions of ages and numbers from registrations, leaving providers free to make their own decisions (subject to compliance around space and staffing). We know that the majority of providers will handle this sensibly, but there are concerns about the odd few that will exploit this revision.
• The claim that Out of School providers will now have clarity about how much of the Learning and Development requirements must be met. There is no clarity and Ofsted have, verbally, admitted that there is actually no change. However, it’s not all bad news. Some revisions are positive:
• The strengthening of Child Protection and Safeguarding requirements: examples of inappropriate behaviour and the use of mobile phones and cameras.
• The new arrangements around “complaints” (now to be called “concerns”) with Ofsted assessing some concerns as minor matters that the provider can deal with. Although there are mixed feelings about Ofsted carrying out full inspections on settings following complaints that are not deemed to be minor matters.
• Confirmation, at last, that providers may choose their own self-evaluation framework, not just Ofsted’s.

BAND has run, and continues to run, EYFS 2012 briefings, designed to help providers assess what action they need to take to ensure their settings meet all the revised requirements.  Feedback from participants has been positive, with many participants saying that our “action plan” style of briefing has been useful in enabling them to take the first steps.

The BAND DS team spent many hours over the summer revising sample policies and procedures to reflect the EYFS 2012 revisions; these documents are available to settings on request.

Information about updated documents is available on the BAND website.  We’ve also used the BAND website, Facebook and Twitter to advertise the publication of documents and resources that have been drip fed by the Government and Ofsted. Of course, change of any kind can be unsettling but hopefully the revisions will lead to improvements in safeguarding and learning and development. By the time this article is published, the new arrangements will have been in force for six weeks. As the first few inspections are published it will be particularly interesting to see how the revised regulation and inspection arrangements work in practice.

This post is the lead article from the Autumn 2012 edition of BAND News which is due to be mailed out week commencing 8th October 2012 - for more information about this blog or the BAND newsletter please contact the office on 01179542128 or admin@bandltd.org.uk.

 

Craft Skills 21st September 2012

Craft Skills 21st September 2012, a set on Flickr.

Photos of the Craft Skills course held last week, thanks to all those involved for making it a great day