Disqualification - Dazed and Confused?

You may be aware that there has been growing discussion, debate, contradiction and general kerfuffle over what exactly are the rules regarding disqualification of a worker due to ‘Association’. This means where a worker is disqualified due to someone working or living in their household having been disqualified.

While the story seems to be grabbing increasing national coverage, the Department for Education insist that nothing has changed to regulations on Disqualification which have been in place for many years, it is revised government guidance issued in October 2014 which has highlighted the issue and has led to the current situation.

The Guardian reported that hundreds of school staff have been suspended and that Ofsted is struggling to deal with the number of applications for waivers, it’s possible that a similar as yet unreported situation is developing for play and childcare staff. http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/20/schools-suspend-staff-child-protection-regulations

There are concerns about asking staff and management committees (yes it applies to them too!) to disclose the disqualification status of themselves, but more particularly, that of the people in their households. Whilst this needs to be asked, the way it is asked, and how staff feel they are valued and supported through this, can make the difference between it feeling accusatory or a way of them further contributing to the safeguarding of children in their care.

BAND issued guidance before Christmas which aims to clarify the situation as far as possible at present, signposts to further guidance from DfE and Ofsted and suggests how play/childcare employers can ensure compliance with the legislation. This can be viewed on our website: http://www.bandltd.org.uk/development_and_support.html

Update on Ofsted Big Conversation

Last night saw the South West Big Conversation meeting enabling Early Years Providers and support workers and representatives from Ofsted to enter in to a dialogue.

The Ofsted panel of 4 included Bradley Simmons, the South West Regional Lead for Ofsted, they were given a set of pre prepared questions from South West providers about issues that have affected them in regard to their Ofsted registrations and inspections.

One of the first questions was about whether providers should see themselves as educators or carers in EY provisions, Ofsted responded with advice that their ‘teaching’ expectations are laid out in the new evaluation schedule on the Ofsted website (http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/conducting-early-years-inspections), but that the 2 roles are intrinsically linked, and childcarers are educating through everything they do. Inspectors will look at the quality of learning through play that happens in a setting as well as the more formal ideas of learning when making their assessments and judgements. A question was raised about balancing parental expectation with good practice – the example given was a child attending with English as a second language, the parents were keen for her to be communicated with solely in English, but the setting were keen to engage with the family and learn about their culture and use language and words that are recognisable to the child to help her feel more settled and less isolated when attending – the response reiterated the EY professional’s role was to explain the EYFS and their responsibilities within that, helping the parents to understand the benefits to their child.

Another questions raised the issue of inspectors having an agenda when entering a setting for an inspection. The response advised that the phrase agenda is subjective, but that they expect every inspection to be treated as a ‘unique event’ by the inspectors, and that they enter with no preconceived ideas regarding outcomes. However, that being said, inspectors do carry out pre inspection work where they look at the history of the setting, former actions, their SEF, why the inspection is happening i.e. is it complaints driven etc and this will inform the inspection itself. This led to a discussion about why inspectors seemed to need ‘permission’ to give an Outstanding judgement? Bradley Simmons explained that Ofsted and Tribal have moved to a more robust, evidence based judgement and inspectors have to discuss their chosen outcome to ensure it is fully justified, this is at both ends of the judgement spectrum and will hopefully lead to less adjustment when outcomes go through QA processes.

In Bristol recently, a maintained sector setting was advised by an inspector they would not receive outstanding as they were not from the PVI sector, following the discussion regarding agendas this was raised directly and the advice was to follow it up with a complaint to Ofsted, as statements like this should not be made by inspectors. Another provision asked what settings can do if they are severely concerned about an inspectors conduct at an inspection visit and the advice was to call the Ofsted helpline and ask to speak to the duty inspector there and then, this has happened previously and has led to the issue being resolved on the day and negated the need to raise a formal complaint, saving both time and money for all involved.

There is a lot of work happening at the moment between Ofsted and Tribal to ensure QA is happening more regularly and therefore consistency in inspections is improving. Ofsted are taking school inspections back in house this year, this is due to the Tribal contract finishing. Tribal’s EY contract is not due to finish for another 19 months and there is potential for Ofsted to bring this back in house at this time, but it would need to be assessed.

There will be a couple of consultations happening in the near future from Ofsted and the DfE, the first will be about the regularity of inspections and whether there could be interim visits that are lighter touch, the second is looking at how paid for inspections could work in practice. There seem to be reservations on both sides regarding paid for inspections and it was confirmed Ofsted would charge the full cost of the inspection to the provider.

The changes to the DBS system were also discussed, from September 14 it is an expectation that all applicants for new registrations, on completing their DBS checks, will need to sign up to the update service, if this does not happen, then the registration will not progress. Concern was raised on the impact this will have on Childminders particularly as everyone living or working on their premises will need to sign up to the update service as well. When asked if providers holding existing DBS checks need to sign up to the update service if they are rechecked in line with good practice timescales, this was met with a degree of uncertainty, but the promise of a follow up response.

Modern Britain was also raised, it was confirmed that the DfE are looking at how this will work with regard to the new curriculum and the EYFS and will be taking a view on whether changes need to be made to the document to further embed the changes into early education.

The Ofsted panel agreed that they would still take queries and questions from the Co-chairs of the SW regional group of the Ofsted Big Conversation, and would follow up on those that they couldn’t answer through them as well. There will also be a full transcript of the meeting published, so watch this space for more info.

If you want more info on how the discussions are going nationwide, or to read about why the Ofsted Big Conversation was set up go to http://www.thebigofstedconversation.co.uk or you can follow the ‘hashtag’ #ofstedbigconversation Future meetings will also be advertised through this so you can have an opportunity to get involved and have your own ‘Big Conversation’ with Ofsted!

Celebrate Brazil 2014

Celebrate Brazil 2014

As Brazil hosts the World Cup from the 12^th June, we have pulled together some Brazilian themed activities and ideas that you could try out in your setting, alongside their top sport of football!

Brazil Fun Facts

• Brazil received its name from the tree brazilwood, which is abundant in the country.
• Brazil was under the rule of Portugal from 1500 to 1822, which is why Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, not Spanish.
• Brazil is home to approximately 2500 airports; it is the third largest airplane manufacture in the world!
• The Amazon River runs through the majority of the country.
• Every time a child loses a tooth the mother throws the tooth outside for birds, and says a little rhyme. Birds will only take clean teeth, and then the child receives a prize. If the tooth is not taken, then it means it is too dirty, which gets the child to brush their teeth more often.

 

Brazilian Foods

Brigadeiro: These are sweet chocolate truffles that were created by the wife of Brigadeiro (Brigadier) Eduardo Gomes, who was a Presidential candidate in Brazil in the 1940s. His wife would cook the sweets and serve them during their fundraising events. The guests loved the treat and soon enough people started asking: "Have you tried the Brigadeiro's candy? Where is the Bridagier's candy?" And that is where the name Brigadeiro comes from.

 

Ingredients:

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, 2 tbsp. heavy cream, 2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk, 3 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped,1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder,1 cup chocolate sprinkles

 

What to do:

 

1. Bring butter, cream, and milk to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add chocolate and cocoa powder, and reduce heat to low; cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is the consistency of dense, fudgy batter, about 16 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; let cool. Chill until set.
2. Using a tablespoon, portion out fudge and roll into balls. Roll each ball in chocolate sprinkles until evenly coated. Chill until ready to serve.

 

Thanks to: http://streetsmartbrazil.com/blog/20100215/learn-how-cook-brigadeiros. They have a great video of making brigadeiros that you can follow.

 Cheese bread or empanadas are also great Brazilian recipes to try. http://www.cynthiapresser.com/brazilian-recipes-south-american-cuisine/brazilian-appetizers/219-brazilian-cheese-bread-pao-de-queijo

  

Language

 Obrigado/Obrigada - Thank you.  A bit of politeness goes a long way!  If you’re male you say ‘obrigado’ whereas females say ‘obrigada’.

 

Fique tranquilo - If something doesn’t work out someone will probably say ‘fique tranquilo’ which means don’t worry!  If the bus takes off just as you arrive to the bus stop, don't worry. Fique tranquilo, there'll be another one in ten minutes!

 É mesmo? - A reaction to an interesting new fact, it’s like saying ‘really’.

 Gringo/gringa - What the Brazilians call foreigners, gringo for a male, gringa for a female. This isn't an insult!

  

Games to play

 

Queimada

 

Queimada, the Portuguese word for "burned," is a popular game similar to dodgeball. To play, form two even teams and divide the players on each half of the field. At each end of the field mark an area called the "cemetery" and place one player from each side inside their team's cemetery. The game begins when one of the players in the cemetery launches a ball to the other side of the field. Members of the opposing team try to catch the ball and throw it at a player on the side from which the ball was launched. If a ball strikes a player, he is "dead" and must spend the remainder of the game in the cemetery. The game finishes when all of the players on one side are "dead."

 

 Luta de Galo

 

Luta de galo is Portuguese for "fight of the roosters". Any number of children can play. Split the children into pairs. Unlike other games, partners are not teammates, but opponents. Have each child tuck a handkerchief or piece of cloth into their belt or waistband, cross their right arm across their chest, and hold up their left leg. Players must hop around one-legged and use their free arm to snatch their opponent's handkerchief. Disqualification occurs if a child puts their left leg on the ground or unfolds their right arm.

 

Cinco Marias

 

Cinco Marias can be played with two to four children. All you need are five flat, smooth stones. Throw all five stones on the floor. Pick up a stone, then toss it in the air, pick up another stone, and catch the tossed stone before it lands. Repeat this process until you have all the stones. In the next round, you must grab two stones at a time, and then three, and then all four, so the difficulty increases as the game goes on.

 

Hit The Coin. This is another popular game among Brazilian children that requires steady aim and concentration. To play, fix a short bamboo stick or dowel (12 to 18 inches in length) into the ground so it doesn't move. Draw a small circle about 5 inches in diameter around the stick and place a small object (coin, bottle cap, toy soldier, etc.) on top of the stick. Players then take turns trying to knock the small object off of the stick by throwing coins at it. To win the player must knock the small object completely out of the circle.

 

Crafts and activities

 

Headresses

 

In the Amazon jungles of Brazil, native people called Yanomami use bird feathers to make headdresses and armbands. Make your own headdress and armband using supplies from a craft store. Buy a bag of colourful feathers, or cut feather-shaped pieces out of coloured construction paper. Draw lines on the paper to resemble the markings of a feather. Cut a 1-inch strip of cardboard to fit around your upper arm or your head. Glue or staple the feathers to the strip and staple the band closed.

 

Pandeiro

 

The pandeiro is a Brazilian tambourine. Make your own with two small, white paper plates. Paint the bottoms of the plates in bright colours and designs. Decorate with stickers, jewels and foam shapes. Face the insides of the plates together and punch six to eight holes through the two thicknesses equidistant around the edge. String small jingle bells on pipe cleaners and tie the plates closed by putting the pipe cleaners through the holes. You are ready to shake the pandeiro.

 

Maraca

 

The word "maraca" is a Brazilian word meaning "percussion instrument." Make your own maracas from two clean, recycled yoghurt cups. Paint the cups, the lids and two ice cream sticks in bright colours and let them dry. Fill the cups half-full with uncooked rice, popcorn kernels or beans. Glue the lids to the cups with a glue gun. Make a slit in the lids and glue the sticks inside the lids. When the glue is dry, the maracas are ready for shaking and music making.

 

Further information:

 

There are some great printable resources at www.brazil.org.uk. These include a good map and kids leaflets on different aspects of brazil.

 

 

 

http://www.brazil.org.uk/resources/documents/brazilmap.pdf

 

http://www.brazil.org.uk/resources/documents/brazilforkids.pdf

 

http://www.brazil.org.uk/brazilintheschool/primary.html            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Response launches its city-wide service from 16th December 2013

From 16th December 2013 First Response will be the place to call in Bristol if you are concerned about a child or young person or think they need support.

When you call, the team will ask you questions to work out the best route for helping the child or family. This may result on a referral to Early Help or directly to a Social Work Team

It has been piloted in North Bristol since March 2013.

First Response: 0117 903 6444

So change that telephone number on your child protection policy.

This poster shows more information (PDF versions available from BAND, contact your DS Worker for more info):

 

The Ofsted Big Conversation

The Ofsted Big Conversation

On the evening of Friday 13^th September, despite the awful weather, we were fortunate enough to be able attend one of the National Ofsted Big Conversations that had been encouraged to take place by June O’Sullivan from London’s Early Years Foundation.

In May 2013, June O’Sullivan started the conversation on Nursery World’s Linkedin page, due to her concerns about the new Ofsted approach to regulation and their aggressive tone. In response to this nearly 400 comments were received with practitioners contributing a whole host of stories and concerns about Ofsted. So it was decided to take action and try to engage Ofsted, get them on board, share the sector’s concerns and consider solutions.

The ‘conversations’ have been supported by Early Years practitioners, organisations, trainers and consultants. They were hoped to be a collaboration of those passionate about EY and an invitation to share experiences, support one another and vitally – engage Ofsted! A gathering place for all those interested in the fairness and quality of Ofsted inspections.

Over the weekend of the 13^th and 14^th September Ofsted Big Conversations took place across the country, an agenda was set for us all to follow with a number of questions to focus our discussions and hopefully find some ways forward and suggestion sector led solutions for the issues that seem to be of concern for the sector.

The evening in Weston Super Mare was very passionate, and it was highly apparent that childcare was not just a job for any of those present, with comments regularly coming back to the impact on the children and families, as well as other staff and management in settings. The Ofsted Big Conversation gave a welcome platform for expression of concern, but also some very positive ideas and suggested guidelines for improvement

We were part of a group of 20 practitioners from across 3 counties, the meeting took place in ‘The Campus’ (http://www.the-campus.org.uk) a community facility and children’s centre in Weston Super Mare. Childminding was well represented; there were a number of group providers as well as us from a development and support agency and even an Ofsted trainer, so we were lucky to have a breadth of knowledge and experience.

Although we knew we needed to try and answer the questions and suggest how we would like to see the inspection process change and improved, inevitably is was hard to stay focussed when listening to the vast experiences (unfortunately mainly negative) that practitioners had had with Ofsted over the last few years. It was great that people had a space to vent their frustrations as this led to discussion about how to affect change in the sector.

Prior to the meeting we looked at 10 questions, then collated these into 7 responses suggesting actions that could be taken;

1          Ofsted dual roles of regulation and improvement – Can we all agree what this should look like?

Two words during this discussion kept reoccurring - consistency and transparency. There were definite concerns about how Ofsted can regulate their own advice? And at present, providers feel they are well supported through their LAs and support agencies, who understand local and individual issues and can advise accordingly – will this more personal support that recognises our individuality in the sector be lost? Will this then have an impact on parental choice and diversity in Early Years? There was already a feeling that inspections outcomes can be influenced by inspector’s individual opinions, if the advice from one area of Ofsted is not agreed with by the inspector how will this affect the outcome?

We want to see: clearly defined roles; separate teams; differentiated training; external and independent QA of each role (with sector representation); each role to be a positive one supporting morale within the profession;, the knowledge and skills of existing LA staff is not lost; clarity of information around the level of support re quality improvement settings can expect.

2          Ofsted rationale for complaint initiated inspections which go back over 10 years – Can we agree what this should look like in the future?

We did discover that the inspectors that visit settings on the back of complaints are from a different department from those who carry out ‘normal’ inspections. Again, information and transparency about this would be useful to providers, as there were concerns that one department’s knowledge of the sector might be wider than the other. A guarantee that all inspectors come from an EY background and have an understanding of all areas of the sector including childminding and specialist nurseries such as Steiner and Montessori.  

Also, we want assurances that any inspection that is triggered for whatever the reason can result in any outcome. There is fear that an inspection triggered by a complaint can only result in a ‘satisfactory’ outcome – we want to know this is not the case and that settings can retain their grades if their practice at the inspection reflects this.

We want to see: greater transparency regarding how the decision to re inspect has been made when it is due to a previous complaint that has already been investigated and a full inspection taken place, reasons for inspections clearly presented to the provider; exact reasons for a reduction in grade; separate investigations of complaints to better support quality improvement; complaint driven inspections not being grade determined by no children present.

3          Ofsted Quality Assurance Process - Can we agree what this should look like in the future?

There was definite confusion regarding which organisation carries out the QA process on inspection reports and outcomes. Feedback suggested that providers who have followed up a change in Judgement or even the publishing of an inspection report that has taken longer than the Ofsted targets on timescales, have been told conflicting information on where their reports have been held up and who has been responsible for the QA process that has affected their outcome given in feedback at the end of an inspection visit.

We want to see: greater transparency – who is QA’ing, what is the QA process, how may are QA’d; figures relating to outcomes of QA to feed in to inspector training (see also Q4); specific reason for grade change from informal feedback to post QA; clarity if any QA process has upgraded an outcome?

4          Ofsted inspector training and support - Can we agree what this should look like in the future?

The question here really focussed on how 2 organisations (Tribal and Prospects) that act on behalf of a third (Ofsted) can retain the consistency needed across the board to ensure everyone feels they are treated in the same way at inspections, and have equality of opportunity to reach the higher outcomes.

We want to see: inspectors with specific breadth of knowledge inspecting settings e.g. Childminders, specialist nurseries and pre-schools; QA on the consistency of training; all inspectors trained by the same organisation.

5          Inspector decision making and feedback - Can we agree what this should look like in the future?

Whilst we all acknowledged, informal feedback and outcomes are not official, it is difficult to understand how an outcome can drop so significantly when the report goes through QA.(sometimes 2 grades).  Is it better that inspectors give no outcome judgement at the end of a visit, but agree the outcome will be shared formally, within agreed timescales and Ofsted stick to these timescales rigorously?

We want to see: greater transparency about the decisions re grading – why not higher, why not lower; inspectors not having to ask permission to give outstanding (this infers there are quotas and create unease within the sector); feedback to be a 2 way process.

6          Significant indicators – What constitutes a managerial judgement?

This was the point that we all realised the importance of reading the Ofsted guidance and keeping up to date with any changes – the clarification in the guidance from Ofsted re significant events is comprehensive in places, but it was felt that this could be even more explicit.

We want to see: Greater clarity around the term significant; terms such as other, significant, is likely, regular etc all to be quantified (see ‘Records, policies and notification requirements of the Early Years Register’ Ref 120412).

7          New inspection regime in November – What will this entail and how much information will we expect in the light of heavier emphasis on keeping children safe and teaching and learning?

There were concerns about the amount of publicity and information that would be given to the public about another change to the regulations, and parents not understanding that this could lead to a ‘blip’ in outcomes as we have to change our practice again. Also, a clear explanation of the change from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘need for improvement’ as a judgement. Where will the emphasis on play come from?

We want to see: Clear information to parents that inspections are taking place under a different criteria of grading – possibility of stating this at the top of the published reports; there is greater differentiation within ‘requires improvement’ for minor and major improvements; consideration given to the suggestion that outcomes should all be ‘meets requirements’ or ‘does not meet requirements’ a simple pass or fail.

Reflection and feedback on the evening from those present included "more opportunities like this with current structured questions please", and a plea of "additional opportunities to meet and discuss freely current childcare related issues across county and across sector in future". Others commented on how good it was to know that others shared their feelings and thoughts, and also how productive and positive it was to work together to suggest solutions and improvements to current systems. Overall everyone agreed that more transparency and clarity was required from Ofsted to enable improvements and trust.

Changes are coming to the sector again and Ofsted are currently consulting on what these will finally look like  -

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/212684/regulation_consultation.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/212685/Annex_A.pdf

From 4 November 2013;

For all early years providers:

• the satisfactory judgement will be replaced by ‘requires improvement’
• ‘inadequate’ settings are likely to be re-inspected after 6 months
• if an ‘inadequate’ setting fails to improve sufficiently and is found ‘inadequate’ again after re-inspection; Ofsted may take steps to cancel that setting’s registration.

For pre-schools and nurseries:

• there will be re-inspection within a year for those which ‘require improvement’ with the expectation that the setting will get to ‘good’ within two years
• those that fail to improve after two years are likely to be judged ‘inadequate’.

Over the coming weeks the information from all the conversations will be collated and shared via the Ofsted Big Conversation website – www.ofstedbigconversation.co.uk so check this out to see what other areas were discussing and the solutions they suggested.

The social media approach has meant that the opportunity to connect with people has been really valuable.  We have had a great connection with one another and the vibe is lively and positive. People in the sector are genuinely supportive of each other and believe that good pre-school care and education is beneficial for all children but especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.  We want to get it right and recognise the need for a regulator which can be trusted to support this desire in a way that is fair, accountable and effective.

The original information and discussion points from June O’Sullivan can be found on linkdin www.linkedin.com/groups/What-is-happening-Ofsted-Are-4236984.S.231774450?qid=3dd72697-3b46-4138-b64d-75908a3ce0dd&trk=groups_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egmp_4236984 

And if you are a tweeter you can follow the conversations through the ‘hashtag’ #ofstedbigconversation

BAND will continue to tweet, retweet, blog and post on facebook as new info and updates become available so you can keep up to date through any of our social media platforms as well. To find these go to our website www.bandltd.org.uk and click on any of the social media buttons.

Let’s hope that through the consultation and the big conversations we have a collective voice that is listened to and acted on to ensure that Ofsted and the sector can work more cohesively and continue to improve outcomes for children.

 

Collated and written by Jenny Winfield and Ellie Frake and includes excerpts from the Ofsted Big Conversation website.

Space Theme Inspiration

It’s been a few months of amazing space events:

MARSONE, an initiative to place humans on Mars in 2023, attracts over 80,000 video applicants. It’s a one way trip for 4 people initially, to live their life on the surface of Mars. A further 2 people will be sent up every 2 years after that. The first few years are spent building living space and growing food before they head out to be the first humans exploring the planet. There might be an option for one of them to return in the future, the costs are too high to consider anymore people returning. As the only planet we know of so far that humans could potentially survive on, this is a very important mission! www.marsone.com.

Chris Hadfield, Canadian Astronaut who has just returned from over 5 months on the International Space station, uses twitter in space to showcase fantastic photo’s from the space station and films the first video in space, a cover of himself singing Space Oddity by David Bowie. www.youtube.com/channel/UCtGG8ucQgEJPeUPhJZ4M4jA

 

Major Tim Peake has been chosen as the first official British Astronaut EVER: he will train for the next 2 and a half years before heading up to the International Space station in 2015. He says ‘a large part of this is to inspire a generation’, so how can we all start doing this?

To narrow it down, we have focused on Mars so here are some ideas.

Mars Facts:

• Mars is nicknamed the red planet because it is covered with rust-like dust. Even the atmosphere is a pinkish red, colored by tiny particles of dust thrown up from the surface.

• Mars experiences violent dust storms which continually change its surface.

• Mars has many massive volcanoes and is home to Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in our solar system, it stands 21km high and is 600km across the base.

• Mars has a very thin atmosphere made mostly of carbon dioxide. It is not thick enough to trap the sun's heat like Venus, so the planet is very cold.

• Mars has many channels, plains and canyons on the surface which could have been caused by water erosion in the past.

• Mars has very weak gravity which is one third of that on Earth, but this is still much better for humans than the moon whose gravity is one sixth of Earths. If a human lives with Mars low gravity for a long time, it is not known if they would be able to survive back on Earth.
• Mars has frozen water underneath it’s surface, this means humans could use these to survive.
• A day on Mars lasts about the same as Earth, on the moon a day lasts 27 times as long so one day on the moon is nearly a month on earth. This is important as humans will be healthier on Mars keeping the same day rhythm as on Earth.

Ideas for your setting:

Make your own video entry to join the mission to Mars.  Watch some of the video entries on http://applicants.mars-one.com/ for ideas. MarsOne suggests ‘Why would you like to go to Mars? How would you describe your sense of humour? What makes you the perfect candidate for this mission to Mars’. Or if you don’t want to go, why not? BAND members can borrow our video camera to film entries.

Astronaut training camp for a day. The MarsOne website has lots of interesting information: The mission roadmap outlines how they will progress to humans going to Mars year on year, Humankind on Mars talks about the astronauts 8 years of training. Astronauts need to be physically and mentally fit, what challenges can you create to test this?

Design your own mission patch to go on the astronaut’s suit – what would you call the mission or put on the patch?

Make up your own space song. Watch Chris Hadfield singing in space to get ideas.

Eat some space food. Follow Chris Hadfield as he makes a peanut butter and honey sandwich in space and do the same in your setting, you need to use tortillas instead of bread as in space the bread crumbs float around too much. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vio09T-8qA

Mix sand in with paint to create a textured martian landscape picture that you can add your own cut out martians to.

Have a look around the NASA Mars kids site, there is Mars Rover colouring sheet to download and some games. There are some other interesting bits if you dig around a little. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/participate/funzone/

The International Space Station also has a kids site with regular competitions: http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/lab.html

Make your own space button model to check out how far away you would be…..

 

 

 

Get Hunting!

Looking for some active, outdoor fun?  Then why not plan a scavenger hunt. 

This is a great way to really explore any outdoor (or even indoor) environment.  You can do it anywhere and don’t need much in the way of resources – just a list of things to find and a pen to tick them when found. For example this worksheet from www.howtonestforless.com:

If you can, you could also give the children a paper bag or container to put the things they find in, remembering that flowers and living creatures should be left where they are found.

When making up a scavenger hunt, keeping the kids’ interest should be high priority. Most of the objects shouldn’t be too difficult or frustrating to find but not too easy either.  For children who can’t yet read, you could draw pictures of the objects they need to find.  Here are some ideas to get you started;

Can you find me: oak leaf, pine cone, bark, piece of litter, stick, 3 leaf clover, feather, berry, green grass, daisy, dandelion, holly leaf.

Shapes:  find something square, round, triangular, rectangular, star shaped …….

Colours:  find something red, brown, green, yellow, blue …….

Alphabet hunt: find items with names that begin with each letter of the alphabet.

Items don’t always have to be things to find, you could also have things to experience and do as well and you could include a list of things to touch, smell or listen to.  For example: touch something soft, rough, smooth; jump in a puddle; climb a tree; listen to birdsong, run up a slope, smell a flower…..

For more ideas of what to hunt for, go to http://www.lovetheoutdoors.com/camping/kids/scavengerhunt.htm

Happy hunting!  

Theme Time

Ok, it’s the summer. This means it’s up to you all to think of fab, funny and physical ideas for the summer playschemes. It’s great to have a range of starting points for play and using a theme can inspire both staff and children to have great ideas. At BAND we have had a quick think around and some of our ideas are here!

-        Gromit Unleashed. The Gromit trail will be up and running, go and spot as many Gromits as you can when you are out and about, you can pick up a Gromit passport at six places in Bristol. http://www.gromitunleashed.org.uk/trail/. You could make your own plasticine models, make animation, create film sets in boxes, dress up as your favourite Aardman characters, dress up as different breeds of dog, visit a dogs home, go to a Dog Show (RSPCA is having a dog show at Weston Beach Lawns on 18^th August), or learn how to speak dog, or invite someone from guide dogs for the blind to come into your group.

 

© and TM Aardman/W&G Ltd. 2013.

® Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal. Charity No. 1043603

Photographer: Oliver Edwards

 

-        Pharaoh King of Egypt. The exhibition will have closed just before the summer, but it could be a fun theme. Dressing up as mummy’s, building pyramid dens, writing or drawing in hieroglyphics, making paper, making masks and jewellery, sun dials, make hummus and pita bread, dress up as ancient Egyptians, make mud bricks. Could be a bit spooky and link to the libraries Creepy House reading challenge. http://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

-        Water Week. Always a summer favourite, it can go in different directions, pirates, under the sea, beaches, submarines, experiments with water. Build boats or submarines, build sandcastles or other sand sculptures, make palm trees (visit the professional sand sculptures at Weston), dress up as mermaids, pirates or fish. Get the paddling pool out, blow bubbles. If you are brave, find out what is on at the Harbour festival for a visit on Friday 26^th July. Incorporate a water melon day and use watermelons for boats or a variety of other ideas e.g.: bowling with watermelons and painting!! http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2013/06/summer-fun-wacky-watermelon-day.html

-        “I have a dream”. It’s the 50^th anniversary of the Martin Luther King speech and you could find out what your children and young people dream of for the future. Create model visions or inventions, explore who they are, paint self-portraits or take photographs,   (you could combine with a visit to the Photographic Portrait Exhibition at the Mshed), make wishing trees, do dream stories based on consequences game. Think about rights, what do they feel strongly about and want to change or peacefully campaign about?

 

 

 

-        Flight. Have fun with all things flying, make lots of stuff, experiment with different shape and materials. Kites, balloons, planes, seeds, leaves. Bird watch, hunt different types of flying insects.  Dress up as flying creatures, think about the different qualities they have, owls vision at night, bees memory of going places, there are more insect ideas inside. Build a box airplane den and have adventures. Visit the balloon fiesta, a bird sanctuary or go to an airshow.

 

-        Space. Is there life on Mars? Imagine the playscheme is going into space and you are all astronauts. Build your space craft, do astronaut training, learn how to space- walk, dress up,  make your Mars planet, take samples of earth to analyse, make contact with aliens, make a box of gifts to explain earth culture. Dress up as aliens or make some.

-        Spies and secrets. The Imperial War Museum in London has a new “Horrible Histories exhibition Spies”.  Have a week of  espionage, including codes and ciphers, disguises, camouflage, forgeries and gadgets.

 

-        Nature 99 places Bristol. Did you know there are 99 areas of Bristol that are good for Nature? Have a look at a Bristol map to find one near to you: http://maps.bristol.gov.uk/pinpoint/?service=localinfo&maptype=js&layer=Neighbouring+authorities;Sites+of+Nature+Conservation+Interest

The summer is a great time to have a nature based theme and getting out and about is fun for all. Bug hunts, wildflower surveys, woodland walks (with den building), footprint tracking and pond dipping are always popular. Check out  Bristol events at: http://bristol99.org.uk and ideas at http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk

 

-        Topsy Turvey week. Pretend it’s winter, wear woolly scarfs, have hot chocolate. Wear your clothes back to front, jumble up your language, eat pudding before savoury, walk backwards, make upside down cake, look at the world upside down, use lens or colour films to make glasses. What ways can you make your playscheme topsy turvey?

If you come up with a really good theme, do let us know and we will put it on our ideas website, post it on Facebook and Tweet it too!

 

 

What we remember…………. Part 3

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……

 Julie (freedom to roam in the 60’s)

We lived in a street of semi detached houses in a deprived part of South Bristol. We used to play outside in the fields a lot which were at the end of our street – and I remember that we used to go tadpoling in the streams. We used to have a small tent that we played in as well. I also remember doing a lot of construction – digging out the garden and making oil rigs and playing doctors and nurses in our playroom with my brothers.

We used to play in the streets a lot. One of our favourite games being knockout ginger – knocking on doors and running away! There was hardly anything in the media in those days so our parents gave us a lot more freedom. I used to play with kids my own age – boys and girls and with the older kids a lot as my 2 brothers are older than me. Adults didn’t play a part in our play – we often just went off without them. We used to take jam sandwiches and walk to Dundry from our house for the whole day, and then walk home when we fancied.

My bothers used to have train sets which they set up in the living room – this meant the whole family enjoyed it – play wasn’t constricted to our rooms. And TV didn’t feature very much in those days – it only went on in time for blue peter and andy pandy.

 

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

ellie@bandltd.org.uk