Quote:
Originally Posted by dancingfirefly
I was just wondering how structured your pre-school sessions are? We currently are free flow, with cafe snack. A member of staff will do a focused activity which is up th the child whether they want to join in, and story or rhymes at the end of the session.
We have been told by our chair person that unseen incidents of behaviour are not being notice because we are not with our key children and not enought structure.
eyfs!!! We shout! we are following the needs of the child, we can not make them sit and join in with activites and there is no way that each child can be with an adult.
Help?
|
Does your chair person spend a considerable amount of time at the setting to observe? or have ' behaviour incidents' been reported to her by parents?
Is she making a valid point? Do you agree with her?
Are you able to disprove her? If so, you need to explain.
If with hindsight, you think she is right what are you all proposing to do about it?
Are you speaking of 'free-flow' as meaning the children are able to flow freely between the inside area and out to the outside area?
Are all staff trained on behaviour management and know how to deal with incidents?
Are these incidents happening in 'a blind spot' as they are entering or leaving the building?
Is your setting experiencing higher than 'normal' recorded accidents and injuries?
Are you experiencing unhappy children?
How about getting together, taking stock, doing an assessment. This will either highlight what she is suggesting or disprove.
Perhaps there is a slight concern, if so can you change certain aspects of the morning to suit the children and your setting.
You are obviously a committee run pre-school, so you need your chair on board with you.
It's no good saying to her EYFS - she'll point out the welfare, health and safety aspect, so you all need to work together.
Don't view it as criticism, but as an evaluation on her part, now you need to put that EYFS 'relfection' into practise.
Ask what she has seen and say honestly(if it is so) that you weren't aware, what would she suggest?
You can then consider everything.
There's no point in you having to stop having freeflow - perhaps all but one member is ensuring safety - a good reason for everyone to be trained and know what they are doing.
You may say to the chair, you are constantly observing but don't 'jump' into situations too soon, but watch to see if children can resolve/problem solve it themselves, learning to negogiate, share and compromise -as long as practitioners are not leaving children to go beyond that into a behavioural incident she claims.
I don't think whether you do or you do not have cafe style or sitting down together has a bearing on your behaviour management - unless it is becoming rowdy?
I'm not suggesting it is - but your chair may be?
Perhaps a nice chat/story about feelings/ kindness to reinforce your principles and ethos of the setting will show your chair you are listening to her, and 'pulling things together' - she is very important to your setting.
Thank her for pointing out something that none of you may have seen - sometimes, someone from 'outside' may see something different - and she does care, that's why she told you.
She may not have come across as you would have liked her to, but all staff, including the chair have the children's best interest at heart.
Let us know how you resolve it.
How structured our your pre-school sessions?
Linear Mode
