EYFS Best Practice in Schools - On the bright side

As schools across the country reopen after the summer holiday, teachers are grappling with questions about the impact of the pandemic on children returning to school, or starting school for the first time. On top of practical issues such as health and safety, schools are also having to rethink what they are going to teach and how they are going to teach it.

The Government has been clear that children, even the youngest in school, will need to ‘catch up’ with lost learning. Catch-up funding of £80 per pupil will be available over the next academic year. In June, the Government also confirmed an £18 million extension of the Opportunity Area programme, delivered across 12 of the most disadvantaged areas of the country, with a new focus on making up lost learning time due to the pandemic.

CATCH-UP CURRICULUM

The Government guidance advises teachers in nursery settings to focus on the Prime areas of learning within the EYFS, while Reception teachers are told to also ‘assess and address gaps in language, early reading and mathematics, particularly ensuring children’s acquisition of phonic knowledge and extending their vocabulary’.

Both Reception and nursery settings are asked to consider how all children can be given equal opportunities for outdoor learning. Some schools will also be referring to the new Early Learning Goals as early adopters, but most have chosen not to.

Narrowing the focus?

There are, however, some concerns that the rhetoric of ‘catch up’ could result in a narrower Reception curriculum, centred on phonics and numeracy at the expense of the broader EYFS.

‘Is this an opportunity to further an agenda of getting teachers to focus on maths and literacy?’ asks Isobel Traunter, a former Reception and nursery teacher who is exploring the position of the visual arts in the early years curriculum as a doctoral candidate at the UCL Institute of Education’s Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy.

‘All these early years curriculum strands have been there for a long time, because we believe they make up a full and rounded educational experience,’ she says.

Undervaluing home learning?

Some are also concerned that the learning children will have undertaken at home is undervalued by the ‘catch-up’ concept.

‘The best preparation for school has always been play, and children have had lots of time to play,’ says Tamsin Grimmer, early years director of Linden Learning.

‘I don’t think it is right to assume that everybody is going to be behind. We need to start with the children and what they know and can do, and not see it as a deficit.’

Failing to prioritise well-being?

Many educators argue that children’s well-being should be a higher priority than an immediate focus on closing the gaps in academic attainment.

‘Schools are focusing on well-being and settling children,’ says Phil Armstrong, head of regional development at Early Excellence. ‘Unless you get that in place, it is very difficult to address literacy and maths, because the children will not be ready to learn.’

RECOVERY CURRICULUM

With this in mind, many schools and local authorities are working on a Recovery, rather than a Catch-up, Curriculum. The concept of the Recovery Curriculum was developed by Barry Carpenter, professor of mental health in education at Oxford Brookes University and is based on five key elements, or ‘levers’. These are:

• Relationships
• Community
• A transparent curriculum – showing children that teachers understand their needs and will support them to build their confidence as learners
• Metacognition – an acknowledgment that children will have been learning in different ways and may have developed different styles of learning
• Space – for children to rediscover themselves as learners.

‘Schools can’t start exactly where the DfE is saying,’ says Professor Carpenter. ‘Teaching is a relationship-based profession, and building those relationships is what we should offer first and foremost. Some children will be disengaged, so our goal needs to be re-engagement. All of us have been in a state of hypervigilance, and that is not a good resting state for the brain; it can cause neural pathways to be sluggish in their responses.’

Professor Carpenter has created the picturebooks Lenny and Lucy in Lockdown and Lenny and Lucy Return to School. During trials of the wordless books, which are freely available to schools online, children have used them as a springboard to talk about their own experiences.

‘Children quickly spin out from the picture, saying “that happened to me”, “I felt like that too”,’ he says. ‘The thing that really got them talking was the picture of grandparents delivering a birthday present and putting it on the doorstep.’

Some practitioners argue that children, naturally robust, do not want to look backwards to process their feelings over lockdown, but rather to spring forward and get on with life. Professor Carpenter does not agree. ‘We do need to revisit the lockdown process, as children may not have the language to identify their feelings or the skills to process them,’ he says. ‘The danger of leaving it is that it becomes trauma and blocks their ability to learn.’

ASSESSMENT

Reception teachers have been specifically asked to assess gaps in language, early reading and mathematics. Any assessment should be carefully planned and timed, and should look beyond learning gaps, at how ready the children are to engage and learn, says Mr Armstrong. ‘There is a need for a baseline assessment in its broadest sense to pick up which children will need support early on,’ he says. ‘Teachers need to look at the Characteristics of Effective Learning, and the Unique Child core principle.’

Assessment tools

Professor Carpenter recommends Engagement4Learning’s assessment tool, which covers five areas:

• Exploration
• Realisation
• Anticipation
• Persistence
• Initiation.

‘Before you assess a child’s knowledge, you need to assess how engaged they are,’ he says.

The introduction of the statutory baseline assessment has been postponed to 2021, and while some schools will be trialling the process, this will not be until later into the autumn term.

Schools are anticipating the assessment process taking longer than usual, as children will need to feel settled before they can show what they can do. ‘It will be more play-based than normal,’ says Debbie Robinson, assistant head teacher at Lum Head Primary School in Cheshire.

The school has previously used the Wellcome platform to assess those children who may be having difficulties with speech and language, but this year Ms Robinson plans to use it for all the children. She is also thinking of using the Leuven well-being scales, and the Ages and Stages questionnaire. ‘Normally nurseries use it, but it might be useful for Reception,’ she says.

Adult-child interactions

‘Schools have always got to know children and done some sort of entry assessment for them,’ says Ms Grimmer. ‘It is not necessarily looking at whether they can count to ten. We need to know what helps them feel settled, secure and safe, through interacting with them in a sensitive way. Spend time getting to know the children well, think about their attachment needs, and offer additional support for those that need it.’

A child’s previous setting

Involving a child’s previous setting is also key, to give an idea of the child’s development and behaviour before the pandemic. The Talking Transitions project in Southend was established before Covid, in July last year, but has proved invaluable in this respect.

Some 18 schools and pre-schools were brought together to undergo Elklan training in communication and language development for three- to five-year-olds. There had been plans for the schools and pre-schools to visit each other’s settings, but instead they have shared ideas and information through WhatsApp ‘satellite’ groups and will continue to do so.

‘One nursery in our satellite has sent us a write-up about every individual child, looking at their development, their behaviour, their interaction with peers, and so on,’ says Lauren Britton, EYFS leader at Porters Grange Primary School. ‘We copied the format and have asked our other nurseries to do something similar. It is very beneficial, especially when we couldn’t have the visits which we normally would have.’

THE CURRICULUM

While some are concerned that schools might narrow their curriculum, in many areas, the opposite is planned. ‘We want teachers to continue to focus on good early years pedagogy and practice and the principles of the EYFS, says Paula Healey, head of early years at Oldham Council. Oldham is one of 12 Government-funded Opportunity Areas which have been focusing on reducing the attainment gap.

‘We have always prioritised working with parents, improving the home learning environment and speech, language and communication, and that still is our plan going ahead. However, we know from talking to teachers that there is now a real concern about children’s social skills, physical development, emotional development and well-being, and that will be a renewed focus for us.’

The council hopes to adapt the Making it REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) programme, which some schools already offer, so that it can be delivered through outdoor learning, for example. It has also delivered training on social and emotional development so staff are prepared for September.

Speech and language development is already a concern in many Reception classes, especially those in more disadvantaged areas, and schools are aware that lockdown may have exacerbated these issues. ‘I am going to focus on the Prime areas more than I would normally, particularly around speaking and listening,’ says Ms Robinson.

Creativity

Art and creativity should also play a key role, says Ms Traunter. ‘Arts are about expressing yourself and enjoying yourself, and there is so much evidence they are therapeutic in all kinds of ways,’ she says. ‘Art is also a level playing field and allows children to achieve without prior experiences and particular home backgrounds; this is important if we are talking about children being behind in some areas.’

A question of priorities

In the end, schools will have to justify what they have chosen to prioritise, says Mr Armstrong. ‘You may not be able to do everything, but have a plan and be really confident why you have chosen to do what you are doing – for example, you have identified children who are really struggling with language,’ he says.

It has been an exhausting time for teachers, many of whom have spent the summer holidays creating the ‘new normal’ for the autumn term. But the overwhelming feeling has been one of positivity.

‘There does seem to be genuine excitement; people can’t wait to have the children back,’ says Mr Armstrong. For some schools, the pandemic has been a turning point, allowing them to introduce pedagogy and practice they see as more beneficial to the youngest children.

CASE STUDIES

Chapel Street Primary School, Manchester

While children in other parts of the country were beginning to re-establish contact with friends and family, children in Manchester found themselves under new local lockdown restrictions. This made it even more important for schools such as Chapel Street to establish a ‘recovery curriculum’, to ensure children feel safe and secure enough to re-establish themselves as learners, while also assessing learning gaps through observation, and planning what to prioritise in terms of curriculum content.

Working with consultancy OneEducation, Chapel Street has put together a six-week, whole-school recovery curriculum, from Reception to Year 6. ‘We are looking at embedding basic skills, focusing on emotional well-being and re-engagement in the curriculum, including speaking and listening,’ says Jo Gray, head of school development and literacy at OneEducation. ‘It is so important that children have the ability to communicate with each other after a long time with just their families, to develop their vocabulary and verbalise their needs.’

High-quality picturebooks

The planning centres on high-quality picturebooks focused on well-being, while reintroducing basic skills for all curriculum areas. During the first week back, for example, the school will be using the book While We Can’t Hug by Eoin Mclaughlin to help children understand what has changed in the school, community and world, and what has stayed the same.

After being read the book, children will discuss how they feel to be back at school, what they can and can’t do at the moment and why, and it will form the basis for activities across literacy, PE, art, PSED and other areas.

Mental and physical health

For the first few weeks the curriculum will concentrate on children’s emotional well-being, mental and physical health, play, speaking and listening, and developing characteristics such as resilience and co-operation. There will also be a focus on creative arts, reading for pleasure, basic skills in numeracy and literacy, and outdoors will be used as much as possible.

Continuous provision has been identified as an essential element in the recovery curriculum for EYFS and Year 1 children, with the potential for being used further up the school depending on children’s needs.

Chaddesley Corbett Endowed Primary School, Kidderminster

For the new Reception cohort at Chaddesley Corbett, the ‘recovery curriculum’ started well before September. ‘In the closure period, we maintained very close contact with children and families to lay the basis for a stronger curriculum for Reception children,’ says Polly McMeeking, chair of governors and a retired executive head teacher. Online video stories from all staff and governors, for example, aimed to strengthen the feeling of school as a secure container for the child.

The school is planning a flexible curriculum based on play. ‘We have a good system for academic provision and catch-up in place already, so we are focusing on preparing learners first, so they are ready to access that catch-up if necessary,’ says Ms McMeeking. ‘All our efforts now are focused on re-igniting the flame of learning.’

Art and creativity

Art and creativity will play a major part in the curriculum, with ‘the golden thread of provision’ being the Happiness Box, says Ms McMeeking. All children, including the new Reception cohort, have been sent a shoebox to decorate over the summer holiday. They will be able to fill it with items from school and home that make them feel happy. The boxes will be readily available in the classroom and children will be able to use them when they feel they need to.

As well as being a tool for self-regulation and a creative activity, the Happiness Boxes can also form part of the teacher’s assessment process. ‘The way the child approaches the task tells the teacher everything they need to know about where that child is emotionally,’ says Ms McMeeking. ‘The way they decorate it, the balance between school and home items that they choose to put in, all build a picture for staff.’ The school hopes to use the boxes as part of a larger art project,.

The school will also be using picturebooks, and will focus on activities promoting belonging, such as jigsaws, which Ms McMeeking describes as ‘a physical exemplar of connection of things’. Imitation games such as Simon Says and talking activities will be key.

Before children go home, the teachers will take time to reflect on the good things that have happened during that day.

Glodwick Infant School, Oldham

Outstanding-rated Glodwick Infant and Nursery School is located in one of the most deprived areas of Oldham. There are 90 children in each year group, and almost all children (99 per cent) have English as an additional language.

During lockdown, teachers dropped off craft packs for nursery and Reception children, and delivered home learning activities using the resources, including videos of teachers demonstrating activities which were often linked to particular books.

‘We thought this would be challenging and that families would not engage, but we underestimated them,’ says head Jane Brierley. ‘Our families have risen to the occasion and we will do more learning in that way in the future.’

Glodwick is placing PSED at the heart of its Reception curriculum. ‘We can’t invite parents into school, which is just abhorrent to us as we usually have an open-door policy,’ says Ms Brierley. ‘We have a contingency plan, which is that if a child is upset, we have an outside area with a comfort station, where a member of staff can be with the parent and the child.’

Outdoor play

Children will still be able to use outdoor play equipment, and will be asked to wash their hands afterwards. ‘We have invested heavily in the outdoor environment during lockdown,’ says Ms Brierley.

She hopes to use any catch-up funding to pay for additional staff members. ‘We will not be doing interventions and taking children out,’ she says. ‘It is about being in the setting with the staff they are familiar with, but with more one-to-one time, more personal learning happening in the setting.’

CASE STUDY: South Gloucestershire Council

South Gloucestershire Council has launched a Recovery Curriculum programme for around 100 schools, bringing together experts in health, inclusion, early years and community learning.

Five working groups, including representatives from primary, secondary and early years, are focusing on different aspects, including the Unique Child, mental health, bereavement and loss, and the curriculum itself.

‘We have been cautious in our choice of language,’ says Faye Bertram, strategic lead for inclusion, achievement and standards at South Gloucestershire. ‘We are not using the words “catch up”. Every child’s journey will be different, and every child’s return to school will be different.’

The groups are creating online resources including practical tools, written guidance, webinars and free training, which will also be accessible to schools in other areas.

‘We won’t know what children’s lived experiences have been until they come back to school, but we can create resources and guidance that all school leaders can tap into,’ says Ms Bertram.

From September the working groups will meet fortnightly, taking in feedback from schools to continue to shape the recovery curriculum. ‘We are trying to ease the workload for teachers and say we are stronger together, by pooling our years of experience and expertise,’ says Ms Bertram.

MORE INFORMATION

• www.evidenceforlearning.net/recoverycurriculum
• www.facebook.com/groups/recoverycurriculum
• Resources from One Education including a whole-school post-Covid transition curriculum, https://bit.ly/3fq8U4A
• #SouthGlosConnect – for more on South Gloucstershire’s resources
• Covid-19 support guide for schools by the Education Endowment Foundation, https://bit.ly/31kJBfp
• The Government’s Guidance for full opening: schools, https://bit.ly/3imJIxZ
• Government guidance on early years, https://bit.ly/2XvfHUo