EYFS best practice in schools - Together again

When primary schools open their doors in September, it will be to a cohort of Year 1 children who have had very different experiences over the past six months. While some attended school throughout lockdown, as key-worker or vulnerable children, and others returned in June, a significant number will not have been in a classroom since early spring. Many children will have been plucked out of Reception in March and dropped straight into Year 1 in September, with no transition period to ease the way.

The move from EYFS-based Reception to Year 1 and the National Curriculum can be challenging for children at the best of times. Children returning to school this September will need even more support to help them make this transition. However, the support they need will vary from child to child. Some will have enjoyed extended periods of learning through play and been able to build close bonds with their families. Others may have suffered bereavement, or be anxious about parents losing their jobs or working in risky environments. All will have experienced losses of some sort, whether that is not being able to see loved family members or being unable to access the parks, playgrounds and shops that are part of their usual routine.

‘This will be a very atypical cohort,’ says independent early years adviser Jan Dubiel. ‘They have been through something none of us have been through before, and will have experienced trauma and losses, having had their personal and school routines entirely disrupted.’

CREATING CONNECTION

Helping children feel safe and secure

School teams need to think about how they can create a safe place, with a sense of belonging, connection and community. Children who do not feel safe and secure are not able to learn effectively, so until these needs are met there is little point in speeding ahead with phonics and maths, says research scientist and attachment expert Suzanne Zeedyk.

‘Adults think of physical safety, along the lines of “I have taken away the soft toys so no virus can get in”, but unless children feel emotionally safe, they do not feel safe,’ she says.

Working with Bristol City Council, Bristol Early Years Teaching School Alliance has put together a guidance document focusing on the transition back to school. This suggests that schools generate a shared, positive language to encourage a feeling of safety and togetherness – for example, phrasing rules in a ‘do’ rather than a ‘do not’ way, and using welcoming phrases such as ‘our school’, ‘our day’ and ‘our song’.

TUNING INTO CHILDREN

Embracing the principles of the EYFS

Practitioners need to be attuned to what children are telling them through their play and behaviour as well as through their words, and take time to plan responsively, tuning into individual needs as much as possible. Some schools use well-being assessment tools such as the Leuven Scales to paint a picture of strengths and gaps.

‘The important thing is to listen to what children are saying,’ says Lee Prichard, head of UK regional development for the Thrive Approach. ‘With young children, if their behaviour has changed, what is that communicating to us? Are they playing out their internal landscape through role play?’

Sara Alston, consultant and trainer at SEA Inclusion and Training, believes schools can learn from the early years in this respect. ‘The model that primary school teachers should be looking at is early years – they are used to taking in a diverse group of children, establishing what they know and what their experiences have been without a formal assessment, and letting children start with what they feel happy and comfortable with.’

Embracing the principles and practices of the Early Years Foundation Stage, such as play-based learning, the Unique Child and Positive Relationships, in Year 1 will help to meet the needs of those children whose experience of Reception has been curtailed.

Early Excellence has been training schools for a number of years around extending an early childhood model into Years 1 and 2. ‘This is a great opportunity for schools to pause and think what will be the most appropriate way for these young children to continue their learning,’ says Phil Armstrong, head of regional development at Early Excellence. ‘It could be time to rethink practice in Year 1.’

TIME FOR PLAY

Socialising and sharing their experiences

Year 1 children should be given plenty of opportunities to play, to help them make sense of their unique experience, reconnect with their friends and practise social skills. ‘Children have been unable to practise social skills for eight or nine months and inevitably will find it hard sharing and co-operating with others,’ says Camilla Rosan, head of the Early Years Programme at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families.

If social distancing measures are still in place in September, as seems likely, schools must find ways around that, says Ms Zeedyk. ‘If you try to keep children from playing with their peers, it is like saying “we will not feed them” and “we won’t let them sleep”,’ she says. ‘If we decide we really can’t have touch, we need to up the levels of other forms of connection – singing, laughter, picture-drawing.’

Ms Prichard also suggests focusing on the creative. ‘As children progress through school, opportunities for creativity and the arts often lessen. Bringing that back in will give them a vehicle to express what is happening with them,’ she says. ‘Stories that connect with a child’s experiences, for example with a theme of loss, can be really powerful and help make sense of what has happened.’

Allowing children to talk about their experiences is important, but not all children will want to sit in a circle and discuss what has happened. ‘It is worth asking children to bring into school pictures of things they have made or done, to be displayed and shared – a picture of their den, or the cake they made, or them looking for birds, showing that you value a whole range of learning,’ says SEA Inclusion and Training’s Ms Alston.

CONSISTENT COMMUNICATION

Maintaining routines

For Year 1 children coming back for the first time since March, school may look very different. It is important that all staff members show consistency in their approach to the new routines, says Mr Armstrong. ‘If there are new systems put in place, children will be looking for every adult to be giving the same message. We know that when that does not happen, it causes problems, creates anxiety and then people start doing their own thing.’

Schools should ensure they have open and clear lines of communication with parents, allowing families to express any concerns, as well as allowing the school to explain the new routines.

REBUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

Enabling children to move forward

Re-establishing and building children’s relationships with adults and each other will be vital in the transition from Reception to Year 1. ‘More than ever, children need that quality and structure to their relationships that will allow them to move forward,’ says Mr Dubiel. ‘Year 1 needs to look at the EYFS principles and embrace elements of that approach – read what the EYFS has to say about the key person approach, for example.’

Some teachers are sending postcards during the holidays to tell children they are looking forward to seeing them when they return, or contacting them through video calls.

Craig Prichard, head teacher of Penywaun Primary School in South Wales, has been working hard to keep relationships going throughout lockdown. ‘Our priority has been trying to maintain connections,’ he says. ‘Every Tuesday we go out and drive around, talk to parents and children, and deliver packs of work. This is a very deprived area with a lot of vulnerable children, so being out and being visible is important. I think having those positive relationships will help a lot in September.’

Some schools are considering having Reception teachers follow their class into Year 1, whether for the first term or the full year, but for others this is logistically difficult. It may be easier for familiar support staff to stay with the class to provide some consistency for children. Year 1 teachers could work closely with early years colleagues to build on structures and techniques the previous teacher used.

SEPARATION ANXIETY

Transitional objects, smooth transitions and social groups

While many Year 1 children will be delighted to return to school in September, others may not want to leave their parents. ‘We have to put transitional objects at the centre of our thinking,’ says Ms Zeedyk. ‘A transitional object that represents the parent helps the child be calm and know they are still loved, even when they are distant from the parent.’

If children are still unable to take soft toys to school, she suggests children could carry pictures of their parents in their pockets. Another approach is to give parents and children identical plastic bracelets, which both charge with ‘kisses’ every day. When a child is anxious during the day they can withdraw a ‘kiss’. Children could also draw a picture for their parents as soon as they come into school.

‘This lets the child explore feelings about the parting,’ explains Ms Zeedyk. ‘If they can’t take the picture home, the teacher can photograph every picture and send to parents digitally, so the child can talk about the picture to parents in the evening and it bridges the gap between home and school.’

Bristol Early Years Teaching School Alliance’s guidance recommends schools champion developmentally appropriate provision relevant to children’s experience. Bentley New Village Primary School in South Yorkshire follows the Thrive approach, a way of working with children that supports their emotional and social well-being. Head Kirsten McKechnie believes this approach will only need a few tweaks to meet the additional needs of this extraordinary cohort. ‘We place so much importance on social, emotional and mental health and we already have these systems in place,’ she says.

Children are assessed around their social, emotional and mental health, and the school ensures that those who need support receive a bespoke timetable combining elements of early years and of Key Stage 1. ‘We do not say “this is early years, this is Key Stage 1”, it is about what does this child need and what have we got that they can access to meet those needs?’ says Ms McKechnie. ‘There is one little boy, for example, whose social and emotional development is far behind, but his maths is far ahead – Key Stage 1 will sort his academic needs, early years his social and emotional needs.’

Penywaun Primary School, also a Thrive school, already runs a class for children identified as needing a lot of extra emotional and well-being support. In September, Mr Prichard is thinking of grouping Year 1 children based on their social and emotional development and needs, in the same way some schools stream for phonics.

‘Our teachers will adapt the provision to the needs of the children they have got: Year 2 will look more like Year 1, Year 1 will look more like Reception, because effectively children have missed two terms of school,’ says Mr Prichard. He is using his whole supply teacher budget to employ a teacher specifically to support well-being interventions with groups of children who need extra help in the next academic year. ‘It will be so many children, not just one or two now, who will need this emotional support,’ he explains.

As children return to school in September, it may be that finding the right way to meet their needs provides a catalyst for other primary schools to extend attachment-led and child-led early years practice into Key Stage 1 and beyond.

PLANNING TO START SCHOOL

Transition into Reception

Starting school is one of the biggest changes of a child’s life, but across the country, schools have had to get creative when it comes to thinking about how they can support their new Reception cohort.

Hampshire’s Alver Valley Infant, Nursery and Junior Schools, for example, would usually offer eight different opportunities for children to visit the school setting. Parents would also be invited to an induction meeting. This year none of that has been possible, so the school decided to move its induction process online. It set up a web page for new entrants and a specific early years email account, so parents could communicate directly with the team. An online induction video for parents has been viewed 1,500 times.

‘Parents’ feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many stating the video reduced anxieties and answered many questions,’ says Alison Lockwood, head of schools. ‘A real benefit was that parents could watch and rewatch if they wish, when they chose to do so – no more worrying about childcare or rescheduling other commitments.’

Songs, rhymes and virtual tours

The school decided to rewrite and film its songs and rhymes transition project, which children would usually access in school, renaming it ‘Alver Valley Adventurers’. The five sessions included songs and rhymes, craft projects and a virtual tour around the early years areas, allowing children to meet the teachers who work in Reception.

New starters received packs with all of the resources they would need to take part, and were encouraged to send photos of what they have made during the sessions to share with other children through the school website. The school is currently planning ways to bring its Teddy Bears Picnic online.

In person and online

Other schools have organised Zoom home visits, whole-class Zoom calls and socially distanced picnics. One school sent home building blocks with a photo of the school on, and small-world figures with the key adult faces on them.

Nurseries have also changed the way they support children through the transition to school. Harrington Nursery School in Derby, for example, has created the HarringTEN – ten steps to school readiness that parents can use to support children develop skills such as self-regulation and self-help. Nursery staff hand-delivered the A4 sheet to parents and each step is supported by videos and activities.

Schools are also planning ahead for what the settling-in period will look like in September. Some are considering staggering entry, with only six or seven children attending at a time to improve staff:child ratios.

MORE INFORMATION

• Taking Year R Induction Virtual – Alver Valley describes its induction process and gives tips on creating video resources at: https://bit.ly/2YI1d3s
• EYFS Unique Transitions Guidance 2020 – Bristol Early Years Teaching School Alliance in collaboration with Bristol City Council, www.bristolearlyyears.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Unique-Transition-Guidance-for-the-EYFS-1.pdf
• The Thrive Approach – Weathering the Storm – A Facebook group aiming to provide Thrive Approach strategies and activities that will help adults support the social and emotional well-being of children in the wake of coronavirus, www.facebook.com/groups/145621073473221
• Emotion Works – An educational programme providing training and resources for teachers to help develop children’s well-being and emotional literacy, www.emotionworks.org.uk
• Trauma Informed Schools – Resources including ‘preparing your child for their first day back at school’ and ‘the importance of play during Covid-19’, www.traumainformedschools.co.uk/resources