Julie had only recently started in a new role in the baby unit. Before this time most of her work had been with three- to four-year-olds. From her study on the long pathway she recognised some challenges in practice.
Standard 9 relates to the ways EYPs ensure schedules and routines provide stability while being responsive to individual children's needs. Julie saw that the routines in the setting were quite rigid and lacked personalisation. She knew effective settings make provision for balanced, flexible and personalised routines.
For example, Julie thought the schedule of mealtimes and play did not allow the babies to share mealtimes, as this was very much driven by the requests of the parents and the needs of the other workers rather than the observed needs of the babies themselves. Julie also understood the sensitivities of parents and the need to respect their views, balanced with the benefits of the babies being able to share mealtimes and play.
Julie shared some of her concerns and suggestions with the setting manager. She then arranged to meet with the parents. She made some observations of the children that supported her original thoughts and prepared a sample daily and weekly planner that showed how a new routine could look, with information gathered on the course and from other candidates' practice to support this about the benefits for the babies.
Julie implemented the new schedules and her observations were fed back to other practitioners in the setting and plans put into place for this strategy to be rolled out through the two-to-threes room as well.
Julie's evidence for S9 included the plans she had drawn up for parents, and notes from meeting with them and others in the setting. She used her observations to show how she had reflected on this and made changes in response to the needs of the children.
