Early Years in School: Continuous Provision - Space out

An ‘enabling environment’ is one of the vital tools available to early years practitioners seeking to ensure effective learning, development and achievement for all children. It is increasingly clear that children learn best when they have opportunities to move, communicate and interact with others; when they can exercise what many neuroscientists term ‘executive control’.

This involves acting independently, making choices, taking responsibility and developing persistence. Maintaining a balance between adult-directed and child-initiated activity and experience requires periods of time during which teachers can engage in high-quality interactions with groups of children or even with individuals. Such interactions allow for differentiated teaching, meaningful conversation and sustained shared thinking.

Maintaining the balance also requires a rich learning environment in which children can explore, practise skills, follow their interests and enthusiasms, and learn from and with others. Environments offering rich continuous provision support this range of requirements.

What is continuous provision?

Continuous provision involves the creation of areas of provision with a range of resources that children can access and use independently. The list of areas (opposite) makes suggestions about the range of provision that might be incorporated. You may not be able to offer the full range at any one time, but the spread of experience is important.

However short of space you are, some areas such as books, construction (particularly with blocks) and mark-making should always be part of continuous provision.

Decisions about areas of continuous provision will depend on:

• the amount of space available indoors and out. It may prove impossible to have both a role-play area devoted to space travel and a music area indoors, but make sure that, over time, children have wide opportunities for both types of play and exploration
• children’s current interests and areas of learning that you wish to develop. Within continuous provision you can, for example, extend interests by adding or changing resources (sometimes referred to as enhanced provision).

For example:

Fabio was excited about a river trip he had taken with his parents. Books about boats and bridges were placed in a small basket in the reading corner and relevant pictures displayed in the creative workshop and in the block area. Lengths of blue fabric were also added to the blocks to encourage children to represent rivers.

A group of girls who enjoyed doll play were encouraged to use the block area by placing some dolls in that area. Their play was enriched when they created a second home corner by building chairs and tables and beds for the babies – and visited their friends for tea.

What are the benefits of continuous provision?

Continuous provision is enabling for adults and children.

For adults, the benefits include:

• opportunities to gain insight into children’s interests, and assess their levels of engagement and competence
• providing a means of building on children’s interests and guiding their play and learning through enhanced provision
• enabling teachers to follow their own agenda rather than dealing with constant queries and anxieties. While children are engaged in meaningful play and exploration within areas of continuous provision, their independence, motivation and persistence are high.

For children, the benefits include:

• opportunities to follow interests and develop skills across broad areas of the curriculum
• increased motivation, concentration and levels of engagement
• the development of shared interests and social interaction with peers
• time and opportunity to practise new skills and develop the Characteristics of Effective Learning in their focused social or individual play and exploration
• self-regulation and independence – being able to move or change focus in line with personal needs
• a great reduction in time spent waiting either to be told what to do or to seek reassurance about whether you’re doing it ‘right’.
  
  

What makes for successful continuous provision?

A well-organised learning environment is one where:

• areas of provision are sited thoughtfully so that, for example, resources such as blocks are protected from through traffic, coats placed near the door, etc
• resources are labelled clearly and stored systematically, enabling children to find and put away resources easily and reliably
• there is a recognition that learning is enhanced when provision is echoed across areas of provision and learning. For example, the addition of relevant books and writing materials in all areas will support literacy. Mathematical learning does not simply happen at the maths table but outside, in the home corner and block area as well. Learning is reinforced when children ‘stumble across’ numbers on cars and in the writing area and home corner, or when they find shapes on the duvet cover and sand
• thought is given to systems and processes. For example, are relevant resources, including aprons and mops, stored near the water tray? At the snack table, do children know what to do with dirty cups? Are cloths available so the children can take responsibility and act independently? Do children know where to put finished paintings or models?
• children are given stretches of time in which to develop ideas and elaborate their play. We may be teaching them not to concentrate if time is continually broken up into short periods. Some interruptions are inevitable, but children can be helped to deal with these if they are warned in advance and if they are generally predictable.

Successful provision also depends on reflective practitioners who:

• link assessment and planning – identifying opportunities for adult-led learning, continuous and enhanced provision
• recognise the importance of cross-curricular learning
• are aware of and interested in what children are doing in all areas.

AREAS OF CONTINUOUS PROVISION

Aim to provide these areas and resources:

Book area

wide range of books – fiction and non-fiction, poetry and picture books, maps, home-made books

story props, puppets, etc for featured books

storage that allows book covers to be seen and small baskets for collections of books – for example, favourite author, current topic and books on superheroes

cosy seating

listening facilities for stories and rhymes

Construction area

wooden blocks. Provide plenty – they last forever, support collaborative play and are not easily mislaid or broken

small construction materials, such as Lego, Duplo, Mobilo and Sticklebricks

Creative workshop

painting materials. Include ready-mixed paint at an easel as well as resources for colour-mixing in palettes. There should also be choices of paper type, shape and size; materials for printing; a range of brush types and sizes; and a drying rack.

resources to promote a wide variety of expressive art exploration, including recycled packaging and boxes, string, masking tape, Sellotape, glue, scissors (that actually cut) and collage materials, such as fabric, foil, wool, feathers and magazines

woodwork bench – not for the faint-hearted but worthwhile in terms of challenge and skill

Imaginative play

small-world play – doll’s house, garage, trains, farm sets, etc (which may be linked to construction materials)

role-play area. This may be for domestic play, real-world play such as a shop or garage, or imaginative play involving princesses or superheroes, mermaids or dragons. It is sometimes useful to have two areas – for example, a train station and beach

Investigations (maths and science)

maths resources – number lines, dice, timers, etc

science resources – magnets, magnifiers, etc

games and activities – board games, dominoes

pattern-making materials – shells, pegboards, geoboards, buttons, etc

Malleable materials

dough, wet sand and clay

cookie cutters, baking trays, clay tools, containers, etc

Mark-making area (writing and graphics)

paper, card, envelopes; unwanted diaries, pens, crayons, pencils, etc

office resources – hole punch, stapler, glue sticks, paper clips, rulers, etc

computer or tablets

stimulus and reference materials – alphabets, name cards, a 100 square, high-frequency words, raffle tickets, calendar, clock, cut-out numbers, pictures, etc

Movement area

mats and floor space that enable children to move – dance, roll, stretch, etc

props to support movement – scarves, hoops, etc

a full-length mirror – to help children evaluate their movements critically

Music area

instruments and sound-makers – home-made or commercial

songbooks and props

variety of recorded music and a means of listening to it

Sand and water

storage so that children can readily choose from a variety of resources to support and extend their play. This may include boats, shells, sieves, tubing and containers

mops, cloths, dustpan and brushes, so children can clear up spills independently

RESOURCES

Jabadao, www.jabadao.org – on the importance of movement

Community Playthings, www.communityplaythings.co.uk – provides nursery furniture and blocks, and resources for training and development.

Early Excellence, http://earlyexcellence.com

FURTHER READING

Alistair Bryce-Clegg (2015). Continuous Provision: The Skills and (2013) Continuous Provision in the Early Years. Bloomsbury

Gura, P et al (1992). Exploring Learning: Young Children and Blockplay. Paul Chapman

Elizabeth Jarman (2007). Communication Friendly Spaces. Elizabeth Jarman Publishing

Jan White (2015). Every Child A Mover. Early Education

Linda Pound is an early years consultant and author

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