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The beginning of our curriculum journey
I’m loving being part of this project. The mix of training, discussion, advisory visits and networks with our cluster schools has really empowered me and has raised the importance and profile of the EYFS in our school.
Our early years provision consists of two reception classes and separate governor-led nursery provision. I am relatively new to the role of early years leader and wanted to ensure we adopted a progressive curriculum across both nursery and reception as previously they ran quite separately without continuity of experiences and expectations. Appropriate pedagogy and the role of the adult was mis-matched across the early years phase. The pre-school curriculum was very activity driven with staff having lists of ‘jobs’ to oversee and deliver rather than them having a clear understanding of learning and development and reasons for activities and teaching approaches. Time to address and develop this was limited as staff meetings, much like in other schools, were whole school and did not focus on or include EYFS updates or initiatives. Progression documents across the school were developed by subject leaders with little or no input from early years staff. Subject leaders were planning for what they thought was ‘right’ for their subject, but this was not always relevant for early years. Therefore the ‘content’ to be delivered in early years was often fragmented and meaningless in relation to the needs of our children. Balancing the subject expectations with the requirements and principles of the EYFS was challenging and frustrating in equal measure. The early years curriculum therefore was not holistic, did not always place the unique child at the centre, was not consistent and progressive and was watered down by ‘bits’ being given by each subject leader for us to ‘deliver’. The expectations for delivery, evidencing and subject monitoring were in many cases detrimental to the quality of early education. For example, it was expected that early years would produce ‘X’ pieces of writing each week.
Focusing on curriculum design and implementation
As a school taking part in the Education Durham Early Years Curriculum Project, our senior and subject leaders had the chance to access high quality early years professional development alongside me. This has allowed for rich discussions and has totally changed their understanding and perception of what constitutes an effective curriculum and high-quality teaching and learning in the early years. The discussions, initiated during these sessions, flowed back with us into our school. Early years was given greater prominence and was seen as the bedrock of the rest of the school curriculum. For example, the English lead changed her view of what was appropriate in early years and began to support us in exploring pre-phonic concept development and progression of language and vocabulary. Time was given for the early years team to focus on curriculum design and implementation and subject leaders were involved in this.
What did we do to change our approach to curriculum?
- Delivered whole school CPD on the importance of the EYFS and curriculum progression into primary subjects
- Had open conversations about our school context and aspirations
- Used the tasks shared in the professional development events to cascade with the team
- Posed the following question as a provocation to reflect on current curriculum design and practice: ‘We can set up some wonderful things, but WHY?’
- Focused on the prime areas of learning and worked backwards starting from the Early Learning Goals (and any relevant year one expectations) to map out expectations from the beginning of nursery to the end of reception
- The senior leaderships team gave half a day a week to collate discussions and progression documents to support curriculum understanding and implementation
Stepping out of our comfort zone
Initially early years staff felt quite overwhelmed with the focus of discussions and information shared. It took them out of their comfort zone of just delivering ‘jobs’ and made them really think about what the children needed. It was a slow process initially, but we have begun to have rich discussions around what are appropriate expectations for learning and development and what effective pedagogical approaches will support implementation. It’s been uplifting! Discussions are collated and inform the progression models that I then pull together and share with the team (and beyond). Staff members are gradually becoming more empowered and knowledgeable, and we are now more mindful as to what our role is and why we are doing what we are doing. The whole school is now aware of our developments and contribute as appropriate, ensuring progression and smooth transition into year one.
Our next steps
We are aware that we are only at the start of our journey and our next steps are to embed this approach to developing progressive expectations and appropriate pedagogy across all areas of learning.
Key takeaways
- To make a change in early years within a school it is vital to involve senior leadership teams and the whole school as much as possible from the beginning, ensuring they build better understanding of the EYFS.
- Professional development is vital to support the knowledge and understanding around how to design and implement a high quality, appropriate, sequenced early years curriculum.
- Early years teams require time to focus on curriculum design and implementation, with the involvement of subject leaders.
Critical considerations
- Do you have discussions with your team around what are appropriate expectations for learning and development? Do you have discussions around what effective pedagogical approaches will support implementation?
- When setting up wonderful learning opportunities, do you reflect on the WHY behind this?
- Is there currently a whole school approach where the early years is truly understood and valued?
- How can you work with senior leadership teams to support them in understanding the needs of the early years?
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