Category: Learning, Teaching & Assessment

Introducing #PlayAtHome Week

We want to say a huge **thank you** to our ELC and early learning colleagues and families who have supported our CS Comms #AtHome themed weeks.

So far, there have been three themes:

Week beginning 20 April – #LiteracyAtHome

Week beginning 27 April – #STEMatHome (**especially good)

Week beginning 4 May – #HWBatHome

The level of participation and engagement from settings, individual practitioners working at home when not in hubs, those in Hubs and from our families (with your support) has been simply outstanding.

Our lovely colleague and RAiSE Development Officer, Laura McCafferty, has been collating the tweets, retweets and quote tweets into a wee video. Click on the #AtHome links above to see the video and see yourself on the big screen. These videos are also great for seeing practice elsewhere and getting ideas for helping parents, carers and families support their child’s learning at home.

 

As well as these videos, you can also search on Twitter by entering the relevant #AtHome AND #JoinInFalkirk. We’ve made it a bit easier by linking these searches below. Click to go straight to the Twitter thread: #LiteracyAtHome #STEMatHome #HWBatHome

 

The big news of course is that next week (week beginning 11 May) is #PlayAtHome week.
We are so excited about showcasing the fabulous ways we are supporting learning through play and home and in our Hubs.

We know you’ll support and take part, so thank you in advance for all that you will do. We just have one small favour to ask…..remember when replying or quote tweeting (and we want lots of these) please remember to add the hashtags #JoinInFalkirk AND #PlayAtHome

Why? We need both hashtags as this is the search link we’ll use after the week finished to collate the engagement from the week. We would hate for your tweet to be missed, so please don’t forget.

With your continued help and support, #PlayAtHome is going to be a great week. Watch this space for the video collation too.

Remember to leave a reply on our blogs too.

 

Evaluation of 2019-2020 ELC Thematic Review

Calling all our #fabfalkirkfolk. 

If you can spare a few minutes, please help our team evaluate the 2019-2020 ELC thematic review process by completing a short evaluation form on Glow using this link.

Your feedback will be used to make improvements to the future quality assurance of Falkirk’s Early Learning and Childcare provision and we really appreciate you taking part.

Please note, there are different forms for EYOS, SEYOs and senior leaders to complete as part of this evaluation and you will need to login using your Glow account to access the forms.   They are stored in the folder called “Thematic Review 2019-2020 Evaluation forms”.

The deadline for returning evaluation forms is May 18th 2020.

If you have any difficulty accessing these, please contact Fiona Pascall or Margaret Aitken.

 

 

 

Pre 5 ASN Outreach Service

Alice Grant from the Pre 5 ASN Outreach Service has created a Team which staff can request to join – ‘Early Years ASN Outreach Service Falkirk’.

There staff will be able to access three  training sessions  which are usually delivered by the Pre 5 team. These will give insight and strategies to help support children with additional support needs. It is recommended that all three sessions are completed in a particular order.  ‘Communication’ and ‘Sensory’ sessions should be completed first of all followed by the session on ‘Behaviour’. Alice Grant is also a member of this team and she will be available to provide advice and support to colleagues.

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/team/19%3a78c56608da5c499486d56c4b3b5f198d%40thread.tacv2/conversations?groupId=d408cd85-01f2-4bed-bd0e-f85632ee920c&tenantId=ccd32ca3-16ce-428f-9541-372d6b051929

Realising the Ambition and Marvellous Mealtimes CLPL

Realising the Ambition

Realising the Ambition support materials are now available on Glow! These materials have been adapted from the Education Scotland challenge questions that sit alongside Realising the Ambition. These materials have been developed to enable reflection, challenge and facilitation in developing your practice and approaches within your setting.

We’d advise that these materials are better focused on, one section at a time, preferably as a whole team. Professional discussion, challenge and debate will enhance your already in-depth thinking from the reflective activities. Focusing on these as a team ensures there is depth to your reflections and in turn meaningful adaptions can take place in looking forward.

You will see a join code on the beginning of each title slide, inviting you to join the Realising the Ambition in Falkirk Team. We hope to use this as a platform to share and learn from others. On Friday, 1st May, we are holding two live chats on Section 3 from 10.30am-11.30am and Section 4 from 1.30pm-2.30pm. You might find it useful to explore these sections in the support materials to reflect on what you have read.

 

Please note- you can access these materials and receive the join code for the team here .

Marvellous Mealtimes

 

Marvellous Mealtimes CLPL materials are also now available on Glow! Explore how Marvellous Mealtimes has developed over the last two years and discover the key components of a high quality approach to snack and mealtimes.

We also have a Bonnypark ELCC case study, showcasing the approach in their setting. There is also a join code for you to join the Marvellous Mealtimes in Falkirk Team, again to share practice and explore the approach. Here you will find Marvellous Mealtimes Book 2. The second book explores where we are now and how the approach has developed. There are also case studies of the approach from a variety of settings across Falkirk.

Be sure to complete the Remote CLPL Evaluation and send it to gemma.paterson@falkirk.gov.uk.

**NEW** Team Twitter

The EY central team now has a team twitter account @fceyteam to help you find out what’s happening in the world of early learning in Falkirk.

 

Individual team members shared still have their own Twitter accounts and will be very happy to still communicate with you that way.

The Early Learning Improvement Team:

Lisa McCabe – Education Team Manager (@FCLisaMcCabe)

Susan McElhatton – Curriculum Support Officer (@McelhattonSusan)

Fiona Pascall – Peripatetic Early Years Teacher (@fionapascallEY)

Cheryl Smyth – Peripatetic Early Years Teacher (@CherylSmyth15)

Elaine Craigen – Peripatetic Early Years Teacher (@elaine_craigen)

Margaret Aitken – Training & Development Officer (@MargaretDAitken)

Karen Thomson – 1140 Programme Manager & Childcare Provision Co-ordinator (@Falkirk1140)

Rehana Ali – Customer & Business Support Assistant

We felt that a Team Twitter account would help us to co-ordinate key messages a bit better so that you are all connected-in easily.

If you are one of our early learning colleagues, and you are a Twitterer, please make sure you follow us @fceyteam

We would love your posts about the fab-u-lous distance learning and family engagement you are providing to flood our team twitter, so please tag us as much as you can.

Our main endeavour as a team over the coming weeks is to support your professional learning and development so that you can be gainfully occupied when not in the hubs.

Our team will post a blog each week to share with you the most up-to-date learning opportunities and to give guidance on how best to log and record your learning.

In the meantime, it is vital that you take time to read and digest the messages from Realising the Ambition – Scotland’s refreshed national practice guidance for early learning.

The professional learning pack on the National Improvement Hub helps guide your learning and offers reflection questions. It would be good to use every opportunity you have, for example via Microsoft Teams, to talk and think about RtA with colleagues in your setting and maybe those across Falkirk!

Should you have any specific requests and/or ideas about professional learning, please do not hesitate to contact us.

You could maybe drop us a wee tweet just to let us know you have found us!

#ourchildrenfirst #makingfalkirkproud #joininfalkirk #playisthewayFC

Learning Together at Home

As a result of school and nursery closure we are aware that as parents you may be worried about how your children will learn over the coming weeks.   We also know that this time of uncertainty and change in routine can be very unsettling for children.  Many of us are parents ourselves and know that extended periods of time at home can be challenging as a family.

Please do not panic about providing the curriculum for your children the way settings do. At this young age all learning in settings is through play and play is the greatest work a child can engage in.  Thanks to the huge commitment of staff throughout the authority we are pleased to offer a wide range of suggestions on activities for you to do with your children at home in the Sway below.

Every Monday, we will update our blog  with further tips and ideas of how to support your child’s learning at home.  A link to these will also be posted on our FCEYcentralteam Twitter  account @FCEYteam.

If you would like to share the home learning adventures you have with your child, please feel free to tweet them adding #FCLearnAtHome.

Go to this Sway

 

STEM in Early Years

 

 

A new online CLPL Module focused on STEM in ELC has been launched by the University of West Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Government.
The online resource features practical activities, relevant reading, videos and examples of best practice in line with developing an ELC approach to STEM.

You might even see some familiar Falkirk faces with Bowhouse ELC taking part in the development of the module. Our very own Marvellous Mealtimes also features as a case study as part of the module materials.


The module can be accessed here (login required) The module will be available soon through the SSSC Learning Zone.

Share your thoughts on the new online module and the impact it is having on your practice to benefit Falkirk’s  wee people. Use our hashtag #WeeFalkirkSTEMpire to share your thoughts and STEM experiences!

 

 

Marvellous Mealtimes in Falkirk

 

Marvellous Mealtimes in Falkirk

Marvellous Mealtimes is Falkirk’s approach to ensuring our wee people have relaxed and unhurried snack and mealtimes. The approach is sweeping across Falkirk with 19 settings now embedding marvellous mealtimes. With the last phase of 1,140 now approaching, CPD sessions on the approach, for the whole team,  have now been organised for the 1st May 2020:

  • 9am-11am at St Patricks ELC
  • 1pm-3pm at Stenhousemuir ELC

Hear from practitioners who have developed marvellous meals and explore their marvellous meals spaces. Sign up on CPD Manager- be quick- spaces are filling up fast!

Marvellous Mealtimes: The Larder 

CPD Sessions for SEYO/PEYO’s have been organised to inform settings of the larder approach and the expectations aligned with the larder fund. Sessions will be held on:

  • 31st March at Bowhouse ELC 4pm-5.30pm
  • 2nd April at Carmuirs ELC 4pm-5.30pm

Have the opportunity to visit the settings marvellous mealtimes space and hear from Bonnypark ELC on developing Marvellous Mealtimes across a larger setting.

Sign up on CPD Manager Now!

Share your marvellous mealtimes experiences on twitter using  our hashtag #MarvellousMealtimesFC

 

Creating an ‘Environment of Wonder’.

St Patrick’s ELC’s journey to developing a quality environment as part of providing 1140hr provision.

As a staff team, we were passionate about creating an environment that cultivates children’s curiosity, creativity and wonder. We worked very hard to develop a shared vision for our new 1140 environment, recognising the impact our environment has on our children as ‘the 3rd educator’.

This involved looking inwards: self-evaluating our environment and the barriers we faced e.g. comfort, light, space, barriers to free flow play to our outdoor environment; using Building the Ambition to support our self-evaluation.

 

Next, looking outwards: Falkirk Opens its Doors to Play was an immeasurable support – getting into other quality environments and taking inspiration from good practice within our authority. Following these visits, our team consulted on aspects of good practice which would fit our vision. In addition we took time to research examples of quality environments and resources shared on on-line platforms which proved to be a great support to us. We found inspiration from pages that share their environments and resources, such as ‘The Curiosity Approach’, and as a team, we shared and discussed ideas, challenging each other in a supportive manner.

Then looking forwards: by getting involved in all aspects of planning for our environment. We worked very closely with our Architect at the planning stage, making changes such as; the position of our kitchen, adding extra windows, changing the boundaries of our garden etc. As a team (including our children, parents and staff) we made all decisions re. décor and furnishings of our environment.

 

 

 

Staff embraced the opportunity to make real environmental change and a shift in the resources we provided to support learning. Staff created a wish list in keeping with our research and carefully selected interesting items and resources to purchase with our budget.

  

Staff worked extremely hard to get all our resources in place and create a warm, welcoming, homely environment for our children and opened our doors in August on the first day of term to our children as an Early Learning Centre delivering 1140 hours of provision.  At that point, our environment continued to be an on-going daily priority. It was a focus of our daily dialogue; discussing how our children were using their environment, changes that were required and improvements we could make.

Come Along – Play-Based Pedagogy Sharing Practice Event

“Play is the Way! Come along to find out first-hand how Falkirk teachers and early years practitioners are using Froebelian principles and play-based pedagogy to deliver inspiring, motivating and developmentally appropriate learning experiences for Falkirk’s bairns. 2018 ENTHUSE winner, Nicola Connor, will also join us from West Lothian to share practical ways to promote STEM in your classroom through play and playful learning experiences.”

The Falkirk early years team are looking forward to hosting this play-based pedagogy workshop on behalf of Education Scotland’s Teacher Leadership Programme on February 10th 2020 in Camelon Education Centre  from 4PM-6PM and hope to see lots of our own Fab Falkirk folk there.  Please use the link below to sign up and come along to hear about some of the great learning and teaching happening in our schools and early learning settings.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/play-based-pedagogy-sharing-practice-session-tickets-86787891921?aff=ebdssbdestsearch