Hi,

I’m Susan McElhatton and I am happy to say I love my job as the Curriculum Support Officer within the Early Years team.

They say that in teaching we have our ‘niche’.  For some it is upper school and for others it is middle to lower primary.  Mine has always been early years!  I have had the great privilege of working in the early years sector for almost all of my teaching career – 27 years of it!   Over that time, I have taken on different roles across three different authorities and have learned from every experience I have had (positive and negative) – and continue daily to do so.  I have been part of the central team in Falkirk now for 18 years and have watched it go from strength to strength.  We have such amazing practitioners and leaders right across the authority who have faced so many challenges over recent years with the introduction of 1140 hours coupled by a pandemic!  But, look where we are now!!!  Our care inspectorate and 2.3 visits show that we have faced those challenges head on and come out stronger than before.  We have definitely earned the right to say #FabFalkirkFolk!

As a curriculum support officer here in Falkirk there are many different aspects to my role.  Within our strategic plan for EY my remit is recorded as:

• Oversight of guidance to support the quality of ELC provision across Falkirk.
• Delivery of training and support to key groups including overseeing practitioner networks/collaboratives.
• Provision of support to individual settings as per the quality improvement strategy.
• Provision of pre and post inspection support, as appropriate.
• Oversight and co-ordination key service improvement portals: EY Blog; Twitter; Facebook; termly newsletter.
• Act as service link to the FVWLRIC in respect of Early Years.

One of my big focuses this year and next year is the Assessment and Progression Framework.  This has been a huge part of my workload and has involved both training and supporting individual settings.  It has been so rewarding working with a range of colleagues over the last few years in developing and delivering the framework.  I have gained so much from feedback and the questions that so many of our practitioners and leaders have asked and hope that you have gained as much from me along the way.

This term I am out and about as a quality associate doing 2.3 visits in the nursery classes and centres.  This again is something I have found very rewarding and hopefully valuable and supportive for the settings that I have had the privilege of visiting.

Over the Easter break and into next term I will be working on the CLPL calendar for 23/24 with Fiona Anderson.  The delivery of CLPL is a huge part of the remit of all of us within the central team, whether that is in-house support or a more structured CPD approach.  I know I speak for all of us when I say that we find it so rewarding working with colleagues across the authority.  We definitely promote an ‘Everybody teach, Everybody learn’ approach in Falkirk and a lot of what we share comes from what we learn from you!  We are so grateful for the feedback that you have given us through the MS forms that was sent out a few weeks ago. This has highlighted the positives of our CLPL and the things we need to work on next year.

If there is anything at all that I can support you with then please get in touch.  Remember we also have request for support forms that you can send in if you feel you would like a little more intensive support in a specific area from someone from the central team.  As a team (at all levels) we value and see the request for support forms that are sent in as a strength in settings.   These are based on your own self-evaluation of your setting and show that you know your setting well and are reaching out to improve on the areas you feel could be stronger.  So please get in touch and let us know how we can help.

Click here for Request for Support Form

Susan