Developing ethos in an Early Years setting

Agenda: Ethos
In their first full length episode, Kealey, Sarah and Steph explore ethos and what it means to them. They delve into theories and approaches that have shaped their settings and offer step by step advice on how to develop the ethos in your setting. 

Transcript

00:12

[Steph]Hello and welcome to the early years start meeting podcast with Sarah, Kealey and Steph, the place where you can listen, learn and laugh with us about all things early years. Today we'll be discussing developing the underpinning ethos of your early years setting. 

[Sarah] Yeah, we're starting with a big one, aren't we ladies? It is a hot topic. But yeah, but before we get into that juicy material, how has everyone's week been?

[Steph] It's been good.

[Sarah] My goodness. It’s been

00:42

windy, hasn't it? 

[Steph] We've had some really mixed weather this week. It's been a bit strange, but yeah, we've had a particularly windy day.

[Sarah] And why is it that the wind correlates to their behaviour? What is that? You know it's going to be windy. It literally physically whips them up. Lots of kite making today. 

[Steph] Lots of kite making, lots of paper aeroplanes.

01:12

[Sarah] It's actually almost been too windy for making those things. I actually had a go at making an aeroplane launcher that I saw on YouTube and the children were queuing up waiting to see this paper launcher with an elastic band. It was that windy that it turned the launcher, which was like this long card,

01:42

like rectangle and it literally like bent it in half so I couldn't even use it and Every time I went to like do that three two it literally went and bent it

01:58

[Kealey] And the children were going…oh…

 [Sarah] It's exactly what they were doing, it's exactly what they were doing. Even the staff were like, come on. Such disappointment.

[Kealey] It's the disappointment in their little voices. She's like, it's okay, I'll fix it. 

[Sarah] In the end, I literally just took the aeroplane off the launcher and threw it, and it probably would have gone further than when I launched it off the thing. It's just like a pointless waste of time, but the thought was there. Okay. Before we start on our main topic

02:28

of ethos. Just want to say to our listeners a huge thank you for your support and your messages and for listening to our first episode and our little briefings that we've done. So just want to say a huge thank you. It means the world to us. I know it means the world to us because we're just starting out and any encouragement and yeah any tips would be most welcome. So thank you so much.

02:58

[Steph] We can't actually believe that there are people in the big wide world that are actually... And I mean, we can officially say we're a global podcast. It's international. Amazing. 

[Sarah] Thank you to that one listener in Hawaii, by the way. You know who you are. It means a lot. 

[Steph] So, to the serious stuff. And onto our main topic

03:28

today, which is the ethos. So we might start by sort of saying, what do we mean? What do we mean by ethos? And I did a little bit of research on this and found a little definition that it is a clearly defined set of values which influence all aspects of your setting. And this includes your curriculum, your pedagogical approach, the way you interact with children, your environment, and how you

03:58

meet the needs of all.

[Sarah] I know there's some real buzzwords in there, isn't there? Basically, what that means in layman's terms is what you believe and how what you believe about how children learn underpins your practice, basically is what that means. So as a team, before, if you were starting to write your curriculum or perhaps you're a new setup,

04:28

It’s about getting your team together to decide what you believe is best practice and how you want to organise your curriculum, basically.

[Kealey] And I think you have the same thought, isn't it? Is you all having that same idea and ethos of what you want, it's not just one of you, it's everybody. 

[Sarah] And it has to be a collaborative process. If somebody's not quite singing on the same

04:58

hymn sheet as you, it does make life quite difficult. And actually it is a journey, so you might start off believing one thing and actually after you've done research and you've just had a go at implementing some ideas, you might actually change your track and go off on a different tangent and that's absolutely fine. As long as it's in the best interest of the children.

05:28

[Steph] I think if you're working within a school, it can be difficult sometimes to find that right balance because you've obviously got to, your ethos has got to be incorporated into whatever the school's ethos is. So if you've got a real attainment driven ethos, the school might try to restrict how you teach the children, how you approach,

05:58

the sort of the setup of the day on the timetable or how much sitting down and working at table children are meant to do. So it's about finding that balance, isn't it? It's probably easier going in as a nursery or a childminder on their own that you can actually, you know, you're your own bosses. So you can kind of set that ethos from the start of what you know, we really feel this is the way children learn best. 

[Sarah] I think at schools, they are quite different workplaces to nurseries

06:28

and pre-schools because they are, like you said, they're more data driven and they do have, especially reception, they are accountable at the end of that early years journey. They are accountable for that data, those outcomes for those children. So, you know, there are leaders that do get a little bit tetchy about that and they do like to make sure that they are sometimes getting the best, I want to say data, which isn't always what's best for the children.

06:58

I'm trying to say this quite politically, but politically correctly. And it's about you standing firm and having what you believe is what's in the best interests of the children. So very child centred. And maybe it sometimes it does come down to having those tricky conversations with your, your leaders, your management, your headteachers, whatever that may be.

07:28

And actually just really being quite firm and saying, actually, this is what I believe. And this is what I think is best for the children. And that is sometimes a really tricky conversation. And you don't always get, you know, get it your way, unfortunately, sometimes it's out of your control. 

[Steph] Yeah. I think it's really good to go to leadership with evidence, with research. So, you know, get those really strong, you know, pieces of evidence

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And say, well, this is why children should be learning this way. This is child development. This is, and here's some examples of some schools that do it this way. And I think if you go to them with the evidence and the research, it makes it easier. 

[Sarah] Definitely. And sometimes if you have an idea, and if you have, you know, we're lucky we have many classes in a year group, you might say, well, this class is going to trial it

08:28

For a week. And then we're going to report back. And sometimes that is just like a way of getting your foot in the door. Quite often, in the past, haven't we, Kealey, we've had one class trialling this one class trialling this and we sort of all swap ideas don't we about what worked what did it.

[Kealey] Yeah, it is very much. Yeah, trying it out. But again, it's working as a team, isn't it? Like you say, Oh, you try all that out, see how it goes, what worked, what didn't work. And then okay, now we'll roll it out.

08:58

[Sarah] Exactly. And if you go, it's about going to, you know, the powers that be with, you know, a solution to a problem rather than going to them and saying, well, this doesn't work and this doesn't work. You know, I'm stuck with this. Sometimes our leaders aren't always early years trained. They don't always have the experience. And sometimes early years just freaks them out.

09:29

As it does a lot of people, we're definitely a Marmite year. You love it or you hate it. 

[Kealey] Oh, absolute Marmite year. 

[Sarah] So yeah, sometimes going there with a solution actually just minimizes some leader's anxiety about making decisions for early years.

09:51

[Steph] So when we think about an ethos, why is it something that, why have we chosen it for our very first podcast and why is it something so important and fundamental? 

[Kealey] I think if you haven't got an ethos, you can't really get started, can you? Because you need to know where you're all going and what you're doing and your uniqueness of it for you. You can't really, can't move forward, can you? 

[Sarah] It underpins everything really.

10:21

Your vision, how you relate to parents and families, how you even or even to things like organizing your budget, it underpins absolutely everything you do. And if you don't have a clear ethos, then everything is going to be very disjointed and it's going to be really hard to make justifications to I'm not even going to say their name, the O word about why you're doing this.

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You're not going to have a clear path forward basically in anything that you do with the children.

[Steph] And I think by being clear about your ethos, you are able to use it as sort of a barometer of, you know, is this the right thing? Are we doing the right thing here? Does this align with what we actually believe and how we run our setting? Or have we gone down a little rabbit hole here and think it just helps you to

11:21

ground yourself back to you know best practice. 

[Kealey] We did that a lot. Do you know like going into each other and saying, is this right for the children? Are we keeping the children in the centre of everything? And something might have gone down, like as you said down in rabbit hole a little bit Steph, and maybe you're a bit like, oh, is this really the right thing? They'll go, actually no, let's change it to this. This would be more, this is what the children are enjoying, this is what the children need. Let's change it to this to make sure that they're still the centre.

11:51

[Sarah] And I think at the beginning, if you're a new setting or a new startup, it is going to take a lot of that, what you said, Kealey, that tweaking of, oh, actually, that doesn't feel okay. Let's reign that back in. Let's let's try something different. And it does take, I would say it took us quite a few years almost to like really define what we truly believed in. Also, you have lots of waves of thinking come through.

12:21

And it does change every few years and that you have to decide whether you believe what that person is saying is okay for the children or if you don't. So yeah, it's what I'm saying, it's continually changing and evolving. It's not a static thing really. 

[Steph] There are definitely things I've done as an early use practitioner before in the past. I absolutely, you know, would not see the value in that now and change my perspective.

12:51

And that's just, you know, as we've learned and evolved, and, you know, new ways of thinking have come to the forefront. I don't think there are any new ways of thinking. Actually, it's just what happens to be at the forefront at the time

[Sarah] There are fashion trends, aren't they? And sometimes those fashion trends are really good. And sometimes they're not. And everyone's different. And it's about picking apart those ideas and

13:21

going back to your ethos and going, actually, do they put the children first? Are the children going to be happy? Are the children going to have fun? Are they going to learn? They're the real basics, aren't they? And if they're not, then perhaps stay away from it. 

[Kealey] I think one thing we've used a lot over the years, though, something that we have kept on kind of keep going on and on with is less is more. That seemed to be kind of mantra for a while, wasn't it?

13:51

hard. I found less is more really hard but it's so beneficial and totally is a big part of our ethos and has been for a while. But I did find it hard because I do like a lot of stuff and I just kind of yeah, I still have a lot of stuff but I am a lot more,

14:21

ooh no that's far too many in there now. 

[Sarah] It takes skill, doesn't it? The more you are part of the early years, the more you can hone your craft, as they say. And that less is more mantra. It's because it's really taken us a long time to really pick apart what less is more means for us. And what does that look like in what we're planning and all the rest of it, you know, in our provision? What does that mean? 

[Steph] And I was just going to add that, you know, especially

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now where we have children that are coming into school having spent the majority of their life having gone through a pandemic, don't necessarily have the same experiences that other children would have had. So it is about that. We've had to do some of that this year where you strip back and you actually say, they're not ready for this. So let's strip it back, take it back to real basics. 

[Sarah] And actually, that's scary. Some staff find that really difficult,

15:21

Especially with all the pressures that education puts on teachers and practitioners to perform and to get the outcomes that are needed. Yeah, that is difficult to strip it back. And actually, to be brave and say, no, this is not right for the children. This is what our children need. And I think that's one of the things you really need to think about when you're thinking about your ethos, is you think about how you want your children to learn.

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But also, what are those children's needs because that will change year on year as you have different groups and cohorts of children come through. And also, if you move from area to area, if you change jobs and that is your core ethos that you bring with you, then you're going to be coming across all different types and groups of children. 

[Steph] Yeah, absolutely. It's going to be different. Your ethos is going to very much depend on your cohort.

16:21

the community, the area, it's going to very much relate on the uniqueness of the children in the class. 

[Sarah] That's part of the challenge. It's part of the fun, but it's also, it can be blinking hard work. 

[Steph] So what is good practice when it comes to choosing your ethos and selecting your ethos? Well, I think there'd be some underlying shared values that I think you'd expect to see.

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When you walk into any early years classroom, you'd expect to see a play-based approach to learning. You'd expect to see continuous provision. But depending on the needs of your children or your own passions, passions of your staff, you can go down a particular route with your ethos. And I read an article in The Nursery World which talked about how one nursery, they actually interviewed their local community

17:21

and found out that something that parents really needed was this nursery that offered wrap around care and was really part of the community. And so they made that their core ethos. So it was a very community based nursery where instead of having sort of fencing around the setting where you couldn't sort of see what was going on, they had sort of open slatted fencing. So they felt that they were actually part of the community.

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community. They made sure they had like very good wrap around care, parents needed, parents and carers needed that. So they had a real sense of, you know, being part of the community. And that was that was their focus. And that was what they, what they chose was their priority for their, for the needs of their community. So I thought that was a really a good place to start looking at what does your community need, what do your families need?

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[Sarah] Exactly. And whatever is good for the family is good for the children, isn't it? Because families and parents are the children's first educators and they know them the best. So absolutely. 

[Kealey]I think that's nice for the community thing. You are hearing more of that. When you guys probably don't know this, I went to Hungary when I was 19 as a part of my course for being a nursery nurse. And when we went. Yeah. So

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So when I went there, it was an amazing thing. They took us into a kindergarten and a part of their thing, there was all community. They had full wrap round care. Their fences were open as well. So they could see and they had a lot of the community coming in as well and helping the children. And another amazing thing, they had a slide in the middle of their kindergarten, no stairs to get

19:21

down. There was like a one way system. And they have slide in the middle that went down into a ball pit. Yeah. And this was like a long time ago, because I was 19, 35 now. But even then, they'd already started that kind of community. And it's kind of like coming back into us now. Yeah. And that was in Hungary. 

[Sarah] Wow. Kelly, I didn't know that about you. 

[Steph] You dark horse. 

[Sarah] Again, some countries are further ahead

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in this journey than we are. And it's lovely that we're starting to, even though, you know, that's quite some years ago that we are starting to filter that through into this country. It's not common practice though, is it ladies? It'd be lovely if it was. No, this is the start. The start of a revolution. 

[Steph] Maybe we'll start a revolution. 

[Kealey] But as you said, we're like, we are starting to

20:21

some of the approaches that we were saying about the Scandinavian, well, I'm going to say Huggy and I know so Sarah is, but not Stephanie.

[Steph] Hygge.

[Kealey] That's it. So, Hygge that approach, we've tried a little bit of that. Just us as ourselves, we've tried a little bit of that and we do like the coziness of it. 

[Steph] So what maybe you could explain what the hygge approaches, Kealey for listeners. 

[Kealey] Well, let’s hope I get it right, eh?

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So it's mainly very much in touch with the nature and nurture and being cosy and having that kind of feeling and also being very close to nature.

[Sarah] It's bringing nature in, isn't it, to your surroundings as much as possible, whether that's in the home or in your garden. So yeah, they're very much, whenever I think of Hygge

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I think of cosy blankets, candles and cosy areas. A roaring fire. 

[Steph] Not in your classroom. 

[Kealey]But you could make one. Come on, we made one. I did bring a real fireplace into a classroom. Yes, it's not a real fire, but we do have a real 

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fireplace that does make it feel cozy and real. 

[Sarah] And Hygge it's, it's, it's a feeling it's not necessarily objects, but there are resources that make you feel Hygge in our setting. So Keely said we had a fireplace, but we did have lots of nice snuggly blankets. We thought about  lighting. So we used to have lamps turning off lights, soft lighting, making children as soon as they walked through the door.

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homely feeling because schools can feel a little bit alien, especially if it's their first time in a setting, you know, they're used to sofas and rugs and soft furnishings and, you know, their pictures of their families. And that's what we need to try and incorporate into settings to make it feel a little bit more homely and welcoming to our children. Okay, so that's Hygge.

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I always feel like a caveman when I say that. Hygge. Hygge. 

[Steph] I'm sure I have probably said it wrong. But I feel like there's a song in the frozen musical that sings about Hygge. So it goes sort of hygge, hygge, hygge, hygge. So I feel like I've got that in my head. But perhaps I've got it wrong. 

[Sarah] I haven’t seen that yet.

[Kealey] I have. I've never heard that though. 

[Sarah] Perhaps it’s in your dreams Steph?

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[Steph] You must have nipped to the loo. 

[Sarah] Okay, another, you know, an ethos and approach that is dear to our hearts is the Curiosity Approach. So, these are two ladies. I can't remember the names off the top of my head. Look them up. They are very prevalent on Facebook and, and on online. But their approach is a little bit like Hygge.

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But it's looking at everyday objects, things that children see in their homes that are, you know, in their culture. Culture specific. And bringing them into the setting. So they actually don't have, you know, inverted commas toys. They have real objects that children play with. So it might be a real tea set.

24:21

a real China tea set, it might be real scoops and spades and things not plastic in the sand tray for instance.

[Kealey] Lots of natural materials as well. Conkers and pine cones and anything that's natural to definitely be using especially in your sand area but maths or anywhere, it all combines in

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And just using those resources that are there already there that you can bring in from outside and bring them in. And if the children find sticks and twigs and whatever they found, acorns is our big thing. They're lovely oak trees. So acorns is a big thing at one point.

[Sarah] They're also very much fond of a car boot sale. They absolutely love a car boot sale. 

[Steph] They love it. Yeah.

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[Kealey,] So do I!

[Sarah] Kealey you're the... She is the car boot queen. The car boot queen. She is the queen. She is the best haggler I have ever come across. She is cutthroat.

25:34

[Steph] I mean, I'm terrified to ask for a discount on this table that's already £2. Like, can I really, can I really haggle it down? I'm just like, I'll pay you more. 

[Sarah] Kealey's your woman's. 

[Kealey] And I'm like, no, well, only pay a pound for that. 

[Sarah] Again, they furnish their nurseries and their settings with real furniture that they've acquired from second hand shops or donations. They don't

26:04

use the catalogues that have all of the classroom style furniture in. They use real furniture and everything is quite muted and natural looking. They love a bit of Hessian. I did read one of their posts once where somebody was criticising them for being more beige than a cardboard box. And actually, they turned that negative into a positive.

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said, yes, perfect. We would like natural muted colours in our settings to not overwhelm children to bring that Hygge feeling, that cosiness, a sense of calm. So yeah, definitely check them out. They are, yeah, they are amazing and inspiring. And who else has been sort of, you know, has had a huge impact on our practice? 

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[Kealey] Montessori is definitely one

[Sarah] I did a lot of research on Montessori when I was a nursery nurse back in the day. And actually Montessori is very different from the commercialised Montessori that we see today. So people think that wooden toys or anything made of wood is a Montessori toy and actually it's not. So you do have to be careful with Montessori. It has taken on a commercial aspect which might

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not be how it was intended. Montessori was basically it's teaching children skills, one skill at a time, how to learn. So literally how to hold a pen and they will do it in, they'll chunk it into very much very small stages with specific resources, which tend to be wooden, but not necessarily.

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So that is in a nutshell, because a complex thing is Montessori. 

[Steph] And is it about independence as well? 

[Sarah] It does. The first thing that springs to mind is a like a cleaning station where children would be able to wash their hands and dry their hands and then prepare their own snack next to it and they'd have everything laid out, all the tools, all the snack and they would do that completely themselves without any adult help. Obviously they would have those skills taught to them about

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chopping, about being safe with a child's knife, all those kind of things. It's definitely about children being completely independent and adults not interfering with that independence as much as possible. 

[Steph] And while we do take on aspects and we learn from all these different people and theories, we just need to sort of put it out there that we're not affiliated with any of these

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different approaches or independent companies or anything like that or people, we are just sort of sharing what we what practice that we have seen and research that we have undertaken ourselves and people that we, you know, find useful and you might find them just as useful. Yeah. And I think these approaches kind of underpin our own approaches and ethos.

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And another person who we've researched a lot and adopted some of the practice is Anna Epgrave. Yeah. So if you haven't heard of Anna Epgrave, give her a little Google search. 

[Sarah] She has amazing books. So that's how we found her was these amazing books about Reception. 

[Steph] I feel like it's called Early Years in Action.

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Reception in action, nursery in action. Year one in action. Which is quite amazing that somebody is trying to bridge the gap between early years and national curriculum. I think that is amazing. We did training, didn't we, Kealey, with her? We actually met her.

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[Kealey] Yeah, well, you did. I didn't end up going on it because I ended up going and having my baby. So I didn't get to go. I'm just like very sad, but I have read her year one book. I can't remember why at that time, but I did read the year one book. She is really good.

[Sarah] She's very inspirational. She's quite, she's very direct. And she says it how it is. So yeah, if you ever do training with her, brace yourself

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[Steph] Her ethos is, you know, it's in the moment planning and the, you know, adults following the children's lead, the children having a lot of free time to explore and follow their follow their own interests. So again, something we've adopted a lot of that into our own practice.

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[Sarah] It's about children, they're in charge, aren't they, of their learning. And it's about adults observing, knowing what the children's interests are, knowing next steps in children's learning. So having that real understanding of child development and thinking literally on the spot, what can I do with this child who loves

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cars, what can I do with this child who loves cars, who is literally just bashing other children with cars, what can I do to support them in their next steps of learning? And thinking, oh, actually, if I got some paper and a pen and sat next to this child and started drawing a road to direct their use of the car, then actually that's their next step. And actually that person hasn't written that planning down.

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It’s all come very organically, very naturally. And in the moment, hence the title. 

[Steph] And you know, you might decide to, you know, to completely devote yourself to one of these strategies or ways of thinking, or you might decide to do what we kind of do, which is to dip into and find what works for our children for that cohort at that time. But I guess it's just worth saying that

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Although that's more flexible, you do run the risk of diluting or conflicting some of those ideas if you do decide to do it. 

[Sarah] Yeah, and again, it is about knowing your children and knowing their needs. And if you know that, then whatever ethos or approach you choose to get the children to be where they need to be or want to be, then actually that's okay.

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Like you can justify your motives, your actions. 

[Kealey] Yeah, because he's definitely knowing your children and each child. The each child is an individual and one little thing might be okay for quite a few children, but then not okay for another and just changing things and making things as best for them to learn for each one which can be really hard when you've got a lot of children.

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[Sarah] Kealey, that brings us onto our next bit. Tips and tricks. 

[Steph] Seamless. Seamless. 

[Kealey] Oh, thank you so much.

[Sarah] So again, it's having those initial discussions as a team. It's looking at what are the needs of your children. Is it PSED? Is it speech and language? Is it, I don't know. 

[Steph] Are you in an urban area

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where you need to bring nature in? Is it a very culturally diverse area where you need to be representative of a range of cultures in a setting? 

[Kealey] So one year, we had a really, really, they all came in, we had a lot of children with speech and language. It was a really heavy year group where they needed a lot of support. We had, we changed a lot in the provision, but also, I think that's when we brought in the sign

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That is also a part of us when we started signing and I don't think I'll ever go back. Love, we love to sign. And that really helped those children and we just kind of thought, wow. And now we've kind of kept it on even if we've had really like years where their speech has been wonderful and we haven't needed that hasn't been their need. We're still, we're still using it because it just helps.

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In so different ways.

[Sarah] So as well, part of your initial discussions, just what you're passionate about, like, what are your team passionate about? Because if, if you could be passionate about your ethos, then, you know, you're halfway there, because you've got the commitment of the team then. So maybe think about what it is that you're passionate about, you know, you truly passionate about making sure that, you know, children have particular life skills by the end of Reception

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or is it that you are a firm believer in getting them outdoors at every opportunity? So, thinking of your passions as well. 

[Sarah] Exactly. And it's what you need to combine that with what you know you need to be providing as an early year setting. So that does come down to the early years, the curriculum. So in the UK, it's the EYFS, but in other countries around the world,

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They’ll have their own statutory curriculum. So you do have to make sure you are following that. Unfortunately, it would be lovely if we could just do what we thought was best, but we can't. We do need accountability. Hot topic at the moment, but we won't go into that for the moment. And with that accountability comes the leadership team. And we've said,

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Earlier on it is vital that we try and get them on board because if they're not on board with you, it is that is a huge barrier and a huge challenge to making sure ethos you know, goes forward with anything that you do. 

[Kealey] But as Steph said earlier, like going with going with your research to show them to back yourself up that actually this is what we believe is right and there is research behind it.

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you know, if you feel like that, there is research out there to help you. But we've also said about like getting stakeholders involved. So the wider school, like we said about the community, haven't we? And parents, parents are a really big part. 

[Steph] Also get out there and visit other settings and get a feel for their ethos or have a look on social media. There are so many different settings that now have their own Instagram accounts or

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social media that can inspire you. So yeah, do do research in that way as well. And you can always learn, can't you? 

[Kealey] Even if you've been in it for a long time, you can still learn so many things just from having like young children ourselves. Going into like, like for my daughter, I went into her reception class for the first time. And I was like, wow, all these things, oh, I like that. Oh, I like that. And I was like wow!

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[Sarah]  I'm going to do a shameless plug. If you go over to our Facebook group, the Early Years Staff Meeting, you can share this good practice with each other. We want to create this community of sharing because it is difficult to go to other settings. It is sometimes difficult if you're quite remote to find that good practice. 

[Steph] It's difficult sometimes to get the time to get together. 

[Sarah] Exactly. Head on over to our group. So...

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Share your good practice, exactly. Inspire others. Fantastic. 

[Steph] Because it is important for staff to have that inspiration and that buy-in. So try to get your whole staff involved, send your, you know, direct your staff to go and follow a page or look at a post. Because if you can get everybody inspired, involved, and have that ownership, then you

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then people will be passionate and it will be a collaborative exercise. 

[Kealey] I've got a funny feeling I like set a challenge for some TAs over one of their holidays to have a look at a Bluey. 

[Steph] Now I vaguely remember this. 

[Kealey] Do you remember that? It's like a Bluey episode, had some really, really good ideas. Obviously it's in Australia and they had these amazing ideas. Look, if Bluey can do it

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Come on guys, we can do it too. And they literally watch it. I think they thought she's lost it. That's it. She's gone just that big idea a bit too far. 

[Steph] If it was you asking, Kealey, I'm sure they just went along with it. So once you've once you've done all this research and background development and you're clear on what, you know, what you think is good practice, you might want to create some sort of like a mind map

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a mood board or it could be post-it notes of everything that you'd want to see in your setting. If you were a fly on the wall looking in your setting, what would you see and what would the children be doing and what would you hear and would the door be open and what would be outside and what would be inside and from that you can decide your key principles and what your key values are. 

[Sarah] Yeah and then that's where

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you, you know, you start to develop your vision statement. And that, you know, that can evolve over time. But, you know, having that initial vision statement put on paper, you know, lets everybody know we are singing of the same hymn sheet. This is what we believe. This is what we are going to make sure the children have. And it's vital that everybody has that wherever possible

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to read and to keep linking everything you do back to it is like a guide to good practice in your setting. 

[Kealey] And find things that do fit with what you want, do fit with your ethos and try them out. That's the only way we've kind of learned if something's working. 

[Sarah] And actually sometimes it's taking a bit of your own medicine. Like we always tell the children it's okay to make mistakes. We learn from our mistakes. Yeah. And actually as practitioners, we're not always very good at following our own advice.

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[Kealey] No, we get ourselves down and think, oh no, 

[Sarah] We're not Instagram ready. But no, actually, making mistakes is how everybody learns. It's that those characteristics of effective learning in the in our UK, our early years curriculum that, you know, actually, adults need to have a go, be go for it gorillas. This is for another. Another.

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episode but yeah it's another podcast. 

[Kealey] Good old persevering parrot.

[Sarah] But yeah we need to practice what we preach to children basically. 

[Steph] And I think again that leads us seamlessly yet again into our mindful moment.

42:51

[Steph] You know, we've done the hard work now, we've done the, we've done the CPD and what we'd also like to do each week is to give you just a moment, just like something to take with you through the week or the day, because we know the stresses of teaching and working with children in general. It's not an easy job. And as Sarah said, we're not always very good at putting ourselves first. We're not always good at practicing what we preach. So,

43:21

We just want to promote positive mental health and wellbeing as you know it is something that's forefront at the moment for our profession and yeah it's something we would like to promote each podcast as well so we're just going to take a mindful moment now to allow you to reflect on what this means for you. So today the idea is to take a golden

43:51

moment. Now, that could sound strange because there's another… something else golden, but it's not that. So take a golden moment for yourself. So maybe every day this week, for the next week, you could try this to just take five minutes, just to switch off. And maybe you could do a little bit of meditation, clear your mind. I've actually been trying this since January.

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It's like my news resolution was to be more zen. And I've tried doing this myself in the mornings just to try and like lower my anxiety. 

[Sarah] Sarah comes bound and into the classroom going, what are we doing today? 

[Steph] You know, I've got my music going and everything, but I actually find it really hard. So I've actually gone to sort of guided meditation now, sort of guided mindfulness. It's just taking five minutes just to switch off and

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not think about the future, the past, what's about to happen, what's happening. It's just to take that break and give your mind a break. And just schedule it into your day, no matter how busy you are, because, you know, you've got to invest in yourself, you can't give from an empty cup and all, you know, we'll be doing all day long is giving to the children. So it's important to take that time for yourself. 

[Sarah] And I think if you do find that very, you know, that difficult, if you're not

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one of those like Zen-minded people then actually to start off mindfulness. Mindfulness is about taking in the here and the now. So it's about you can start off by literally just focusing on something in front of you. So it could be a chair and you would think, what does the chair look like? What does the chair feel like? What does the chair sound like? If we move it or we touch it,

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what does it feel like when we sit? And it's literally being very, very narrow with our questions about an object in the room. And that is the start of doing mindfulness. It's bringing your focus to the here and the now. And it might, the first time you do it, might seem a little bit bizarre. But once you get practiced at it, you notice that all of a sudden, the noise that might be in your head

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it starts to calm just for a few moments. And then you can, once you get that feeling, you get the, the idea of how to get your mind into that zone more quickly without having to do those focused questions. Does that make sense, Steph? Would you agree with that? 

[Steph] It does. I mean, I am still a work in progress when it comes to mindfulness. So yeah, I probably just need to do

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Less is more and take it back a notch, and stare at a chair. 

[Kealey] It could just be also just that she said just taking that bit of time out because I must say I'm not great at the mindfulness and the meditation but standing out standing inside the classroom and just looking outside sometimes just at the just whatever and then Sarah quite often we'd stand at the end of the day looking at a squirrel that was going up and down the tree and there's silence between us. 

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[Sarah] It was quite a magical moment. It was awe and wonder. Which very much is early years.

[Kealey] And we kind of, yeah, it was like four o'clock wasn't it? That's it. Used to come down the tree and we just used to stand looking outside the classroom at this squirrel. And I felt so much more calmer just like, oh yeah, end of the day squirrel time. That was quite good. 

[Steph] Take that golden moment

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this week listeners, whether that involves a squirrel or not. 

[Kealey] That was our time, wasn't it?

[Sarah]  Yeah, it did really help us and it does sound very bizarre to any of our listeners, but it was literally in that moment for a good 10 minutes, I would say, we became Bill Odie. And we looked outside at that squirrel, gathering his acorns. 

[Kealey] No talking. We didn't even talk to each other. Didn’t

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need to. We both were just happy watching the squirrel. 

[Steph] Now I have this vision of like, you know, some soft focus lens and, you know, some romantic music and Sarah and Kealey just standing with a squirrel. 

[Kealey] Whatever helps you, eh? 

[Steph] That will help me this week. That's an image to take with me through the week. 

[Kealey] Try it. I'll bet he’s still there. 

[Sarah] Listen, if you do have a go at this, please put on the socials.

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your golden moment was this week. You know, how did you get that five minutes of pure calm and Hygge? We’d love to know. Yeah. So yeah, that brings us on to my plug. 

[Steph] Sarah's shameless plug of the week. We need a jingle. Jingle working with the press.

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[Sarah] We would just love you to engage in our social medias, our Facebook, our Instagram. We're even on Twitter, even though I'm not good at tweeting, but I'd love for you to engage with us. And subscribe. Like, subscribe. Share all of those things. So engage. We'd love that. So thank you very much.

[Steph] And if there was anything in particular that interested you and you want to find out more, if you go to our website, check out our meeting minutes

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you'll find a transcript of our podcasts

[Sarah] www.theearyyearsstaffmeeting.com in there and all the information all of our even our episodes there as well so check it out

50:07

[Steph] That brings us to an end this week. 

[Sarah] That's quite an in-depth episode this week, but, uh, Woo-hoo. It's sort of a whistle-stop tour of ethos, basically. So, uh, if you're still listening, thank you very much.

[Kealey] Yeah. Thank you.

[Sarah] We'll be back here very soon. See you soon. Bye