Transitions in Early Years: Navigating The Summer Term

Summer term brings a unique whirlwind of activity for Early Years educators—a constant mental hum that simply doesn't stop. Between writing dozens of reports, finalising assessment data, creating balanced class lists, and managing transitions, it truly exemplifies what Sarah and Steph call "teacher tired." 

This episode dives deep into the complex world of transitions in Early Years settings, exploring both the philosophical approaches and practical strategies that make this period successful for children. The hosts share their school's staggered start approach for incoming nursery and reception children, explaining how reducing numbers initially allows for deeper relationship-building with both children and parents. Though acknowledging this creates childcare challenges for working parents, they emphasise how this careful introduction benefits children's emotional wellbeing.

A powerful philosophy emerges throughout their discussion: rather than making children "school ready," schools should be "child ready." This perspective shift places responsibility on educational settings to adapt to children's developmental needs instead of forcing children to fit educational systems prematurely. The hosts share practical ways they implement this philosophy, including gradual introduction to Year 1 expectations, multiple classroom visits, and addressing specific anxiety triggers like unfamiliar bathrooms or hand dryers.

If you're navigating the chaos of summer term transitions, this episode offers both validation and practical guidance. From managing parent expectations around class placements to ensuring vital information travels with children to their next teacher, Sarah and Steph provide a roadmap for creating transitions that prioritise children's emotional wellbeing while meeting educational requirements. Their mindful moment reminds us that amid the overwhelming demands of this season, self-care through movement might be just what we need to maintain our mental health.

Transcript

Welcome and Introduction to Transitions

Speaker 1 0:11

Hello and welcome to the Early Years Staff Meeting, the place where you can listen, learn and laugh with us about all things. Early Years Hello, hi, welcome back.

Speaker 2 0:23

I'm Sarah and I'm Steph, and this week we're all about transition.

Speaker 1 0:31

Transitions.

Speaker 2 0:33

Yes. So if you tuned into last week's episode, it was all about plugging gaps for this time of year, and so thought, um, it should lead on into this time of year of transitioning, finishing things up, rounding off, um, and moving on. So but it's hard, isn't?

Speaker 1 0:56

it because before we've even moved on, we are immersed in another class, in next, in the next cohort, so, yeah, so we're just going to talk a little bit about the arrangements at our school, aren't we?

Speaker 2 1:10

yeah, we've got some new things going on this year. Um, it's something that we've really thought about, so we're just going to talk through that. And then, um, we are going to talk a little bit about moving into year one and, obviously, children moving into the school through our nursery and moving out of our reception into year one, and then we've got our mindful moment to finish it off. So, okay, I don't know about you, steph, but uh, are you feeling busy already? Hasn't even the half term hasn't even started yet, because technically, we are recording this on our holly bobs. Yeah, I cannot even explain.

Summer Term Overwhelm and Reports

Speaker 1 2:02

Do try, though it's a podcast, like I keep. I keep sort of showing my husband in my phone like can you see all the things that are going on? And and you can't comprehend it. Like you know, they say there's no tide like teach tired, yeah, but there's no busy like early years teachers in in the summer term, because it's just it's mind-blowing, it's like it's a constant hum in my brain yeah, yeah, that just doesn't stop and I don't.

Speaker 2 2:34

And at the end of the year I think how did I get through that half term? Because I can't really remember what I did to get through. So should we just do a little round up of things that early years teachers are doing this time of year, so if you're in year one, you can feel really guilty.

Speaker 1 2:52

So all teachers will be doing their reports at this time of year, like some. Some do them a little bit earlier, don't they?

Speaker 2 2:58

some schools do them should we just get the filing out? How many reports are you doing?

Speaker 1 3:02

I mean, this is probably my overwhelm. So I've basically written a dissertation, okay, because I have got 65 children in my nursery class, yeah, and that equates to 65 reports. Um, I do have a job share because I work four days, um, but we kind of negotiated that I would do the mark, the main bulk of the reports, and she would do sort of an additional like chuck pupil voice bit and take, take on that. So she's took on that bit. So I haven't had to do the hundred percent of the report, um, but still, but it is still a lot of work.

Speaker 1 3:46

So, yeah, I've done 55 out of 65 because, I set myself a target and I was like I'm going to do 5 reports a day for the next like 11 days and this was like 9 days ago. I started this and I was like I am not going to, I've got the big brother man in my head, dino Steph is losing the will to live.

Speaker 1 4:05

I've got the big brother man in my head. Do you know? Steph is losing the will to live. She's typing the same thing. No, no, of course I'm not. Each child is an individual. Although you do end up using some of the same phrases, you get sort of phrases.

Speaker 2 4:21

I always find that for maths, every year it's the same phrases, because it's either they can do it or they can't.

Speaker 1 4:28

Yeah.

Speaker 2 4:28

And it's very, they're very narrow, the you know the early learning goals for maths. So it's like you are saying the same thing basically.

Speaker 1 4:38

Yeah, so I get where you're coming from. So I've done 85%, because I like to work it out as a percentage. So every time I finish another block of five, I do it on my phone, of course, I don't just do it in my head. Unless there were 100 reports, I could work it out easily. So, yeah, I've done 85%. I've got another two days of doing five to go, and then I've actually got to make sure. You know, do all the go back over.

Speaker 1 5:05

It read it again rewrite it, yeah, probably like I've written it in a blur and it sounds awful. But I don't hate writing reports. I do actually like it because I feel like I was imagining what it would be like to get to get that report as a parent. And yeah, and you know you want to try and give a nice positive message about the child and build up a picture of what sort of they enjoy doing and for you, that's their first report ever.

Speaker 2 5:30

So, that's the first thing that they're going to get from our school is from you, so no pressure at all.

Speaker 1 5:36

So it's all very positive and like, yes, individually love writing them. When you've got 65 to write, write it just feels like an overwhelming task, but I'm nearly there and um yeah, I will be dining out on that if I hear anybody moaning about it.

Speaker 1 5:54

my um, my colleague that was in nursery last year, our colleague she was like if you'll get people moaning about 30 and you'll get absolutely mad at them, and she's right, you do. No, you know, they're not as comprehensive because they are nursery so you haven't got to sort of do a lot of the data or the tick boxing or you know. So it's a nice report to write. It's just having that many is challenging. So yeah, rant over over professional vent over so that's, I'm on my home run that's what.

Speaker 1 6:30

Anyway, most people tick, most people have got reports, so we can't really, can't really moan about that?

Speaker 2 6:36

no, it's the one of the negatives of being a teacher yeah but, um, yeah, so that's one. So the next thing is data, data. So everyone will have a data drop, whether you're in nursery or reception. It's just reception. It will be obviously rounding off the curriculum, yeah, with yeah, so it's a big it's a big one.

Speaker 2 6:58

It is a big one and yeah, that is stressful because you have to make all those judgments about whether they're going to, if they should get that early learning goal. Are they going to manage in year one? You know, it's that quandary all the time in your brain and that I find quite overwhelming because it's quite pressurized. You would never want to set a child up for a fail in the next year.

Speaker 1 7:20

But you get the outside pressures off. Of course you do Last year we got this percent, it's not going to be hard to beat last year but, I mean we had a, it was a.

Speaker 2 7:33

It was one hell of a year group. Last year it was um. It's an interesting it was an interesting one, but you know, obviously we can't go into that.

Speaker 2 7:40

But yeah, so our data was lower than it it is usually so as I say, it's not gonna be difficult, but you know there's still pressures, you still have targets to meet. So, yeah, that's that's. You know the part that is very stressful. Then there's transition. Yeah, oh, I mean that there's lots of layers to transition yeah, there's a lot stresses. There's children coming in to you. Yeah, there's children leaving us.

Speaker 2 8:09

We have, well, I'd say, two thirds come into reception from you, yeah From nursery and then we have about a class full, so say 30 from our surrounding areas in their preschools and nurseries, or maybe not, or maybe not, or maybe not.

Speaker 1 8:27

yeah yeah, which we're finding more and more um, especially after covid I think that's probably increased, doesn't it?

Speaker 1 8:33

I agree, um, so yeah, navigating the in, the literally the physical in and the out is, and it's like with nursery, because at this point last year I don't think I knew I was in nursery, no, so I kind of missed all of this delight. And so this year I've, you know, been fully immersed in being the one sort of to sort of Just a side note. We still don't know where we are next year, so we could be in year one and two and then we're gonna have to like rethink the the podcast completely.

Speaker 1 9:13

But let's fingers crossed. Um, that, yeah, I mean I've kind of done the groundwork for nursery. So, yeah, hopefully I'll still be in nursery. But, um, yeah, so you're kind of not just juggling those 65 children, but you've got your new 65 children that come in and it starts dripping. So you start with phone calls from parents and sort of meetings with and we have like a preschool on our site. This has nothing to do with our school, but we have a lot. It's sort of our feeder preschool in a way, had a meeting already with the manager there to discuss the children and it's just it slowly snowballs over the year. Yeah, it does, and it's just been. It's been a crazy few weeks and it's only going to get more crazy when we do all the other.

Speaker 2 10:05

I feel as though that for us doesn't start for probably another two weeks no no, so you and and so you.

Speaker 1 10:12

With that, you've already created the class, and I was about to say I've already had to put the classes together, um, for next year, which they which has gone out? Now it went out. They all know what class they're in. Very good, I know, because I got a text message off a friend, did you I? I didn't know because I didn't. That's the only reason I knew that they'd gone out but anyway I might need to edit that bit out.

Class Arrangements and Parent Pressures

Speaker 1 10:39

Yeah, um, so yeah, we, I've I've put together the classes so that then we could put in the new children to those classes, to create the new reception classes. So yeah, I've had an awful dilemma of just juggling between you're putting the children in the classes, you're sorting them out by their needs in their friendship groups, putting them out, sort of, by their needs in their friendship groups. Then you've got to look at other considerations. Like you can't have too many summer-born children in one class.

Speaker 2 11:10

No, or boys in another class.

Speaker 1 11:11

that's also what happens, yeah and then you end up, you inevitably do it. And then you realise, oh, we've made an agreement that those two children wouldn't be together next year and they've got to like, yeah, replan the whole thing and we do this in reception.

Speaker 2 11:23

So when we come back, which will be in a few days, we will be deciding, out of, you know, the three classes. We'll be jumbling them all up and they will go into year one in completely brand new classes and it is a headache because there is a lot of pressures, like you say, and you also get a lot of parental pressures yeah, because parents know that you're doing this yeah parents will be speaking to you trying to sway your way of thinking fine line, isn't it sometimes between just some sort of keeping the peace, yeah but, obviously not, not to the detriment of any children.

Speaker 2 12:01

So yeah, it's, yeah, I that is one of the things I hate, and you know you never want to put children on their own and we never do no but parents you can't please everybody, you can't, unfortunately.

Speaker 1 12:14

That is what I'm trying to say. It's and this isn't. This isn't unique to early years. I I think other year groups, you know, some schools, they swap every year and our school we kind of swap every two years. So it's not unique to early years, but it's just another added pressure. I feel like I don't know why it feels harder in early years, because you kind of don't know how they're going to respond.

Speaker 2 12:42

No, I think it's because they're so little To the year and the parents aren't used to it so much as they are when they get older.

Speaker 1 12:47

Yeah, so it's their kind of first big one. So they come up from nursery into their classes and I'm like it's only for a year, so if you don't like the class. There's hope that they'll get. They'll get swapped around, um, but yeah it, yeah. I guess for some of those parents it would be their first sort of change. And I get it.

Speaker 2 13:08

It's, it's hard and then, of course, you have the big one. It is the all the transition.

Speaker 2 13:14

I don't want to say activities, but it's the, the things that you do to help children transition strategies, yeah, that you put in place for children, and you know it's something that we have really tried to have a big push on this year, because you know, hand on heart, we don't always get it right, and it is. It's difficult because there's a lot of children to cater for and sometimes we don't know who the staff are going to be. Sometimes the staff changes.

New Staggered Start Approach

Speaker 2 13:44

There are things in the school that are out of our control, that make things really difficult to do transition, and I'm sure it's the same in every school. But should we just talk about some of the things that is new for us this year?

Speaker 1 14:00

yeah, so this year we are going for children coming into nursery and for children coming into reception or having a staggered start, a slow more slow, staggered start.

Speaker 2 14:13

So this is new. Usually it'd be just like bang, you're in, you're in.

Speaker 1 14:18

All day, every day, you're straight in done and in some ways that can have its advantages. Yeah, Because you kind of you're in it from day one and you kind of know what you're doing.

Speaker 2 14:33

I would say that's probably beneficial to parents. Yeah yeah, I'd say that is probably the only yeah thing.

Speaker 1 14:41

I'd say it is beneficial to parents yeah because I can tell you and it's helpful for child care.

Speaker 1 14:47

It is yeah yeah, but I, which has working parents, we appreciate we do, yeah, yeah, but I can tell you when you're on the quite a bit it's not good I mean just just to say, on my first day in nursery this year I don't know if I've told this story on the podcast, but I managed to get a child changed into the wrong child's clothes because I could. I saw they'd had an accident took them into the toilet, got them changed what I thought was their bag of clothes and then realized that this child wasn't even in nursery, she was a reception child. That didn't realize that, that you know the free flow yeah, didn't?

Speaker 1 15:34

stretch to all of the nurses. So because I was just, because you don't know all the children, no, so I've just grabbed this poor random girl, got a change into somebody else's clothes and then I'd have an awkward conversation with parents, with a parent just explain why, and that is why transition is so vital, because it is basically about building relationships and we've talked about it's probably one of our mantras building relationships is the keystone of early years basically, so we're not staggering it by very much.

Speaker 1 16:09

We're sort of offering children sort of half days to begin with and less children, so that allows us to then have less children in the classroom at once, so we can establish those relationships and those routines.

Speaker 2 16:25

um well, that's our hope anyway so, and also children who find it trickier. Coming in, they will have more of an adult. Yeah, attention and care to you know, manage and and make them feel, you know, more welcome and more settled. Then, like you said, it is manic, children crying and you don't know who to go first.

Speaker 1 16:46

It's sophie's choice, you know which one's crying louder yeah sometimes it's not always like that, but you know, in it's it's difficult, and things like lunch times for because we're not, we're not having lunch, for that we're not in nursery. No, we're in reception. No, I don't think the first week we come back we're not having lunch, so it's like they're live doing morning or an afternoon and they won't have lunch, because that's another really overwhelming experience, especially for reception children going into the big hall.

Speaker 2 17:16

Yeah, with the bigger children.

Speaker 1 17:17

Yeah, and our hall is big, yeah, so it's just sort of taking some of the anxiety out. Yeah, um, for the children just for a few days. Um, I think there's a little bit of pushback from parents, especially from the children that have attended the nursery and already attending the nursery full time so they're almost a little bit like why? Why do they need to then do a half day? But you've got to look at sort of the bigger picture of it's a new routine it's very.

Speaker 1 17:48

It's very different in reception to nursery in some ways. So it's about getting getting you know, training children up with those new routines to make things easier for the children, developing their independent skills so that they are more likely to be able to like know where to go to get their clothes if they have an accident, and things like that, because you're able to spend that bit more time, yeah, showing those things. So you know, we all have it in the first couple weeks where children go under the radar and they'll come home and they've like had an accident and they haven't told you and it's.

Speaker 2 18:21

It's gone unnoticed.

Speaker 1 18:22

Yeah, haven't said or yeah you know, they didn't know where their water bottle is, so they haven't had a drink for a long time and you know all those sort of teething problems come out and actually also give us a little bit more time with the parents these first few days, won't it?

Speaker 2 18:35

because we'll be able to.

Speaker 1 18:36

There'll be less children, so we'll be able to have a bit more of a hand over and of course and that is important yeah like parents need to trust you because you've got their.

Speaker 2 18:44

Yeah, you know you've got their whole world. You have got their whole world so yeah and you know you always have that one parent. That I mean I'm sure you can probably think there's a.

Speaker 1 18:54

You know there's always one parent that you struggle initially to make that yeah, it takes extra long than everyone else, and it is about trust, isn't it think?

Speaker 2 19:02

am I ever gonna get there?

Speaker 1 19:04

and one day it does, and sometimes you don't to be fair, but again, you can't please everybody. But yeah, no, it is. It is building relationships with the parents as much as with the children, and it is about that trust, because if the parent has trust in you they're more likely to understand when things yeah, if things go don't go quite to plan, or if the child's upset about something, they'll kind of understand where you're coming from and also parents will speak positively about you to the child and that ensures them because you're their parents have said that you're okay, yeah, but yeah, so it's.

Speaker 2 19:41

It's that whole process, isn't it? And it is.

Speaker 1 19:44

I know it's annoying for parents and I get it because we, we do work yeah and we'd be, we'd be you know, if that was, that was me, I'd be like, oh, what am I gonna do? Because I I would have, I don't know what I would do. I'd have to, like, patch together some child care because, um, you know, I don't have sort of family so much that could, yeah, help me out there and I'm a teacher so I can't take my time off. My husband probably would have had to have taken a few days off or something. Um, so we know it's not easy for people in practical terms, but we're just hoping that it will set the year off with a bit more calm, yeah, bringing a bit and we're getting to know the children quicker, which then means that all their needs are being met.

Speaker 1 20:28

Yeah and just yeah, but we will report back on the success and we are always love to know what you guys do, because we'll be reviewing what we did and if there is anyone got any better ways of doing it please, I feel like we've quite we've rushed it a little bit because we've we've kind of been quite keen to get them in full time, so we haven't taken much time, um, but something that we're doing in nursery is we're taking a little bit longer with home visits, which is meaning that I oh no, I still do the same amount, I think, um, but it just means that, um, we can have these. We've got some stay and play sessions planned in, so we sort of spend the day doing home visits and then at two o'clock have a stay and play which the children can come with their parents, whereas in the past we would have had that in the summer, yeah, and I think move up day yeah, which we would have had it on move up day, which we've which is another stress, which is another transition thing

Speaker 1 21:32

which we will come to in a minute. But, yeah, nursery haven't been able to do move up day in that way, so we've kind of extended it. So, whereas last year we did the home visits in three and a half days and it was mad, yeah, and then it was straight into nursery monday morning, I'm hoping that it will just, you know, just give a little bit more calm, a little bit more of a transition, although, yeah, I'm not sure how successful the stay-in-place is going to be, but then not everybody would come on a move-up day anyway, because it just depends on what they're working and stuff like that, and yeah, but it's just getting them into the setting, isn't it?

Speaker 2 22:09

yeah, so the children, when their parents talk to them about, oh, you're going to school, they have a memory attached to that word school, isn't it?

Speaker 1 22:18

and I think what will also help is that normally what happens you'll change the provision anyway.

Speaker 2 22:24

You'll change it all around.

Speaker 1 22:26

So you actually it will look different, yeah, when they, when they come in.

Speaker 2 22:30

So this way at least, um, it will, it will look how it's going to look, yeah for nursery anyway yeah, I always find that, and for teachers that are taking over a class, you know they don't know where anything is on transition day and they're like don't know. Yeah, but yeah, so you know, move up day, transition day, shuffle up day, whatever you want to call it. Yeah, um, that's something that is, I don't know if it's like the be all and end all to transition. I think as children get older it is, but for us in early years it's more refined than just one day.

Speaker 1 23:08

It's something that happens for weeks in a lead up, isn't it? So when we come back after half term, we will. It will be that the nursery children can go into the yeah, interception classes already been coming in.

Speaker 1 23:21

They'll know they'll know what, oh yeah some of them just love to pop in anyway they do, but they'll know what classroom they're going to be in, even if they don't know what teacher they've got yet. So they're able to go in and sort of you know, I'll be able to support the children that I know are going to struggle a little bit more with that. And you know you can actually go in with a TA and target them to go in and spend some time with me or whatever. Them to go in and spend some time with me or whatever. Um, and I guess that means we let the receptions come into cherry as well do we into the?

Speaker 2 23:53

I think into the nursery? Yeah, I think so. Um, I mean, I'd like to they. Some of them are desperate to get into yeah, I mean, why not? If all of yours are in ours, you've got nothing to do exactly.

Speaker 1 24:07

Let's open it up, let's make it, let's make it one big melting pot yeah, children yeah, um, yeah. So the, the transition, the move up day, rather than having all the children yeah, it's going to be split in half again it's going to be half and half yeah a session, morning or afternoon, and again, transition day is balmy.

Building Relationships During Transition

Speaker 2 24:32

You've got children everywhere you have and they've all we have to put name badges on them because, yeah, you know, our lunchtime staff don't know who they are. Yeah, our TAs don't know who they are. You don't know who they are.

Speaker 1 24:44

We don't know who they are. Didn't did I?

Speaker 2 24:47

so it's. It's very. I just think it's a crazy thing to do for young children personally, but it's something that's ingrained in our education system, especially, you know, in our area where we're from. So it's not something I can change, but we have made adjustments for it. So so that is promising. But I also think it's just talking to the children about it. And it's that fateful thing. As soon as you mention the dreadful, well, when you go into year one, suddenly their behaviour changes.

Speaker 1 25:21

Yeah.

Speaker 2 25:22

So I try and hold off on saying that as much as possible.

Speaker 1 25:26

Yeah.

Speaker 2 25:27

But it's sort of drip feeding that they're going to be moving on.

Speaker 1 25:30

It's that balance of preparing them but not unsettling them.

Speaker 2 25:36

Preparing- not scaring. Yeah, it's a motto.

Speaker 1 25:40

It's another mantra for the book.

Speaker 2 25:44

But once we know the staff, then you know the year one staff. They do come in, they read stories, they come and play um yeah, and we do have photos up of them as well so they know who they are and get used to saying their names, because that's some can sometimes be. A challenge for some children is is they get confused about adults names, and that then creates a bit of an issue for them.

Speaker 1 26:08

So yeah, it's just and then for children that you know are either particularly anxious, maybe have additional needs, we'd have things like they might have um some extra time with, for example, the new class ta or um they might take them and go and like play a game with them or something like that.

Speaker 2 26:30

Sometimes they just literally have more visits like five minutes visits into that environment into the year, one environment, and we do plan that in don't we yeah.

Speaker 1 26:38

You know, when the class are out at PE, we're like, right, okay, we can pop into this class and have a look, and it's usually the toilets that they get the most hang ups about so usually we spend a lot of time in toilets. Well, I mean, literally that's what we do anyway.

Speaker 2 26:53

Blue gloves on exactly nappy bags, yeah, but um, it's hand dryers and things like that. They get really hung up on. Yeah, about in transition, but yeah, I think, as we said, it's just drip feeding. It's not about what I personally believe.

Speaker 1 27:11

It's not about pulling children out to do a booklet oh, no, right about themselves, or to draw a picture, or that's not going to help anybody. No, get to know the child.

Speaker 2 27:22

No, I mean, if you want something that's tangible, to like hand up with children, I mean we've kind of done something where each teacher would have a book and because we mix all the classes up, that these books would get passed around and if there was a worry or some one thing that you know the child wanted their new teacher to know about them, we would either scribe it for them or, if they were, if they wanted to, they could scribe it themselves or draw it themselves and it creates like a little scrapbook and it goes up with them. Um, I would say that was probably the most. I mean, it's nice for the new teacher to get that because you, they kind of there's some random things in there yeah, funny things and there's also some really serious things. Like we've had children say, you know, they want their new teachers to know they're allergic to nuts.

Speaker 2 28:15

Yeah, that's vital yeah um, but we've also had things like I want. I want my new teacher to know that I can do a backflip on a skateboard, and then that's true or not, if one one child overhears another child say that suddenly they can all do backflips yeah, but you know it's again. It's the having given them that space to talk about their worries and feel as though that they're they're doing something to send up to their teacher without filling in a worksheet.

Speaker 1 28:42

Yeah, all about them and I think you know we're so lucky to have like the characteristics of active learning in that way, because we reflect on them and that's going to tell you everything you need to know about a child. So using that as sort of the basis for your discussion, um, and I think as well, like our school, have listened to us this year to say that we never get enough time to have those discussions.

Speaker 2 29:04

No, of course not with teachers.

Speaker 1 29:06

So we've actually got over yeah, because normally you'd get like one staff meeting or something like that and you think, well, how can I be handing over to the new teacher but also being handed over to? And it would never work out.

Speaker 1 29:20

And then you know obviously, our children are being split three ways, so we'd have to speak to three teachers and ah yeah, I suppose I'm quite lucky in that way this year, because I've only got to do one, I've only got to come one, I've only got to go one way, yeah but I've only got to do it one way.

Speaker 2 29:35

I haven't got to listen, you have well, we shall see, time will tell whether I'm in year four or not. So, yeah, and I think to have those conversations with is vital, with the new teacher yeah because you know, you know those children and those families inside out and you've had a journey with every single one of them, and it's vital that you pass that up we do keep records, don't we? Of all the children we keep um, obviously digital, but we do do like some writing, don't we?

Speaker 2 30:07

of all the children, we keep um, obviously digital, but we do do like some writing, don't we? We write little um. What am I thinking of? The green books, uh, chronology, chronologies, yeah, chronologies. You know, like you know, the dog may have died in yeah and they moved house, but in catchments separated and things like that yeah, big changes in their lives. We record and we pass those up.

Speaker 2 30:31

They follow them through school. So you know, two years down the line they might still be really upset about the dog that died yeah um, and it might have an impact on their learning. So you know, all of that information has to travel up with them. So that is really, really important.

Speaker 1 30:45

Yeah, and I think it's. It's like having processes. That's why I think and we're trying to promote sort of the characteristics being taught throughout the school because, if you've kind of got that understanding of or this is what kind of learner they are like they're really, they're really creative or they're really like explorative, or they don't have much resilience. So when you put a piece of paper in front of them, they're going to struggle with that because they don't have the resilience yet. It was kind of what we were talking about in the last podcast.

Speaker 2 31:17

They're really focused, you know, on their own task, but they're not so focused on adult given tasks. So, maybe you know we'll tailor our provision yeah to suit yeah in a dream world, but, yeah, it is sad that you know that it doesn't follow up.

Speaker 2 31:37

It doesn't follow international curriculum. I also think it's the same with the Leuven scales as well, yeah, so yeah, for those of you that don't know what the Leuven scales are, they're about measuring well-being and engagement. We won't go into it because it's quite a big thing, but it's something that you can gauge, as I say, children's well-being, how fit and happy they are to learn, and also their engagement, how they're accessing the resources?

Speaker 1 32:01

How involved they?

Speaker 2 32:02

become, yeah, and does their play transform. So that is something that doesn't move up as well. Which?

Speaker 1 32:09

is yeah, I think it did.

Speaker 2 32:11

I think it did and it's just fallen by the wayside a bit, so it's only so many, yeah, but yeah, I thought you were going to say something else.

Speaker 1 32:20

Um, but there's sometimes this culture of being school ready or being year one ready and, as you can imagine here at the earlier staff meeting, you're not fans, no, we think it's who we basically we don't we feel that the children need to be just themselves and that the the receiving year group needs to be ready for them, for them, yeah.

Being "School Ready" vs Schools Being "Child Ready"

Speaker 2 32:49

So year one need to be ready for reception, reception need to be ready for nursery to come up, um, and it's about hearing you know the needs of those children and making the appropriate provisions for those children. And it's not about us grabbing all the tables and chairs we can muster and sitting them down with a load of books and worksheets ready to go up to year one or, you know, suddenly dropping them into assemblies or you know all those crazy things that as soon as they hit national curriculum they might do.

Speaker 1 33:19

Yeah, because I think you know, you've got to remember. They're tired, they're emotional, they're anxious, they're worried and the last thing that they need, what they need to be doing, is be playing and being engaged. They the last thing. They're only six weeks older. Yeah, when they hit in september, they're gonna forget it all they are. They're gonna regress just a smidge, though. Um. So I think I think there are, there are things that we, like we as reception, can do to sort of prepare some of those changes and we are going to be doing that, aren't we?

Speaker 1 33:53

yeah?

Speaker 2 33:54

we are so in our year one. They do, um, they have like challenges in the afternoon and they would do those in sort of a play-ish way.

Speaker 1 34:06

Yeah, playful. Playful way, playful approach, but I wouldn't say that you know, as soon as we go back on Monday that I'm going to start adopting the same, just to get them ready for one.

Speaker 2 34:19

But I think you know it will be a change to what they're used to. So, I will be, you know, doing you. You know, at the end of my carpet time I might say look, these are. These are the four challenges this week. If you want to have a go at doing da da abcd, then fantastic. Come and show an adult. Um, maybe put a lolly stick in I don't know in a jar or something like they do to mimic yeah, just getting them used to the idea that they might have to do.

Speaker 2 34:50

Some more adult guided things. It's just and it's about the vocabulary, isn't it? The word challenge, it's not something that I would use every day, because I believe that children are self-challenging themselves, so you don't need to give a challenge. But I'm treading rocky ground here, but I just um. But yeah, you know I can't change that it.

Speaker 2 35:16

you know that is out of my control, but I do have to make it, you know, as best fit for the children as possible so it's about, I would say, the vocabulary and the language and giving them the idea that things are going to change, because I can't and I and I won't magic it to be into you and we physically could not magic do that, because we physically do not have enough tables or chairs to sit.

Speaker 2 35:42

14 years ago we got rid of them tables and chairs and worksheets and that's, they're gone now so yeah so yeah, we will. We will do our best okay, we're just checking our notes. Have we covered everything? I feel like we probably have. I think we have everything but so you know, please, please. I know there will be a lot of pressure this half term and you know I'm not going to lie. I might have a little cry at some point, you will.

Speaker 1 36:16

I won't. Yeah, that's right, I've got a heart of stone.

Speaker 2 36:20

But you know, be kind to yourself and actually if there are things that are going on in your school that you don't agree with, you know, in the way their pedagogy is or the way that they do things, actually if it's out of your control, it's out of your control and just have it in your heart that you believe in in another way and and I know there are lots of early years teachers that are forced to do things to get them ready and actually you know you can only do what you can do.

Speaker 1 36:51

You can't change everything and you can try and make it all just work for you, you know.

Speaker 2 36:58

Yeah.

Speaker 1 36:59

Just try your best.

Speaker 2 37:00

And you know, if you want to ask your head teacher to listen to our podcast, then you're more than welcome to and they might completely stick with what they had in mind.

Speaker 1 37:11

Exactly what are these two rambling?

Speaker 2 37:14

on about yeah, so, yeah, so, just be kind to yourselves, and that kind of moves us on to our mindful moments over to you, steph.

Speaker 1 37:25

I feel like I don't need to do one now.

Mindful Moment: Self-Care Through Exercise

Speaker 2 37:27

Look, I feel like you did it did I well, it was in a way.

Speaker 1 37:29

It was like an off the cuff mindful moment.

Speaker 1 37:31

Be kind yourself, but um one form of, um self-kindness is something that I've been doing I know very proud which is, um, yeah, it's, it's my, it's my idea of just getting get, get out there and move and to do exercise, and it's something that, um, I absolutely struggle to be motivated to do. To exercise because I feel like we're so busy, yeah, and our lives are just so every like, every snippet of time is kind of taken up by something that it it gets. I think it's like it's like a form of self-care. Yeah, exercising isn't it. And yeah, and it goes to the end of the list, of course it does, especially at this time of year. But I did make a decision that I, I, I didn't like, I was like, right, I've got to get out running. But it's like I've been saying this for four years like that I want to start running again. And it's always like, yeah, next month I'll start running again. Oh, after the half term I'll start running again.

Speaker 1 38:31

Right, monday morning, I'll start running and I actually did start and I've been doing the couch to 5k which you can just start, like it's the NHS thing. You can download the app and you listen to. It's like a running program and you listen to it and it just um, it just trains you to run. So you start off. I started off um. I think I started at the beginning of um it was like Easter, the beginning of the summer term and um, yeah, you just start from like running for one minute, walking for one, and you feel like, oh, I don't know how I can um like more than that, and now I can run for five minutes without stopping.

Speaker 1 39:10

But I haven't stuck to the plan. I haven't done any running this week, which has been really bad, but that's because of the 65 reports, so it's got pushed out, but now that I've made it public to the world, I'm going to have to carry on. So, yeah, it's really good for my mental health to just get out and run and I feel you feel like you still feel so strong, you feel like you've achieved something amazing and you just it's horrible to like get out there and do it and I actually find that, um, when I used to run about 10 years ago, I used to that's before you had, like, yeah, your device proper headphones and stuff and phones that didn't play, you know, podcasts.

Speaker 1 39:54

So this time, when I started out, I started listening to podcasts and I I found it really hard, because I found it really hard to concentrate on the podcast and like thinking about the running, it's like the running overtook it and I wasn't.

Speaker 1 40:09

And then I tried like listening to audiobooks and I found the same thing. So the last couple of weeks I've just been going out, just been going out, um, with my own thoughts, and just not not listening to anything, and that's that's quite therapeutic because I think, yeah, you can, you can run through, you can work through things when you're running, um, especially when you're on the break of between the running and the walking.

Speaker 1 40:34

So yeah, I'm on that program now and I'm determined to complete it, although I don't know if I'll manage to complete it in the nine weeks. I think I'm already on like seven and I'm only halfway through. But yeah, by the end you should be able to run for half an hour the fact that you've done it and it took you years to do that is an achievement in itself.

Speaker 1 40:51

Yeah, so, even though I haven't done it this week, I think it hasn't put me off. I'm just going to get back on it and I might. I might go back a couple of lessons and just just to build up my confidence again.

Speaker 2 41:02

They say you do.

Speaker 1 41:03

Your body does need a break to recuperate yeah, so they say not to do it every day, like to do it every other day, but like three times a week in the programme. But it's really good for just my mind, I think, and my body.

Speaker 2 41:21

And your body Win-win. So I mean I know the weather has taken a huge, as, as we speak, it's dark and grim outside. So you know, but it's motivating yourself yeah, and if you can get yourself out into this weather. That's like half the battle, I always think so I think everyone should just give it a go. I've been saying I want to go back to. I don't run, because if anyone's ever seen me run it's bad, um, but I'm sure it's like Forrest.

Speaker 2 41:55

Gump? I'm sure it's not. I mean Forrest Gump at the beginning, when he's still got his calipers on not.

Speaker 1 42:02

Not at the end when he's got his beard, but Not when he's got his beard, but yeah, it is bad.

Speaker 2 42:08

But I also have the asthma issues as well. But I used to absolutely love clubber size, oh, okay, so where you would basically do it in the dark Because you're a bit of a raver, aren't you? Rock a raver? I'm a bit rock a raver. Yeah, I like loud, fast bassy music, whatever that is. But, um, yeah, I and I always keep saying after I had two babies very close together and I always said, right, once, once they're, you know, they fledged a little bit and they're not. So, baby babies, I'll get back on and do club size, but it just hasn't materialized because again it's having that time isn't it club size size in the cabin?

Speaker 1 42:45

it is hard to motivate yourself and I feel like when you are a teacher, because you have, because you're not just switching off from work, no, um, you can't.

Speaker 2 42:59

You physically don't have the mental capacity to do it, no, and I think on, you know, those days that are very, you know, challenging at work and we've all had them. I literally just want to sit in silence sometimes, yeah, and just not think about anything yeah and it is it's difficult to motivate yourself.

Speaker 1 43:20

It's hard, but you're. You're a little bit younger than me as well, so only by like two years, yeah, but you've got that on your side it's not like some of our colleagues.

Speaker 2 43:30

It's like 15 years.

Speaker 1 43:31

Yeah, some of our colleagues are mere whippersnappers.

Speaker 2 43:37

Whippersnappers in their 20s. You know who you are. We love you, but, man, they're not going to be listening to the podcast. No.

Closing Thoughts and Next Episode Preview

Speaker 1 43:44

They've got much better things to do.

Speaker 2 43:46

They're going out yeah. They've still got that time to go out out, okay. So we're going to be out in nature and we're going to be running yeah or moving.

Speaker 2 43:58

We are me moving, you running, okay. So, um, please, please, please, please, check us out on um our social medias. We've got our tiktok account and our instagram um search for the earliest staff meeting we you know we have fallen off the bandwagon a bit. We haven't been posting as much, but you know we're still here, yeah, and we're very close to getting um. We've got 800 over 800 followers on tiktok now, so we're getting a close to our few more, few more memes to go yeah, and so um yeah, so we're trying to get to our 1000 goals.

Speaker 2 44:36

So, yeah, if you're listening and you haven't, you know, followed us on tiktok, please do get us to a thousand. So uh, yeah, that's our little goal.

Speaker 1 44:45

We're 80 percent of the way. If you see what I did there.

Speaker 2 44:47

Yeah but thank you to all those followers that we currently do have and thank you to everyone who's you know, ever commented or liked. Um, it just makes us feel seen heard, heard.

Speaker 2 45:03

So yeah, we appreciate it and, you know, thank you to everyone who has followed us and our, our podcast. It does mean the world to us. So, yeah, thank you, and if you haven't press it now, okay, we'll see you next time, where I think next time we might be doing a bit more about um, is it reggio? Oh, yes, reggio. Yeah, because that was one of our um, the other choices. So, yeah, we'll be doing more theory next time. So, yeah, serious, a bit more serious. But, yeah, join us for that. We look forward to it. Okay, see you next time. Bye you.