PGCE Early Years 2012/13

I've gone back to Dee Point Primary where I spent Immersion Week. I went back because I thought that now I have had the opportunity to teach it would be a useful experience. Today I was asked to carry out a short focussed teaching activity and one of the children hid under the table & wouldn't come out! I decided to ignore him & carry on regardless & as all the staff members were engaged with their own groups there wasn't anyone to coax him out! At the end of the session I told the teacher what had happened and she said it was what she would have done - that was a relief!!! Hope everyone is enjoying the week, I'll see some of you on Friday at Kingsmead.

I've been to Sandy Lane Nursery today and worked in the SEN part of the environment. It's been a fantastic experience, the highlight (if you can call it that) being me having to lead the singing of 'Old McDonald' at the end of the morning session but using the Makaton we had learned the days before to sign the song as well as sing it (the TA and the supply teacher are still learning it). Nothing like being put on the spot to test how much you remembered!! Thankfully all went well, and I have been using the Makaton all day which has been great. I felt really comfortable using it and was able to communicate with the children better for having learned it. I will definitely be using this in the future!

I have spent a lovely few days at Adswood Community Primary School where I felt like I was treated like royalty as a visitor. They serve a community that is very deprived, very high SEN and behavioural problems. However, it is an outstanding school and the head teacher has made it such a positive environment. Makaton is used throughout the school and the daily assemblies consist of singing and signing to many current songs by Boyzone, Take That, Ed Sheeran and Labrinth to name a few. They all have such positive messages for the students and it was lovely to see them all take part. She has also created her own phonics programme called 'Sign and Shine' which is a lot like 'Jolly Phonics' but uses Makaton signs to go along with each sound. It has been a really educational and uplifting experience!

I have spent the last three days in a Year 2 class. This has provided me with some really great experience as I have not yet had the opportunity to spend any time in Year 2. I was able to see the various techniques that teachers use to develop a child's learning in preparation for the SATS. I took part in a Science lesson yesterday where we used Discovery Dog, the resource that Lois talked about in one of our Science lessons. It was good to see that method in practice and the children really enjoyed the experiment about absorption. In addition, the D&T project that I helped the children work on was a turning mechanism. The children were making Incy Wincy Spiders that were climbing up and down the drain pipe. It was really beneficial to have had training on this type of D&T, because I knew exactly what I was doing and got stuck right in. Overall, I have really enjoyed my time in Year 2 and I am looking forward to the next placement.

I did the Makaton course on Monday/Tuesday and found it extremely useful. I intend to integrate this into my daily communication on placement B. I have spent the past few days at Wistaston church primary school in key stage 2 and it has been absolutely brilliant. Not only was it good to experience year 4/5 it was useful to gain experience in a large, city school (around 400 pupils). There were many examples of outstanding practice and some fantastic ideas. For example, children's targets were in a leaflet with their name and photos at the front which they dated every time they were achieved, "colourful pens for colourful words" (wow words), visual timetables, paired weekly presentations on a subject of their choice, the list could go on! This has definitely enriched my practice and I feel more confident about my next placement. Hope everybody's had a good week!

I have been at Broomfields Primary School (the juniors to Cobbs Infant School) this week. It is an excellent school and it is very apparent why they have recently achieved outstanding from Ofsted. Having completed SBTA in a year 2 class it has been very useful to observe the transition to year 3. I found the formative assessment and marking utilised to be very effective; many strategies which I have observed are suitable for early years. They do not use APP for assessment , but have devised their own system which appeared simpler and seemed very effective. I found the following strategies useful: A sheet listing the children’s targets is stuck in the front of their literacy and numeracy books. Each time the teacher marks the children’s work they refer to this sheet and date any targets the child has achieved. When marking the books they put a * which proceeds with a feedback comment, 'T' which stands for target and states the child’s weekly target such as ‘ remember capital letters’. hp for house points and if a formal target from the front sheet is achieved this is also written. A key stating the different meanings for the symbols used to mark work is up in the classroom. Another thing which I found to be effective, which I have read about but not seen in practice, is where the children are asked to reflect on the lesson. The teacher either asked the children ‘Hit miss or maybe’, they were then required to show a thumbs up, shake their hand from side to side or a thumbs down, or they were asked to draw a traffic light in their books i.e. a green square, an amber square or a red square, to reflect if they felt they had met the lesson objectives, not quite understood it or not met them at all. I found the whole experience very worthwhile.

I went to St Anns Primary School with Tom and Lauren on the Wednesday and Thursday to do some sports coaching. I can honestly say they were probably two of the best days I've ever spent in a school. For starters the weather was cracking for the two days, which was a definite bonus as we were outside for all of it! We taught Year 1-6 doing a range of activities such as throwing and catching with the younger ones moving onto football and blind football with KS2. It was great to teach a range of year groups as most of my experience so far has been in foundation stage and I enjoyed been with Tom and Lauren as I felt I learnt a lot watching them teach and (I hope!) they learnt something watching me teach. I've got so many good ideas for teaching PE out of these two days which will be a great help when it comes to the next placement. I will definitely look at doing some coaching in the next school I'm in after this experience.

I have spent the last few days in a school in Ellesmere Port in a KS2 class (yr3/4). This was my first time being with a KS2 class and i loved it!! i had been feeling a bit nervous about the next placement as all my experience has been with the EYFS and having the chance to see KS2 has made me feel a lot more confident about the next KS1 placement! The school is in a rather deprived area and has lots of behavioural issues, the teachers were amazing and it was great to see the techniques they used to manage behavioural issues. I feel that i have gained a lot from this experience and i now can't wait to start the next placement.

India and I have spent the last few days in a rural school in Mottram in their KS2. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend time in Yr3, Yr5 and Yr 6. being able to see where the children are aiming to get to by the end of their time at primary school was enlightening. A couple of highlights were: visiting Reception (which was fantastic, really great provision) with the Yr 5s so that they could sing the nursery rhymes that they had prepared and made props for; and taking part in the 'talk' to the Yr5 girls about growing up and puberty! Not something I have experienced in the Early Years. We spent a morning in Yr 6 while they had their literacy booster lesson (revision for SATs). This was with the lower ability half of the class and the teacher made the lesson really interactive, something I have struggled to make my literacy lessons. This highlighted to me the importance of preparation before asking the children to write about something and the teacher had some brilliant tips that could easily be adapted for the Early Years. A really useful visit that helped me feel less 'intimitated' by the 'big' juniors after spending 10 years in my comfort zone with the 'little ones'.

I spent Monday and Tuesday doing the Makaton course which I thought was brilliant and something I will use in my future practise. I spent Wednesday and Thursday in a playgroup which I loved. The morning group are aged 2-3 and afternoon group 3-4 (they come straight over from nursery.) The experience has confirmed for me that I am definitely more confident with this age group and enjoy working with younger children- snotty noses and dirty nappies don't bother me!! I decided to go into a playgroup to see the educational experience children have prior to nursery. I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of phonics and language used to lay the foundations for nursery. I was able to observe the playgroup leader doing a short welsh lesson with the younger children and I was amazed at how quickly they picked up the language, there were 2 year olds using welsh better than me and I spent SBL A in a welsh school. The overall aim of the setting is to provide the children with a safe and stimulating environment in which they can be offered educational and group experiences through play. It is intended that their experience will help prepare them for more formal education by helping them to gain independence and confidence, learn consideration for others and to develop their social skills whilst enjoying themselves. This is something I feel very strongly about as it helped my own children and something that I would always encourage parents to consider. There was a clear respect between the playgroup and parents and parents are encouraged to spend the day at the setting to see how their child interacts and the general routine of the day. I thought this was a great idea and a way of encouraging parents to be involved from the start of their child's journey into education.

I spent four days at Lyndale School, a special needs school on the Wirral. The school is essentially now a hospital school with a huge range of needs and a lot of very specific medical needs for the children. There are only four classes in the school with one adult working one to one with each child on the whole. I had a life changing experience this week which has not only changed my outlook on life in general but has also informed my future practice. I learnt a lot about how such a range of needs can impact on learning and in some cases prohibit learning all together. There is a real emphasis on multi-sensory learning in the school, an approach I feel can be adapted to early years. I enjoyed working with all of the children even if it was just to provide a voice to hear or a musical instrument to play so they could hear and have some respite from their conditions. The staff were most impressive and despite the difficult situations they work in, they remain some of the most positive and upbeat staff I have ever come across; delivering the curriculum in imaginative and fun ways. I also learnt about various approaches to learning involving sign language and hearing activities with which the children could participate in. On the final day I was doing art and craft in the early years unit with a girl with a terrible illness who worked quite happily with me and took part, as best she could with other activities. Quite simply, amazing. The capabilities of some of the children were limited but they seem to overcome a lot of things and progress within the school and with their learning in some way.

I spent 3 days in a school in Southwark, South London. I had a day in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 and loved it. I felt very welcomed. I've worked in London schools before so was familiar with the diversity, however it was still fascinating to see 37 different languages spoken in one school (16 in just one reception class!) and it was interesting to view everything from a teacher's perspective. The largest ethnic groups at the school are Black Caribbean and Black African heritage and there is an extremely high proportion of EAL learners. There are quite a high number of children with special educational needs and looked after children. It was great experience to observe different styles of teaching. The reception was free flow between two classes. All the classes were 1 1/2 form entry, which seemed to be really effective for class management. The behaviour in the school was really good and seemed to be managed simply through lots of clear instruction, a calm tone of voice and positive reinforcement. I spent one morning with a Year 1 pupil from South America who had absolutely no English and it was quite challenging to engage him in independent work. The teacher refers to a Spanish picture dictionary to support him and she also uses Makaton. I talked to the SENCO and the school use 'Sym writer' to produce visual symbols that support EAL learners. I really enjoyed spending time in Key Stage 1 in preparation for my second placement.

I spent four days in Hawthorns Primary School, Wokingham (my old primary school!). I previously did some experience in Reception and Key Stage 1 at the school back in June so going back was really helpful because I could clearly see the progression from Reception to Year 1 and Year 1 to Year 2. It was also useful to go in with more of a 'teacher' mindset and to make a note of inspiring ideas and techniques. Also, going in to Foundation 2, I was keeping in mind my next placement so I'm really looking forward to SBT B. I don't have a great deal of SEN or EAL experience from first placement, so while I was in the school I made an extra effort to speak to one-on-one TAs and follow around the children who had autism. I learnt some more about precision teaching and intervention which I've not seen much in practice as a whole school approach so that was interesting and useful. I helped out in preparation for parents' evening, which was good insight for a future career and I got to see some great Literacy work in Year 1, which was helpful as I struggled with teaching Literacy in my last placement. The school also had a big emphasis on ICT, especially in Reception which was useful as on my placement I didn't get to see or teach as much ICT as I would have liked. And finally, the school also approaches writing as group writing initially and Sustained Shared Thinking, as inspired by Pie Corbett and I was reading some of his stuff at the time for the essay and it was really evident in practice and good to relate to the literature.

I spent the Monday and Tuesday at the Makaton course. This was a great course and well worth the money. I’ve been practising ever since and hope that I can apply this knowledge in my next placement. On Thursday I visited All Saints primary school in Saughall, which really was fantastic. I spent the morning with year 1/2, and the afternoon with year 3/4. This was brilliant for me as I haven’t had any experience with KS1 in England, as children at this age in Wales still follow the foundation phase curriculum. The children had a brilliant attitude to work and were extremely well mannered. Since I have an interest in music, I was keen observe and take part in music lessons at the school. I gained some great ideas for singing with KS1, as well as composing your own song using lyrics and pitch. In year 3/4 I was able to see how the musical ability of the children had progressed, as they worked on composing their own song using instruments and simple written compositions. This has given me more confidence in my next school to expand upon my interests and work with KS1 children.

I spent 4 days in Brimrod Community Primary School in Rochdale. This school has a high proportion of children from a social and economic disadvantage with the majority of children having English as an additional language. This school also runs a forest school. I spent my time in the Foundation Stage unit where nursery, Reception and Year One are all based sharing continuous provision with very little time spent in the classroom with formal teaching. The continuous provision was well equipped and thought out with large areas to allow a number of children in each area. I spent one afternoon in forest school and discovered that this had a great impact upon those children taking part as it allowed them time outside as well as becoming part of a familiar group and raising their confidence. The rest of the time I spent in the outdoor provision, it was brilliant to see such a well thought out and well equipped area which the children are able to access most of the day. I learned a lot from this week as I gained a different perspective on teaching. I was able to pick up some good tips for working with EAL and outdoor provision, work with nursery children, which I hadn't done before and see the impact that forest school can have when carried out effectively.

I did the Makaton training for the first two days, which I enjoyed doing and something I will introduce into my teaching in the future. On Wednesday, myself, Tom and Stuart went to a local primary school to do some coaching. It provided many different challenges and it was useful to work with different age groups, seeing what different challenges they present. Overall it was very successful and the sun was shining too which was a huge bonus! Thursday I took the opportunity to visit a local primary school in Oldham, one that it considered one of the top schools in the country. They are 70th out of 19,000 schools for the maths and english attainment levels. It was very useful to have a nosey and see how they achieve such good results!

I did four days in a private school, Rydal Penrhos School, in North Wales. Initially only focusing on their Forest School but later expanding to observe several of their specialist teachers who came in teach P.E. and Art. The Forest School was a great experience. I observed a year 2 and Reception class over several session. The topic they had started on my first visit was 'signs of spring'. the children did a nature walk spotting different signs of growth. The children had an ident card with them, to recognise different plants. The session ended with free play, which the leader said was the most important aspect of Forest School, as through exploration and play they learn so much. The Art department in the school was amazing. All the children from year 1 onwards use a separate art room for their weekly sessions. The session I observed was the middle of an African Art topic. The children had made masks and were moving onto shields. The teacher who came in to take the lesson was very knowledgeable about all the different aspects of art, and how to differentiate with the different age groups she has, The only thing i thought was that she didn’t really know the children on a personal level, and she was a too hands on with guiding the children to do exactly what she wanted. Picked up some good ideas though. The P.E session was gymnastics lesson, where a local gymnastics leader came in and took the lesson. The children really enjoyed it, and to my surprise really good at it. Most of the resources were bought in by the teacher. She followed a British Gymnastics curriculum, where the children start at wave 1 and move up as they improve, so she is constantly assessing their progress. A great four days, interesting to be in a private school setting.

I spent two days at a private school called Cheadle Hulme School. I decided to go into KS2 so I helped out with the two year 3 classes. Overall I felt the children seemed very mature for their age and the teachers gave them more freedom and independence than other schools I have had experience in. On the first day I helped out with the DT session where they were making a moving character using syringes (pneumatics - like we did in our DT session before Christmas). It was really interesting to see how well the children did it, I know I found it frustrating doing one myself but they all got on with it really well and enjoyed it . I noticed their flexibility when it came to timetables in that because they had not had much time on their models, the teacher decided to change their afternoon plans and carry on with the session after lunch. On day two I observed a swimming lesson (the school has their own pool). The children were split into three ability groups and had one teacher per group so the teachers had more time to spend with each child. I think this really benefitted the children. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at the school and seeing how a private setting differs to a state school.

I did the Makaton training for the first two days. I really enjoyed it and hope I can apply this knowledge in my next placement. I spent Wednesday and Thursday at Bowdon Preparatory School for Girls. I spent a day in a Year 2 class, helping with readers and observing Maths and English lessons. In the afternoon I observed their Specialist PE teacher working with the Year 2 girls. On the next day, I spent the morning in a Reception class, where I observed a science lesson on the different states of water – liquid, frozen, vapour etc. The children observed and discussed their observations with one another and with their teacher. The children were engaged as the topic was real to them and they could relate it to their prior experiences. I spent that afternoon in a Nursery class, were I observed the Specialist music teacher work with the children. It was interesting to see the children’s progression from Nursery to Year 2.

I attended the Makaton training course, which I found really interesting and I am hoping that I will be able to use what I have learnt to enhance my practice, as I can see the benefits that this method of communication can have for children who need additional support in this area. I was really surprised how quickly we picked up the signs and symbols, considering most of us hadn’t had any training in this area.I then went into a local school to work in a Year 3 class. As speech and language is an area of particular interest to me, I arranged to sit down with the speech and language specialist who discussed the different methods of assessment used in the school. (The key method being through Language Link, which is an ICT based assessment software that the children really enjoy.) From this discussion I observed a speech and language session with a group of Year 3 children and a separate session with a Year 6 group. I also involved in a meeting between the class teacher and key worker, during which they were updating I.E.P’s of children in the class, this was beneficial as I had not had this opportunity on my first placement. I was also able to find out more about APP and assertive mentoring. Whilst I was in school I also became involved in a mask making art project and observed a Spanish lesson in Year 3, which again was something I hadn’t seen in my first placement. Overall I found the week extremely useful and now feel more knowledgeable of the levels that children are working towards when they reach the end of Key Stage 1.

I spent the first two days of enrichment week completing the Makaton training - it was so useful and I can definitely see the benefits of using it in the classroom. I will make sure that I try to use the strategies in my future practice and complete further modules should I get the chance.I then spent two days in Weston Primary, in a mixed Year 3/4 class. It was interesting to see the difference in the upper key stages - everything was so calm! I also had the opportunity to see a supply teacher working with the class, and was impressed with how she developed her own lessons in the morning, when she discovered no work had been left. Hopefully that is something that comes with practice!! The children were read the story of the dragon machine, and had to design their own dragon - it could be anything they wanted. They really responded to it and were 100% engaged in what they were doing. I also took the opportunity to work with a child with Autism, and he responded really well, considering I was a new person in the school.Overall, it was a fulfilling week with a lot of new knowledge gained!