(This blog started life as a segment in one of my weekly Childminding Best Practice Newsletters. If you would like to subscribe to the free newsletters click here.)
I heard an interesting question from an Ofsted Inspector the other day which I thought was useful to share with you: ‘How is your curriculum unique to you?’
By now it is no surprise to hear that you will be asked about your curriculum when you are inspected but I thought this question was a bit different and it made me stop and think. How would you answer this if you were asked? There are lots of things that you might do that makes your curriculum unique to you. For example, you might be a Forest Childcare Association member or even have Forest School training and have a specific focus on learning in a natural, outdoor environment. You might follow a particular pedagogy, for example running a Montessori or Reggio Emilia inspired setting. Maybe you have a passion for music and dance and weave that through the children’s learning. You may do none of these things! Here is what I would say about my own curriculum:
I am neither an exclusively child led, nor adult led setting. Instead, I like to think of myself as a child inspired setting. I carefully observe the children to work out what their deep interests are and then use that information to help plan learning opportunities.
By deep interests I do not mean things like a passion for dinosaurs or an interest in unicorns, (although I will certainly plan activities around these interests too!) but rather things like whether a child is exhibiting a certain schema or has reached a stage of development. Which, in my long experience, every child goes through. For example, a child may have schema such as a connecting and disconnecting schema, in which case I might do something like provide lots of jigsaws, including making jigsaws related to a topic we are exploring. Or a child may have reached what I like to think of as the ‘posting’ stage of life, in which case I provide lots of different objects to post into different holes so the child can explore shape.
Think about: Do you consider yourself a child-led or adult-led setting? Or maybe you are a balance of both?
I feel that promoting each child’s characteristics of effective learning is an important part of my curriculum. I want to help each child develop a love of learning and a drive to curiously explore the world around them, something which will hopefully remain with them for life! Therefore, I make sure to provide opportunities and experiences for children to play and explore independently, time and space to become deeply engrossed in their activities and learning, and support and encouragement for children to think carefully and create their own ideas.
(Think about: How do you promote the characteristics of effective learning in your setting?)
I have great relationships with the children’s parents, and we share lots of information about what children are learning both at home and in my setting. We do this both informally and formally, for example by using resources such as parent questionnaire’s and ‘All About Me‘ forms which I make sure we update regularly. I plan and share activity ideas with parents based on this shared information which means that my curriculum covers the child’s learning at home too. This does not need to be complicated. For example, the other day I shared some ideas for encouraging a child to take part in more mark making which prompted a parent to remember some of their older child’s old mark making toys which they had in the loft!
I use special development records to enable me to jot notes about each child’s learning and development over all areas of learning as well as the characteristics of essential learning. These records also include additional special things that I want children to learn or experience in my setting so that I can record these too.
The development records also highlight key development markers so I can ensure each child’s development is within the normal range. This enables me to quickly spot any areas of concern and put extra support in place. (If I am concerned about a child, I also use a special ‘Gap Tracker‘ to highlight areas of concern and which contains information about extra sources of support which I can share with parents.)
(Think about: How do you keep track of or record children’s learning? Do you use my new Development Records? If you do, have you added any special things that you want children to learn in your setting? Tip – There is space for you to write these on your development records so that they become unique to your children and setting.)
I hope you found this helpful. Have a think about your own curriculum and how it is unique to you. Then if you get asked by an inspector you will have plenty to talk about!
If you would like to use them too here are some of the resources I have mentioned. I use these in my own setting so have genuinely designed and road tested them to be as helpful as possible!
Characteristics of Effective Learning Pack
The Characteristics of Effective Learning (COEL) are in many ways, more important than many of the Learning and Development goals. They are the characteristics that set children up to become successful learners for life. This affects how well children perform in school and even how successful they will be as adults. But, what does ‘playing and exploring’, ‘active learning’ or ‘creating and thinking critically’ actually mean that you are supposed to do? This pack contains information about the Characteristics of Effective Learning, broken down in a way that is easy to absorb, as well as business tools, printable posters and activities.
Development Records
These Development Records will help you record and celebrate children’s progress and share it with their parents on a regular basis. It allows you to record more detail than a tracker, with space to record comments of notes under different development stages but is not as complicated or as time consuming as creating a learning journal. The Development Record is set out with sections for each of the Prime and Specific Areas of Learning as well as sections to record the child’s Characteristics of Effective Learning. There is an introduction and tips for the childminder and information about the record to share with parents to help encourage effective working in partnership. There are different Development Records. The link below will take you to the 18 – 24 month record but the other records are connected to this one so you can find them easily.
Forest Childcare Association Membership
The Forest Childcare Association is a best practice initiative for childcare providers who want to demonstrate their commitment to taking small children outdoors on a regular basis. By making a commitment to regular outdoor outings you can make a discernible difference to your children AND your business. When you join you will receive a Forest Childcare Starter Pack containing training information as well as business tools, a certificate to display and 50 Crafts and Activities to get you started.
Learning About Frogs Topic Pack:
This science based topic pack contains:
Lots of fun and engaging activities aimed at children from one to five years old, all designed to help your children learn the main facts about frogs. Each activity comes with information about what the activity aims at helping children learn, full instructions and ‘I Can’ statements for you to assess each child’s learning. Learn all about frogs with your children. Learn about:
1) What a frog is and what frogs look like.
2) How frogs move.
3) What frogs eat.
4) The frog life cycle.
5) Frog maths!
With lots of fun ideas, activities and resources aimed at children from one to five years old.
