North Halifax Cluster Family of Schools...North Halifax Cluster Family of Schools The cluster group understands that some objectives may not be achievable in your setting due to circumstances

“Good Practice” for schools and settings for pre-school children and staff

North Halifax Cluster Family of Schools

The cluster group understands that some objectives may not be achievable in your setting due to circumstances such as space or budgets. Settings signing up to this agreement will access opportunities in other ways – such as regular visits to groups or local parks for physical activities.

02/03

Children should have the opportunity to visit their school...

Minimum Transition Expectations

1.

• Parents of the future intake in school should have the opportunity to come and look around the school and talk to staff. Meetings should be held for parents to receive information and ask questions. Schools should have relationships with settings so staff can share where the best place might be for their child.

• Children should have the opportunity to visit their school on a minimum of 2 occasions to allow them to become familiar with the surroundings and staff. These visits should be timetabled into the school day towards the end of summer term when parents and /or a keyperson can bring their child to school to experience reception class as it functions. This provides the child with the chance to experience time in school with children who already attend.

• Teachers should visit each child coming into reception at the setting they attend – whether childminder, day nursery etc. Teachers should spend time with the child to get to know them, what they like to play with and their interests. This can then influence future provision. Teachers should also talk to staff and keyworkers. Headteachers/managers must allocate time for this and timetable accordingly.

• Home visits should be offered for staff to see children in their home environment and allow discussions with parents.

• Where possible, information events should be attended in clusters for schools and settings to share paperwork and assessments.

• SEND meetings should be attended by the class teacher and keyworker for effective handover of targets and sharing of important information.

• Children should have the opportunity to experience school with their future peers – stay and play together. This should be a minimum of 2 opportunities. Parents should be able to stay and ask questions about rules, expectations and clarify any misconceptions.

• It is recommended schools use the Calderdale “Transition and Early Years Outcomes Record” for recording and passing on transition information.

04/05

Children should be given chance to read and explore good quality books...

Minimum Communication and Language Expectations

2.

• Children should be provided with communication friendly environments with space and time to talk.

• Children should be given chance to read and explore good quality books appropriate to their age both in focused, meaningful sessions and in their own time with and without adults. A love, respect and excitement for stories should be encouraged and celebrated.

• Staff should model quality speech and language and scaffold language structures to the ability of the children.

• Provision should be language rich with labels and photographs to help children access and talk about resources. E.g. sorting farm animals from people and placing in a correctly labelled box – ‘Is it a person or a farm animal?’ Which box does it need to go in?

• Music should be available for children to experience and comment on. Instruments should be used to accompany singing and tap beats and rhythms.

• Singing should be seen as a meaningful enjoyable experience rather than a time filler before an event .The use of good quality props and singing sacks should be adopted where children can build up a range of songs and rhymes.

• ICT / IWB singing programmes should be appropriately used rather than relied upon, encouraging children to be musical in different ways.

Minimum Literacy and Phonics Expectations

3.

• Phase 1 letters and sounds should be seen as good practice and activities included in planned and unplanned sessions. All staff should be familiar and trained in this to avoid confusion with schools and starting points.

• Children should take part in alliterative activities such as recognising the initial sound for their name by sending “OOOOO liver to go wash his hands” etc.

• Children should experience good quality rhyming stories and play with language using repeated refrains. Children should be encouraged to join in with repeated phrases and rhythms.

• Blending and segmenting activities should become the norm so children are used to, for example, crossing the river with a cat c-a-t: cat.

• Correct phonic pronunciation should be used to help blending and segmenting without extending the emphasis e.g. “c” not “cuh”.

• Activities such a Doodle Sticks and others should be the norm to form letter shapes and patterns.

• Children should be encouraged to make their mark on their work and use correct letters if, at this stage – for example, writing names in capitals is not appropriate and can hinder future understanding of the phonic codes.

06/0706/07

Minimum Literacy and Phonics Expectations

Children should be encouraged to make their mark on their work...

08/09

Children should have the opportunity to move in many different ways...

Minimum Physical Development Opportunities

4.

• Large scale equipment/provision: Children should have the opportunity to lift, manipulate and move large scale equipment to develop their muscles and control their movements. For example crates, blocks, planks, boxes of equipment, material, opportunities for digging – low level. Wheelbarrows and trucks, trolleys and prams should be used to move loads. Bikes should be available but used selectively.

• Movement: Children should have the opportunity to move in many different ways, resistances and angles. This should include uphill, down at speed through mud, water etc. Large scale opportunities for climbing and exploring large spaces running, jumping slithering and sliding. Children should be encouraged to talk about their movements and use prepositional language.

• Malleable materials: Children should be able to explore different malleable materials. These experiences should also be used to develop skills as well as experiencing the texture. For example: making patterns using different fingers with shaving foam, drawing circles, lines and grids. Using dough, clay etc. to develop strength in fingers, pinching and rolling. Using hard pasta to make imprints and patterns then soft to fill and squish until vessels are full. Squeezing out toothpaste tubes for patterns /primula cheese in a pattern for crackers!

• Children should be given the opportunity to explore materials before using them: Exploring the properties of glue before being expected to stick with it. What happens to it when it dries?

• Use of tools and equipment: Children should be given a breadth of tools to develop manual and physical skills. Trowels /spades/buckets/scoops/rolling pins/chalks/scissors. Opportunities must be given to do different things with these tools. For example, rolling sand flat with rolling pins and using pencils to mark make patterns.

• �Small�scale�refining: Smaller versions of tools should be used to refine skills and help movements develop: small funnels, tweezers, scoops, bodkins for threading, nuts, bolts and small amounts of malleable materials with tiny tools.

• Large scale mark making: Children should be allowed to make marks without restraints with large paper – full walls, whiteboards and other space for large art and design.

• Managing own personal care, bottoms, hands, noses and faces: Children should be able to talk about why we do this! Discussions on manners and looking after ourselves.

• Children should be given skills in independence such as feeding themselves with a knife and fork, and putting on their own coats and shoes: Children should be encouraged to dress themselves and be praised for making the effort.

Minimum Maths – Number Expectations

5.

• Maths and number based songs and stories should be recognised as that and discussed with different props and using actual numbers and objects. This could be a maths signing sack for example.

• Interactive displays should be available for children to re-visit and develop their learning with props in different forms for example: “one elephant went out to play” with toy elephants/puppets and numbers 1-5, laminated elephants and numbers placed on a big spider web. Elephant information text and rhyme decorated and laminated. Any display should be modelled with the children fi rst.

• Provision should be used to promote 1:1 correspondence, grouping, sharing and discussion about amounts, sorting and colour co-ordination. Double labelling should be used to help children in matching and recognising pattern and order.

• Setting the table, snack times and baking should be used to maximise linking amounts to real life situations.

• Setting the table, snack times and baking should be used to maximise linking amounts to real life situations.

10/11

Minimum Maths – Number Expectations

Maths and number based songs and stories should be recognised...

12/13

Children should be encouraged...

Minimum Maths – Shape Space and Measure Expectations

6.

• Bricks and blocks: These should be available in differing shapes and sizes and organised for children to recognise properties – e.g. cylinders large /cylinders small with photographs and texts.

• Box modelling: Workshop areas where children can explore different shapes and use tools to connect and adapt materials should be available as continuous provision. Staff should model techniques to join and connect materials and use positional language. Children should be encouraged to make 2d and 3d representations of real life.

Minimum - Attending School Sessions

7.

• Pre-school staff and feeder schools should liase with each other so progression for provision can be seen between settings.

• Pre-school staff – especially managers should visit and attend sessions in school so a greater understanding is developed of what goes on and is expected.

• School staff should form relationships and adapt transition to area needs.

14/15

so progression for provision can be seen between settings.

• Pre-school staff – especially managers should visit and attend sessions in school so a greater understanding is developed of what goes on and is expected.

• School staff should form relationships and adapt transition to area needs.

14/15

School staff should form relationships and adapt transition to area needs...

This booklet has been created as a request from the North Halifax Cluster of primary schools by:Katherine Ellis Assistant Head EYFS/KS1 LeadChrist Church CE Primary School (Pellon) With focus cluster group:Jo Hampshire and Carol SudderWarley Pre-SchoolGail Fox Childminder Leigh BrownHeadteacher Dean Field Community Primary SchoolJayne Edwards and Liz CollinsSavile Park Primary School Julia KingAsh Green Community Primary School

If you have any questions or wish to add your establishment to the agreement please contact:David [email protected] Ellis01422 [email protected]

Abbey Park Primary Academy www.abbeyparkacademy.orgAsh Green Community Primary School www.ashgreen.infoBradshaw Primary School www.bradshawprimaryschool.orgChrist Church CE Primary School, Pellon www.christchurch-pellon.calderdale.sch.ukDean Field Community Primary School www.deanfi eld.calderdale.sch.ukHoly Trinity Primary School - a C of E Academy www.holytrinitycofecalderdale.org.ukLee Mount Primary School www.leemount.calderdale.sch.ukLing Bob Junior, Infant and Nursery School www.lingbobschool.ik.orgMoorside Community Primary School www.moorside-primary.org.ukMount Pellon Primary Academywww.mountpellonacademy.org

Rawson Junior, Infant and Nursery School www.rawsonschool.org.ukSavile Park Primary Schoolwww.savileparkprimary.org.ukSt. Augustine’s CE J & I Schoolwww.st-augustines.calderdale.sch.ukSt. Joseph’s Catholic Primary Schoolwww.st-josephs.calderdale.sch.ukSt. Malachy’s Catholic Primary Schoolwww.stmalachysprimary.org.ukThe Halifax Academy (Primary)www.halifaxhigh.calderdale.sch.uk/primaryWainstalls Primary Academywww.wainstalls.org.ukWhitehill Community Academywww.whitehillacademy.orgSettingsWarley Pre-schoolwww.warleypreschool.co.ukGail Fox (Childminder)[email protected]