Shirehampton Primary - Little Boy Blue
We had a fantastic experience at the Cloth Place in Avonmouth 3 years ago. It was good to be able to remember this with parents. We used photographs of The Cloth Place to show that it was a high quality exhibition to encourage all our parents to come along. However but it was quite difficult to persuade some families to come along as it was early on in the term. For some children this was their first week.
We shut the nursery for the day and everyone came 'en masse'. We talked about how to get there. We put parents in touch with other parents for car-sharing, we found out bus routes, some parents walked. Along the route we also had people showing everyone where to go.
We saw this as an opportunity for parents/carers as well as the children...we already knew that we would benefit as practitioners! (Anne E Y Practitioner)
Parents and practitioners walking through the space felt that they SHOULD be interacting with the children. It is hard to stand back, it feels as if you are ignoring the children but you gain such a huge amount of information when you do simply stand back. Our children had just started nursery and this gave us an insight into how they interacted with each other. It was lovely that it was a secure space in which the children could roam from room to room, our children were aged 3 and they explored with confidence.
This clip shows a stark contrast between the two girls and B. You may think that the two girls were experiencing and gaining more and at a deeper level but I feel that B's experience is equally explorative and deep. The girls are already skilled, sophisticated collaborators and communicators.
The space allows B to be included in the same environment, he is so relaxed - this was a joy to see as he can display frustration when in a different environment. B has Autism. The clip shows that he is happy and totally relaxed. For me this opportunity felt really inclusive. It offered high quality experiences to ALL. (Anne E Y Practitioner)
B is so sensory. He is interested in how the straw feels, smells.
At home he will lie in his sand pit in the garden and sweep sand over himself.(Mum)
The children had just started nursery - it's nice to see friendships developing. The girls are sharing in their ideas for play. B seems to (momentarily) be watching the other children.(Rachel, Nicky EY Practitioners).
The experience has made me scrutinise the appropriateness of what we plan for our children and families. I know that we can't recreate this on a daily basis but it has served as a wonderfully inspiring, thought provoking model. We are trying to incorporate more community based experiences for our children.
On a very simple level we are stocking our role-play areas with REAL items (sprouts, stamps, etc). We have made firm links with the local community farm. We are always very keen for parents and carers to come to share in their child's experiences within the setting. We try to reflect on our work both informally at the end of each session and formally using the framework of The Bristol Standard (Anne E Y Practitioner).
We need to keep talking to all the "stakeholders" (I dislike that word - but it's good shorthand)!
When we recognise what we want for our children we can all act to try to make it happen.
The clip shows me that it's ok for 2 things to be happening in parallel. Both "groups" are deriving great benefit. Intervention to enable an interaction would have destroyed both of the experiences. We need to step back; watch.
(Anne E Y Practitioner)
The children have loved recounting their experiences at Looking Out Looking In and we have made several books about the visit that are looked at on a daily basis by the children. We have also used photos in the children's personal diaries so that they can refer to the event.
As practitioners we value the opportunity to just stand back and watch our children - we are able to learn so much about them. We are in the process of changing the way that we make and collect observations and we all feel much happier with the method that we are using. Looking Out Looking In coincided with this discussion and it has given us more confidence in and justification for the changes that we are making.
The clip reinforces how all children can access opportunities at an appropriate level - but be equally stimulated.
(Anne E Y Practitioner).
Looking at the film clip and discussing as a team what we see and what we want next for these children (and all our children), has crystallised our thoughts about our methods for getting insights into our children. We can never be too busy to stop and look.
It is only by watching listening and then talking that we can hope to know what is next...
Just as we need TIME to reflect - so do the children. The other things that were so invaluable from the whole experience were the FREEDOM and SPACE that it provided.
THANK YOU