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Trisha Boyd News Page

The principal aim of the Early Years Team is to support high quality early level education in Argyll and Bute.
This news page will keep you up-to-date with developments in each of the curricular areas for which I have responsibility.
I will also try to include items that may be of interest to all early level educators.
You can contact me with queries, comments or suggestions for news items at my email address.
trish.boyd@ea.argyll-bute.sch.uk

Local Area Liaison Group Meetings 2009

The dates for liaison group meetings (2009) in each area are as follows;

Location	Date (2008)	Attending
Mid Argyll	14th May	Trisha Boyd
South Kintyre	19th May	Margaret Lauder
Helensburgh Lomond	30th April	Trisha Boyd
Islay	TBC	Margaret Lauder
Mull	TBC	Trisha Boyd
Cowal	19th May	Trisha Boyd
Oban	29th April	Trisha Boyd
Bute	TBC	Trisha Boyd

Pre-school ‘Glow’ Mentor - ICT at the Early Level

Glow is the new name for the Scottish Schools Digital Network, the national intranet, which will link Scottish education safely and securely. In Argyll and Bute access to Glow will be rolled out as each area receives the broadband capacity through Pathfinder North. At present schools and pre-schools in the Helensburgh and Lomond area are in the process of setting up their access to Glow. For more information please contact:
Denise Donald - Glow Staff Tutor at denise.donald@ea.argyll-bute .sch.uk
or Maggie Irving - ESO ICT at maggie.irving@ea.argyll-bute.sch.uk

By now I hope you have all received the new Early Level ICT Guidance. Below are a number of documents that have been produced to support all early level practitioners in successfully integrating ICT seamlessly and purposefully throughout the curriculum.
Click here to download (PDF) the ICT Guidance document.
Click here to download (PDF) ICT Skills checklist.
Click here to download (PDF) a list of useful internet sites.
Click here to download (PDF) the seven principles of effective practice.

Moving Purposeful Play into Primary 1

‘Bring the 3–5 and 5–14 curriculum guidelines together to ensure a smooth transition in what children have learned and also in how they learn. This will mean extending the approaches which are used in pre-school into the early years of primary, emphasising the importance of opportunities for children to learn through purposeful, well planned play.’

A Curriculum for Excellence: Ministerial Response, 2004
The Curriculum for Excellence developments have raised the need to reviewing teaching methodologies in the early stages of primary education and improve opportunities for children to learn through play. There is an interesting summary of a discussion related to this issue at the Early Years Online website Early Years Matters

There are also a number of interesting active learning case studies available to read in the sharing practice section. Sharing Practice: Approaches to Learning

For anyone that is actively reviewing their practice at the early level, then it is recommended you read the latest documents published by the Curriculum for Excellence Programme. Building The Curriculum 2: Active Learning in the Early Years.
Building the Curriculum 3: A Framework for Learning and Teaching

Walkodile – Awarded British Invention of the Year

Invented by a teacher, this world class, award winning child safety walking system is designed for groups of 3-7 year old children.
WALKODILE® creates many safety and educational benefits for children, some of which are as follows:

Children are kept safer then ever before on a walking trip
The supervisor’s job of controlling the children is more effective and less stressful
Walkodile encourages more walking, which means more exercise for children & more outdoor education
Children are more independent on a walk, taking responsibilty for walking on their own without the need to hold onto anyone's hand
The walk is now relaxed, encouraging more interaction between staff and pupils
Teamwork is promoted amongst the children and leadership for the front pair
The risk of a child becoming cut off from the group is reduced
As a group, staff and children are more easily seen by other road users.

Early Vision Resources

Early Vision are committed to bringing the real world into the early years setting.
They have developed a range of role play packs that include a DVD to show the children a real example of a ‘role-play scenario' so they can see the environment, see what happens and what the adults there do, wear and say.
This helps to give the children a deeper understanding, that it should inspire their imagination, underpin their role-play and inform their learning.
They have just released their Eco Vision DVD called 'Saving Energy' and plan to release more in the Eco series including; Recycling, Saving Water and Going Green.
You can find more information at: Early Vision Website

Child at the Centre

From April 2007 all new HMIe Early Years inspections will be undertaken using the new 6-point scale.
To reflect these changes and the principles embedded in the Curriculum for Excellence, HMIe have launched an updated version of Child at the Centre available to download from the HMIe Website

Inspections from January 2008 will be undertaken using the quality indicators from the new Child at the Centre.

SparkleBox

For those of you who have not yet discovered the SparkleBox website I recommend you visit to access a wide range of educator resources. Take care as this site can become addictive!! You will gain lots of ideas and inspiration for active learning resources and activities.
There are many free downloads alongside a range that can be purchased very cheaply.
SparkleBox Website

Early Years Book Guide

Click here to download (PDF) an informative early years book guide.
Do you have a favourite book? Please send in short reviews and ideas for related activities, to be included on this news page.

Useful Curriculum Guidance Documents

Click here to download (PDF) Early Level Outdoor Play Guidance.
Click here to download (PDF) Early Level Maths Guidance.
Click here to download (PDF) ideas for mathematical opportunities during role play.
Click here to download (PDF) ideas for early level maths activities.
Click here to download (PDF) some useful poems for early level maths.
Click here to download (Word Doc) Risk Assessment Guidance.

Hector's World

Teaching Children about safety on the net.

Children aged five to seven can learn about internet safety from five animated episodes online. Hector is a dolphin who takes the children on a journey exploring issues of personal information, trustworthiness and making positive choices.

Hector's World can be downloaded for free.

Communication 4 All

The Communication 4 All website is very similar to Sparklebox.
The site was established by teacher Bev Evans to provide resources to support inclusion.
The majority of the resources are free to download with only a small number incurring a charge.
There are a great many early years resources including labels for display, games for topics and interactive whiteboards.
I recommend visiting when you have time to explore as, like Sparklebox, it can become addictive.
Communication 4 All

Journey to Excellence Part 5

Self-evaluation is forward looking.
It is about change and improvement, whether gradual or transformational, and is based on professional reflection, challenge and support.
To support you in the self-evaluation process it is important you visit the Journey to Excellence website, which is part 5 of the Journey to Excellence series.
The web site contains video-based snapshots and case studies of Scottish schools which illustrate features of excellence in their day-to-day work.
In these short movies, pupils, parents, teachers, support staff and senior managers discuss what excellence means within their schools and for them personally.

There are over 300 movies distributed over 10 dimensions and a range of supporting resources to promote professional, reflective discussion and evaluation.
Journey to Excellence Website

Space for Autism

A new animation series and computer game aimed at young autistic children has been launched. It focuses on the link between emotions and facial expression. The 'Space Place' features 12 episodes about characters who come to life after their space museum closes for the night.

You can watch an episode for free at the Space Place

Pre-school Visions, Values and Aims at Sandbank Primary

As part of school self-evaluation many schools and pre-school units have been revisiting their visions, values and aims.
In order to establish a whole school community vision it is vital that all stakeholders are involved in this process through consultation and a sharing of ideas.

In Sandbank Pre-5 Unit the staff have successfully been consulting children about their ideas on what makes a happy school.
The children used the large construction bricks to build a school wall and each brick displayed individual children's ideas.
What a lovely way to engage children in this discussion! I have attached a scanned copy of the results of the discussion and some photos.
Click here to download (PDF) Photos page 1
Click here to download (PDF) Photos page 2
Click here to download (PDF) Photos page 3
Click here to download (PDF) Photos page 4

We Can Do That!

Learning Unlimited have published a series of 3 books with a focus on active learning at the early level. They are primarily written for educators of children 3 to 6 however they may also be of interest further up the school.
The books include stories of active learning opportunities, a discussion on the why and how of active learning and a practical toolkit looking at the organisation of active learning. They are related to Curriculum for Excellence and are easy to read and very informative.
The books can be purchased from the Learning Unlimitedwebsite.

Minute Maths Bags

Mindstretchers have developed a new mathematical resource designed for use both in the nursery and at home with parents.
They have been developed to offer a variety of sensorial and active experiences covering all a range of mathematical concepts.
The set contains 15 bags each with the resources required and laminated activity sheets.
The bags can be purchased from the Mindstretchers Website
I have a set of these bags so anyone interested in looking at this resource and examples of the activity sheets, before purchasing should contact me via the Colgrain Education Office.

Pre-school Planning Examples

To support pre-school staff in developing effective and useful ways of planning for children's learning, we have continue to develop and collect examples of planning recording formats.
Not one size fits all in Argyll and Bute however there are clear elements that need to be included to ensure the success of any system adopted.
Many of you will have begun to use or have seen the following documents at local liaison meetings, they are examples only but will hopefully provide you with a starter for ten during any staff discussions about effective planning and assessment.
For those that have not yet seen these documents and require clarification on their use please contact me or put 'Planning and Assessment' on the agenda for the next local area liaison meeting.
Click here to download (PDF) Pre-5 Interdisciplinary Planner.
Click here to download (PDF) Pre-5 Interdisciplinary Planner explained.
Click here to download (PDF) Monthly Planner example.
Click here to download (PDF) Weekly Planner example.
Click here to download (PDF) Individual Observation Sheet.
Click here to download (PDF) Learning Stories.

Conference and Provider Questionnaire Feedback

Following the annual Pre-school Conference last October the early years team collated the results of your feedback and have used it to begin the organisation for next year's conference.
We thought the collated feedback may be of interest you Click here to download (PDF)
Similarly we have collated the results of the recent Provider Questionnaire issued to help us evaluate our own performance as an early years team.
Click here to download (PDF)

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