Leadership

Preparing For Literacy: Improving Communication, Language And Literacy In The Early Years

This guidance report from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) reviews the best available research to offer early years professionals practical “do’s and don’ts” to make sure all children start school with the foundations they need to read and write well. Leadership Briefing 12.11(143)

The report considers how a wide range of different activities – like singing, storytelling and nursery rhymes – can help to develop children’s early reading. It offers seven recommendations designed to support early years professionals to improve the communication, language and early literacy skills of all their pupils – particularly those from disadvantaged homes. Previous analysis by the EEF found there was already a 4.3 month gap between poorer pupils and their classmates before school starts.

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Leadership Briefing issue 7.05 (77)"
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      string(4664) "ResourceOFSTED ANNUAL REPORT 2011/12Original DocumentOfsted Annual Report 2011/12. This is Sir Michael Wilshaw’s first Annual Report as Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills. It is underpinned by the findings of nearly 25,000 inspections carried out during 2011/12 – of schools, early years and childcare, services for children and families, adult learning and skills, and colleges.KeywordsOfsted Annual Report, schools, early years, learning, skills, education, teaching, leadershipSummaryThis is Sir Michael Wilshaw’s first Annual Report as Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills. It is underpinned by the findings of nearly 25,000 inspections carried out during 2011/12 – of schools, early years and childcare, services for children and families, adult learning and skills, and colleges. This year’s Annual Report is supported by three reports that give more detail on the early years, schools and learning and skills sectors.Main Headlines:1. 70% of schools are good or better; 70% have teaching which is at least good.2. The London Challenge was a great success.3. Standards are rising steadily.4. The UK is outperformed in reading and Maths by international competitors.5. When inadequate schools improve it is thanks to support from other schools, local authorities and academy sponsors or chains. Other causes were changes in leadership, support from other heads and monitoring teaching.6. Some schools achieve well despite challenging circumstances and some of these are succeeding despite poor local political leadership.7. Sponsor-led academies can make a positive difference and perform better than their predecessor schools.8. Converter academies have yet to make the most of their freedoms.9. There are too many “satisfactory” schools: 31% are “not good enough”. “Some” are inadequate. (3%).10. More needs to be done to reduce attainment gaps.11. There’s a marked inequality of access to a school judged good or better.12. Reforming school structures can lead to school improvement.Main Conclusions:· Schools in England are getting better – although there is still a long way to go before the nation catches up with the best in the world.· There are wide variations in the performance of schools across different local authority areas, leading to serious inequities for children in some parts of the country/· Ofsted has identified major concerns with the quality of provision in the post-16 Learning and Skills sector, especially in colleges, which are not adequately preparing young people for the world of work.· The proportion of schools rated as good or better is going up year on year; three years ago 66% of all schools were judged to be good or better; that figure is now 70%. This means there are now nearly half a million more pupils in good or better schools.· There are nearly 1,000 more outstanding schools than there were three years ago; there are nearly 1,000 fewer inadequate and satisfactory schools than three years ago.· There are now 2,500 good and outstanding schools serving some of England’s most deprived communities.· While the overall effectiveness of all Learning and Skills providers has improved very slightly over the past three years, the proportion of colleges judged inadequate or satisfactory is the highest it has been in that period.· 35% of colleges are now less than good compared to 30% at the end of 2010.· Ofsted this year judged 13 colleges (serving over 82,000 leaners) to be inadequate compared with four colleges last year.· For the second year running, Ofsted did not judge a single college to be outstanding for teaching and learning.· 74% of provision is good or better compared with 65% three years ago.· More than a third (34%) of children are not working securely in communication, language and literacy by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage (below five years old).· Overall, pre-schools and nurseries are better than child-minders at preparing children for the next stage· Provision is weakest in areas of highest deprivation, particularly in the case of child-minders.· The quality of early years provision would benefit from stronger links between strong and weak providers, including good schools and good children’s centres.ActionNotesAuthorR ChimaDate CreatedDecember 2012Enquiries to:raspal.chima@yahoo.co.uk(Authoring Unit)Month / YearPage 1 of 1©Birmingham City Council"
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Leadership

Ofsted Annual Report 2011/12

5 Dec 2012

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      string(5330) "lessonsIt is essential at the outset that in any target populationwe are realistic about the effectiveness of anyintervention. We wanted to test the applications of theprogramme to identify when its implementation would bemost effective.The recommended age is 3 – 5 years but some of ourmost challenging youngsters were aged 2 ½ – 3 years. Inone area of Darlington, the child population is particularlytransient with 40% of our targeted group leaving within 6months. We tried to adapt some of the pack and activitiesbut soon discovered that the majority of children wereunable to concentrate sufficiently to complete theactivity. Although some individuals did improve theirlanguage skills significantly, it was not felt that theimprovement in a few justified the effort employed by thestaff. We realised that developmentally this was not theoptimum age.We also discovered that the enthusiasm of the leadpractitioner, whether involved with groups of parents orindividuals affected the children’s progress. We learnt thatwhen extending the programme into additional settings itwas important to allow the staff to choose whether to beinvolved.ImpactThe programme offers structured physical activities,targets thinking skills and the development of pre-requisites for literacy and numeracy. The manual alsoincludes a chapter on healthy eating. It is equallyaccessible for children of all abilities, whether they arethe most gifted or children with significant learning orphysical difficulties. It provides the framework for earlylearning experiences that, according to feedback fromthe children themselves, their parents and carers and thestaff in the settings, are challenging, enjoyable and showmeasurable achievement.In the initial pilot, the children participating wereindependently assessed using a standardised developmentDVDManualFelt LadderFoot Template100+ assorted shapes2 large coloured discs2 felt templatesTurtle beanieSoft ballWrist strapRecording templatesReward stickersnnnnnnnnnnnnwww.teachingtimes.com n Vol 2.4Early Intervention Every Child Journal37list (Griffiths) before starting the programme. They were re-assessed after 6 months to assess its impact.At baseline, the children’s chronological ages ranged from 3years, 7 months to 4 years, 6 months. The average age was4 years, 1 month. At this stage the children were assessed asfollows:Expressive language age was 2 years, 6 monthsPhysical skills: 3 years, 2 monthsThinking skills: 3 years 4 monthsOn reassessment after 6 months, the following results hadbeen achieved:Expressive language age showed 18 months progressPhysical skills showed 16 months progressThinking skills showed 18 months progressDarlington Local Authority data provided further evidenceof the children’s improving skills. One of the settings hasnow been implementing the programme for two and ahalf years in their Nursery. We use a number of metrics toidentify improvements in children: These include the SuperOutput area’s breakdown of social group by deprivation, andthe personal social and educational development (PSED)nnnnnnmeasurements and the communication, language andliteracy (CLL) scores.Analysis of the EYFS Profile results at the end of theReception Year show that the school has a disadvantagescore of 51.8 and 20 out of 74 children in the cohort arefrom the Super Output Area (SOA) this being the mosteconomically and socially disadvantaged 30 per cent of thepopulation in Darlington. The school is narrowing the gapbetween the 30 percent SOA group and the remaining 70per cent of children. Half of the children from the SOA areachieving 6+ scores in PSED/CLL which means they are nowmeeting national expectations and on a comparable level totheir peers. This bucks the national trend and shows that theschool’s EYFS profile PSED/ CLL scores have improved fasterthan their neighbours.As a result of highly successful pilots, the decision wasmade to roll out the programme to all children’s centresand offer universal training with the wider early yearsteam supporting implementation in settings. Use of theprogramme continues to be extended. The programme isbeing successfully used by children’s centres in Darlingtonto engage vulnerable and ‘hard-to-reach’ families supportedby early years practitioners working individually with parentsin their home. While there are year-on-year staffing costs thepacks themselves are reusable and we probably replace 10%because of loss or damage.Vol 2.4 n www.teachingtimes.comEarly InterventionEvery Child Journal38Case Study: LucaWhat have we"
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Special Needs

ecj 2.4 Narrowing the Gap

14 Oct 2011

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      string(5531) "ResourceEARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE: DIRECTION OF TRAVEL PAPEROriginal DocumentEarly Years Foundation Stage: direction of travel paper, is a 19-page briefing that provides an update on progress towards the Early Years Foundation Stage, as proposed in the current Childcare Bill, and sets out the government’s vision for the new framework.KeywordsEarly years, foundation stage, early learning goals.SummaryThe vision:· The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is about improving life chances for all children, by giving them the opportunity to have the best possible start, regardless of their family circumstances or the setting they attend.· Through the Childcare Bill, we seek to establish a single coherent phase of development for all young children, as announced in the 10 year strategy for childcare ‘Choice for parents, the best start for children’.· The approach of practitioners will be age appropriate, ensuring that there are different activities for children of different ages and at different stages of their development.· For young children, care and learning are indistinguishable. 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Education programmes3. Assessment arrangements· The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) will replicate the things that good parents do as a matter of course and which they would therefore expect in a good childcare setting.· It will take as its starting point the five Every Child Matters outcomes: Be healthy, Stay safe, Enjoy and achieve, Make a positive contribution, Achieve economic well-being.It will specify:· Early learning goals: the knowledge skills and understanding which young children of different abilities and maturities are expected to attain by the beginning of Key Stage 1.· Education programmes: the matters, skills and processes that are taught to young children according to their individual abilities and maturities.· Assessment arrangements: focusing on practitioners assessing children’s needs by observing their play.· As now, there will be no tests or group assessment of young children in the EYFS. Practitioners planning will be based on their continuing observational assessment throughout the whole of the stage.· Guidance will include examples drawn from existing good practice. It will not focus on specific activities or aspects but will look at what an integrated and coherent day might look like for, for example, a two year in a children’s centre or a five year old in the first year of school.· EYFS will form the basis of the new inspection system and OfSTED, working in parallel to the policy development, will develop a new inspection framework.· The renewal of Literacy Framework of the Primary National Strategy will take account of the findings and recommendations of the Rose Review of the teaching of early reading in early years settings and primary schools. The new Literacy and Mathematics Frameworks will be published by September 2006 and DfES will make sure that the guidance they provide fully underpins the emerging EYFS.ActionTimetable:· EYFS first detailed draft prepared: March 2006.· Formal public consultation on the detailed content of EYFS: Spring 2006.· Regional consultation and awareness events with key stakeholders and partners: Spring 2006.· EYFS guidance developed following consultation outcome: August – September 2006.· EYFS final document complete: September 2006.· EYFS training to early years providers: October 2007 – August 2008.· Providers implement EYFS: September 2008 onwards.NotesAuthorRaspal Chima, Questions PublishingDate CreatedFebruary 2006Enquiries to:rchima@qiis.co.uk(Authoring Unit)Month / YearPage 1 of 1©Birmingham City Council"
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Leadership

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1 Feb 2006

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      string(5793) "and implementation training sessions. Thesesessions aimed to ensure fidelity to the original All Aboard pilot project and to support theroll out of All Aboard in these eight different settings. Training included an overviewof the background to and theoretical basis of All Aboard, organisational issues such asplanning and delivering the sessions and evaluationprocedures.All Aboard was delivered for a total of twelveweeks in each of the settings, with three one hourenhanced sessions being delivered each week.Six children from each setting were chosen toparticipate, although some nurseries chose to runAll Aboard both during both morning and afternoonsessions, thus involving up to 12 children. The formatof the All Aboard sessions was consistent with theoriginal pilot project, but the content varied betweensettings depending on the setting’s planning and thechildren’s individual needs and interests.Results of the All Aboard projectChildren’s progress was measured at the beginning and the end of the project using thesettings’ ‘My Learning Picture’ data (linked to progress on the Early Years FoundationStage – EYFS)  and comparison made with a parallel Early Years cohort. A qualitativestatement was also provided by the teachers about each of the children’s responses tothe All Aboard intervention, and feedback gathered from the parents.In total, EYFS data was collected on 33 children.  Nationally, children are expectedto make one full point progress in each of the areas of Learning and Development overa twelve-month period. This is regarded as ‘good’ progress. Proportionally this equatesto approximately 0.3 points per term. As All Aboard ran for two terms, good progresswould be shown by children making progress greater than or equal to 0.6 points.The results show that children in the All Aboard group made greater progress overa similar time period to the children in the control cohort. This suggests that there is avalue-added element to implementing the All Aboard programme, and that All Aboardis successful in improving outcomes for vulnerable children.Graph 1Graph 1 indicates that All Aboard children made above expected levels of progress(0.6 points) in all areas. While most progress was made in the area of Problem Solving,Reasoning and Numeracy, the difference between the All Aboard result and the controlgroup is relatively small (0.1 point). Similarly although progress in PSE is higher thanthe control group, this is also by only 0.1 point.  The progress made in the area of‘Communication, Language and Literacy’ is significantly higher than that of the controlgroup, suggesting that All Aboard is a powerful intervention for supporting children’slanguage development in the early years.http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/earlylearningandchildcare/delivery/education/a0068102/early-years-foundation-stage-eyfshttp://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/earlylearningandchildcare/delivery/education/a0068102/early-years-foundation-stage-eyfswww.teachingtimes.com n Vol 3.1Schools Every Child Journal13Graph 2Graph 2 shows that comparing the progress of the All Aboard Children with English as anadditional language to that made by the children with English as an additional languagein the control group, All Aboard children made greater progress.In contrast, All Aboard children with English as their first language made lessprogress than the similar children from the control group. The exception to this is inCommunication Language and Literacy, where the All Aboard Children made greaterprogress.Vol 3.1 n www.teachingtimes.comSchoolsEvery Child Journal14Qualitative feedbackThis feedback was collected from the Early Years practitioners working with the children inthe All Aboard group. Feedback fell into three key areas: increased confidence, improvedsocial skills and increased attention and concentration.Increased confidence was the most common aspect commented upon in relation tochildren’s progress. Comments were made about children’s social confidence:“Jamila is quite different in the classroom to how she is during ‘All Aboard’ sessions andwith mum in the reception area.  Her language in the Nursery rooms is still not forthcomingbut during ‘All Aboard’ sessions she has said a friend’s name and in the reception area willconverse quite happily with staff showing she can speak in full sentences and hold a two-way conversation.  Her body language in class is much more responsive now and she lookshappier – smiles, nods and also relaxed with both adults and children.”Practitioners also commented that children were more confident about tackling newskills in the All Aboard group:“Mark never attempted to make marks or draw pictures.  His mum said that at home hewould never entertain colouring or drawing pictures.  Again it was nearly halfway throughthe programme when Mark started to draw an M. Now he is making good progress whenwriting his name and he now spends time drawing pictures.”Children were reported as having developed new friendships through the All Aboardgroup, and developed social skills that help them interact with the other children:“Eve started out in the group as a child who would only talk about her own interests.She didn’t listen to the other children or join in with their discussions.  She kept herselfseparate from the others in the group.  Then during a circle time she was asked to take turnschoosing a toy animal from a bag and say the sound of the animal.  Eve found this difficult,and her eyes filled with tears but then she said"
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Special Needs

All aboard in Bradford: early intervention in the early years

1 Jun 2012