Management: EYFS - Perfectly co-ordinated
Getting staff to embrace and implement the changes of the EYFS is a challenge managers grasp in different ways, as Mary Evans hears.
Nursery managers are putting their leadership and management skills to the test as they prepare staff for the challenges of implementing the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Although managers may tackle the task in different ways, the common theme is to adopt a positive approach. 'The way to approach this is to accept that there is going to be change, and move with it,' says Fran Connell, proprietor of Southlands Nurseries in Newcastle, Staffordshire. 'We have to positively embrace it.'
At Circus Day Nursery in Cheltenham, manager Sophie Rollin says, 'I believe that if you are negative about something, then the staff pick up on it and are negative too. Negativity creates a bad working environment. The EYFS is coming. My deputy and I are positive about it, so the staff are too.'
According to Gemma Rolstone, operations director of the Exeter-based Puffins chain, the EYFS provides a chance to reflect and think about how it can move forward. 'Part of our philosophy is to look for ways to improve,' she says. 'The staff are meeting it quite positively. They are not saying, "Here we go again".'
No need to panic
People are naturally anxious about change, and managers need to reassure and inform their staff to allay anxieties. The aspects of the EYFS that are causing the most concerns among providers are the new terminology, the paperwork and the welfare requirements, says Janice Mitchell, childcare development team leader at Hillingdon Council. 'What we say to people is that there is no need to panic. The EYFS is an amalgamation of three documents that you should already be working to. If you are operating good practice, then nothing needs to change.'
At Southlands Nurseries, which has a team of 13, the process of informing staff is well under way. 'Two members of staff enrolled on the new CACHE Level 3 EYFS course, which started in January,' says Fran Connell. 'Their fees are being funded by Staffs County Council. We always have a floating member of staff and I am supernumerary, so we can provide adequate cover while they are attending, although it can present logistical problems as we have split sites.
'The local authority ran EYFS training days, and three other members of staff have been on them. Everyone has a copy of the EYFS pack. At staff meetings we are working our way through the CD-Rom. We watch a bit and then discuss the different aspects it raises.
'Jennie Lindon came to Southlands to advise us and run some in-house training. We paid for her using our Transformation Fund money, because we have a staff member taking an early years degree.'
Revised planning system
'We are a big nursery with 119 children and 47 staff,' says Ms Rollin. 'I was concerned about how I could get all my staff out to training. Instead, the local authority came to us and ran a Saturday session as an introduction to the EYFS, for all of us bar one who was on holiday.'
She believes the EYFS will make it easier for staff to switch rooms to cover for an absentee, or as a career move or promotion. 'It will be easier, as there will be that consistency in the format of the planning. It will smooth the transition which we have now between Birth to Three and the Foundation Stage,' she says.
Planning for the EYFS started early at Puffins. 'I got the nursery managers involved in the consultation exercise,' says Ms Rolstone. 'I formed a working group last summer from across the nurseries to reflect on and revise our planning systems and documentation.
'We review our policies every year. From last August we started to change our planning to reflect the EYFS and change our documentation to include the new terminology a bit at a time so that everyone can get used to it.
'We didn't want to get to August 31 this year and take everything down and put everything new up.
'For example, we have changed things in our medication policy to make sure we meet the EYFS welfare requirements now, so that parents can get used to the terminology. We are drip-feeding it in.'
Fran Connell says, 'We have put up a poster to familiarise parents with the EYFS. I wrote about it in our newsletter. We don't want to bombard parents, but later on we may invite them in for an evening to discuss it and have a workshop.
'We are going to encourage the parents to record their observations. One of the problems can be that parents assess their children as more competent than is the case. We are thinking that maybe the staff will write in one colour of pen and parents in another.
'Our major concern is the amount of paperwork involved. I am against staff being tied up with unnecessary amounts of paperwork, especially when they are working with the under-threes. We are piloting Trackers on three or four children and hope that they will enable us to keep the paperwork to a minimum.'
Hana Kovler, the head of an outstanding-rated nursery in east London, has developed a CD-Rom, which she is planning to market, with a comprehensive and integrated set of formats for planning and assessment for the EYFS based on a child-centred model.
'People worry about the paperwork, so I think this might give them a kick-start. They won't have to worry about producing their own formats.'
Connect Software, which specialises in software systems for the early years sector, is developing its Connect Foundation package. The company's commercial director, Chris Reid, says this will enable a provider 'at inspection time to get all the information they need at the press of a button.'
'We identified early on that there were some people who were not used to working with computers and were anxious about using the CD-Rom,' says Ms Mitchell at Hillingdon. 'We have done some sessions in IT suites so people can familiarise themselves with a computer and access the CD-Rom.'
'We are also developing an audit tool on the welfare requirements, which we will pilot. It will be a self-evaluation exercise so people can see that they are meeting the statutory requirements and have the evidence to show what they are doing.'
Leeds City Council has deliberately avoided the route of cascading information. Teresa Todd, the council's Early Years Foundation Stage Improvement manager, says, 'I don't think the cascade model of training is very good. It relies heavily on the person doing the cascading having a deep understanding and having the communication skills, confidence and knowledge to cascade the information.'
Instead, Leeds launched a programme of EYFS training for every practitioner last September, with special Saturday, twilight and split sessions to encourage attendance.
'One of the biggest traumas we had was choosing the colours for our folders,' says Ms Rolstone. 'We wanted to get the same orange as the EYFS Learning and Development. There we were at a meeting, comparing at least four orange folders under different light to find the best match!'
New regime at Ofsted
The new Self-Evaluation Form for providers will be available by July, ready for the EYFS inspection regime to begin in September, according to an Ofsted spokeswoman.
'The inspection pilots have been very helpful,' she says. 'We have learned that the vast majority of providers welcome the new SEF. We also know that parents found our new-style reports easier to read, and they felt they gave them the sort of information they would want about the setting that cared for their children.
'It was helpful to hear from settings that they welcomed the idea that even those judged to be outstanding should have recommendations to help them to improve. The time taken to complete the inspections is about the same as now for daycare.'
'As a result of the pilot, the SEF has been revised to make sure it clearly matches the judgements Ofsted makes, as well as to line it up with Every Child Matters.'
The wording used in inspection judgements has been revised to ensure that judgements are the same across the EYFS sector.
Ofsted is working towards a smooth transition to the new inspection regime. A leaflet describing the changes is being sent to all providers and is available on the Ofsted website (www.ofsted.gov.uk).
INFORMATION
- For more information about Hana Kovler's CD-Rom, contact her at Piquet44@aol.com
- For details of Connect Software's Foundation package, visit www.connectsoftware.ne.
