EYP Update: Here's evidence
Case Study: Pam Jones, proprietor of Little Pines Day Nursery in Bournemouth.
While other people spent last Christmas chilling out in front of the TV, partying with family or friends, or hitting the sales, Pam Jones devoted much of her time to walking around her empty nursery with a pad of sticky notes.
'Every quarter the Bournemouth Early Years team hold a provider's evening,' says Pam, proprietor of Little Pines Day Nursery in Kings Park, Bournemouth. 'Last year there was a talk on the various pathways to Early Years Professional Status run by the University of Winchester and I realised I was qualified for the validation pathway.
'My Certificate of Education is classed as equal to a degree. After all these years it was nice to think my GCEs in English and maths counted for something!
'When I went to the initial lecture I wondered what I had let myself in for and how I was going to collect all this evidence to show I could meet the 39 standards and then prepare for the gateway day and the assessment day.
'My deputy was just going on maternity leave. Although I am super-numerary, I was taking over the planning, so I thought maybe this was not such a good time to take on this workload,' she says.
'But I realised I had all the evidence for the majority of the standards in front of me. I took the advice they gave us at that first lecture and bought a big lever arch file and 39 dividers - one for each standard - and jotted down what I thought evidenced each of the standards.
'It is an enlightening experience when you look through all the things you do. It is very affirming.'
HOW TO MANAGE CHANGE
While her nursery was closed over Christmas, Pam went through it room by room, thinking about her practice.
'I put little sticky notes on things around the nursery to say how they met the standards, just to remind me. You could look round my nursery in about ten minutes. It only has four rooms and 22 children, but by the time you have talked about all you are doing it takes an hour.'
Pam was one of six candidates on the course from Bournemouth. 'The lecturer came to us for our four taught days, which was really helpful,' she says. 'We started off working in groups, reflecting on what we do and how we met the standards.
'We had to do a presentation on how we had managed change, focusing on something we as a leader had initiated. I talked about how we transformed the outdoor space into different areas and created a sensory garden.
'It is tricky getting the right balance when you are assembling your evidence. You can always find more evidence in support of one standard than another. It helped to be able to bounce ideas off the lecturers and other candidates.
'So, for example, for the standard on communicating sensitively with children you start to think about it and realise that in the baby room you are very much aware of body language.'
WELL SUPPORTED
Pam says the course is intensive and rigorous. 'It is only when you reflect on your practice that you appreciate how much you have got in place. It is good that the validation pathway is quite hard - there are maybe some people who don't get through and realise they need to do a course to bring them up to par.
'It was very well supported. The mentor was on the end of a telephone or e-mail and we could e-mail the team in Winchester at any time.
'I have now been on the mentor course and have an EYP candidate to work with. I have someone doing the long pathway who is coming here on placement in the nursery full time for six weeks. My deputy has returned from maternity leave and is now on the short pathway, as she didn't have baby room experience.
'Two of my staff are taking foundation degrees, so fairly soon four out of the eight of us will be EYPs, which will be fantastic.'
BEING MORE AVAILABLE
Studying to become an EYP has made Pam reflect on her practice and work on her leadership skills.
'I am doing more in appraisals to encourage staff development and encourage them to be more self-reflective,' she says. 'With the start of the EYFS, I am giving them more one-to-one time and more feedback and being more available for them.
'I am also involving the parents more. We have started inviting the parents in for social events. One of the parents has just completed a degree in child nutrition and came to give a talk one evening to the other parents.
'I am going to enjoy the mentoring, but I don't know where I will go on from that. I don't want to not be in the nursery. It has been my nursery for eight years. I don't want to be in the position where a parent says, "Who is that lady?"'
CV: PAM JONES
1974 Qualified as a 'first' school teacher, gaining a Certificate in Education to teach children ranging in age from four to 11
Worked mainly as a reception teacher in the state sector
Raised four children of her own
April 2000 Opened nursery in the ground floor of family home in Bournemouth. Initially took eight children aged two to five per session, but added baby room extension. Now takes 22 children per session aged from three months
2008 Qualified as an EYP.
