The emphasis that the Early Years Foundation Stage places on child- initiated learning has prompted a huge transformation in the way nurseries are set out and equipped.
Practitioners now aim to follow the children's lead and use the children's interests to develop their learning. It is therefore important to create an enabling environment and provide resources and equipment that encourage them to explore and use their imaginations.
The Early Years Capital Grant has seen more than £640m allocated to local authorities across England over the past three years to improve settings. To qualify for the grant, settings had to be planning a project with a minimum spend of £2,500 and which focused on one of three areas:
- Improving the quality of the learning environment in early years settings to support delivery of the EYFS, with a particular emphasis on improving play and physical activities, and ICT resources
- Ensuring all children, including disabled children, are able to access provision
- Enabling PVI providers to deliver the extension to the free offer for threeand four-year-olds, and to do so flexibly.
A survey carried out by the British Educational Suppliers Association, published earlier this year, found that nearly half of day nurseries had received a significant benefit from EYCG funding. Most settings had spent their grant on outdoor play equipment, followed by ICT and indoor play equipment.
The grant is stopping at the end of this financial year and there are uncertainties about its current distribution. In a climate of austerity, providers cannot hope for this sort of funding for the foreseeable future.
Early years consultant Nathan Archer says that how the capital grant has been allocated has so far varied hugely across local authorities. 'Some have virtually put together packages of kit for providers to claim, which takes from the setting their sense of ownership of the project,' he says.
At his own setting, Lincolnshire Montessori, Mr Archer says that funding is used in as democratic a way as possible. 'This is so the team gets some real ownership and professional input, which is important, as they are the people who are going to work with it. If it is imposed, there is a danger that it is not setting-specific.'
Mr Archer explains how Ofsted's Self-Evaluation Form process at his nursery included the whole team. 'The discussions in each of the rooms on the SEF fed into our development plan. So when funding came along, we could allocate resources as the team had decided.'
Lincolnshire County Council initially focused on ICT and bought every setting an ICT package with laptop, printer and compatible digital camera. With the buying power of such a big bulk order, the council was able to get a very good price and a better deal than if settings had bought the items for themselves. It also funded internet access for settings, which really helped rural pre-schools who previously had not been able to do much in the way of ICT.
The grant has transformed some outdoor areas, according to Barbara Isaacs, academic director of Montessori Centre International.
She says, 'I have seen the benefits of the Capital Grant in the development of outdoor play areas. I have seen some really lovely outdoor environments that just would not have been there five years ago.
'They have come about because of Capital Grant funding. From the Montessori perspective, these projects support the idea of learning outdoors. Some local authorities matched the Capital Grant funding with training courses on outdoors, so outdoor play is no longer a case of opening the door and letting the children run,' says Ms Isaacs. 'It is about offering a range of learning opportunities and activities.'
A NATURAL FEEL
Many settings have worked on how to enable free flow from indoors to outdoors. 'A lot of nurseries have had grant funding for canopies for their buildings,' says Joanna Marshall, marketing manager of Able Canopies. 'The canopies provide shade in the sun and shelter, so the children can be out in the fresh air and move freely from indoors to outside.'
Developing a quality outdoor environment is not just about resources, says Sharon Hogan, head of centre at training and resource organisation Early Excellence. 'Resources are just one of three elements essential to supporting and developing quality learning experiences outdoors, the other two being a knowledge of individual children and child development, and finally the role of the adult.'
She adds, 'The adult needs a clear understanding of the potential for learning that resources offer, but more importantly, a willingness to engage and be directed to children's responses to them - for it is this which will ensure children's engagement, learning and development.'
In its Stepped Approach to Learning Outdoors, Early Excellence identifies the following resource collections as being critical to promoting high-quality play outdoors: water play, building and constructing, den play, digging and gardening, role play, mark-making, and investigations.
'In addition, practitioners need to be aware of the importance of clothing and storage and access to resources,' says Ms Hogan. 'Many of these collections will include both purchased resources and recyclable or found materials. Practitioners will need a clear understanding of both continuous and enhanced provision, and how observation and planning supports the implementation of both.'
It is worth investing in larger items of equipment which are both practical and flexible, and will enhance the setting in the long term.
As for smaller resources, natural products are often not age-specific, so they have a greater application and use in an early years setting. For example, the wooden maize-filled baby's first rattle, which is made in England, is a newly launched product for Play to Z Ltd (price £6) that can also be used as a musical instrument by older children.
Ms Isaacs advises investing in a few goodquality, durable natural products, such as wellmade wooden blocks that offer endless play and learning opportunities.
'It is heartening to see investment in outdoor provision, and I would like to see investment in real experiences for the children rather than letting them have loads of plastic. Practitioners should try to be creative with what they have got, and then you can use bits and pieces from around home to supplement. For a role-play area, all you really need is a good collection of scarves, bags and hats.'
CASE STUDY: UP ON THE ROOF
Early Years Capital Grant funding has enabled Samantha Graveling to realise a long-held ambition and install a roof garden at her nursery in Coalville, Leicestershire.
Mrs Graveling, proprietor of the Lilliput Montessori chain of nurseries in the East Midlands, says the roof garden 'is the only way we can create the indoor-outdoor flow, which is such a key part of the EYFS curriculum. Formerly the children had to get their coats and boots on and troop downstairs to go outside. It is making a huge change.
'A roof garden is something I had been thinking about for some time, but I simply could not afford to do it without the grant.'
The project, with a budget of £50,000, has been completed and is now awaiting an inspection and approval from Ofsted.
'The building is grade two listed, so the project had to be in keeping with the building. There are restrictions on the colour scheme that could be used. The railings are painted dark green and the building is cream. We have installed deck flooring which is non-slip, but it is a natural feature,' says Ms Graveling.
'We are looking at putting up an awning to provide shade. A canopy attached to the wall will not work because of the risk of damage to the building if the wind gets under it.
'The whole project has taken about 18 months as we had to get planning permission and we had to co-ordinate the work.
'Where the fire escape comes down there was a tree and we wanted to create a tree house. We had the tree surveyed but it was dying, so we had to have it taken down. But the garden designers had the really good idea of retaining the tree stump and making it into a table for the children, with log benches around it.'
The garden project has used natural materials to create flexible features and areas. There is a digging area and a willow den and a set of wigwam poles that can be covered to create a tepee or through which the children can weave ribbons or hang objects to make music.
Ms Graveling is planning another roof garden at her Anstey setting, where a den has been made of the space around the legs of the fire escape. 'There is a door and a window, but it can be whatever the children want. Awnings or signs can be hung on it so it can be a shop or house or a fire station or whatever they want.'
