I was based in EYFS for over 10 years whilst at my previous setting (Lark Hall Primary School and Children’s Centre) and during that time, I had undertaken a number of training courses accredited and non-accredited to support my understanding of the EYFS curriculum.

 In my various roles from Children’s Centre Teacher, Deputy Manager, Interim Manager and Year Group Leader, I monitored the quality of our Early year’s provision in the Centre and School as well as supported Local Childminders and PVIs with improving their provision too. My aim was to have all the Lark Hall Childminders and PVIs within the catchment achieving a minimum of ‘Good’ OFSTED grading. The Centre achieved an ‘Outstanding’ OFSTED grading in 2014.

Moreover, I ensured that the training I undertook supported my work in the EYFS age group and deepened my understanding of the developmental stages for children in this age range i.e. ELDP and EYPS training.

As an Early Years Practitioner I use the ‘Development Matters in Early Years Foundation Stage’ to ensure the needs of children in our care are met. The layered and whole-child approach ensures we are fully adaptive to each of our children. I have always sought to ensure that, through my practice and the provision, each child is able to achieve their full potential and is given the tools necessary to build their learning power. 

 Care, learning and play were at the very heart of all our work with children at Lark Hall Children's Centre and school, whether children visited for a stay and play or attended our crèche or nursery/Reception provision for the year. We made use of the outcomes documents to ensure all our children: stay healthy, safe, enjoy & achieve, make a contribution and are able to achieve economic well-being.

The children’s well-being was paramount to our work. We focused on children feeling at ease, being spontaneous and free of tension. We wanted our children to be self confident and resilient. Our environment was fully risk assessed to ensure that children could play safely, securely and happily but also adventurously. All these expectations ensure that children are able to learn most effectively.

In my role as Year Group Leader in Reception, I was tasked with creating a learning environment which supported free flow between Nursery and Reception both indoors and outdoors and ensure high quality continuous provision was available for the children to access. The monitoring of the impact was achieved by using 2Simple software and weekly analysis of data to identify any gaps in learning. We achieved the best ever EYFSP results for the year 2016 – 2017.