Learning walks

[mumofone]

Will we need to have specific activities lined up during inspections? Has the whole "just playing" open ended free flowing play gone out the window now?

[Maza]

There is a really useful blog post on Sarah's page, under independent minders. It explains what will happen during a learning walk. To be honest, it doesn't seem too different to what would happen during our past inspections anyway - inspectors would always look at your environment and decide whether or not it meets the needs of the children on that day. They would always look at how the children are motivated and engaged, whatever the activity is. I think most of us tend to do a mixture of free play and have a little focused activity/experience in mind on most days, so again, no real changes. They would be looking at the quality of play happening and how you interact with the children through the play - whether you extend it appropriately, introduce new vocab/concepts and if you know when to just stand back and let the children figure something out for themselves.

[moggy]

No- no specific activities needed, no expectation for planned activities at all. You need to do what you usually do, and demonstrate how you are meeting the needs of the children, how they are learning etc.

[mumofone]

Thanks moggy and maza. So whats with the new terminology then?
Thanks Maza, i'll have a read of Sarahs blog post. (Thanks as always Sarah!!:clapping:)
Are you back childminding now Maza...i've lost track. This used to be such a busy forum, I miss it!

[moggy]

Learning Walk is a term used in schools, when managers/inspectors walk around the school to see the learning happening and to get a feel for what is happening. So this is all part of of the schoolification of EY. It just means a look around the setting to see how it all works. Of course for a CM in a house it will be minimal. Most inspectors would have had a look around anyway, so it is nothing new, just new schooly terminology.

[mumofone]

Learning Walk is a term used in schools, when managers/inspectors walk around the school to see the learning happening and to get a feel for what is happening. So this is all part of of the schoolification of EY. It just means a look around the setting to see how it all works. Of course for a CM in a house it will be minimal. Most inspectors would have had a look around anyway, so it is nothing new, just new schooly terminology.

Ok thanks moggy, that's good to know

[Maza]

I know, it was lovely when it was so busy. It was like being sociable when you were staying in!

I'm not back minding yet...it became too tricky when we got a retired couple living in the flat below us. It was lovely before them because the previous owners used to get home as I was saying goodbye to the children, so I had the whole building to myself during the day and never had to worry about noise. However, we are 'under offer' at the moment and hoping to have moved into a house by the end of September. It's very touch and go at the moment though, as our seller is making very unreasonable demands about all sorts of things and we are just not sure we can meet all of his demands. We had the survey on our flat earlier this week and just know that as soon as he gets the surveyors report he is going to try and get us to 'fix' whatever has been mentioned in the survey.

Anyway, once I am in a house I want to get my childminding up and running again. I'm really looking forward to it - although I'm sure I am remembering it with rose tinted glasses! Mumofone, you must have been doing it for some years now...are you still enjoying it?

[sarah707]

I was chatting to Ofsted about learning walks the other day ...

It won't necessarily be a walk! It can be a sit and chat...

It's about talking to the inspector about our curriculum and ways of working - introducing ourselves and what we do :D