Dear Ofsted......I DON'T WANT......
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  1. #1
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    Default Dear Ofsted......I DON'T WANT......

    The written environment in my garden
    Windmills or other eye catchers - I just want things that are naturally in a garden
    Please wash your hands signs in my bathroom
    Posters up inside
    Labels in 2 languages on everything


    and I am going to rebel and NOT have them.......

    I want to provide sensible, home based care for the littlies I look after and for my home to be something resembling a normal family home like their own

  2. #2
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    Good on you, I posted a thread about how to keep home looking just like that and not a nursery whilst also making it inviting for mindees and parents.
    I want mine to be as u say, a home from home setting.

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    Im with you 100%

    Im rebelling. I have toys in the garden. Im also lucky enough to have a very bright and colourful playroom. I dont have labels on my toy boxes and wont. I also dont have windmills etc outside.

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    I don't have labels. I personally hated having them kids just ripped them off. In the end they looked shabby and didn't feel like home.

    My mother got me interested in reading and writing without labels on everything. I also want to home school ds and labels arnt apart off that.

    I do have a separate play room which prob does look a bit nurseryish, but at the end of the day I shut the door and don't have to see the toys.

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    You have to wonder how some of us managed to grow up to be intelligent, well-adjusted individuals when we had no labelled toy boxes, no signs up in our gardens, no posters on the wall. Even our playgroups were run from village halls where there were no posters or child-friendly furniture.

    We were expected to go to school being able to dress ourselves and being able to write our own names. The majority of us could. How many children nowadays can't do that when they go to school? Doesn't that kind of show that it was the people who helped us learn, not the pretty posters and labelled toy boxes? If you have it in you, the children in your care will learn everything they need to without all the posters and labels.

    My garden doesn't have any permanent childminding fixtures. I do have a garden box that we take outside with us. Is has laminated photos of the actual animals that have visited our garden (cats, foxes, squirrels, birds, mice, butterflies, bees), with their names written on the back. The box also has tubs of bubbles in it, magnifying glasses, collecting bags, paper on clip boards along with pencils & crayons. I have laminated 'I-Spy' sheets (again of actual things in the garden) so that the children can tick off what they see. And colour sheets, so children can look for things of each colour, if they want to. Sometimes the children ignore the box, other times they're really interested in it, but at the end of the day it gets packed away like everything else

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    I would add, I don't have labels on toy boxes and never have had...but I do have windmills in the garden. I had them long before Ofsted decided they were popular and I have them because I have always liked them

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    whispers ....

    I do have labels on my toy boxes ... but not for the childrens benefit ... but for those well meaning adults/older children who help 'tidy up' and put everything in the wrong box!

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  13. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by loocyloo View Post
    whispers ....

    I do have labels on my toy boxes ... but not for the childrens benefit ... but for those well meaning adults/older children who help 'tidy up' and put everything in the wrong box!
    Ooh I wish. Adults other than myself who tidy?

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    All that inspectors...or the EYFS require is a for a 'print rich' environment...
    if you don't want labels on your boxes then there are other resources you can display to make it so: children's names, alphabet and number friezes, books and much more

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    Quote Originally Posted by Simona View Post
    All that inspectors...or the EYFS require is a for a 'print rich' environment...
    if you don't want labels on your boxes then there are other resources you can display to make it so: children's names, alphabet and number friezes, books and much more
    Actually my inspector last year complained specifically that my toy boxes weren't labelled. At the time I was going to put labels on and was waiting for a parent to add words to them in her native language for the benefit of her child. I've since made the decision that unless I plan on putting every language in the world on them I would not be being inclusive.

    I will poimt out that I have a world map on the wall and several other posters so it wasn't for lack of print. Oh and two separate areas of books. Some which are suitable for younger children and a whole bookcase more suitable for able readers.

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    There are plenty of opportunities, inside and outside, for children to see 'real life' writing which is surely far more meaningful. Off the top of my head- writing shopping list, labelling plants/ seeds in the garden, seed packets, food wrappers, calendars, invitations, magazines, newspapers, instruction manuals, recipe books.......

    I would rather do things like use a recipe book or a gardening book when I don't really need to (to show meaningful text) than fill my house with labels.

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  21. #12
    Simona Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by shortstuff View Post
    Actually my inspector last year complained specifically that my toy boxes weren't labelled. At the time I was going to put labels on and was waiting for a parent to add words to them in her native language for the benefit of her child. I've since made the decision that unless I plan on putting every language in the world on them I would not be being inclusive.

    I will poimt out that I have a world map on the wall and several other posters so it wasn't for lack of print. Oh and two separate areas of books. Some which are suitable for younger children and a whole bookcase more suitable for able readers.
    Nowhere in the EYFS says we need labels to make the environment print rich...maybe that inspector was passing her own individual judgement?

    We have had this discussion before...many cms approve of labels others don't...I think we can argue with the inspector how we promote literacy in other ways that are just as useful
    Many cms do not have the space or walls available like schools and we are not like them...my view of course
    I agree with Lal there are plenty of opportunities indoor and outdoor but it is our choice in the end

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  23. #13
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    I have bought pens that write and survive really well on wood, so my garden has a bug hotel sign, digging area, to make sure they don't dig in the veg plots and flowerpot farm sign for the lovely area that the children have filled with pots of plants. I have numbers and pictures and letters on slate and stone that my 2 year old loves to distribute around the garden, collect in a pail and spread again! So natural materials with writing on. We have labelled the veg garden a little better this year, the children have done some too.
    My brother in law and family have just spent the day with us, sitting in the garden, his grown up children loved the stones and slate so much that over the sparkling wine they drew me lots of pics and messages on slate and just dropped them on our slate patio, I know the LO will love finding them, but the garden still looks natural. My sister in law liked the signs, and didn't associate them with childminding! ( she thought they were part of the random quotes I have dispersed around my home...laugh a lot, live long, kiss and hug everyday( we did wonder if Mrs O would approve of this one ) etc... She thought I had picked them up from a garden centre! )

    We used the outdoor kitchen, stripped of pots and pans and spoons to put the ice buckets on. ( talked about having a reversible mud kitchen sign ....with cocktail bar on reverse at weekends)

    Haven't had a visit from Ofsted yet, but I will stand my ground on lack of laminated stapled on signs, if it comes up. I have appropriate print in the environment I think ......... ( brave talk after an afternoon of sparkling wine and lovely company!)

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  25. #14
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    I have windmills but they're a constant temptation to all children who continually rip them out race around the garden then drop them, they've also tried to use them for sword fighting, not the safest thing really when the last thing they want to do is look and not touch! I'll keep them until they break but won't be replacing them

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  27. #15
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    Thought I would share this idea!2014-05-28 19.24.52.jpg adds to the 'print rich environment' without taking up much space and uses all the milk bottle lids!!

  28. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by alex__17 View Post
    I have windmills but they're a constant temptation to all children who continually rip them out race around the garden then drop them, they've also tried to use them for sword fighting, not the safest thing really when the last thing they want to do is look and not touch! I'll keep them until they break but won't be replacing them
    That made me laugh ... and got me thinking of Truss' comments about children 'running around with no sense of purpose'...except in this case they would be chasing windmills...Don Quixote did that...did he not?

    I recall the discussion about windmills...I think it started on some FB page and got reported in this forum...all cms rushing to get windmills because one inspector thought they were the 'theme of the day'
    do windmills fit in the print rich environment?...more sensory to me than anything else...lets try to hang some CDs in the garden instead...wonderful visual effects on a sunny day!

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  30. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by VeggieSausage View Post
    The written environment in my garden
    Windmills or other eye catchers - I just want things that are naturally in a garden
    Please wash your hands signs in my bathroom
    Posters up inside
    Labels in 2 languages on everything


    and I am going to rebel and NOT have them.......

    I want to provide sensible, home based care for the littlies I look after and for my home to be something resembling a normal family home like their own
    Oh come on, there's a sensible answer to this. Buy enough windmills and stick them in your lawn in a pattern so as to spell out (in your bestest writing) the words "S0D OFF OFSTED".

    This satisfies the twin 'requirements' for windmills and for a 'language-rich' lawn. (And they can go on your expenses.)


    Note: to be fair on inspectors, they are in a no-win situation. When they tell CMs vague things like "need a rich/stimulating environment" we complain they've not been specific. When they give examples such as the jolly old windmills thing, we accuse Mrs* O of being over-proscriptive.


    * or Mr/Ms/Miss - other gender choices are available, let's all keep this nice and diverse.

  31. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by primula View Post
    Thought I would share this idea!2014-05-28 19.24.52.jpg adds to the 'print rich environment' without taking up much space and uses all the milk bottle lids!!
    Love this
    Xxx

  32. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by bunyip View Post
    Oh come on, there's a sensible answer to this. Buy enough windmills and stick them in your lawn in a pattern so as to spell out (in your bestest writing) the words "S0D OFF OFSTED".

    This satisfies the twin 'requirements' for windmills and for a 'language-rich' lawn. (And they can go on your expenses.)


    Note: to be fair on inspectors, they are in a no-win situation. When they tell CMs vague things like "need a rich/stimulating environment" we complain they've not been specific. When they give examples such as the jolly old windmills thing, we accuse Mrs* O of being over-proscriptive.


    * or Mr/Ms/Miss - other gender choices are available, let's all keep this nice and diverse.
    I think that is taking the issue too far Bunyip...some of us remember Ofsted as it was pre privatisation and they did achieve a lot...got rid of those who could not be bothered to take up the EYFS challenge for a start!

    We were not scared of Ofsted because they did their job according to the book...they came to judge our practice but rather than the present climate of fear.... which this forum creates and supports...we were not downgraded as it is called now ...we were praised and encouraged to improve

    First of all the windmills business started on FB...who takes FB seriously?
    Just because one CM was told to buy one ...the whole group followed like sheep and told CMs that we MUST have windmills?
    come on....

    Ofsted have rightly been criticised for privatising inspections and the result has been patchy, subjective and a true mess...hence the decision to take some inspections in-house again for schools and FE...however...the problem lies with the training inspectors get and also our knowledge of the EYFS and how we engage with inspectors on the day

    For this thread in particular that is very obvious...
    no one has asked us for labels...although those trained in HighScope will use them because they understand the reason behind them which relate to literacy, PSED and also many other areas of learning

    Being despondent in this occasion will backfire...we are talking about a print rich environment which CMs can easily provide because we are out and about in the community each day...unlike nurseries where the vast majority of the time children are inside 4 walls ...which are overloaded with labels and print ...often far too high for the kids to get any learning from.

    So if cms do not want to use labels ...what can we provide instead?...lets discuss that.

  33. #20
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    I have labels, I like my labels! My confession is done :-)

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