ofsted and themes

[It's a small world]

hi

Just been reading about how Ofsted don't go for themes anymore.. So would I be right in saying that I could say use a topic of say seasons ie: summmer and incorportate. nature, weather. festivals etc

got to have some sort of topic theme to go on don't you other wise everything would be all over the place -- i like to be organinsed

[Bex1]

Hi, not sure I can help because I am baffled by it all! I get different views and opinions from whoever i speak too!

I did do planning such as monthly themes like 'all about me' etc and spoke to another cm who said "yes thats how you should be doing it" then went on an 'obs,ass and planning' course and was told flatly "Ofsted do not want you to do themes" and I was with ladies from Nurseries, day care and pre-schools all of whom said, we use to do themes but now we dont!

I only have little ones, all under 2 (on different days I would add ) so I have tried themes and they are not interested, they simply want to play! I know that they have stronger interests in some things like one likes tractors etc so I am just going to plan the month ahead to do activities around his like of tractors! If the Ofsted Inspector tells me I am wrong then I will ask how I should be doing it because right now my head is fuzzy and I dont know what is right or wrong

[HomefromHome]

this was on another post too - this is what i put there....

this is driving me mad because i think it's quite hard especially for an under 3 to have specific interests!!!!!! (that's not to say some dont by the way!!) if that was the case then both my mindees would be doing dollies/kitchens for the whole time!!!! (i put out different resources every other week but it always reverts back!) i disagree that monthly themes are 'bad' - surely your introducing them to new things could spark interest and certainly provide new learning!!! this is where i still think that ofsted and the other powers that be should have come up with a standard that all minders could work to and with when it comes to eyfs - the same journals/diaries/etc etc - tbh i wouldnt be where i am now if it wasnt for sarah707 and her e-books!!!!! and i still dont get 100% but i am doing what i THINK is gonna be ok with ofsted!!! grrrrrrr
>>jumping off soapbox<<

[sarah707]

When I was trained many years ago, I learned how wonderful it can be to take a child's interest in something and extend it ...

However, I was also taught that if a child doesn't have many interests he will miss so much that is going on around him.

How do you plan for a child's interests when you don't get feedback?

The answer is that you can plan a range of activities you know will interest and excite the child to learn and extend his knowledge.

You can call these what you like... themes, topics, child-friendly focus activities... it really doesn't matter!

What you are doing is using a child's natural enthusiasm for learning, sprinkling in a liberal dose of multiculturalism and diversity and presenting exciting learning opportunities for children of all ages, which are relevant to their development needs.

The day that becomes the wrong thing to do I will go stacking shelves at Tesco

[HomefromHome]

well put! am gonna write that down somewhere!!!!!!

[Cammie Doodle]

Well said Sarah, I do have themes, topic etc as a starting point and let the children lead me ie our "Topic" was colours, but one little lad wanted cars so thats what he played with, but I asked if he could group the red ones together , then the blue ones and so on, he then went onto count and size order them so we covered colours numbers sizing , encourage chatting so all in all we covered lots of areas .

[LisaMcNally09]

Well i have had my pre reg inspection today and the nice Ofsted lady (still my best mate for saying yes!! haha) told me topics were the best way to do planning.

I said i would have a fortnightly topic, that could be a festival or weather or colours or holidays etc....i would then branch out into activities to do with this topic...i then went on to say that i would make sure i covered the 6 areas of learning in these activities.

She said that was a really good way of doing it?!?!?!

[It's a small world]

When I was trained many years ago, I learned how wonderful it can be to take a child's interest in something and extend it ...

However, I was also taught that if a child doesn't have many interests he will miss so much that is going on around him.

How do you plan for a child's interests when you don't get feedback?

The answer is that you can plan a range of activities you know will interest and excite the child to learn and extend his knowledge.

You can call these what you like... themes, topics, child-friendly focus activities... it really doesn't matter!

What you are doing is using a child's natural enthusiasm for learning, sprinkling in a liberal dose of multiculturalism and diversity and presenting exciting learning opportunities for children of all ages, which are relevant to their development needs.

The day that becomes the wrong thing to do I will go stacking shelves at Tesco

Thanks Sarah

So in brief I have a young boy who is 2.5 and has been on a farm more or less 5 out of 7 days (he's with me 2 days a week now) Its his grandparents farm and so all he is interested is farms tractors etc basically being outside.

I have tried different things but only interested in farms. The other day I bought some brass (plastic) rubbings of farm objects for him to rub over. He seemed to enjoy this for a short time(not very into caft / arty things so it was a good breaking point. And I have some farm books. I have decided to take him away from this to further develop him but try and keep on the lines of things that he enjoys and thought an outing would be good. Therefore we are going to the woods for a walk looking at mini beats and nature.
For the EYFS I thought:

KUW - Learning about mini beasts and trees/leaves finding different types have a sheet showing outline of different types of leaves.
PD - Walking around the woods , climbing tree trunks (risk assessment !!)
PSRN - Mini Beast bingo / checklist
CD - When we go home will do a collage of the leaves we picked and stick pictures out of magazines
CLL - Talk about what we saw and did

Then I can plan from this what we do next to keep a 'theme' going like homes - where creatures/animals - farm animals / people live then about us - parts of the body clothes to wear in different weathers -then different weathers for different countries / animals from different countries

Is this right. Of course we will keep doing things that he really enjoys. I have a zoo/farm set and lots of tractors that he can keep playing with and when we get the duplo out we are always building barns for the tractors so we won't ever stay clear of his favourite things. And he enjoys going out so have lots of time in the park and garden (weather permitting) Sometimes this is hard as parent always sends him in shorts (potty training says its easier to wash and dry ??)and crocs (with no strap as cut them off and I am very wary he will fall and hurt himself as runs everywhere) plus short are not always good in the rain - have suggested more suitable clothes so see what he comes with tomorrow.

Sorry gone on abit and covered numerous things...

[It's a small world]

When I was trained many years ago, I learned how wonderful it can be to take a child's interest in something and extend it ...

However, I was also taught that if a child doesn't have many interests he will miss so much that is going on around him.

How do you plan for a child's interests when you don't get feedback?

The answer is that you can plan a range of activities you know will interest and excite the child to learn and extend his knowledge.

You can call these what you like... themes, topics, child-friendly focus activities... it really doesn't matter!

What you are doing is using a child's natural enthusiasm for learning, sprinkling in a liberal dose of multiculturalism and diversity and presenting exciting learning opportunities for children of all ages, which are relevant to their development needs.

The day that becomes the wrong thing to do I will go stacking shelves at Tesco

Forgot to say . Hopefully it won't come to Tescos . Although I did work for ASDA for 6 years in my hayday and enjoyed it . Currently working as a waitress 3-4 nights a week until more children come my way... at least I get some tips with that lol

[It's a small world]

Well said Sarah, I do have themes, topic etc as a starting point and let the children lead me ie our "Topic" was colours, but one little lad wanted cars so thats what he played with, but I asked if he could group the red ones together , then the blue ones and so on, he then went onto count and size order them so we covered colours numbers sizing , encourage chatting so all in all we covered lots of areas .

Thats a good way of doing things... so glad I posted this

[HomefromHome]

Thats a good way of doing things... so glad I posted this

yes i agree - perhaps its the way we word things that ofsted disapprove of more!!! i might put wording like that in my 'planning' folder!!!

[Star]

Yes, nice way to word it. I get there in the end but it takes me ages to word something as well as that. I always make sense to me, but wonder if I do to others!!!!!

[sweets]

I think if you want to go with planning themes and it works for you then go for it! i personally don't and it works for me, but what i think people need to know(especcialy newbies) is that you don't HAVE to have written long term plans with themes on for ofsted. I personally don't bow down to what the mighty ofsted want and don't want. i do the minimum paperwork and really enjoy my job and have recently become accredited. going about it in a relaxed way. We all do our paperwork different and thats good. some people do loads of detailed obs, some do photo ones just now and again, but i think it worries new minders and those with upcoming inspections to have to all these plans and paperwork and its good for them to know that they won't be marked down if they don't have themes and long term plans.

[sarah707]

Well said Sweets! Absolutely right... it's about what works for you

[Star]

Yep, I agree we must all do what works for us. I don't do themed planning either, I do individual planning around each childs interests and needs. I try to keep paperwork manageable for me and although I thought I wouldn't get it again, I recently got outstanding again. I know from looking on here lots of people are doing far me paperwork than me for planning. The key is evidencing you know the children in your care and how to provide for them in their daily routine and play, then how provide achievable next steps. All the paperwork in the world will not gain you an improved inspection if the inspector can not see this. Some times planning can become too comlicated and miss the point - the children. Hope I'm making sense!! I know what I mean! Hard to write it down when rushing between here and tea! No children present, don't worry! I don't go on forum when children are here.

[It's a small world]

Me again.

So if I go to the woods one week do obs on that then if we go to a playgroup th next do obs on them and week after go food shopping do obs on them...no theme connnected here but just link eyfs and this should be ok?

Do we need to do obs every week or every month????

I think sweetes is right all us newbies worry if we are doing it right and how Ofsted will grade us so do loads of paperwork which is most likely irrelevant...

We just want to be as good as all you professionals lol

We will keep bugging you for advice as we go along. I will try not to do themes just topics as my 2 are under3 and only interested in playing so will do different activities not linked in any particular way and do obs on what we do. Will also do WOW moments . When they get older hopefully their interests will get more varied....

[sweets]

Me again.

So if I go to the woods one week do obs on that then if we go to a playgroup th next do obs on them and week after go food shopping do obs on them...no theme connnected here but just link eyfs and this should be ok?

Do we need to do obs every week or every month????

I think sweetes is right all us newbies worry if we are doing it right and how Ofsted will grade us so do loads of paperwork which is most likely irrelevant...

We just want to be as good as all you professionals lol

We will keep bugging you for advice as we go along. I will try not to do themes just topics as my 2 are under3 and only interested in playing so will do different activities not linked in any particular way and do obs on what we do. Will also do WOW moments . When they get older hopefully their interests will get more varied....

hi what you said about your obs is fine, they don't have to be linked.I only do obs as and when, usually one a month sometimes two. i generally only do photo obs and on the back just link them to the main areas of eyfs they cover. you will find you can link most obs to all 6 areas but just choose 2 or 3 of the main ones. what you need to do though are next steps which can be just a sentence of how you will back it up e.g. if you have been to the woods then you could say you will do some leaf painting or you will look at bugs you have found. i do the minimum paperwork and don't get bogged down with it and i got a good at my recent inspection, i mentioned to my DO officer that should i have have done more paperwork to get an outstanding and she said absolutly not as inspectors are not just looking at that and i only got a good as it was my first inspection and my inspector is known for not given outstandings to newbies. Not that i am complaining as i am more than happy with my good rating and will be happy if i get it next time too.
JUst do your paperwork your way and as long as you have all the relevant policies, contracts,etc you will be fine.
Hope that helps

[sarah707]

Here are Kerrie's observation sheets that she wants to share.

Kerrie says...

Thanks Sweets

Things seem so much clearer now..Just off to recycling to bin all my theme paperwork lol....

Going to cut my paperwork by half..good job we can recycle

Thanks again. can I just show 2 ways to write obs are these ok ?

Thanks again


I think they are lovely - really colourful and will look nice hand written in the children's files

[miffy]

Thanks for sharing your planning and obs sheets Kerrie - they look great

Miffy xx

[sweets]

they are really good kerrie. If you want to cut down on writing even more then use the NCMA stickers for each area of develpment to link