Hi, my name is Jordan. I am a special education teacher from the UK. I share my passion for
everything communication, sensory regulation and fun lesson ideas for my classroom of disabled
pupils aged 4 to 11. Each week I am joined by experts in the field answering your questions
and sharing our knowledge and experience working alongside our beautiful young people. Let's get started.
Hi everybody. Today is going to be all about early years. I'm going to be joined by Hayley
from All About Early Years and we're going to be talking about the SEND provision and how to support
your SEN children in early years. Now I haven't actually heard from Hayley today so if she doesn't
turn up then we'll just work with your questions and I'll do my best to answer them and if she does
turn up then awesome we can answer them together. I was really excited to speak to Hayley
because my school is specially provisioned but we're attached to a mainstream school
and it's becoming so obvious that so many teachers whether they're mainstream or not
are SEN teachers now. There's incredibly complex and high support needs in mainstream especially
on those early years nursery reception year one because the EHCP process is taking so long to get
through that these children are in those early years and key stage one classes before they get
to specialist provision. It's very rare now that children will get it you know before they start
school which means that all you lovely early years teachers and key stage one teachers and nursery
teachers are having to manage children with needs that you haven't been trained for or seen before
so I'm hoping that we can work together and support you in this today and also I want to
be making sure that I'm giving fair realistic and good advice. So let's have a look at how to set
goals for non-verbal children with echolalia. So I assume these are like IEP goals or targets
so I would look at I have a free blog post all about the stages from echolalia all the way through
to actual um catching up with developmentally and speech with their peers. There's stages to that
and I've got a free blog post all about it on my website if you head to my website and search
guest old g-e-s-t-a-l-t then you will find my free blog post all about the stages it says what to
look out for so you can see what stage your child is at and it says how to support them and then
maybe you could check where your student or where your child is on the stages and then you could
have a look at what the next descriptor is um that they're working towards and then set some
and then set some targets around that. For example maybe if they're at stage one and they are echoing
directly what they hear straight away you know when they hear it well then stage two is to have
a delay before echoing that phrase so maybe their target would be to have a 20 second delay after
hearing a phrase and then it might be having an hour delay a two hour delay you know making it
realistic and then your how you achieve that would be you modeling and using those phrases in context
um for other purposes you showing objects to do with that phrase and kind of make it meaningful
and I understand your child's meaning behind that phrase as well if it's quite emotive maybe
they're trying to share that emotion if it is about a certain object maybe they're requesting
it or or seeking something similar and so that could be a target around yeah echolalia and it's
it does happen on the child's terms but it's really great to be able to measure where they're at um
because then you can look out for what's next because the interesting thing about gestalt
language processing is it looks like they're taking a backwards step as they're progressing
through it but they actually are progressing so it's really important that you know the stages
and I say that because so let me explain what I mean by that so often their speech seems really
quite great because they're copying exact phrases so they'll be grammatically correct they'll have
inflection they'll be emotive you know they'll be really great sentences however as they work
through the stages they will be adding words and creating words on their own without it being from
a tv program or add their own ideas onto it now often they are not grammatically correct
but that still is a step forward because they're creating them themselves but sometimes parents
will say oh they've gone backwards you know they used to be able to say all these beautiful phrases
and now they can't anymore but it's actually because they're they're um they're creating them
themselves so for example a great example of this is one of my students uh loves the groffalo
and has lots of echolalic phrases so exact phrases but I knew he'd reached this certain stage of being
of being you know and stepped forward because he said when the groffalo was holding up the mouse
and he spun him around he said groffalo spun uh groffalo spinned mouse around and I knew
that he hadn't heard that from anywhere else because I knew that that wasn't grammatically
correct so he must have created spinned or spunned I think he said himself which is really exciting
but it's only exciting to me because I knew what the next stage to look for was whereas otherwise
if I hadn't have known that I would have thought you're going backwards you know you used to be
able to say that word really well so yeah definitely look at the stages on my website
about gestalt language processing okay next question we are waiting on Ofsted how do you
set an early years classroom up with the high level needs we have that is such a great question
and a really great question for Hayley I hope she comes on soon as far as often Ofsted with Sen though
I can speak for that we had Ofsted last December and genuinely they want to if they see a behaviour
live in the classroom they will want to see that reflected on their behaviour plan or if it's a new
behaviour randomly that day they want they'll want to see you logging it or what you're doing
about safeguarding and as far as recording that just as you would all the time as for their
learning they loved that my class learned in parallel with mainstream subjects so when
mainstream were learning about Vikings we were learning about all about me and all about our
history and our family or if they were doing about a certain like nurses for example like nurses in
World War Two we were learning about emotions and how to request help and how to say what's wrong
or say what we're feeling you know they were linked and they really liked that so if you have
Sen and high level high support needs in your class then try and think outside of the box what
does this target or skill look like for them to make it meaningful and then go off of that
luckily I've done all the hard work for you my sensory curriculum is literally that
because I had to create a curriculum from my mainstream schools curriculum for my sensory
learners I literally took all of the subjects all of the topics all of the breakdown from the
national curriculum that they used and I broke it up into making it suitable for my sensory learners
that's £10 on my website so hopefully that helps as far as Ofsted goes and support your teaching
assistants as well because they'll feel incredibly watched and observed especially if the child's
having a difficult time or going through a crisis I know a couple of mine became dysregulated just
because there was a visitor in the room you know and they're they're feeling my fear and anxiety
so just reassure the teaching assistants that they know the plan like go through what to do
if that happens then do this if that happens then do this just so they feel reassured and yeah not
judged on the day so they're making some sensible and well thought out judgments on what to do how
do we do continuous provision in a safe way yeah lots of children in my class have trajectory
schemes of play super dangerous yeah lots of throwing so I find that continuous provision
can be really overstimulating for sensory learners and autistic learners typically autistic learners
are incredibly visual learners and they take in everything all at once at the same time so if
everything is out on show it can be really overwhelming and really heightening and then
they get overexcited and then make some unsafe decisions like throwing tipping pouring messing
things up tearing all of those kind of things so a really good way if you've got sent in your
continuous provision classroom I use dividers so wall dividers in my room to make them a safe
section that doesn't have anything on the dividers so it is you know clutter free in a way not that
your classroom is cluttered but it might look like that to them it might let there's lots of things
around another way is rather than having see-through boxes you could have clear boxes
or having little curtains that go across your shelving rather than it all being on show all
at once so just yeah being really mindful of you know what does this look like visually for
my learners that get visually overstimulated without taking it away from your other learners
I'm I know that this is incredibly complex because continuous provision has such great value
for so many reasons but just be mindful of where you're positioning your autistic children in the
classroom I often go for corners or edges so there's nothing happening behind them because
that can cause anxiety and overstimulation so have them by the wall in the corner or
in the corner with dividers in between and then they can choose when to go out and when to come
in and when they need that that break away from the busyness of the room and then also if you
wanted things out just be careful what you have out maybe if you have children that eat things
or like to cut things you know maybe actually the children have to ask for the scissors or
ask for the blue tack or the play dough rather than having those out and I know it feels like
I know we have this wonderful idea of having a Pinterest classroom actually how things are
going now with such high needs in your classroom it just might not be safe and that has to come
first and so it might be that you have a visual on the tough tray or on your table that the children
can use to ask for what they need so they're still showing independence they're still choosing to go
to the areas but it's just making it a little bit safer for those learners and taking the burden
away from the teaching assistant that's trying to manage and keep that child safe and everyone else
around him safe. How to teach a child to walk straight with vestibular sensory issues so it's
not it is about teaching them and they might have a physio plan I suppose but also if they have
vestibular sensory seeking needs it's about meeting those needs so vestibular for those that don't
know is your balance sense it's linked with your inner ear and it helps your body to know if you
are upright or upside down or a bit wobbly and a bit unbalanced. Those with vestibular seeking needs
can be one of two things if they have a heightened vestibular sense then they would be
incredibly seeking of it which means they're your upside down, restly children on the swing, laying
upside down, doing bridges, doing cartwheels, flipping up and down that's that they're your
vestibular seekers but also you can have vestibular avoiders so these are children
that struggle to walk upstairs that feel a bit unbalanced and struggle to sit back on their seat
without you know looking back and looking a bit nervous and really feeling if the chair's there
they trip up they fall and they're a bit nervous and unbalanced so via saying with
vestibular sensory issues I wonder if they are seeking it or avoid it or vestibular avoiders I wonder if which one you mean there but either way I would if they're seekers I would be meeting that need regularly
with regular sensory breaks that meet that upside down climbing swing nest swings are fantastic rolling
on the floor like sausage rolls all those kind of things to get that vestibular seeking and then
that will heighten them so then do some grounding and calming afterwards before going back into class
if they are vestibular avoiders so they're a bit nervous about that then it is about spotting them
and and then slowly building their confidence it's about having support systems in place so like hand
rails and steady chairs heavier furniture so if they lean on them they don't wobble all of those
kind of things and and gradually walking around it could also be linked with if they're a bit
unsteady it might just not be just vestibular it might also be vision as well or proprioception
and so for vision you can masking tape or tape lines or spots to the ground to help with transition
and guiding and that might help them navigate their way when they're transitioning if they've
got proprioception needs that is lots of grounding work so maybe heavy things might help them feel a
little bit more grounded in their bodies in to be able to walk but also having lots of movement
breaks again deep pressure squeezes jumping anything that's hard that makes helps them to
know where their body is helps them feel is centered in their body because proprioception
makes you not really sure if you're not you know looking where your arms are where your legs are
and you feel a little bit woozy so anything kind of weight or grounding jumping tiptoe walking
clapping all those kind of things that help you tell where your body is will probably help with
their gross motor as well what's the reason behind special education kids who scratch and bite in the
early years so scratching and biting is a classic get out of my space because what do people do when
you scratch and bite them they don't want to play with you anymore the way to support that is to
give them a safer and more appropriate way of getting space so it might be that you're create
you've created a space in the classroom a little den it could literally be a blanket over their
table it could be a pop-up dark den or a pop-up tent it could be like i was just saying earlier
about wall dividers they've got their own safe space it could be that it's a safe place that
they can go to at any time when they need to some children like outside as well and then maybe having
a visual as well of i need a break or i need space and something they can use and have on them and
that it's honored because we'd way rather them communicate in that way than be scratching biting
hitting hair pulling another reason and it's often linked with this is they like they enjoy the cause
and effect of it they like the reaction and it might be the only interaction they get with their
peers even though it's not a positive one it still might be reinforcing and being meeting that social
interaction need they have so it's also about modeling interactive games with their peers
that are far more safe and appropriate that they could play and initiate with them something like
tag works really well because they're still having that grounding input of having impact on the
child but it's a known game and the child won't be offended by it and will reciprocate the game
and they can then play together but that that takes lots of adult modeling and support to do
that with um high support needs children so yeah have a look at those kind of things it's again the
cause and effect as well maybe talk to your children um not to have such a big reaction which is so hard
in the early years but certainly for the adults to not have such a big reaction on the negative or on
the hurting behaviors but have a really big and elaborate and exaggerated response to when the
child initiates an interaction in a safer way so that that cause and effect happens for more safe
and appropriate behaviors um does secured a role as a class teacher in an autistic base fantastic
but congratulations any tips for first time working in this setting yes listen to your ta's your ta's
will be your gurus because they will have worked with the children before especially if you're
starting you know from january they'd have worked with them for at least 12 weeks maybe even years
before you step in so don't feel like you have to walk in stamp your feet make them make your mark
known and you know and make changes listen to your staff listen to what's going well in the classroom
listen to what's not going well in the classroom and work together collaboratively from that point
on there might be things after a few weeks that you want to initiate and embed in the classroom
because you've seen things and you think of a better way of doing things or something you want
to try then fantastic but initially when you first walk in you're actually the student and they are
the teacher and you can just learn so much from them my teaching assistants dragged me first
through the first year or two of my teaching when i first trained and i learned so much so yeah go
in with no ego and they will they will guide you through also say yes to any training you're offered
even if it doesn't feel relevant at the time it might be one day or with one student so yeah just
say yes to every opportunity for training work closely with professionals that are within the
school so maybe you've got occupational therapists or physios or speech and language therapists or
educational psychologists and nurses that you might be working alongside so ask all the questions
and just soak in all of their knowledge like a sponge that's the only reason i know what i know
oh hailey is here hello hello i'm so pleased you're here because i was doing my best to answer these
early years questions but the fact is i said this right at the beginning i've never worked in an
early year so i know what good practice looks like for high support leads in a specialist provision
but that's why i want you here because this really isn't my specialty and i really want to hear from
you you've had loads of posts recently about high contrast about um vision impairment about sensory
needs so does that give a clue as to what your class is looking at like right now maybe explain
a little bit about um yeah your class and what you do because i know you've been in the space
for a long time yeah definitely so um this cohort of children is kind of like no other we are very
much on learning and i've just been watching you as well so like learning what we're doing right
now and taking all the advice that we can so i have a particular child um in my own class that
um is visually impaired um and they are blind so there are lots of different and again i'm still
learning so many different types of visually impairment and i never knew about so um my
particular child um has only got light perception so if you imagine your eyes closed that is then
what they see so they can see shadows and things like that we also have another particular child
in our cohort that is has a visual impairment but again that is why we are then looking at
the high contrast and things like that so they have a nice stigma as well as a couple of other
things as well and so it's all about learning what we can and making those adaptations and again
we all know what school budgets and things like that are like so what can we change and what can
we do that's kind of on the cheap and trying to work things out what we've already got right now
it seems like you're really embracing it though and actually like it seems like you're quite
enjoying like this new skill that you're learning which i love there's so many things like i'm
learning braille at the moment and i've got no idea you know there's so many i think when we teach
to um like teachers and other people phonics i think that we could teach them you know when you
sit well when you see phonics they always say like i have some squiggles on the screen and then they
they sort of say like okay so this squiggle means and this squiggle means right read this
sentence and you're obviously you're going to go i don't know what that sentence means but i actually
think that they could use braille instead because so there's again i'm just gonna share what i know
there are six cells in braille and that's it so we're using braille is very very tiny so we're
using things like paint trays and tennis balls egg cartons and pot and ping pong balls and things
like that to recreate the cells and they all where the cells are placed where the balls are
means a different sound or it also links like is also number one but you need the number character
of braille before then the number to know that that is one not ah and just like all of that i'm
in a whole new world that whole language isn't it and i'm just you know i just think teaching you
know you never know everything i always think you can just embrace more of what we we learn about
and again i'm still learning the things of these vi children and the vi team we've got amazing
support coming in to help us out i didn't know that there's braille lego that you can get as well
exciting yes doing we've got braille lego we've got yeah just so many different resources
i'm really excited we've just ordered a chameleon reader so it's a pen that you can get and it's
got um stickers alongside it so you can stick into any object any book is what we're looking at doing
and then you record what's on that sticker so then it means that the child will be able to feel for
the sticker and click it along to the pen and then they'll be able to embrace stories and reading a
lot more and also with that they'll be able to build in those social skills to go and share a
story with somebody else as well so i think that's again a really important aspect that we're trying
to do that's really great and also embedding the love of learning like you are with all your
like you are with students as well yeah i know you posted about um the living paintings as well
recently you guys gonna say have you have you accessed that yeah yeah definitely and like
there's a whole list on there and you can just access so many different things and have that
whole inclusiveness as well that then this month is blindness awareness month so as a school we've
celebrated blindness awareness month and i've done some assemblies on it every class is doing some
different activities and learning about the children that we have in school and ensuring
that we're just celebrating that and it can be a simple because that is inclusion isn't it like
everything you're describing is absolutely inclusion it's not just making reasonable
adjustments which is what you're doing it is celebrating the amazing world that is this and
not only within your class but in the whole school is so exciting to me to hear i just think that
there's the main thing to take away from it is that anything that we're doing to support these
children doesn't just support these children it supports all children so it can only benefit
all the children that that we have the high contrast it only benefits all the children
that we are exposing different like we're adding sense to our play dough and things like that that
can only support and help all the children as well yeah because some of your learners may not
have visual impairment but they might learn through touch or learn through doing or you know be more
physical learners kinesthetic learners so yeah you're exactly right or might be like find it
easier to listen to the story or feel the story or you know whatever it's not gonna hurt is it
yeah definitely but that's your visual impaired learners have you got any other complex needs or
high support needs in your class as well yeah we do so we have um another particular child that is
has currently got an ehtp but we're currently having a look at diagnosis at with them so we've
got physios involved ot's involved speech and language involved as we do all the all the
professionals that you take advice from and that we are probably going towards a cerebral palsy
diagnosis and probably as well as other diagnosis as well so again learning from new how to put on
splints and things like that and lots of growth motor and fine motor stuff as well yep um they
currently don't walk as well so um we're in the process of trying to get them a wheelchair we're
in the process of trying to get them a standing frame this is what i was saying right before you
came on the early years because they haven't necessarily got the htp or they haven't got the
diagnosis or they haven't got that support in place yet they're not in specialist provision or
whatever like you're in the like you're in the trenches sometimes aren't you like starting
everything with also starting with parents like often by the time they come to us the parents are
so reassured and like know what their child is has whatever that we don't ever have to have that
conversation with the parent for the first time because they've been fighting for it for years
before they even come to us do you know what i mean then all that shock factor all of those
conversations has kind of gone whereas you are dealing with it like from the forefront you like
early years at the nursery and reception i think it's really hard as well because we've got these
particular children that actually parents are really on board with and they're very accepting
and you know how can we provide what they actually need and we have these reasonable adjustments but
there are also children within our provision that actually might not be so on board and actually we
need to start that slow process of you know are they meeting developmental goals and actually we
want the best for them we're on the same team and actually what can we do to then support them
support you at home and work together so that they're not reaching those milestones if there's
nothing else no one else to compare them to right yeah i've had parents before who have had a
disabled older sibling but have had no idea how disabled their younger sibling was because in
their comparison is relative isn't it so they were you know they were there speaking they're
making yeah they do massive readings like they are working at three years below where they should
you know but they just didn't know so it's it's about having those conversations as well isn't
it and and kind of and you just have to kind of sometimes just tread carefully and bring it up
and you know use your like evidence within this and sometimes it's quite good i really dislike
the typical like ages and stages of things yeah because you know children don't all learn like
that in one straight line they do this they do this they do this it doesn't work like that so
what i like to do is sometimes sit down with parents take that all away and sort of like hide
those ages and stages and just go through with them like where do they think they're at and what
are we seeing at school so then we can then like take those ages and stages then re-look at them
to then see okay so what where are where is the child in ages and stages and where are they actually
showing us um no that's really helpful because yeah otherwise how would they know
yeah that's really interesting we had a question it's not it's a question i get a lot about
continuous provision um of it like i'm a firm believer in continuous provision i'm an incredibly
creative person i get it i totally get it but i hear lots of teachers coming to me with they have
an autistic learner in their class or you know one with you know sensory regulation needs that
finds it incredibly overwhelming to have you know everything out or to have things out and there's
lots of throwing eating tipping pouring have you come across that and how how do you manage that
within your room and what are your thoughts around that because i i have mine so my advice was
create a safe you know clutter free environment for them to go back to and reset and go again
but i know it's not as easy i've seen it i'm attached to amazing school i've seen children
that tear displays rip poor poor tip out and it can be incredibly disruptive can't it so and
breaking children's work you know it can be really difficult so yeah have you seen it and and how
what do you do absolutely you know in early years you kind of like you said before you kind of see
everything you kind of see a bit of everything so again at this cohort right now we've got a
particular child um who loves to rip things so it's about trying to what can they rip and what
can't they rip and then trying to teach that child of if they start ripping then bringing them over
to that safe space so this is where we can rip and once they've got that particular rip that they are
looking for yeah now we can come out and we can access that provision again yeah previously i've
had a child with picker before so lots of eating mouths and different objects and things like that
so again i think it's really important to when we look at things like messy and sensory play
is that appropriate for them and i'm yes we need to be aware of poverty and food play and things
like that as well but actually if our children are mouthing everything what is safe for them and what
isn't safe for them and that balance between it and one thing we did with that particular child
they used to like lots of like the little tiny like stones like pebbles and rocks yeah and mild
those and it was about finding um something that we can trade out with them so if they were to give
you the rocks or anything what's the texture like of a rock so it's quite like solid and things like
that it could be quite crunchy so are they accepting that into a cheerio for example yes i was going to
say dry cereal or something like that yeah what's acceptable what's not is there something that
actually um it needs to be of a similar texture so it can't be completely something if they're
eating sticks i'm not going to give them some jelly yeah it's a completely different texture
it's probably what we've been um what we've been advised about what we've been advised about is
ensuring that it's that similar texture because that's what they're looking for that sensory need
of that but yeah but yeah we we've had swiping off the tables and everything's gone we've had
you know ripping up children's work and it's that again that understanding within your class of
acceptance and children learn differently and no that's not okay they've come and ripped your
work or anything but this child might need a little bit of extra help or anything and it's okay
so it's modeling that acceptance isn't it through your reaction because your other children are
going to be looking to you on how to react on this aren't they so validate their feelings
validate you know i know you worked really hard on that and that's really sad that that's broken
isn't it you know and then and then start that conversation that way to validate them but also
children are incredibly wise actually on difference and they do get it even these little
these in your class don't they they do get it they see it and they can be incredibly kind and
generous with their um with their uh forgiveness can't they but it definitely comes from adult
modeling first i think if adults are even if they're trying to hide it i think children are very
can you know read very acute emotions and if you're underlying frustrated or anxious about
something i feel like they're going to pick that up and and kind of replicate that as well become
frustrated and anxious themselves yeah i think it's just you know the like you say like validating
their emotions and then actually oh well never mind let's make another one you know moving that
on yes or how can we fix it can i help you yeah should we get some tape or what can we do to
you know solve this problem now and kind of looking at it then that way but not skipping over that
validations of emotions as well because it is valid that actually so they've been working on
for a long time has been destroyed and it's okay if you're feeling sad and it's okay you know if
you're upset about that how can we now change that around sort of thing um or should we put it back
together and take a picture of it shall we photocopy it yeah those sorts of things as well so actually
we've kind of recreated that um images as well i really love that idea because it makes it more
permanent doesn't it and maybe take if you know that a child rips maybe uh taking a picture of
it really quickly yeah you've got that and we've had things like this particular child who um
loves to rip things like displays and things like that and i know you've shared before like using
material and things like that another thing that we've done is use um like a pvc plastic over the
top of boards and velcroed it yes so actually if you're if like the backing will be safe if
it's material but actually the work on it that could get ripped as well so actually we pull down
the plastic behind it put the paper and displays up and then put the plastic because if then that
child rips it that's velcro that they're ripping and we can just easily stick that back down
nothing's broken nothing's got damaged yeah there we go that's a really great idea and also um
children that i don't know spray water or you know spray their drink or whatever it's just
safe from all of those those wet materials as well isn't it oh little icky children i love it
i love it it's never boring is it no day is the same absolutely i love it somebody has said have
you got any top tips for a trainee in a non-subject specific class i can imagine it's yeah very i mean
i mean that's that is what early years is isn't it it's it's all uh all subjects can be met with
every activity pretty much can't it yeah so so what does i suppose what does that look like as far as
um uh like what your day looks like and what kind of activities do you kind of are your every go-to
activities i suppose so i always think that we kind of go with our strengths so i love maths
i'm personally i'm dyslexic so i think one and one always will add two but the whole we like a before
e except after c but not in this word or that one well doesn't make sense to me so i'm always drawn
to you know the maths learning and things because i think it's very hands-on it's very tactile we can
you know explore in different ways and things like that quite creative and fine motor i like as well
because i'm a big believer in ensuring that we've got the skills before writing so i do a lot of
work with our parents and with um teaching the parents that actually how to help them write is
it by sitting down and getting them to write letters and letters and letters it's actually
by going to the park and riding a bike and going on a scooter and all of those big arm muscle
movements first of all and then bringing it to the final to me is that a common problem because i have
i have in-laws and and siblings with three-year-olds and they are obsessed with
pencils writing and i'm like no don't play in mud you know use pegs play in the kitchen um don't do
that you don't need to do that yet you know do dances and practice moving your body um absolutely
i think it's just a typical thing that people associate school with sitting down and writing
and learning in that sense it's a lot of the work that we do when the children first start and
we have our meeting coming up really soon all the way beginning of next year's cohort we then have
a meeting in may we then have one in september once those children have their places but again
starting it from that point of in our school in early years we are play-based what does that
actually mean you know it's not that we have they just what do you do all day i just play
because of course that's what your children are going to do they don't know that they're actually
learning these skills or practicing these skills that they're actually doing everything we have
out has a purpose for their learning and it's so cross-curricular as well nothing is just this is
math and this is only going to be math so it's all so different cross-curricular and it's kind of
teaching the parents that and that is still learning we give them a whole list of different
activity ideas that they can do that is learning in math that is learning in writing and things
like that as well yes we obviously have phonics lessons the children take home little phonics
cards so they can practice that and again we have an activity pack that goes home with every child
and it is not you know sitting down what's this flash card what's this flash card absolutely yes
they are mini sounds but actually go and put them on the stairs and then stamp on the stairs as you
go along put them in different corners and then can you run to the at sound can you run to the
sound and the sound splat and i always say like get the children to teach you as much as you teach
the children because 100 like we've all had to learn phonics i had to learn phonics when i was
trained to be a teacher i didn't know it before and i'm not assuming the parents know that either
right yeah so the children are the experts really aren't they and otherwise they could have some
like yeah difficult practice um on this on all these cross-curricular amazing ideas i can see
your book behind you do you want to do a little uh pluggy plug of your book which looks incredible
by the way so you've broken it down into the cross-curricular subject the earlier subjects
haven't you yes so this is my book it's called play all the way it's available on amazon and in
it it kind of shows you my journey so my journey i was a nursery nurse i've been a one-to-one ta
i've been a ta i then trained to be a teacher i did my degree whilst working full time and then i was
in nursery um in my current school and then i moved through to foundation took over as early
as lead three weeks before lockdown um so that was an interesting time and then i've been in
foundation since so i've been teaching only seven years but i've got like quite a big range of
different experiences within early years during that time and and it kind of goes through my
journey it breaks down really what's the statutory framework what's not statutory framework it then
goes into the areas of learning and of course i love a rainbow so everything is color coded
i love it so you can easily see that if you want an activity idea that's psed you can go to the
red section and then all of those activity ideas are to do with psed so if you want communication
and language it's orange if you want um physical development it's yellow because again my dyslexic
brain just works like that i love that i love it just makes sense to me i love that and there's
loads of pictures in there of your activities isn't it it's all broken down really easy so if
there's any early years teachers or trainees that are struggling to think of ideas you know you're
going for the flashcards you're going for the pencils and paper and you're not really you know
you're mind-boggled and a bit overwhelmed by pinterest because sometimes there is just too
much choice and actually it's not realistic let's face it it's actually for the photos and not for
the children then this book would be perfect wouldn't it because it's all broken down and it's
real you're actually doing these things so i'm all about i'm all about just recreating those like
really simple about effective learning ideas it doesn't need tons of resources it doesn't need
loads of expensive things as well it's about recreating these activity ideas something that
you can just pick up and use as inspiration you don't have to recreate the same thing of course
you can do but you can take it when you're just a bit stuck that day you're thinking i don't really
know what to do around this learning objective oh i'll pick up this book flick through it oh
that's a great one right i'm going to take this element of it but change it into this sort of
part instead so again yeah sometimes you just need that starter don't you because often well
especially like a first thing on a monday or last thing on a friday you have nothing left and
certainly no creative flare left sometimes i just stare into the abyss and just like and just hope
that something comes to me and um and it really does and i have to just go home and sleep on it
but if you grab that book then at least you know you're not starting from scratch and you can be
oh yeah of course of course i could do that and and then uh and start creating that way absolutely
i just think pinterest is is so overwhelming and like you say it's not realistic we're not going
to be creating these of course we all have wonderful classrooms but the reality is if only i
could take bring my phone into school and show you what an actual day looks like or what my classroom
looks like during provision time of course there's toys on the floor and there's scissors i left over
here and there's bits of paper everywhere because this is a really realistic classroom
so it's things that you can actually pick up and do whether that's at home or whether that's at
school as well they're really easily you can recreate them really easily yeah i was talking
about pinterest and the whole social media side of things you've been on social media for a while
haven't you because i remember following years ago uh do you know what you used to do when you
started i started in 2018 yeah i was i was an nqt when i started so i actually started um because
when i when i joined my school there was no early years leader and i was an nqt in nursery
in foundation there was an nqt and um a um teacher who had been there one year and we were kind of
just in there and off you go so i was setting up different activities and things like that
and i was like i don't know if these are good activities are they going to like them are they
not am i going to remember them so i just started taking pictures with my phone and i was like yep
this is a good one keep this one if it didn't work delete that one and then i kind of got a bit fed
up with them all of my stored on my phone so that's actually why i started um instagram and i was
literally like at least they can be stored there i can read look back over them that's been a great
journey yeah it's pretty clear i think mine was kind of similar but i felt like no one ever came
into my sensory room and i was putting in all of this effort and none of the parents ever saw it
because we weren't doing ipad photos or evidence at that time so none of them saw it um none of the
slt cared enough to come in none of my colleagues were coming in i thought i'm putting in all this
effort i want to share it with someone for a bit of a pat on the back i did a similar thing i was
taking photos of stuff anyway but i was like i want people to see this because i think this is a really
good idea and i want to get the phrase looking back that's what it was and that was in 2015 so
similar time to you really and yeah that was called our sensory kids back and it's sensory
classroom now but yeah i did it i did it genuinely just so that people could tell me what a good job
it's so much effort and time and money and resources and energy into it that i knew it
was brilliant for the kids but then on feegin they couldn't tell me how amazing i was
and then of course it stables and actually there were so many benefits aren't they because
i was never expecting the community that yeah i didn't know like teacher gram was a thing it was
only when i joined and then oh i followed that person and then more people come up and then
you know sort of builds and things like that and i just think it's this amazing incredible place
it's one of the first um places that i always say to people so i in my school also need all of the
teach training and all of the ects in my school too it's one of the first places i say like have
a look on instagram instagram will give you realistic pinterest basically is what i call it
so if you can search hashtags you can if you know of certain account and things like that obviously
you can look them up but you can search a topic you can search you know if you want a particular
um fire motor skills or if you want a particular bonfire night activity and just look through all
of those pictures again i'm quite um a visual learner so i need those visual pictures to be
like oh yeah that works really well oh i really love that but i think that's why
interest Instagram won't say well particularly is because it is so visual isn't it it is picture or
video first and i feel like the people that go into teaching especially those early years or
special education stages i feel like they're incredibly creative and practical and like to do
and create and make and i feel like instagram like scratches that itch perfectly doesn't it
yeah absolutely and it's just grown into one of those things that i'm just i'm so incredibly
grateful for obviously we had lockdown that's where i grew the more i've been able to work with
fantastic brands i've been able to write my book now um i've been able to build a business and
with my teacher best friend and everything and just support those teachers around us and things
and i just think again sometimes you might not want to speak to somebody in your school because
you might feel a little bit embarrassed or something but talking and reaching out to somebody that
you kind of don't know but actually right i'm just gonna reach out and ask those questions
i'll always try and get through um my dms and help people if i can do and and things like that and
it's just because i would want that of somebody as well so if i wanted to ask a question i would
want somebody to be able to reach out back to me and we've all been there haven't we we've all been
for that first interview we've all been we've all done an enqt or it was called an enqt year that
then which is my eighth uh ect year we've all done like we've all been there so there's no
silly questions because one we didn't know this either and actually also i am learning so much
from being on here my practice has improved so much since i've been sharing again i only started
this new account in christmas so less than a year and my god my practice has improved massively
because i'm be able to learn from such experts in the field all across the world and take little
bits it's like being on training like whenever i'm on my phone it's incredible i absolutely like it
i still call like social media this is like cpd time as well for me because you you're taking
those experts and you're looking at watching a video or you're taking some ideas or you've read
a little something on the caption or something that that that's and you've asked a question or
you've reached out to somebody else and it turns into this conversation and we're not experts in
everything but we come to have our own little expertise but actually learn from each other i
think that's what instagram does so well and with teacher grams sort of thing teachers on here and
sharing ideas and that community it's not competition and it's you know sharing all of our
ideas and and lots of you know year two to year six teachers have sen in their classroom so they
will be looking to early years teachers or look into special education teachers for ideas because
that's where those learners in their class are at you know they're learning that practical creative
way well year four five six teachers aren't used to thinking in that way so they're going to be
looking aren't they for ideas and that's where we're happy to help them aren't we yeah definitely
and it's just it is because your early years people in your schools are the ones that have
so many different creative ideas and it's go and visit them go and have a look what they do because
early years is just like this unique place that actually is unlike usually any other unless you
do provision in year one and year two but what is provision lots of teachers don't understand what
provision is and what the children actually do and they just see that as like they're just independent
they're just playing they don't get the whole purpose behind it and the thoughts and the
considerations we've had to do i always say provision is so much harder to teach in
than like if i was to sit down and teach my phonics lesson completely oh my god if you were just to
lead structured group sessions it would be way less time and energy wouldn't it and so much easier
to control and manage and yeah it's definitely not the easy way out yeah definitely that's by far i
could totally say that but it leaders don't know necessarily what their subject looks like in early
years ah so i always suggest that a an early years teacher an early years person should go with their
subject leader and go and explain that to them but don't just explain it in the staff room go and
show them that in practice as well so the things that you might be seeing in science could be this
it could be this it could be this or you think let's go and have a look and then talk them through
what you're actually seeing because they won't see what history looks like in early years unless
they're going to sit there and see an input so in some schools then if they're a subject leader would
they be expected to do the long term or medium term plans for early years or usually is that
down to you guys they do so my school works a little bit differently in that but yeah a
typical school would be you would have a subject and you would do that from early years until year
six right um which i think is just crazy because as an earliest person i have no idea what they're
learning in year six i don't want to tell them just the same as i don't want them to tell me how
to run my early years what i'm going to be doing that would be the most um i get it because then
you can see the progression like that's obviously why they're doing it because they want there to be
a clear linear progression from early years to year six but you also want really high quality
teaching and as higher expectations as you can offer for all children don't you so that it does
it would make sense to me that you would work together i mean we're so separate and self-contained
in my room um actually i just do all of it i just do the algorithm but yeah it would be good we should
work more in my club in my school because obviously there's sen all throughout the school so there's
no reason why they couldn't then access what i'm doing like that door is just like there just seems
to be like a wall up but it's something i'm working on and something i'm trying to bang
crams down it's really hard isn't it it's hard because people don't want to that is the unknown
as well if i cross this line of like little children that like might touch me even and like
they come and just stand there like like what are they doing it's so true if i ever get asked to like
supply or cover year five or six i'm like i can't do that they don't sing nursery rhymes i wouldn't
know what to do but i need to do it my way okay oh my god i would end up they just look at me like
what are you doing is i'm like putting something exciting out of my bag or whatever i think they
still love that though i think everybody's got this inner child that they would still be engaged
they would still love that and i think that's kind of what's missing from older year group season
but yeah maybe our school works completely differently so we have like teams of people so
we have a curriculum person on the earliest team we have a couple of curriculum people on the
key stage one team and a couple of people on the key stage two team they then work together
on curriculum of our school so then for example if the big o was to come they would all be brought
into that meeting to talk through how it progresses from early years into key stage one into and it
goes on we're an all through school into secondary as well so even we had to talk through what year
six looks like into year seven and then they go and explore obviously so what is that your age
range then in your school and so we're over two sites so we've got a primary site and a secondary
site and we do have a nursery but once they get their foundation place so once they're into four
they can be with us they don't have to apply for another school until they're into sixth form
oh that's incredible i didn't even know they existed yeah yeah and then we've got different
other teams so we've got like a pastoral team again that's split between the different
key stages so that's pastoral so safeguard and behavior we've got another um scnd inclusion team
so again that's split between the different key stages and it just means that it's definitely
yeah it just means that it just seems a lot more coherent we haven't got i haven't got a year six
teacher telling me how to teach computing or something like that i'm like you don't know
what for you is old to need to know and i don't know what they need to know right and then it
just ends up a bit blah doesn't it because you just you're not inspired you don't know
yeah that makes sense that does make sense it makes me feel like from what you've said i think
my main student do it like one person is just the math lead and they do it for the whole school so
that's interesting because i think yeah i've never really understood it yeah i think it's really
important because does that person well one usually you're given given a subject it doesn't
matter if you're you really like that subject or not it's you could be going into a new school and
you're given you're given maths but actually i don't really like maths and i don't know what
i'm doing or something like if i was given english as an example i wouldn't know what they need to
be learning and i don't feel confident in the subject so why would i feel confident going to
tell each different year group what they need to be teaching and going to monitor that are they
doing the right thing is that curriculum right am i doing what's bringing a different scheme
yeah because i wouldn't i wouldn't even have the first idea it's not something that you do in
teacher training it's not something at all in your 82 years or anything you're just kind of
put in a school and kind of expected to know those things yeah it's true it's really true i
remember i remember when i first started um i almost fought for to be um leader in the create
creative subjects so i was like it's all i know i'll do dance art and drama um i can do those ones
yeah and even subject leaders you have quite often more than one subject so you're not only leading
like just maths you might be leading maths and you might be leading computing and science or
something like that you think how can like we say like we're not experts in everything how can we
be experts in those subjects as well as if we're teaching early years yeah yeah it's so true and
yet that that ask is often on teachers and it is such a it's such a big workload isn't it to add
on to what already is a lot of work isn't it yeah it really depends on the school as well what the
expectation is of subject leadership and things but i'm very happy the way that we do things
yeah at my school with that it kind of makes sense it kind of uses people in their expertise
in what they feel passionate about as well we do lots of peer observations on each other as well
and my part of that is not only part of curriculum as well as well as somebody else but also part of
leading the ITT and ECT stuff as well so i'm sort of a lone wolf in that but sort of again i get
other people i will take them on learning walks around the school and what am i seeing in different
people and then talk through a lesson of somebody but i think that's really important that sharing
of knowledge and things yeah definitely and picking that specialist thing i guess is it
quite a big score is it like a three four mentoring yeah as is like one and a half sometimes or even
you know one and a half for mentoring so that would be difficult wouldn't it i feel like maybe
that's why yeah it's funny isn't it how schools work so incredibly different like from literally
five minutes down the road it would be just completely different curriculum completely
different subjects how it works and even we're part of a trust even within our trust we've got
different phonics schemes we've got somebody else teaching differently to their year six
because we're teaching not to sats we're teaching to our secondary school we want them
for long-term success and things so even within that even though that all of our tends to be all
of our trust schools will go to our secondary school yes people still have different curriculums
wow and then interesting it'd be interesting to see the data on that wouldn't it about the
phonics schemes and like you know if there's an overall what phonics scheme do you use
read write do you yeah it's standard isn't it yeah yeah mixed feelings there but yeah
yeah i agree i feel so i um support phonics for key stage two as well as part of my school
and for the dyslexic students who um read write inc still hasn't worked for when they're year four
five six you know there's just certain students that often they're sight readers um that they're
just they're not progressing they progressed initially and then they didn't progress past
year one or two and i'm working with those with a dyslexia company to kind of unpick that and
find other ways that they might like to learn it's so interesting like seeing the mainstream
key stage two children that way because i never work at that stage or level so it's been really
interesting that to work at that part of send really um and work out all the all the different
reasons why they might not be reading but yeah i'm yeah it does seem to be the flavor of the
month doesn't it but i know when i trained it was all about jolly phonics and then it was all about
you know um it's wonder and they're left to land was before that you know there's always a flavor
isn't there and there'll be something else yeah there's pros and cons obviously two different
schemes and things like that a definite pro is there's set routines every lesson is exactly the
same but it does mean that once you're trained i can go into any lesson of any book um any level
and i can go and teach that so it means for a cover sense and if i'm out of class that i know
i can leave i don't have to get all different resources and talk through the lesson they know
how to cover that um pros and cons as well with that because because each session is the same
it reduces the cognitive load of that but for me also it's quite boring because you're teaching
the same thing um and like the same routines in the same day it's just a different sound for example
and things but yeah we can make it a bit more fun exciting we have to stay to the scheme but yeah
yeah yeah phonics is an interesting one in my room i've tried all sorts with my autistic learners
typically they read they learn through phrases or whole words like that's what they naturally want
to do um and a couple of them have progressed through with phonics but lots haven't i've just
been doing lots of experimenting over the last like four or five years trying to joddy phonics
thinking oh the actions of the songs you know maybe that will entice them and they really like the
actions of the songs but it didn't help them read and so there was that and then we did sensory
stories through phonics and that was again fun and got their engagement but again it didn't help
them to read um and i did a bit of read write ink but through made my own interactive games to do
with the sound and again they enjoyed it but it didn't help them read and now i've just succumbed
to i'm going to teach them why am i slogging teaching them how other children learn now i
should actually just teach them how they learn so we've gone whole words we've gone phrases we've
gone you know and um sight words call words and and i'm seeing some really good progress so maybe
all along i should have just listened to myself i'm mixed with phonics though because i'm still
an advocate for phonics first i do i i can see why only learning 44 sounds to read everything
helps completely but also like if they don't learn or hear in that way and think in that way then
it's it's really difficult isn't it to assume that they would you know teaching somebody with
visual impairment when we started talking about that at the beginning how a sighted person would
see well it's not going to work like that they're autistic and maybe their brain just you know
protest his language and learning differently but i'm really enjoying learning about it
yeah i think that's the best thing about teaching isn't it you're just constantly learning
and i think it's okay and i think even more so in early years and any other year groups that it's
okay to experiment with that that it's okay i'm going to try this is that working reflect on that
no it's not okay let's try something else i think almost within key stage one key stage two it
becomes a little bit more trickier to be able to experiment a little bit more but i think that's
important to work out what works for you what works for the children how different children then learn
and it's the same as if you walk into a classroom i have quite a noisy classroom and i'm quite like
a loud person that doesn't suit everybody so i have to learn to you know with some children have to
be a little bit more quieter and you know talk softer to them other children we can jump around
be really noisy with them yeah and that suits their learning style you can go into some classrooms
and it completely deadsign them because that's the way the teacher likes it and that's their
expectations for me it's not my typical classroom my typical classroom is organized chaos that's
going on lots of laughter lots of fun lots of you know learning and playing and all of those things
yes of course those routines and those boundaries are still in place but we have different
expectations and that's okay and different children learn in different ways obviously
yeah and that's what's good about having lots of different teachers because you'd hope between
early years and year six they've had a few teachers that match their style and i know it's really
frustrating for parents when you don't get the teacher you wanted or whatever because you can
see how it would match and i get it and i've felt it as a student as well and i've seen so i've
certainly seen my friends and colleagues feel that around um teachers for their children and i do get
it is quite an anxious time isn't it but just know that the majority you know from early years to
year six there will be teachers that just make match your child that little bit better and just
because of their learning style and that's nothing to do with a choice it is it just is just like we
get on with certain people better and we just think it's better with others yeah i think it's
just so important that so much goes into that as well it's not just a drawn from hat being a three
four mentoring school and having 90 children in my club in our cohort it's not just a pick from the
hat right that one's going to that class and that one's going to that class there's friendship
there's like ratios to have a look at there's the level of need who would get on better with that
teacher there's different friendships we have to be aware of there's behaving there's there's so much
that goes into those or okay that that looks good let's put them together and when you put them
together and actually see them in front of you you go oh no that doesn't work i know i've seen it
sometimes that you know you have the the practice run like you know like meet the teacher ever
and they're like this cannot work like why do we think this was a good idea let's switch that
you think you think you've perfected it and you're like yeah this is set it goes to the parents you
have your transition day they you're like yeah it's all gonna be good september starts within
the first week they've made new friends and there's all different parts that you should be together
but it's the way it goes yeah so true luckily i don't have that problem i have my kids for seven
years they don't just don't leave my room wow yeah it's quite intense actually because obviously
you get to know them so well and the family so well after seven years is like incredible isn't
it so yeah it's very different and and with my classroom so it's 10 children but ranges from
early is two years six those 10 children so we'll always have like eight somebody leaving but also
a couple coming like it's kind of like a flow there's never everybody starting and everybody
leaving and i quite like it because it definitely helps with the transition because we can embed
routines really quickly because all of the others are modeling for that new student yeah what to do
and also saying goodbye after seven years is so hard i think i would actually die of a broken heart
if all 10 were to leave at the same time it would be horrendous we had to say goodbye to four randomly
last year out of 10 and that was honestly heartbreaking saying um goodbye to them all
so all at once so it works really well for us if having that kind of constant flow it's so
interesting like you said about how so many different schools can just be up the road from
each other and work completely different whether that's their like how they support their scnd
children how they do their curriculum what phonics scheme they follow all of those different things
yeah exactly couldn't be more different right we are going to have to end this now hailey people
need to know where to follow you plug all your stuff and yeah because i think there's lots of
people here that have some fantastic questions and um i think your knowledge is really useful for all
of special education parents if you're working in early years and if you are planning a curriculum
for early years within your school then i think it would be really great to know your stuff so
yeah where can people find you so you can find me on instagram lots of different social medias
um all about early years i have the book that i have just published it's called play all the way
it's available on amazon i also have a business called the powerful play teachers in which there
is a membership club and we sell resources on there and there's video training videos and resources
to support teachers through their teacher training through you can be a qualified teacher you can be
an unqualified teacher at nursery nurse a child minder you can be an experienced teacher of so
many years and there's bits on there for everybody there is available a little free trial on there
as well so come and check it out come for give me a follow dms are always open if you want to chat
thank you so much for your time today thank you so much i have absolutely loved having you and i'm
so excited to chat with you more in the dms about lots of ideas my class thank you so much
see you bye bye