Full day Care Routine for a 3 yr old
In early years setting it is important that policies and producers are always followed and used in the setting at all times. Example 'in placement we have a fire policy where there is a set procedure which must be followed in the event of a fire drill. The settings fire drill alarm system is connected automatically to the fire station. All staff and children must evacuate the building calmly and as quick as possible, the manager or deputy head must check all rooms in the building to ensure everyone is safely out of the environment. If it is a emergency all parents will be contacted to collect their children. Practice fire drill will be carried out in the setting as a occasional procedure. This allows the procedure to be carried out effectively and gives children the knowledge and understanding of the importance of ensuring safety and avoiding dangerous occurrences.
The environment must be a planned out setting where furniture is put in appropriate places e.g. tables set out in the centre of the room, provided space is available leading to fire exits, resources and equipment should be given to children of the appropriate age and stages. Example of this is. Tilley, Jack and Peter are all 4 years old. Tilley has everything done for her so she needs less help. Jack never gets anything done for him and has to do it himself which allows him to be in dependant. Peter is helped with things but is given a chance to do things for himself as well. These children have different needs and all are at different stages so the practitioner must work to meet these individual needs. And provide appropriate resources for these children at different stages.
Hygiene must be maintained e.g. cleaning equipment regularly and ensuring hands are washed by adults and children regularly. The practitioner must also remember that children’s rights must be valued and respected; their views and opinions should be listened to and taken into account. It is also important that children are included and involved in planning. An example of this is providing flashing red lights above fire exit doors to flash when the fire alarm sounds for a child a child who has a hearing impairment. This then allows the child to be aware of what is happening around them. I n placement they Get the children involved in planning by having a circle time where the practitioner asks the children to add their ideas, views and opinions on a change in the setting for example changing the home corner. Child autonomy is high when inclusive practice is used within the setting they can explore their imagination and gain self confidence in them selves. All children must be supervised at all times to ensure safety and prevent danger.
Outdoor learning is a national government initiative in England November 2006. They brought out the learning outside the classroom Manifesto where all schools, outdoor organisations and children and young people 5-19 yrs provisions to create higher learning experiences in outdoor environments.
Steiner education is based on the work of Rudolf Steiner in the early 1900’s. Steiner schools are based on the idea that children up to the age of 7yrs should learn freely and learn through creativity an example of this is singing, baking, arts, nature.
‘ Rudolf Steiner believed that education should be designed to meet the changing needs of a child as they develop physically, mentally and emotionally. He believed that it should help a child to fulfil their full potential but he did not believe in pushing children towards goals that adults or society in general, believed to be desirable. ‘
freedom-in-education.co.uk16/05/09
Forest schools began in Denmark in 1950’s , these schools are based on the idea that allowing children to use the outdoor facilities and especially the woodland environment benefits the children.
There are a lot of schools in the UK which have adopted the idea of woodland learning and have made it a part of their school where children can freely explore the woodland environment. Denmark argue that woodland learning helps children to develop social skills, confidence, self esteem, understanding of environments, motivated learning and a wider range of physical skills. I believe that this is a good opportunity to enable children to be independent and take huge risks but also allows them to develop their imagination and expand on their knowledge of science. Forest schools encourage more child-led activities where the children are sent to do their own woodland projects indoor. Sweden schools where they allow the children to be more independent and play and relaxation is paramount under the age of 7years after this learning is compulsory. The environment in Sweden schools are spacious classrooms and the schools have a homelike feel to it for example candles, plants, everybody sits around a table, soft lighting and flowers around in the environment. Sweden schools believe that children also benefit and gain a wider range of learning through outdoor experiences. Also linked to woodland learning Swedish schools allow children to endure outdoor play for almost half of their school day no
matter how the weather is, they say that it encourages curiosity and co-operation. In Sweden they also have trees in the outdoor environment where the children are able to take risks in climbing trees and exploring, they also occasionally take the children on trips to a nearby woodland environment with a lake, which then autonomy is high because activities are child-led. Both schools provide a wide range of risk taking and have less consideration of health and safety policies and procedures unlike public and private schools in Britain. These schools help and support children's learning independently and encourage them to express themselves and enable children to develop creative thinking. Loris malaguzzi's Reggio Emilia schools are very a like these two schools they are based on
- Creative thinking
- Exploration and play
- Free play
- Following children's interests
Emilia schools ask children to re-visit their own ideas and to value the way in which they express themselves. Loris malaguzzi see’s children as ‘full of potential, competent and capable of building their own theories’
reggiokids.com 15/05/09
It is important that practitioners allow children to take risks and identify exploration, they must attempt to complete challenges in the environment and given opportunities to complete challenges in a planned environment as Rudolf Steiner said this helps them gain more confidence and gain independence and self motivation. Child autonomy is high when they are given the chance to explore challenging environments and gain a wider range of skills. The practitioner must also ‘provide broad and varied experiences which enable them to explore and investigate.’ Children must be given clear set boundaries because this gives those limits and makes them more aware of what they can do to ensure their own safety and limits when taking risks, challenges and taking part in activities. Encouraging the children to use strategic methods such as saying stop in a loud tone of voice, holding a straight face while pushing one hand out straight in front of another child to stop unwanted or inappropriate behaviour. This is a method used in my placement and is very effective. Demonstrating to the children how to support each other in the playground promotes good team work, which ensures that they can help others who need it.
It is also important that children understand when they can deal with a situation independently and when they are going to need adult assistance in a difficult situation.
The practitioner must also teach children safe ways to take risks and also encourage them to try and try again if they do not complete a challenge as well as reassuring them that it is ok and this allows the children to work at their own pace.
Bruce T & Meggit C. (2007) page 351
It is important that every early years setting are safe, secure and healthy environments. This is ensured by the higher authority called OFSTED are inspectors who inspect the early years settings regularly to ensure that the setting is safe and appropriate for the children. Then based on how well the setting is they give them a grade.
Here is an example of the grading:
Each aspect of the school is graded from one to four:
Grade 1 = outstanding (and it does happen)
Grade 2 = good
Grade 3 = satisfactory
Grade 4 = inadequate
Where a section gets any grade other than 1, there will be comments about what the school should do to improve.
Grade list Taken from http://ukfamily.co.uk 15/05/09
It is important that early year’s settings are kept in good condition and teaching styles are effective and well used, structure of the environment should also be considered. This comes under the Health and Safety at work act 1974.
The children act 1989
There are adult to child ratios for children under 8 yrs old
Age of children Number of adults to children ratio
0-1Yrs 1:3
2-3 yrs 1:4
3-8yrs 1:8
Ratio chart Taken from Bruce T & Meggit C. (2007) page 231
Under the health and safety act 1974 it is the employers duty to ensure that CRB checks are copied as a reference and that they are appropriate to work with children.
The child care act 2006 supports working with parents is as important as with children and with other professional (multi agency team) this is where a group of professionals share information between each other to gain a holistic view on the child and to safeguard them. ‘The welfare of the child is important’ This act ensures that the views of the parent/carer and the children are heard in planning and appropriate services are used to reflect on the necessary needs of the families. Continuing professional development is very important and must be continued while working, It is important that the employer provides more training opportunities for their employees.
Quote taken from Bruce T & Meggit C. (2007) page 231
It is essential that the environment for a early years setting is safe and appropriate for maintaining a healthy environment which is especially important for children. Accidents, illnesses and emergencies are bound to happen in an early years setting but as early year’s practitioners it is our duty to ensure that these can be prevented. This can be done by coming up with ideas based on laws which are policies and procedures within the setting. Having procedures allows a situation to be dealt with appropriately and effectively. It is important that practitioners are fully aware of these procedures and know how to record incidents and informing parents/carers. The correct medication should be given to the child and to ensure this the practitioner must carefully read labels and give the correct dosage. It is the practitioners duty to ensure parents bring in medication when another set is needed and that communication with parents is good. The practitioner must avoid accidents and emergencies by ensuring safety hazards are made safe e.g. locking windows and doors, ensuring hot tea is in a safe place or only allowed in the staffroom. Practitioners must be aware of food allergies ,cultural beliefs and dietary needs this helps putting a child at risk e.g. a child who is allergic to nuts . food without nuts must be given to the child. It is important that the practitioner is also aware of common allergy foods and makes sure that they are not used in the setting. It is important that children are safe outside the setting as they are within the setting. Going home policy must be followed, if somebody not known unto the professionals is coming to pick up the child the parents must inform the practitioner because this can be very dangerous if the child goes home with a stranger or somebody that should not be picking the child up. There should be a code for picking up children as seen in my placement.
It is important that the safety of the children is maintained within the setting. Practitioners must be aware and also have an understanding of all policies and procedure in the setting. Policies and procedures must be updated and discussed as a group of professionals to come up with more effective ways in maintaining a safe and healthy environment. For example Going home policy ensures that the persons dropping off and collecting a child must be made aware of by the staff or if another person comes to collect the child the parents/carers must inform staff beforehand. The Practitioner must also plan for teaching children about safety awareness in the setting, this is where children gain a knowledge and understanding of dangers in the environment. For example in placement every year they bring in a community officer to talk about danger and road safety awareness, the children occasionally the school will go out on small walks to local parks or community centres with classes. Practitioners must ensure there are community officers to support them and protect them. It is also essential that the practitioner is a good role model consistently. This practice links with Bandora’s social learning theory that children learn through imitating others most particularly those that are close and who they respect, Nurture is important and that both positive and negative actions and consequences of others behaviour motivating. It is important that Adult set a good example as a role model and child autonomy is low.
Practitioners should always keep information confidential as they are going to be hearing a lot of information on children and their families, confidential information must be kept securely locked away at all times e.g. safe, draw with key lock. This information must not be shared out to no one but staff in the setting or the parents/carers of the child or a multi-agency team which is a group of professionals who work along side each other to Pass on information on a child and then bring all the information together, which helps it become more clearer on the child’s perspective. It also provides the professionals with enough information to be able to suspect if the child’s health and well-being is being maintained. If the child’s health and well-being is threatened then action can be taken forward providing the information on the child being passed on effectively.
As an Early years practitioner it is very important that all children's that all children's views are respected and their opinions are valued through taking time to listen to them. This is very important as it is a law “Every child has the right to have their views respected” If a child is overlooked when they are trying to get their opinions across, this then leads to neglecting and they are going to have a lack of self-confidence. This then affects the child drastically as they will feel that they are not included and unnoticed, therefore the child’s behavior will reflect and cause withdrawal from group activities, quiet, not wanting to express their views. All Early years practitioners should listen to children and have an understanding of their feelings and taking what they have to say seriously. The child will feel at ease with you and tell you more things in detail, the child will feel like they can trust you. Gaining the child’s trust will allow them to open up to you and tell you things that have an affect them e.g. if they are being abused, or if a family member has past away.
It is important that children feel comfortable talking about personal issues that have an affect on their lives that is why positive relationships are very important when working with children. This gives the practitioner a great opportunity to show care and understanding to all children by listening to what they have to say and respecting them by taking them seriously. For example in placement a child approached me and gave me a cuddle, the child then said her hand was still hurting after an incident that happened the previous day with another child. This child then told me that another child in the classroom does not like her and that she always attempts to hurt her emotionally and physically. I had witnessed the incident the day before along with my supervisor but just took this as bad behavior, but now I knew what was going on I witnessed even more bad behavior between these children. I found this very upsetting and then reported this to my supervisor, which was then taken into account and discussed. This is a good example of how maintaining good relationships and building trust with them makes it easy for the child to talk about things that are important to them and is most important for the practitioner for ensuring the welfare of the child.
This links with john Bowlby’s attachment theory where he believes that early attachment styles are established through childhood through the relationships between carers. This simply explains that relationships and bonding is essential part of childhood, relationships are maintained through trust and respect for another.
John Bowlby
Characteristics of Attachment
Bowlby believed that there are four distinguishing characteristics of attachment:
Proximity Maintenance - The desire to be near the people we are attached to.
Safe Haven - Returning to the attachment figure for comfort and safety in the face of a fear or threat.
Secure Base - The attachment figure acts as a base of security from which the child can explore the surrounding environment.
Separation Distress - Anxiety that occurs in the absence of the attachment figure.
http://psychology date accessed 18/05/09
The practitioner must also keep constant communication with parents/carers an example of this is writing a short summary of what the child has been doing throughout the day. When the relationship between the parent and the Child care practitioner is good it is easy for difficult subjects to be brought up more easily e.g. If a child’s
This allows the Childcare practitioners to gain more confidence, being more friendly and better at doing their job.
A close working relationship also benefits the child when they see their parents/careers working closely alongside a Child care practitioner. The child will feel at ease with the Practitioner and will build up trust between them. This will encourage the child to develop the skills to talk with other children and get into a daily routine. The child will be more confident and will be more interested and excited about learning new things.
As an early years practitioner you must maintain positive relationships with other staff members and work well as part of a team .
References
Bruce T & Meggit C. (2007)
http://psychology date accessed 18/05/09
http://ukfamily.co.uk 15/05/09
reggiokids.com 15/05/09
freedom-in-education.co.uk16/05/09
Bibliography
http://www.teachers.tv/video/12090
http://ukfamily.co.uk/lifestyle/education/choosing-school/the-system/what-are-ofstedreports.html - date accessed 16/05/09
http://www.freedom-in-education.co.uk/Steiner.htm date accessed 17/05/09
Bruce T & Meggit C. (2007) Childcare and education- Cache level 3
award/certificate/Diploma, Hodder Arnold, London page
http://www.forestschools.com/what-happens-at-a-forest-school.php
http://www.reggiokids.com/about/about_approach.php
http://psychology.about.com/od/loveandattraction/ss/attachmentstyle.htm
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mcfarlane07 (student)
