This led to the boys drawing what they saw and sticking in natural objects. They naturally started to label their findings, and this led them to produce writing. Sometimes it would be a simple label, other times they would try and write in sentences. The children at home could also take part in this so easily and we shared their work too.

It led the boys to stop and really take notice of what was around them and encouraged them to write about their surroundings.

We have since carried on our nature journaling and the children, including this year's Reception, have shown such enthusiasm for writing about nature. It has led us to plant and grow our own vegetables, which has led to thinking about instructions, and researching about the plants we have in our garden. It has led to small world scenarios, which the boys have labelled and even making our own mini gardens with written rules.

It has also encouraged us as teachers to get outside so much more. The tents are now down but our lessons continue to be taught outside as often as we can.

Well what a 16 months it has been for us all. I’m sure, like me, when we started adapting our practice and settings in March 2020 little did we think we’d still be working like that now!

As a setting we have always spent a reasonable amount of time outside but as the evidence mounted supporting the utilizing of our outdoor space, we decided to go with this and move outside. We purchased two large gazebos with sides plus a patio heater for extra warmth and Matlock Bath Preschool moved outdoors.

Parents were advised to provide plenty of changes of  clothing and waterproofs. A small number were slightly concerned about the warmth of their children but through reassurance they soon realized that this was not really an issue and we had the welfare of their children at the forefront of our minds. As we moved into winter our uniform quickly became thermal base layers, waterproofs, gloves, hats and scarves. There is a famous saying by Sir Ralph Fiennes, ‘There is no such thing as bad weather only inappropriate clothing’ This is true to a certain extent, although a shelter of some sort is much appreciated, especially when the rain is relentless as it has been at times.

The activities we have on offer have mainly remained the same: we have various table top activities under the gazebos, role play and the larger gross motor activities play are out all around us.

There are so many learning opportunities for the children outside with very few additional resources needed, listening to the sounds all around us, feeling the elements on the skin, observing the insects and birds on the ground and in the sky, planting in our raised bed and creating potions in the mud kitchen.

During the cold winter months, we did spend short periods of time inside, but the children were always eager to get back out. It is always fascinating how much enjoyment and learning opportunities like water and ice can bring.

Although being outside has brought its many challenges: flooding of our gazebos, the cold of January and February, not to mention damp children, toys and paper; ultimately running our group outside has been fantastic; so much so that we have decided going forward Matlock Bath Preschool will continue to run primarily outdoors.

At the end of last year, I decided to go back to basics and bring back  ‘Family Walls’ in each play room. This was established by all staff and helps us build relationships with families – especially  as we have only seen them outside wearing a face mask!

Staff are now using the Family Walls as part of our discussions with our groups, talking about family and what goes on at home. Having the displays so the children can reach and touch is a brilliant way of encouraging children to talk about their families. Since the New Year we have found many of our children using the photos to remind them of their families.

We have now extended the wall so that we can add on activity photos from weekends or special events.

The building we rent for our Pre-School has no recycling facilities on site so we approached the Committee, asking them to acquire some recycling bins for the premises.

While we are waiting for this to happen we began talking to the children about recycling, reading books and bought ourselves a recycling bin for the children to use after snack time and dinner time to recycle their rubbish.

We set up a small world model of a village and a recycling centre for the children to play with.

After a very short period of time the children became really involved in recycling their rubbish and began to understand how this could help our planet. Parents are already commenting that their children are taking an active role in recycling at home.

A child brought a handful of paper that had been screwed up and said “we shouldn’t throw this paper away; we should recycle it”

At lunchtime a little girl saw another child throwing their yoghurt pot in the rubbish bin and said “you don’t throw that in the bin – you look at the pictures to recycle it”

A parent came and told us her son had been talking about recycling at home and telling her where she should put all her rubbish. He said, “ The dustcart takes the rubbish to the landfill, but it will soon be all filled up”  She was very impressed.

Another parent told us her son had become actively involved in sorting out their recycling at home and he was very excited to be “helping our planet”

Are you prepared?

Have you started to make changes?

September is fast approaching and the time for action is now!

As I’m sure you’re all aware by now, from 1^st September 2020 we will have a revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework.

To help get ready for the implementation of the EYFS changes in September, we are launching our revised ‘Meeting the EYFS Statutory Framework Audit’ and supporting ‘A-Z documents’ available on Derbyshire SchoolsNet: EYFS statutory framework audit and A-Z documents

The audit and supporting materials are based on meeting the legal requirements of Section 3 of the EYFS safeguarding and welfare requirements.  These requirements allow you as early years providers to take the necessary steps to keep children safe and well.

This audit tool is for by all early years providers in England: maintained schools; non-maintained schools; independent schools (including free schools and academies); all providers on the Early Years Register and all providers registered with an early years childminder agency (CMA).

The audit tool enables you to:

• assess your safeguarding and welfare practice, identifying strengths and gaps in practice by using it alongside the supporting A-Z documents.
• ensure that you are aware of your responsibilities and how you are working to safeguard children and promote their welfare.
• be confident of how you meet requirements of Section 3 of the ‘Statutory framework for the EYFS (2021)’ and how you meet your registration requirements on the Ofsted Early Years Register and/or your registration requirements with an early years childminder agency;