It began with a child. Jake, still 4, first shared his dismay with his mother when following a visit to the Year 1 classroom as part of the end of year transition programme, he discovered there was no sand in the room.
I was concerned that the inappropriateness of the learning environment would not meet this very young child’s individual needs.
Keeping the child and his/her individual needs at the centre of all we do in the classroom is I believe the intent of every Early Years practitioner. In responding to the
many government initiatives of recent years, this intent has become at times
challenging and often difficult to hold true to. Through the method of Action Research I was able to focus on an identified area of concern with the resulting research
paper "Theyur aye now sand in Theur".
Some years ago, observations from practitioners working with our very youngest children highlighted two key concerns. It appeared that on entry to Nursery at age 3 years, children’s communication skills seemed to be getting poorer whilst negative behavioural issues were increasing...
Read on to find out more about my Early Years work...
Following a great deal of professional interest I was supported by The Innovation Unit
and by joining nationally with like minded professionals, was able to share my thinking. The
outcome is now published as "Reception to Year 1 Transition: The Child’s Experience".
Over the last 4 years I have contributed to a number of publications and now work with individual schools and Local Authorities to address
the appropriate teaching and learning experiences of the Early Years child covering the age range of
3 to 7 years.
