Early Years for Children in Care
Delivered by
Liz Norton EYFS Strategy Manager and
Diane Rideout EYFS Quadrant Team Leader
Starting Out Right: early education and looked
after children
• High quality early education makes a difference to children’s
outcomes throughout their time at school and beyond.
• This study revealed a consensus that looked after children
need ‘the same as other children, but more so’ from their early
education provider. This means that many general aspects of
good practice, particularly around child-centred education and
adequate levels of staffing, are important for this group.
• It recognised that they have greater needs in a number of
areas. These include intensive personal, social and emotional
support as well as additional time and attention for their
individual needs, which may be challenging or difficult to
manage. It was also recognised that LAC may have specific
learning or health needs … and may need extra support to
engage them in learning.
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Packing a suitcase
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Early Childhood Experiences
• When babies and young children get the nutrition, nurture and care
that they need in their early years, their brains and bodies grow and
develop well.
• These children quickly learn that the world they have been born into
and the people in their world are safe.
• This sense of safety allows them to grow, develop, and learn and to
attach to and trust in others.
• When things do not go well for babies and young children and they
don’t get the things that they need in their early years, their brains
and bodies are flooded with trauma, fear and stress hormones,
which significantly affect their growth and development.
• These children have a sense of danger and fear, which can hinder
all areas of the children’s development. It impacts negatively on the
children’s capacity to grow and learn, as well as hindering
their attachment to and trust in others.
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The role of the adult in Supporting Children in Care
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Plan for effective Transitions.
Be sensitive to Child’s needs.
Understand Child’s stage of development.
Identify any barriers to learning or gaps in
development.
Plan interventions that will accelerate child’s learning.
Plan learning environment that meets the needs of all
children, including Child in Care.
Ensure there are clear rules and routines.
Ensure consistent responses.
Ensure feedback is positive and highlights what
has been achieved and how to improve.
‘Playful Teaching’
• Practitioners should:• Provide enough time for children to develop their
ideas.
• Engage in activities alongside the children.
• Model appropriate language.
• Ask open-ended questions.
• Be flexible when children follow their own
agenda.
• INSERT TREE SLIDE
A rich learning environment
The learning environment needs to be planned and
organised to :
• reflect all 7 areas of learning
• Support children’s interests
• Challenge children to investigate, enquire, explore
and be curious
• Attract and motivate children to participate
• Ensure resources are accessible
• Ensure children are fully involved in caring for the
environment and resources and contribute to the
organisation of it
• Include a wide range of supportive displays including
interactive displays for children to explore.
Children working hard at
their play, deeply involved,
with effort, energy and
purposeful intentions
Children in flexible,
free-flow play for its
own sake
Playful adultplanned activities
e.g. teddy bear’s
picnic for numeracy
skills
Children and adults
working together to
create props and
resources for play
Think out your own school EYFS provision. Where do you see most practice on
this continuum?
Short
planned
activities
e.g.
listening
group
Children
choosing
work-like
activities
e.g. cooking
Planning for the Child in Care
• Identify particular gaps in learning, areas of difficulty
and possible reasons for lack of progress.
• Identify Interventions/Actions to address lack of
progress.
• Involve foster carers in decisions about Intervention.
• Ensure Intervention is time-limited with clear intended
outcomes and regular monitoring to check impact on
pupil progress.
• Ensure liaison between class teacher and adults
delivering additional support
• Remember the age and stage of the child
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Planning for the Child in Care
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Personal Education Plans (PEP1)
What makes a good PEP for a child in Early Years?
• PEP gives a clear insight into the child’s educational development
and needs.
• Transitions are planned and documented to support the child’s
developmental needs.
• If the child’s development raises concerns there is clear evidence
that appropriate actions/ interventions are in place that clearly focus
on accelerating child’s learning.
• Children’s development is in line with Development Matters or their
development has accelerated.
• Identified actions/ interventions match learning needs.
• The child’s voice is recorded and there is evidence that it is fully
acted upon through next steps and adult actions.
• All aspects of the PEP are completed in detail.
• Pupil Premium/ Early Years Pupil Premium is evidenced and
shows measurable impact on development.
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Ofsted - Early Years
• Teaching in the early years should not be taken to imply a ‘top down’ or
formal way of working. It is a broad term that covers the many different
ways in which adults help young children learn. It includes their
interactions with children during planned and child-initiated play and
activities: communicating and modelling language, showing, explaining,
demonstrating, exploring ideas, encouraging, questioning, recalling, and
providing a narrative for what they are doing, facilitating and setting
challenges. It takes account of the equipment adults provide and the
attention given to the physical environment, as well as the structure and
routines of the day that establish expectations. Integral to teaching is
how practitioners assess what children know, understand and can do, as
well as taking account of their interests and dispositions to learn
(characteristics of effective learning), and how practitioners use this
information to plan children’s next steps in learning and monitor their
progress.
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“Lucky children often have access to varied
experiences that are accompanied by adult
involvement. They may have been taken to a museum
or art gallery or have fed the ducks in a park.”
Penny Tassoni Reducing Educational Disadvantage:
A Strategic approach in the Early Years
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What could you do to support a child
in care in your school to be a “lucky”
child?
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