Anyone else love EYFS but hate the outdoors in the Winter? Specially when you are outside for good 2/3 hours?

[Se12345]

I love EYFS but hate going outdoors in winter months. When it’s like 13 degrees and above it’s all good. Anyone else feel this way?

Sorry OP but what is EYFS?

Yes, me too. Fortunately on very cold days we alternate every 30 mins. Of course the children try to go out without their coats!

It sounds like bad planning if the same staff member is out for that long! We alternate between staff so nobody is out for long blocks especially when it’s colder

Pretty sure it is Early Years Foundation Stage. Ie the Op is a reception / nursery teacher.

Early years foundation stage - nursery and reception.

But how is EYFS related to going outside? Do Y1 teachers go outside less than reception teachers?

Warm winter boots, hat gloves etc. Plus staff swapping in and out regularly.

Generally yes depending on the set up. Early years provisions should ideally have plenty of access to outside provision during the day as well as classroom based. So activities will often be planned for outside.

Eyfs children are expected to be able to access outside as much as possible throughout the day. It's not just playtime like the rest of the school

In Wales, it's the Foundation Phase and it goes from 3-7 years. The children have to have free access to outdoors at all times. It gets cold.

Nursery and reception are play based and a lot of the play is done outside. Kids in Year 1 and above have much shorter breaks and spend longer times in the classroom doing more formal schooling. So in that sense yes Year 1 teachers probably spend less time outside than nursery and reception teachers.

Absolutely! I was only inside for 1 hour a day last year and that was split into chunks. I'm the TA, my teacher was firmly inside until spring, other than one 10 minute session at the warmest but of the day... As soon as it stopped being brutal outside, all the pressing reasons she needed to stay in suddenly disappeared and she was out for 1/3 of the time instead. I had back to back chest infections until my lungs were bleeding for a month, as I just couldn't seem to recover, so started a new infection with every new cold in the classroom.

This year I have a different role. I really miss the exploration with the wee ones, but I don't miss the cold one tiny little bit. It was never above 13 inside either, as the door was deliberately open all day to allow full free flow play. I was routinely painfully cold.

My last setting I was outside for hours with a chest infection. Was supposed to have a break inside with a hot drink but the Manager would stand there glowering.

I now have a cushy office job with pension, sick pay and lots of other perks.

Yep. A decent eyfs provision should have access to the outside all day every day. I love it OP! I'm in year 2 now and so miss the fresh air. Are you doing activities to keep them warm? Lots of large scale play and running around? It makes the time go faster.

This.

I also recommend Doc Martins to keep the chilblains away

I'd have to change stages if I was expected to be outside in cold weather. I'm just too old for this kind of stuff and can't see the benefits of it. Thankfully this isn't a thing in Scotland.

Don't get me started on "forest school."

We don't have enough staff to go outside at the moment. I'm going crazy, as are the kids. (We also have 2yos so ratios are tighter; 2 required outdoors, 2 indoors - in case of toilet emergencies/ nappy changes - so at least 4 staff to open outside and we've only had 3 staff as people off sick).

It depends what you're doing.

It's a while since I was working in early years but I noticed that the staff standing around hugging their coffee got a lot colder than the people who involved themselves in the play and provided the Enabling Adult also required by the EYFS.

Thermal underwear vests and long leggings under trousers and a decent warm coat you don’t get cold we used to do a week outside and a week inside so you dressed appropriately. Nowadays I think they change daily. The hardest thing was students who wouldn’t dress warmly so couldn’t do their share of outside work.