Nurseries Doing Less Due to Covid

[Cattenberg]

My three-year-old spends most of her time at nursery playing outside in the playground. I was told this is due to Covid guidance. I get the impression that some of the structured activities the nursery used to do (such as crafts, and learning to write knumbers), have been scaled back. Is every nursery doing this?

Also, how much feedback are you getting? I get the occasional snapshot with linked EYFS goals. These are lovely, but some weeks I only get one snapshot, or nothing at all.

I’m finding it hard to work out if the nursery is still right for DD. She seems content, but less enthusiastic about going than she used to be. She’s very vague about what she actually does there - so I don’t learn much by asking her. The staff are friendly and say DD is doing well, but I think she may be getting bored, especially now her older friends have left.

*numbers, obv.

There are a couple of things imo.

More time outside - this doesn't necessarily mean fewer crafts, writing, numbers type stuff - they can write with their fingers in sand or count acorns (or whatever).

Reporting - some parents are very into this, others aren't. If you don't feel you get enough from them, ask and see what they can do?

Boredom/older kids leaving - we had this with DD (Sept born, so ages yet in nursery) and we moved her to another nursery with a bit more space for the final year.

At 3 I'd be thrilled they're doing lots of outside stuff whilst they can. It doesn't mean they're just hanging out behind the trike shed 😁. If you want to check that they're still teaching her numbers etc ask directly - there's lots of possibilities for doing this outside.

However at 3 there simply isn't going to be a massive push on educating them in numeracy and literacy

How much time are they spending indoors? Most nurseries would have a mix of indoor and outdoor time, or a freeflow environment. I wouldn't expect sitting down and learning to write numbers, but they should definitely have access to painting, playdoh, crafts, water, sand and toys.

If you're getting updates each week that's pretty good, proividing you're also getting feedback verbally about her day, what she's eaten and any accidents / injuries.

Learning is supposed to be child led through play and with free flow to outside at this age not structured following worksheets. Sounds like a change fir the better.....your lo will have up to age 21 of structured learning

New eyfs introduced on sept 1st states less structured learning and more learning through play and also no need to record and observe anymore.

I didn’t know about the changes to the EYFS. Maybe another year like this will be fine for DD, provided she has several friends her own age.

That all sounds perfectly fine to me and it's exactly how our nursery (which we've used for 8 years and 2 children) has always done things. Children learn much more by exploring and doing and being outside than being inside sitting at a table 'learning'. They even do relatively little of that when they start reception. All sounds great.

We also don't get more than about 1 update per week. That's also fine by me (and no different to pre-COVID). Realistically, I want them supporting my dc and facilitating exploration and play, not taking photos or posting updates. The photos are certainly nice to see, but they are more about me than dc.