EYFS Guidance advice please!

[Zipitydooda]

Can some helpful person please point me in the direction of the DfE/OFSTED guidance that says (or not) that Reception children have to spend 85% of their time on self directed activities?

From memory, I don't think that this is factually correct and I am writing to my child's school to explain my concerns about their new system and its impact on my child. They are claiming that they have no option but too run things this way (free flow of 90 children for 85% of the time). I want some factual backup that says they do have a choice.

I thought it was 85% of assessments to be made on child directed activities not 85% of time. So children could spend (for example) 50% of time on child-directed play and teachers use this time to do 85% of their assessments.

I'm so upset in the emotional deterioration and behaviour of my son since he started school but I want to try and be factual in my letter not emotional.

"Can some helpful person please point me in the direction of the DfE/OFSTED guidance that says (or not) that Reception children have to spend 85% of their time on self directed activities?"

www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/EYFS%20Statutory%20Framework.pdf

Each area of learning and development must be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. Play is essential for children?s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults. There is an ongoing judgement to be made by practitioners about the balance between activities led by children, and activities led or guided by adults. Practitioners must respond to each child?s emerging needs and interests, guiding their development through warm, positive interaction. As children grow older, and as their development allows, it is expected that the balance will gradually shift towards more activities led by adults, to help children prepare for more formal learning, ready for Year 1.

You are correct the 80% Child Initiated was for assessment evidence not for the amount of time children spend on self directed activities.

HOW MUCH TIME TO PLAY?

Sue Ellis of the National Strategies is keen to dispel the myth that children must now spend 80 per cent of their time playing.

The idea arose from the EYFS assessment document, which states that evidence should come 80 per cent from child-initiated and 20 per cent from adult-led activities. But there is no such rule. Basically, one-third of the day should be spent on adult-initiated and two-thirds on child- initiated activities, half of which is spent playing alongside adults.

I'm not aware of a specified proportion buy the EYFS does say:

"1.9 Each area of learning and development must be implemented through
planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated
activity. Play is essential for children?s development, building their confidence
as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others.
Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is
guided by adults. There is an ongoing judgement to be made by practitioners
about the balance between activities led by children, and activities led or
guided by adults. Practitioners must respond to each child?s emerging needs
and interests, guiding their development through warm, positive interaction.
As children grow older, and as their development allows, it is expected that
the balance will gradually shift towards more activities led by adults, to help
children prepare for more formal learning, ready for Year 1"

link

Do you feel your son is not getting enough supervision?

Thank you both so much. I knew someone would know what I was on about.

I'm interested in whether you think this free-flow is a good idea as well? Specifically in a 3-form entry setting with 90 children.

My son's behaviour has deteriorated since he started Reception having come from a more structured nursery setting. At home he refuses to do anything that he doesn't want to do (brush his teeth, wear a winter coat, tidy his toys, sit and read with us, talk politely to others) and has huge tantrums when we insist on it. He has forgotten how to do some of the things he was able to do when he left nursery e.g. left being able to write his name but cannot do this anymore.

However my main concern is the fact that he has started refusing to go in to school and has to be physically dragged in. He is expressing anxiety feelings "something is not right, I can feel it in my body, I don't know what it is but something is not right". he asks if tomorrow is a school day and gets upset when we say it is and happy when we say it's not. He always looked forward to going to nursery.

School just insist he is fine when he gets in and I get very scant feedback. I have gone form being very supportive of the school to feeling that I have no choice but to remove my child if I want to preserve his emotional wellbeing and help him find a love of learning again.

Another thing that has bothered me about the way his school is going about this is to show how wonderful they are in following childrens interests because if little Jonny expresses an interest in castles they then base their planning on Jonny's interest in castles so following his interests, but what about the other 89 chidlren who are learning through playing castles in-spite of not expressing an interest in castles? Why is this so much more beneficial than the teachers choosing a broad range of topics over the year and enthusing the chidlren in the topics?

Cybbo
It's more that I think that at 4/5 having come from settings where they are in smaller groups with adults that they build up a bond with and who get to know them well, they are now thrown into this situation where they are competing with 89 other children for attention. They do not get to know the teachers well as they are moving around to different classrooms and outside constantly and are a bit a sea emotionally and physically.

When they move to year 1 they will be in a class of 30 with 2 staff members and to my mind this is much better.

abcdoes.typepad.com/abc-does-a-blog/2012/11/adult-directed-verses-child-initiated.html

abcdoes.typepad.com/abc-does-a-blog/2012/07/objective-led-planning.html

That sounds awful Zipity.I have 2 dgs in a small school with mixed year groups.
Class 1 is Nursery/Reception
Class 2 is Yr1/Yr2
etc
My dgs are in nursery and yr1
The N/R children work in small groups moving from activity to activity and including structured work on phonics,projects,number with a teacher or TA.This year they have had Forest School and a project on dinosaurs including finding a dinosaur egg [papier mache] and arriving at school one day to find it had hatched into a pterodactyl and flown away!
There are just 25 in class 1 and seem to bond well with the adults [4 in the class including a teacher, a nursery teacher and two TAs.
Your set up sounds horrendous.