1. EYFS Leaders May 2011 Kathy Higson Ann Breeze

2. Programme Welcome and introductions Update on SEN and the DDA The Early Years: Foundations for life, health and learning’. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell on the Early Years Foundation Stage Review including implications of the review findings for Rotherham Home Learning Environments – Feedback British Heart Foundation ECaT; FIT and child monitoring in action Beat Baby Imagination Library SALT training update.

3. The Early Years: Foundations for Life, Health and Learning Dame Claire Tickell The report focuses on four main areas: how to increase inclusivity, accessibility and flexibility within the framework how to equip children for life and ensure that they are ‘ready’ for school how to improve children’s safety how to ensure that those working in the early years sector are equipped with appropriate knowledge and skills and that their qualifications are fit for purpose.

4. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham There should continue to be a framework that applies to all providers working with children in the early years. A greater emphasis is given in the EYFS to the role of parents and carers as partners in their children’s learning. She also wants the introduction of a requirement for practitioners to provide to parents and carers, a short summary of their child’s communication and language, personal, social and emotional, and physical development between the age of 24-36 months.

5. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham Any revised EYFS and guidance, the Government seek a plain English crystal mark. She also recommends the development of a high-quality and interactive online version of the revised EYFS, with clear navigation to help people find what they are looking for.

6. Themes and Commitments Remain the same A Unique Child Positive Relationships Enabling Environments Learning and Development

7. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham The review divides the existing six areas of learning and development into two groups: ‘prime’ and ‘specific’. The ‘prime’ areas are: Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PS&ED) Communication and Language (CL) Physical Development (PD).

8. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham The ‘specific’ areas are: Literacy (L) Mathematics (M) Understanding the world (UW) Expressive arts and design (EAD)

9. Key differences between the prime and the specific areas. PrimeSpecific Are time-sensitive. If not securely in place by the age of 5, they will be more difficult to acquire and their absence may hold the child back in other areas of learning. Are less time-sensitive. Specific areas of learning reflect cultural knowledge and accumulated understanding. It is possible to acquire these bodies of knowledge at various stages through life.

10. Key differences between the prime and the specific areas. PrimeSpecific Are characterised by their universality. They occur in all socio- cultural contexts. Are skills and knowledge which are specific to priorities within socio-cultural contexts.

11. Key differences between the prime and the specific areas. PrimeSpecific Are not dependent on the specific areas of learning, although the specific areas of learning provide the context for their development. Are dependent on learning in the prime areas – the specific learning cannot easily take place without the prime.

12. 3 Learning and Teaching Characteristics She emphasises that:- Practitioners need to understand the different ways in which children learn in order to provide effective support Characteristics describe how children learn across a range of activities Need to be more explicit Drawn from the commitments of the EYFS they describe HOW children learn rather than WHAT Lifelong characteristics of learning

13. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham That children’s communication and language continues to be identified as a prime area of learning in the EYFS. She recommends that the Government investigate urgently how the development of children’s English language skills can be effectively supported and assessed. That children’s physical development continues to be identified as a prime area of learning in the EYFS.

14. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham ASSESSMENT A number of significant changes are recommended in assessment, including: a reduction in the number of early learning goals – to 17 from present 69 clearer links between the goals and the Key Stage One curriculum the introduction of a simple assessment scale showing whether children’s skills and knowledge across the early learning goals are ‘emerging’, ‘expected’ (in line with expectations for five-year- olds), or ‘exceeding’.

15. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham That the welfare section of the EYFS is renamed the ‘safeguarding and welfare requirements’ and that the welfare requirements are redrafted to improve their clarity. She also wants the safeguarding and welfare requirements to be made more explicit about warning signs in the behaviour of adults working in a setting. She also recommends that the EYFS sets out clearly the high level content of the child protection training that lead safeguarding practitioners are required to attend. This should align with the Working together to safeguard children guidance, and include content on safeguarding within early years settings.

16. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham She recommends that clear guidance is included in the EYFS about the amount of paperwork that should be kept in relation to risk assessments.

17. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham The final section of the report is far-ranging. It covers such areas as workforce training, professional development and teaching schools for early years. Here, Dame Clare Tickell seeks to convince the Government of the arguments for: Promoting a minimum level 3 qualification; continuing to aspire to a graduate-led workforce

18. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham She also recommends ensuring that careers in early years are promoted positively; retraining vocational qualifications in early years, with prior learning accredited where expertise is recognised and developing entry qualifications of a high standard and on a par with the former NNEB qualification. She recommends that the Government consider how the best-performing settings could help to support introduction of the known model of Teaching Schools to the early years.

19. Recommendations from Dame Claire Tickell and implications for Rotherham Dame Tickell recommends that the Government build on existing work to draw together a progression structure for qualifications, linking these to leadership qualifications and identifying clear career pathways for practitioners.