Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Video footage of the Early Excellence briefing featuring Jan Dubiel and Gill Jones talking about the 'Bold beginnings...' report:
Early Excellence Briefing – Bold Beginnings

Early Excellence Ltd

An Ofsted Survey of Good & Outstanding Teaching in the Reception Year.

Led by Early Excellence & Ofsted / January 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypGwUo2 ... e=youtu.be
The film is split into 4 sections so that you can easily find and view the parts you want to share:

An Introduction by Liz Marsden, CEO (2 mins)
An Early Excellence view of the Reception Year by Jan Dubiel (16 mins)
An Early Excellence view of Bold Beginnings by Jan Dubiel (11 mins)
An Overview of Bold Beginnings by Gill Jones, Ofsted (40 mins)
See 29 minutes for the beginning of Gill Jones HMI addressing the audience. This video footage will be well worth watching for anyone in the early years sector.

By the way, use the 'arrow' on the far left of the video screen as the one on the right of that seems to lead to some other video footage - very strange!
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

It is good to see further exploration and guidance coming from the 'Bold beginnings...' Ofsted survey. This forthcoming event is organised by the 'Early Excellence' group:

Dear

Understanding Best Practice in the Reception Year

As a keen supporter of EEx and a passionate Early Years educator, I am writing to let you know about our next half-day Briefing. This will be the last in a series of Briefings focused on changes to Reception practice brought about by Ofsted's Bold Beginnings Survey.

In this Briefing we will be focusing on both strategic and practical issues for YR, providing real answers to the many questions currently being discussed in schools including:
What is now seen as best practice in YR?
What, if anything, should YR teachers change?
How much focus should YR teachers give to self-initiated learning?
What does direct teaching look like in all its many facets?
What does ‘sufficient’ direct teaching mean and does YR do enough?
How can the teaching of literacy & maths be strengthened in YR to secure good outcomes for all children?
We will also be hearing from a school represented in the Ofsted Survey about the richness of their practice – and from an experienced SIP / inspector who will share what to look for/improve in YR.

As you can tell, this seminar will be packed with information to help you gain a strategic overview of YR, review your current approaches and plan next steps.

The Briefings begin just after Easter on Thursday 19th April, so check diaries as soon as you can and if at all possible, book places for a Senior Leader, your EYFS Leader and/or YR teacher using the checkout codes below.

You will also find a 30 minute preview taking place at the end of the Briefing to showcase our award-winning assessment system EExAT – simply choose the 'Briefing with EExAT Showcase' option when booking.

We look forward to seeing you there.

With best wishes,



Liz Marsden
Founder & CEO

Book 1 Place @ £95.00 (exc. VAT) per person / No code required
Book 2 places @ £85.00 (exc. VAT) per person / Use code: nsb2
Book 3 places or more @ £75.00 (exc. VAT) per person / Use code: nsb3
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

More reference to the 'Bold Beginnings...' report featuring in an early years conference - the report has certainly got people talking:

https://ffed.weebly.com
The Firm Foundations Conference has been created by a group of educators who are passionate about the early years sector. Come and join us in London on Saturday 21st April at this grassroots event to talk about all things early years, and to share best practice. We will be exploring outdoor learning, Bold Beginnings, the characteristics of effective learning and much much more! We hope to see you there. You can get your ticket here.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

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Interview in Schools Week with Sean Harford (National Director for Education at Ofsted) - focusing on the case for case studies and featuring the 'Bold Beginnings...' report:
Has Ofsted given up on school case studies?

by Cath Murray
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/has-ofsted-gi ... e-studies/
So Ofsted pulled back on case studies. Then last December, there was ‘Bold beginnings’ – a study of practice in the reception classes of 41 primary schools, which irked many and led to accusations that Ofsted is picking and choosing “good practice” case studies according to its own bias.

After the conference, we caught up with a man who spends much of his time engaging with the schools community, trying to repair the damage caused by the triple marking case study and others, and asked whether Ofsted really has ditched the practice for good.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

I've tweeted about this union report suggesting it is a gross misinterpretation of the Bold Beginnings report - along with a worrying underestimation of what children enjoy and what they can achieve.

I've also written an article for SEN Magazine (not published at the time of writing this message) about the Bold Beginnings report - how it has opened up a hornets' nest but can it lead to opening eyes and minds?
School leaders' union rejects Ofsted view of early years education

By Bernadette Meaden
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/25979
Delegates at NAHT's Annual Conference 2018 voted overwhelmingly to support a motion from the union's Staffordshire branch which read:

Ofsted's recent Bold Beginnings report on teaching in the reception year has provided some deeply flawed analysis based on limited evidence. Conference is asked to reject an interpretation of early years education that:

*fails to acknowledge the wealth of evidence and research that the role of play is crucial in children's learning as part of the curriculum
*requires four-year-old children to sit and undertake formal work too early
*fails to recognise the professional judgement of teachers who are best placed to assess a pupil's readiness for formal writing or desk-based learning
*and fails to meet the needs of pupils with SEND ( special educational needs and disabilities) who will be left behind by an inappropriate early years curriculum.

Conference is asked to urge national executive to continue to reject the Bold Beginnings report that once again imposes a particular ideology on teachers and school leaders, regardless of evidence and to the detriment of young learners.
At the time of writing this comment, one of my grandsons is a month away from his second birthday.

He can remember a new word, and when to use it appropriately, after only hearing it only once.

His gross motor skills and balance are extraordinary and have been for some considerable time.

His fine motor manipulative skills are extraordinary. There is nothing he cannot handle, put together, pull apart, slip through, connect, build - you name it.

Please don't tell me that by the time he is four to five years old he won't be 'ready' to sit at a desk, learn to hold a pencil with the tripod grip - but, instead, needs to do some ribbon activities to build up his shoulder strength.

He thrives on being taught, and learning, new information, new words, new skills - every single moment of every day.

And please don't suggest that he is the only one.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

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https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ ... conference
Amanda Spielman at the Pre-school Learning Alliance annual conference

Ofsted's Chief Inspector discussed the importance of the early years and developing a love of reading at the 2018 Pre-school Learning Alliance conference.
Bold Beginnings

Which brings me on to some much-needed clarification. Last year, Ofsted published a report called ‘Bold Beginnings’. You might have heard of it! It stressed the importance of putting oral language and reading at the very heart of the Reception Year.

It’s fair to say it caused a stir, especially on social media. But I’m afraid that, even with 280 characters, Twitter doesn’t allow for nuanced debate! And that’s a shame, because some of the report’s important messages did get rather lost.

And I’d like to talk about some of them today. First of all: ‘Bold Beginnings’ was aimed very specifically at the Reception Year.

Why Reception? Because we know that children in some schools do better in Reception than others. And we also know that those who fall behind early seldom catch up with their peers. It may only be one year. But touching on today’s theme, these children can soon develop a sense of exclusion and lack of self-worth. We wanted to understand why.

Schools that really excel make sure that all children, whatever their background, make great strides in Reception. And they do it by being very clear about the building blocks of literacy. Literacy is at the heart of everything they do.

First and foremost they read to children, introducing them to new words and ideas. And alongside this, they teach phonics well. This gives children the ‘code’ they need to read words out loud. And they reinforce this, giving children time to practise what they learn, reading from books that match the sounds introduced in phonics lessons.

And crucially, we found that when it came to literacy, ‘teaching’ 4- and 5-year-old children is really important. That does not, and should not, preclude them from lots and lots of play. But equally, we can’t reliably ensure that all children get enough language and literacy development in Reception through play alone.

Some children are ‘lucky’. And I’m talking here about family culture, not just money. They get lots of help outside school from parents and family. Nursery rhymes, ABCs and settling down for a bedtime story are part and parcel of their day. For them, Reception can be an extension of nursery. But ‘unlucky’ children certainly need more of the structured learning to replace what they don’t necessarily get at home.

So if indeed further clarity is needed: Ofsted is not calling for play to be removed from Reception classrooms. There is no suggestion that very young children should sit still at desks for hours. Clearly, this wouldn’t be helpful. And, I’d say a logistical nightmare! Nor are we suggesting that formal schooling should begin earlier. But what we are asking for is structured teaching in Reception of the things that need to be taught, like phonics and numbers, for example.
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Re: Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

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Report in daynurseries.co.uk about Amanda Spielman's talk:


https://www.daynurseries.co.uk/news/art ... -reception
Ofsted is 'not calling for play to be removed from Reception' says chief

Article By: Sue Learner

Ofsted chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, has claimed some of the “important messages” of its recent report ‘Bold Beginnings’ got “rather lost” and has clarified she is “not calling for play to be removed from Reception classrooms”.
At the end of last year, the education regulator caused a furore when it published a report ‘Bold Beginnings’ with recommendations on how reading, writing and maths should be taught to pupils starting school in Reception.

Ofsted claimed in its report there was a lack of guidance on what four and five-year-olds should be taught and called for reading and systematic synthetic phonics to be the ‘core purpose’ of children’s first year at school. The regulator revealed some headteachers interviewed by Ofsted had said Reception teachers tend to favour ‘play-based pedagogy’ and ‘child-initiated learning’ over reading, writing and maths.

The report said this approach to teaching four and five-year-olds 'prevented effective progression' into Year One and ‘the basics need to be taught – and learned – well, from the start’.

Ms Spielman, who took over as HM chief inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills in January 2017, spoke at the Pre-School Learning Alliance (PSLA) conference on Friday.

'Some much-needed clarification'

In her speech, she said there is a need for “some much-needed clarification”.

“Last year, Ofsted published a report called ‘Bold Beginnings’. You might have heard of it! It stressed the importance of putting oral language and reading at the very heart of the Reception Year.

“It’s fair to say it caused a stir, especially on social media. But I’m afraid that, even with 280 characters, Twitter doesn’t allow for nuanced debate! And that’s a shame, because some of the report’s important messages did get rather lost.”
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

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Blog post with reference to the Bold Beginnings report and the outcry it caused:

https://primarytimery.com/2018/01/01/wh ... ssion=true
Why you are both right. Early Years vs Traditional teaching
This blog has taken an age to write. Partly because I realised I needed to read more Early Years research before wading in and partly because I am genuinely torn between the teaching approaches informed by what cognitive science teaches us about memory – the stuff labelled ‘traditionalist’ and by what is held up as good early years practice. I can read something like this by Quirky Teacher and completely understand where she is coming from, yet also believe she is misunderstands why Early Years style play is important. Similarly, when I read Early Years people bang on about play and independence, creativity and curiosity I can’t help thinking that Early Years practice could be transformed if only Early Years people knew more about how long term memory is built through retrieval practice and the central place of knowledge in enabling independence, creativity and curiosity. I was going to call this blog ‘Early Years vs traditional Teaching: why you are both wrong’ before remembering the wise saying of F.D.Maurice. ‘A man [sic] is most often right in what he affirms and wrong in what he denies.’ Hence the revised title. What we really need is a genuine conversation and willingness to learn from one another. I hope this goes some way towards this, though I may well just end up annoying both ‘sides’ equally.
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Re: Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

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Pam Jarvis writes in the TES about the notion of 'school readiness' in light of government moves to implement a baseline assessment for Reception children and Amanda Spielman referring to children as 'lucky or unlucky' regarding the context underlying their language development:

https://www.tes.com/news/what-do-we-mea ... -readiness
What do we mean by 'school readiness'?

Pam Jarvis

We must recognise the significant effect that socioeconomic disadvantage has on school readiness, argues Pam Jarvis
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Re: Eng: 'Bold beginnings' - Reception teachers are failing a third of five-year-olds, major Ofsted report finds

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This 2008 article by Dan Willingham is very interesting in light of the apparently polemic views of 'appropriate' provision for Reception children (4 to 5 year olds) in England:
What Is Developmentally Appropriate Practice?

How does the mind work—and especially how does it learn? Teachers’ instructional decisions are based on a mix of theories learned in teacher education, trial and error, craft knowledge, and gut instinct. Such gut knowledge often serves us well, but is there anything sturdier to rely on? Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field of researchers from psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, computer science, and anthropology who seek to understand the mind. In this regular American Educator column, we consider findings from this field that are strong and clear enough to merit classroom application.

By Daniel T. Willingham

https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files ... gham_1.pdf
What is “developmentally appropriate practice”? For many teachers, I think the definition is that school activities should be matched to children’s abilities—they should be neither too difficult nor too easy, given the child’s current state of development.* The idea is that children’s thinking goes through stages, and each stage is characterized by a particular way of understanding the world. So if teachers know and understand that sequence, they can plan their lessons in accordance with how their students think.

In this column I will argue that this notion of developmentally appropriate practice is not a good guide for instruction. In order for it to be applicable in the classroom, two assumptions would have to be true. One is that a child’s cognitive development occurs in discrete stages; that is, children’s thinking is relatively stable, but then undergoes a seismic shift, whereupon it stabilizes again until the next large-scale change. The second assumption that would have to be true is that the effects of the child’s current state of cognitive development are pervasive—that is, that the developmental state affects all tasks consistently.
Daniel T. Willingham is professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Cognition: The Thinking Animal. His Web site is www.danielwillingham.com.
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