Monthly Archives: March 2010

What do you a call a group of EYPs?

We arrived early at Hayling Island to find the hotel conference room already filling up with Early Years Professionals (EYPs). Something had obviously gone wrong with the planning as chairs were rapidly reserved with bags, jackets or bums and a newly arrived group had to loiter by the door scanning the room for an empty seat. There were none.  Staff squeezed another table in and brought more chairs. We drank coffee, ate bacon rolls and “networked”. Our wild haired, walking stick yielding facilitator for the day moved between groups making cheery introductions. Some of us had a go at the brain teasers, working out that horobod is actually robin hood  (get it!?) We felt smug. We were going to do Leadership and Management. We discussed, we commented, we fed back, we ate – lots, especially lunch (yummy). That other man, apart from G and myself from Paint Pots, wore his suit again.  We learnt that 90% of what we hear in a seminar is lost within an hour and 60% of the remainder in a week. How many billions of wasted training seminar hours are there in any one year then? Those who are still training to become EYPs moaned and worried over the whole process, those who are already EYPs continue to be relieved that it’s all over and wonder how what their job is now compares to what others think they should be doing. Lots of in-talk and mutterings. Had a txt to say we have 3 cases of scarlet fever at a nursery. Have informed the authorities who suggested we clean everything (again).  So, one more cake and a wee before we leave. 10 / 10 for food and drink on the evaluation and some VGs for everything else. I did try to remember what we had talked about, an hour afterwards and strangely, I could only recall about 10% – how spooky is that? What do you call a group of Early Years Professionals?

Training, Accounts, Cleaners

Mrs W attended ECAT (Every Child a Talker) training this morning, then returned home to run a session on Book Corners with 1 member of staff from each nursery. Prepare for revolutionised book corners.Very wonderfully N, our latest manager on maternity leave, dropped by with her fantastic new baby (possibly the cutest baby……). There were lots of smiles!

I received some health & safety videos on approval. I think I may buy the manual handling one – we have several back issues with staff at the moment. Personal health and safety comes first!!

L (Paint Pots admin person) and I pored over our accounting package. We bought a couple of things from Tesco in the last few months which none of has any idea what they were – where did the receipts disappear to? At least we are having this discussion now, not 12 months later (which has happened in previous years!) Various payments from our local authority which we have absolutely no idea about. L will start phoning in the morning.

Got a call at 6:40 from our new cleaner – the alarm is going off and she somehow managed to snap her key off in the lock – how did she do that?  A quick drive round to let her in and switch the alarm off and check that everything’s ok. 

So what happened to children today? Another day’s training tomorrow – something to do with management. Watch this space!

Safer Recruitment Training

Poor little M at PP2 had a tough start to the day. M is about 16 months now but is still in 3 month old clothes. He was very premature.  He is very dinky and always looks like he’s worried but he is about the cutest child we have at the moment (Shouldn’t really say that, should I?). Anyway, there he was standing and happily bouncing on E’s lap when a larger girl head butted him (by accident). Blood everywhere. He looked like he’d been in a major fight. A disposed flannel and several tissues later and calm and happiness was restored. And all before 8:30 in the morning!!

A whole day learning about enhanced CRBs, vetting and barring, the ISA and legal recruitment procedures. The bottom line is that as long as you have asked everything you could possibly think of; advertised everywhere to make sure everyone has had a chance to apply; given equal time and opportunity for all applicants to put their case; not mentioned age, gender, disability, race, faith and another one I’ve forgotten; checked all online databases for previous, current and future misdemeanours; have everything recorded, signed and copied in triplicate and kept for 20 years (apart from medical records); consulted the relevant GP (with permission); made sure you have checked with someone in the home country for anyone coming from oversees; asked and received references from professional sources only and only asking factual questions; produce an updated job description, person specification, medical questionnaire, application form and only ask about “unspent” convictions as defined in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 – you should be covered legally!!!!  Simples, as the advert says.

Spending Money

Spending money is actually quite easy. Running 4 old buildings with hundreds of people in them every day means there is always something breaking or wearing out and improvements to make. 2 weeks ago, a new path was laid at PP4 then a pergola, in preparation for the No Mow people to replace the mud/dust patch with artifical grass. (I do prefer real grass, well real anything actually, but it doesn’t stand up to all those little feet and the No Mow stuff is a great product). R who does our maintenance submitted a bill for a couple of hundred for bits and pieces at PP1 – a shelf, unblocking a drain, moving some stuff. This week, he’s finishing a new cupboard, sink and making good at PP3 – approx £1,000. We have also had No Mow installed at PP3. In the meantime, there are £4,000 worth of replacement windows going in at PP2 and the drains man wants £1000 for telling us the soakaway isn’t up to it and he needs to come back and charge a lot more to reroute some pipe-work.  It’s also probably about time something electrical broke down, like a vacuum cleaner, washing machine, CD player, computer, etc. This is the rule of built in obsolesence. Things will only ever stop working immediately after any warranty expires, never before. Oh and the flat roof at PP1 is breaking down – several firms beating a path to our door to perform that sharp intake of breath before adding several 0’s onto the end of a large number. And it’s quite spectacular how they manage to hike the price of gas and electricity into regions that were formerly undreamt of .  On the plus side – well, there isn’t one as yet.  But you have to speculate to whatever and the new gardens look fab, as do the windows, so maybe this will all translate into more business or at least keep existing customers happy – parents and children. The money saving campaign starts here – switch that light off!!!!!

ECAT, Listening and Spring Cleaning

J came to PP3 to see how we are getting on with Every Child a Talker. audit done on all staff and children,  questionnaires set to go to parents. We are already planning in weekly activities from Letter and Sounds. The skill is to convince staff that this isn’t yet another new initiative but what we have already been doing. Maybe we need to add another ‘L’ to our motto of Love, Laughter and Learning – ‘Listening’!  This will be the theme of our upcoming staff training day.   

Spent Friday afternoon with Preschool at PP1,  we decided the rugs looked a bit grubby – got the hoover out, 1 or 2 children wanted a go, then we decided to take them outside for a better clean. We first put them over some large logs and started whacking them so that a cloud of dust rose into the sky. T and a couple of other boys and girls arrived and announced they were fire fighters. Did I need any fire fighters? Of course I did. Apparently fire fighters climb on rugs draped over large logs, generally squirt pretend hoses in all directions, then sit down and get in the way so you can’t possibly clean anything.  Several girls wanted a whack, so we unseated the fire fighters and hung the rugs over the washing line. Plastic tennis rackets appeared and we set to. A very large dust cloud soon enveloped me and many children. Some children got whacked instead of the rugs (mainly by mistake!). Here’s a good tip, don’t use a plastic tennis racket to beat a rug, unless you want to end up with painful and unsightly blisters.  Anyway, after a while, everyone got bored of this (including me) and some of the scooter and car drivers found a new pastime, screaming down the path at full speed, crashing into the suspended rugs. This was hilarious for all concerned until 2 individuals decided to do this simultaneously from opposite directions, resulting in a head-on collision. A good opportunity to discuss rules of the road etc. As I was now bored, I noticed the lean to gutters were full of pine needles, climbed on the fence and started to scoop them out with my hands. Several children wanted to help. They picked up buckets from the digging area so I could throw old needles and leaves into them. They then took them down the path and emptied them over the fence into next door’s garden! I though this was a jolly good cooperative effort. At tea time, we took the rugs back in. We had a discussion about favourite animals. E and J both decided on dinosaurs and demonstrated how they eat anything by biting the plastic table cloth. Parents arrived and I told them how helpful everyone had been with our cleaning. Of course the children took great delight in telling them how dangerous I had been hanging off the roof, showering them all in pine needles and covering them in dust from the rugs. Traitors! I imagined I might get 1 or 2 disapproving looks from parents but no one said anything although I did see one of them dusting a particulalry grubby spot on her child’s jumper. Oh well, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

What’s in Store?

A while back, I tried emailing all the political parties to ask them what their policy plans are for the Early Years Sector. The Conservatives bounced me between David Willetts, Maria Miller and some back office types. Their main message seemed to be that Dave is a really nice guy and definitely for the family. I wonder how that translates into policy? David Willetts is today quoted as saying ‘Excessive weight is placed on what happens in a child’s early years.’ I wonder how that translates into policy, him being the minister for universities?  In other words, how big a spending cut will we suffer under the Tories? The Lib Dems told me they’d get back to me as they were busy at conference (that was 6 months ago – still waiting!)  Labour are doing the stuff at the moment. Will they do more or less of the same stuff or different stuff?  It seems to me that they are keen to generate headlines with good news announcements whilst sustainability is a tedious and uneconomic beast that needs locking away. So we may see Childrens Centres closing / releasing staff just at the point where targets have been met for opening and staffing them with qualified graduates.  I’m such a cynic!

CWDC Filming

J greeted me this morning with what he described as an enormous gun. He proceeded to shoot me with it, informing me that it fired marshmallows. It was big and had a light on the end and also seemed to have a torch installed underneath. Ingenious! 

Cameras, Lights, Action – consent forms had been completed, the select few children identified and various activities staged to represent a typical day in the nursery. So we (myself and film crew) entered the conservatory to find everyone wanting to have a go at the stones activity – apart from the children with consent forms! Never work with animals and children…..!  Eventually we managed to coax the children we did want in shot to come over and somehow managed to dissuade those without consent forms. I tried to look inspiring and intelligent – basically, as if I knew what I was doing. We did a large jigsaw on a table that was too small, went in the garden to hold and discuss the guinea pig and ran around a lot. The film crew seemed happy. Move to the office to stage some manager type footage. N roped in to look as though I was talking to her about some very important nursery matter. ‘Did you watch Eastenders last night?’ she asks. ‘No, I hate soaps.’  I was then going to be interviewed one to one. We booted the Toddlers out of their room, switched off the music in the background and I was told where to stand. Cue first question. Sorry too much noise from the Babies upstairs. Well you are in a nursery! We had to decamp to the garden, next door to the fire station. Cue sirens. 5 minutes later, we were at last ready. ‘Can you tell me what the benefits are to the children, of the stones activity you did with the children?’ she asked me. Me  (Thinks: No idea!): ‘Everything we offer the children is based on our philosophy of Love, Laughter and Learning, waffle, tactile experience, social interaction, language development, waffle.’  ‘Could you make your answers a little briefer please?’ (Meaning : You’re waffling!) Me ‘You’re very polite aren’t you?’  and so on, through jigsaws, outdoor play, guinea pigs, men in childcare (a topic dear to my heart) and hopefully an upbeat finish – making a difference in young lives.  We’ll have to wait for the DVD to see the final result. I don’t think I looked like a complete idiot

School Governor Visit

Arrived at PP1.  3 year old E told me ‘I’m in a bad mood this morning. I kicked my toys.’  We know that feeling don’t we?!Being a governor attached to the Foundation Stage in our local primary school gives me the opportunity to spend the occasional afternoon there spending some time with the children, several of them ex Paint Pots. As soon as I arrived, some familiar faces ran over to me, grabbed my hand and decided to show me everything. We hunted for words in the garden, drew pictures of a tricycle, went to fairy land, dinosaur land and the moon in a rocket and hid in a big box. I was eaten by dinosaurs, given 3 pictures, drove trucks through a desert landscape, danced to the theme of ice age and played cricket and tennis. One girl asked me who I was – ‘Are you an uncle?’ Other comments included : ‘You don’t remember me do you?’ and ‘You belong to nursery.” It was a fun afternoon.  Filming tomorrow for the Childrens Workforce Development Council. Apparently I have to be an inspirational Early Years Professional – I wonder what one of those looks like?

First Post

So maybe the first day back after skiing is a good time to start. I visited 3 nurseries today, doing bills and some paper work. I dropped off an Ant house at PP4 – a litte boy A was very interested but then he always is whenever I bring in something new. Arrived at PP3 with a bag of donated workmen’s hats for outdoor building projects. Everyone wanted to try them on. PP2 was having a children’s take-over day today. The children had voted that everyone was to wear pyjamas, there should be pizza for lunch and disco dancing in the afternoon. No one told me! I was too late for the pizza, I wasn’t going to dance cos I did my knee in skiing and I couldn’t possibly have gone there in what I wear to bed!  O told me, ‘My mummy has had 2 babies.’ ‘What are they called?’, I asked. ‘Brother and sister’, he replied. Received an email invitation to a round-table discussion in London, on the Daycare Trust’s latest report on why there are so few men in childcare. Watch this space. Spoke to P (another man) who is in his first placement at PP2. He has moved to Toddlers this week, from Babies. He said, ‘I’m getting on better with the pint sized people rather than the tiny ones.’  Last week he held a very tiny one and said, ‘ what do I do if it cries?’  – still a way to go.