Painted glass obscuring the view beyond is becoming an increasing feature of shop fronts throughout…
Your chance to respond to Bold Beginnings
Only two days left to let us know what your thoughts are on this report. Please send us a message by 16th February and we can include your comments in our response to Ofsted.
The Bold Beginnings Report is ridiculous. The majority of our 4/5yr old children from our European Counterparts are at home or in Playbased Kindergardens – BEING CHILDREN!! Not being taught Phonics or being taught how to write words/sentences. Its all too much too soon. And even more difficult for thousands of Summerborn Children who are forced to go to school at just turned four because LA’s & School are not following DfE Guidelines for these children, or are completely missing the Reception year. What sort of start is this for children? Compulsory School Age is Compulsory School Age, so EVERY child should start then and go into a PLAY BASED Reception – this allows all children the chance to fully develop emotionally and physically for the school journey ahead. Good teachers can tell at what point a child is – they do not need a test! A Reception Teachers job should be to ensure the children are happy and settled within the school setting. Happy & settled children will want to learn further down the line. Testing within weeks of starting school, phonics test, then SATs testing is doing nothing but turning off the love of learning for so many children. And we question why our Mental Health in our children is like it is?! Lets for ONCE look at those countries who do so well in the academic league tables…..and learn from them. They send their children to school later, they have minimal testing, rarely have homework…..but they still do so much better than us! Lets take advice and learn from others for once!
The Bold Beginnings report clearly sets Ofsted’s agenda- to make the EYFS more formal. The criticism of schools and teachers beggars belief, if you don’t want reception teachers to devise activities to ‘tick off’ early learning goals then abolish high stakes assessment.
The report mentions formal written recording in maths, which is not a requirement in the EYFS, and I strongly object to the idea that reading is the ‘core purpose’ of the reception year. Fostering a love of reading and books is obviously important, but surely the purpose of reception is to introduce children to school, to support them in developing friendships, to lay the foundations for a lifelong love of learning. Similarly, the report focuses on the technical aspects of writing- pencil grip, posture- yet fails to mention what inspires children to write, such as a real purpose, a creative curriculum and an audience.
I fear that a lot of damage has already been done with Bold Beginnings. School leaders who do not have knowledge of or faith in their EYFS team will use this as a stick, knowing that the recommendations are the route to a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ grade. Dark times for early years education.
Thank you Sharon