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child-centred learning

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Children transitioning from Reception to Key Stage 1 at Ormiston Herman Academy in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

are having all the benefits of the EYFS but with a ‘little more grown-up’ style of learning, thanks to our overhaul in teaching practices that were implemented in September last year.

Gone are the classrooms filled with tables at which children are expected to sit in their assigned place for most of the day. In their place is a newly designed learning environment which consists of:

■ a design bench ■ an artist studio ■ a science lab for investigation ■ a stage. Children undertake small-group

guided work at the clusters of tables which are dotted around the room,

or in the cosy book area, which has a sofa and soft lighting. However, essentially, we have moved away from the traditional ‘teacher-at-the-front-of-the-classroom’ style of learning and created an environment based around challenge and self-motivation, with areas of continuous provision to which enhancements are added. For example, a cupboard has been turned into a Secret Cave where special objects like a Time Machine have been added, which cause excitement and intrigue.

TRANSFORMING THE ENVIRONMENTThe move came after a year-long observation of the different approaches to learning in Year 1, with the main aim to improve transition from the early years. During the year, in which I worked across the two Year 1 classes, it

became apparent that children were at risk of losing the independence, engagement and confidence previously securely developed through EYFS.

Rather than being trusted to make choices, as they had been in early years, they were sat at a table and told ‘this is what we are doing and here’s the equipment’. Some children were stuck in their writing and had to sit and wait for a teacher if they needed support, which could have resulted in them ‘switching off ’ from learning.

As a result of these observations, we trialled some EYFS approaches in Year 1 and monitored the impact closely. So, for example, rather than waiting at a table, children can go off to one of the learning areas and find an activity that supports their learning in a way that’s meaningful to them.

It soon became evident that the

Centre stageOrmiston Herman Academy has adopted a child-centred approach in Year 1 with positive results, says teacher and early years specialist leader of education Amy Jackson

child-centred approach positively addressed the children’s behaviours for learning, and the evidence of the trials led the senior leadership team to move to take the early years pedagogy into Year 1. Both classes are being taught by experienced teachers from our early years team, which was graded Outstanding by Ofsted in 2017: Leanne Roberts, who spent five years as a Reception teacher; and me – I have spent ten years as a nursery and Reception teacher at the school.

FOSTERING INDEPENDENCEPrior to this, the scope and potential for learning was not as advanced as it is now. Children are taught the key skills needed to access the environments independently, but they are challenged to use them in a more advanced way that is a step up from early years and link to the Year 1 National Curriculum objectives.

When tidying up, for example, they don’t just put all the blocks into a pile, they look at the labels and sort into semi-circles, which represents half a circle. Jugs are sorted into size order, using millilitres. In the same way, they are taught how to mix colours, create the right tone for watercolours and how to shade using pencils and study the work of famous artists.

Children learn through a cross-curricular approach fuelled by their own enquiries and ‘hooks’ for learning. The Time Machine appeared in the Secret Cave one day with a letter from book character Ada Twist from Ada Twist Scientist by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts. It took us back to the time of dinosaurs, which the children were really interested in.

The Year 1 team placed dinosaur footprints on the path into school one morning, which led to the Secret Cave. The children were delighted when they found a dinosaur egg and letter from a velociraptor. The next week, the egg went missing and a realistic mother and baby velociraptor came to visit us from a company called Dino Hire! This really inspired children and their motivation for independent learning.

LITERACY FOCUSThere’s a high focus on embedding writing in all aspects of learning as

well as developing creativity and vocabulary development. In the past, lessons were segmented and there were several exercise books for the different subjects. I found that going from the holistic Learning Journey in early years to the segmented exercise books was difficult to get used to, as I felt this way of working did not give the same picture of the ‘whole child’ that I was used to.

Now, our learning journeys show a wealth of evidence of this cross-curricular approach and enquiry-based learning. For example, with our dinosaur theme there is enquiry writing at the beginning about what they know and want to find out, which shaped the direction that the learning went in, and an update completed at the end with answers to their questions.

Each learning environment is set up with resources and activities to help the children extend their learning at their own pace, rather than the pace set by the teacher in a more traditional Year 1 classroom. Children can:

■ do independent artwork of dinosaurs

■ measure dinosaur bones ■ use adjectives to describe toy dinosaurs

■ perform a dinosaur dance on the stage

■ write about their dance moves ■ look at a map of the continents with details of which dinosaurs are from each continent and write about this

■ do independent cave-building with labels and captions. All of this learning is linked to

reading and retelling high-quality texts such as Tyrannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts because promoting a love of reading is at the heart of our learning. Adults have high expectations of what the children can achieve and they push the children forwards in the environment with challenges, comments and suggestions.

CROSS-CURRICULAR LEARNINGChildren are thriving in this new way of working and feedback from parents at a Learning Café – which was set up by our principal, Kathryn Rutherford to explain the reasons for the ‘drastic’ changes – has been 100 per cent positive.

They report that their children have settled in extremely well and are interested in the learning. A work scrutiny comparing last year’s writing to this year’s shows a great improvement in the amount of writing and the flow of the work, which we believe is down to the confidence in themselves as writers and their engagement in the learning.

Behaviour is excellent and

➜MORE INFORMATION

● www.ohacademy.co.uk

tips for adopting Ormiston’s approach ■ The changes need to be led by someone with a lot of early years experience.

■ Ensure that all Year 1 staff, teachers and TAs have a shared vision of what you are trying to achieve and why – what the positive outcomes are for the children.

■ Visit other settings that have the approach in place where possible to gain ideas on how it can be managed and adapted to suit your own setting.

■ You need a commitment and understanding from the senior leadership team about learning that focuses on the ‘whole child’ and understanding that effective learning can take place in

groups; it doesn’t have to be a whole-class approach.

■ Careful planning and organisation of the learning environment is a must. What do you want the children to access daily and how can it be developed to fit in with themes and added challenges? How will the environment be a ‘step up’ from Reception?

■ Ensure high expectations of the children’s learning potential and behaviour.

■ Think about how you can implement ‘hooks’ for learning to give the children exciting experiences to inspire and motivate.

Introducing EYFS approaches has given the Year 1 children more freedom in their learning

The mother and baby velociraptor visiting the school after a dinosaur egg went missing

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child-centred learning

children are aware of effective behaviours for learning through our superhero display, which the adults use to highlight the Characteristics of Effective Learning seen within the classroom. Children are praised throughout the day for being Captain Curious, Captain Resilience or Captain Thoughtful!

Phonics screening predictions are also looking strong. And with our phonics screening practice test in the spring term, 28 per cent of children got top marks – 40/40 – whereas only 2 per cent achieved top marks in last year’s final results in June.

I think a common misconception could be that bringing early years practices to Year 1 is lowering expectations, but these results, along with the quality of work produced, backs up our findings that our approach puts fewer limits on the children and increases opportunity for ‘greater depth’ learning.

Furthermore, in October 2018 our academy trust, Ormiston Academies Trust, carried out an audit inspection and the inspector fed back that Year 1 showed ‘Outstanding’ practices and commented on how the children were confident, independent,

engaged and that their folders showed excellent progress over the half term.

SHARED VISION With our new approach, which involves less whole-class learning but more small-group guided work, we have more time to spend with the children in the environment, which enables us to have a thorough knowledge of the academic and emotional needs of the child. Guided work mostly takes place in small groups and this way of learning helps to close gaps and allows us to have discussions with the children about their work.

The team of two teachers and three teaching assistants – Ceara Manifold, Victoria Jacobs and Kerry Simmons – are passionate about this way of working and we thrive on setting up exciting challenges that promote the different themes for learning. Our enthusiasm definitely has a knock-on effect on the children, who are happy and motivated, making good progress and suitably challenged and supported in the new environment. ❚

Amy Jackson spoke to Nicole Weinstein

Clockwise from left: Design Bench; the classroom before and after the change of strategy; and the Secret Cave

The vision for the outdoor area is to make it the same as continuous provision indoors. We have bought the welly racks and the all-in-one outdoor suits, and the aim is to have the doors open for free access throughout the day.

It’s still a work in progress but we have started to create a stimulating outdoor area which is a step up from Reception. We have put up a large wooden fence to make the area more of an enclosed space – it previously had short railings around it

and it led onto the KS1 playground. We aim to focus on communication and language development, as well as promoting teamwork and exploration.

We have large den-building equipment, water butts, water transporting bamboo tubes and stands, large balance scales, a sandbox, a mud kitchen, a stage, a post box and a magic door. We also have a ‘snack shop’ play shed where children pay for their snack and take turns to be the shopkeepers.

THE OUTDOOR AREA