I am very excited to welcome the lovely Anna Ephgrave this morning…

If you would like to read more about Anna’s work and philosophy please pop over to …
http://www.freedomtolearn.co.uk/
Introduction
If you visited the nursery class at Carterhatch Infant School, you would see 45 children who are purposeful, calm, confident and independent. You would see adults moving to where the children are engaged and interacting with them as they play. You would see a superb environment that is equipped to meet the needs, interests and stages of development of each child. You would see children who are making outstanding progress.
You would not see any forward planning, nor would you see any focus activities and you would not see adults telling children which activity to do.
To work in this way involves complex arrangements and yet the reasoning is simple. After more than 25 years teaching I am confident that this child-led approach to teaching in the early years (including Reception) is best for the children.
In summary this is my pedagogy:-
Children are born with a natural desire to explore and learn and practitioners can support them in this. We do this by creating an enabling environment (both physical and emotional) and through the relationships and interactions that the children experience. We do not plan ahead, rather we remain “in the moment” with the children as they explore and learn. We observe carefully, and enhance the learning whenever we spot a “teachable moment”. Our observations, interactions and the outcomes are recorded afterwards.
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