Why is having EYITT in my setting beneficial?
A case study by Melissa Byrne from Twinkle Tots Nursery
I have ran the Pre School within my day nursery setting for the past four years and felt that the EYITT course was best suited to me for a number of reasons such as location, funding and most importantly the fact it was based around Early Years.
The course has been very informative, every week we have a lecture based around an important aspect of early years and the EYFS such as physical development, safeguarding and the role of the adult just to name a few. During these lectures we are provided with up to date information and reams of ideas that we can take back to our own settings. We have also had the opportunity to visit other settings such as primary schools in and around Birmingham including Forest Schools and special educational needs schools, these again have provided us with ideas on how to improve our own settings for the better.
The changes that my setting has made since I have been on the EYITT course have been immense below I have listed just a few:
Through the visits to the forest schools and following training based around understanding the world we have developed the outdoor area to a more natural and open ended resourced space, such as having a mud kitchen, a musical wall and stage and a fairy garden.
We have developed our parent partnership in a number of ways such as involving parents into our planning and observation cycle, providing stay and play sessions and parents evenings just to name a few.
We have made our Pre School into a free flow learning environment which has provided the children with so many stimulating learning opportunities. This was following my six week placement in a wonderful free flow foundation stage within a primary school, I was provided with so many ideas from this setting which again helped to improve my settings practice.
Through this course my setting is going from strength to strength and using the information and ideas I am provided with through my lectures to improve upon the setting as a whole. I would recommend this course to settings who are looking to develop their practice in new and exciting ways.