Click through to read my latest article, written for the Early Years Foundation Stage Forum. It responds to some of the key comments and questions that practitioners/ teachers often share.
Author: Elizabeth Jarman
Garden International School, Malaysia
It’s great to see mainstream magazines picking up on the whole area of learning environments and questioning if convention classrooms are a thing of the past. This short piece highlights some of the fantastic work that is continuing to evolve at Garden International School in KL. We’ve been working together for a few years now. There’s a podcast on the home page of my website discussing some of the theory behind the changes made.
http://happygokl.com/are-conventional-classrooms-a-thing-of-the-past/
Bright Stars Nursery, Sunderland, UK
Bright Stars Nursery, Sunderland, UK
Our environment at Bright Stars Nursery consists of one purpose built room and a large outside space. We cater for children from birth to 5 years. Before we started implementing Elizabeth Jarman’s Communication Friendly Spaces™ Approach, our room was cluttered with tables and chairs, had no definition or specific inviting areas or spaces for children to really focus in, settle and ‘talk’. We felt our children were using the areas within the setting to run from activity to activity and did not seem to become focused on much. The noise level of the whole nursery was very loud and it felt chaotic. Resources lacked in terms of quality, there was no character and the space just seemed unloved. We knew we had a big challenge on our hands.
Visiting a School or Setting: A fresh pair of eyes
Take a look at my latest article, published today by EYFS Forum. It shares a few (of the many) questions I have and the sorts of observations I make when carrying out an environment audit.
If you’d like to book an environment audit then please get in touch!
Positive Learning Environments
This programme explores aspects of the CFS™ Approach in schools. It challenges historical thinking and encourages colleagues to review the way that learning spaces inside and out could look in light of latest research.