Building Early Foundations Together (BEFT) is an approach to professional development set up by a team of EYFS consultants in Barnsley. It is a model of training that offers a range of projects every year to all EYFS settings, thus reaching a lot of practitioners. With the principal aim of narrowing the attainment gap, all BEFT projects focus primarily on children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Tracy Pearson, EYFS consultant for Barnsley Council, said, ‘Building Early Foundations Together projects are very popular with Barnsley's practitioners. They encourage settings to work together to improve outcomes for all, focusing on the most disadvantaged children and families. The BEFT model is designed to bring different types of early years settings together, enabling us to build relationships, share expertise and continue to learn.’
The basic model is that settings choose the projects they think would benefit their specific professional development needs most. Twenty to 30 settings participate in each. All projects consist of just two sessions. The initial training session is open-ended enough to cater for a spectrum of needs. All participants go off to use the aspects they consider most relevant for their particular setting. They reconvene six months later to share how they have put the training into practice. The considerable work that goes on during the intervening months is the key aspect to the success of this approach.
As well as being popular and user-friendly, it is a cost-effective way of embedding good practice, developing networks and sharing expertise.
‘Let the Story Begin’
Anni McTavish, early years creative arts consultant, is one of BEFT's trainers. She says, ‘I think being able to choose a project gets everyone off on a good footing. Practitioners have autonomy and it all feels very equal.’ She adds that the fact it is based on a short, focused project feels ‘manageable’. She says, ‘Practitioners can otherwise feel overwhelmed by just how much there is to do.’
McTavish's communication and language project, Let the Story Begin, was a response to the children's needs after the pandemic. It explored ways of using stories, songs and rhymes for early language and communication. She says, ‘It was a broad remit intended to serve an equally broad range of needs. The session was interactive, practical and lively.’
The key aims of the project were:
- To develop children's early reading, communication and language, particularly highlighting disadvantaged children.
- To deepen an understanding of early reading skills (pre-Reception), including phonological awareness.
- To support children in developing a love of books.
- To take away a range of practical strategies and ideas to develop.
- To create a case study based on the project. McTavish explains, ‘We explored the question of why early reading, communication and language is so important. Going back to basics is often a way of identifying the most pressing gaps in a setting, those areas that need immediate attention.’
She then worked on ways of creating a positive learning environment, including:
- giving tips and ideas to nurture early reading, communication and language
- looking at enjoyable phonics activities and easy games, songs and rhymes
- introducing new books (see box, right)
- thinking about practical ways of involving families.
To end the session, McTavish offered a sheet of prompts and questions for the participants to take away. ‘It can be useful to have a concrete guide to help staff put the training into practice,’ she says. ‘For instance, I asked participants to go off and consider themes such as how well do you tune in to children's voices and interests. I asked them to detail some of the phonics games they are going to play and jot down some ideas of how they might involve parents. Not rocket science, but important and applicable to all.’
Celebrating achievements
Pearson says, ‘Anni's work reignited an enthusiasm for using stories, songs, rhymes and games to develop children's language. A diversity of good practice followed the session.
‘It is wonderful to see children singing, playing with rhyme, and developing a real love for books and using language. Participants still enthuse about the changes brought about by the training.’
When everyone got together six months later, staff were able to celebrate what they had achieved and share what worked and what didn't.
Pearson adds, ‘This celebratory aspect of the project maintains a focus on improvement and motivates practitioners to learn from each other. The sharing of good practice builds sustainability and cost-effectiveness into the projects. It also serves to empower and further inspire participants.’
McTavish too considers this follow-up aspect of the model key to its success. ‘Not only does it show just how much work can come out of one short session, but it also enables practitioners to continue to get ideas from each other,’ she explains.
CASE STUDY: small group times
Lisa and Nicola from Wonderland Nursery School in Cudworth focused on developing small group times for stories, songs and rhymes. They started with a big clear-out, making the environment more inviting and accessible.
Lisa and Nicola created a list of core stories, rhymes and songs which they displayed to make the link between spoken and written language. They also introduced Makaton to use with the children's favourite books, such as Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson.
Lisa says, ‘The changes to our practice are noticeably helping children who have SEND and who are non-verbal. They are especially keen to use books with repetition and rhyme. They love Julia Donaldson books, which provide lots of opportunities to repeat familiar words and refrains.’
CASE STUDY: working with families
Sarah from Kabuki Childcare Centre in Barnsley town centre (pictured) focused on working with families. As with Lisa and Nicola, she was keen for the books to look more attractive, so started displaying them in baskets.
She also offered a broader range of books and introduced props to go with some of their favourites, such as Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. ‘I find that using props like small puppets works really well in engaging the children,’ remarks Sarah. This prompted Sarah to come up with her own version of ‘Going Home Bear’.
‘I got some cuddly soft toy bears, which the children loved, and called one Bedtime Story Bear. The children, along with their parent, took turns to choose a bedtime story to take home and share with Bedtime Story Bear. The parents took photos, and the children became more confident talking about their storytime with the bear.’
Sarah adds that, as well as developing early reading skills and a new excitement about books, it helped build positive relationships with parents.
Due to its popularity, Sarah developed this activity by introducing a Holiday Bear. ‘This worked in a similar way, but the bear went on holiday or on an outing with the children. They took a home-made book with the Holiday Bear so that its journey could be recorded. Some children drew in the book, some parents added photos. We then copied the book to have a permanent copy in the nursery that they could access at any time. The children loved seeing images of themselves in a real book.’
CASE STUDY: modelling story reading
Danielle from Shafton Primary Academy says the training helped her reconnect with her own love of books.
‘The new books introduced on the project have inspired lots of ideas that we continue to use,’ she adds. Modelling story reading was one of these. Danielle says, ‘Seeing me use funny voices and actions helps parents lose their self-consciousness when telling and reading stories to their children.’
The team at Shafton also organised ‘story sleepovers’ for children and their families. The children came to school in their PJs to read stories together. ‘This is a simple idea that is a lot of fun,’ says Danielle.
As a result of the training, they also set up a ‘book swap’ where families borrow books regularly. Bloom by Anne Booth, about a flower which a little girl talked to every morning, led to the children taking seeds and compost home to plant with their families. Danielle shared the story via YouTube, and kept in touch with families via the Seesaw App.
BOOKS USED ON THE PROJECT
- Where's Bear?by Emily Gravett
- Blocks by Irene Dickson
- Catch That Chicken! by Atinuke
- Bloom by Anne Booth
- Happy in Our Skin by Fran Manushkin
- Big Box Little Boxby Caryl Hart
- Hooray for Fish by Lucy Cousins
