Holy Trinity Primary

[rebeccashouldersParticipant]

I have just spent a fantastic two weeks at Holy Trinity Primary School, working with Reception. These were the youngest children I had worked with so far, and I was surprised at how comfortable I felt.
The first week involved a trip to a farm. This showed me the planning that has to go into such outings, and the increased responsibilities of the teachers in looking after the children. A lengthier coach journey than planned led to the rearrangement of timings for the day, but all went smoothly as, helped by the shorter attention spans of the 5 year olds, all the activities were completed with enough time left to travel home. This illustrated the need as a teacher to adapt quickly to new situations.
The classroom had been designed with the children in mind; there were four tables, one for writing, one for maths, one for making and one where the teacher would work with the children. This helped minimise confusion between the children, who were split into different coloured groups, as each group would be set a different activity ans sent to a different table. The activities were rotated throughout the day, so that all the children did all the activities.
Routine appeared highly important in Reception, with each child having their own ‘magic space’ on the carpet, belonging to a colour group, following the same daily routine of choosing (at random) the two helpers for the day, collecting lunch bags and queuing for lunch in the same order – packed lunches first, followed by hot meals – even down to the idea that if one helper turns off the lights, the teacher must ask the other helper to turn them back on again. Change to this routine could prove difficult and disruptive, as was experienced on the second week where the class had a supply teacher for two days. When she asked someone who wasn’t a helper that day to turn off the lights, she was met with cries of “that’s the helper’s job”.
Something I found incredibly important in the classroom was called the “fiddle box”. It contained small toys or similar for two of the children in particular to fiddle with whilst sat on the carpet, to help them to concentrate. There were rules to this box: the children could only fiddle with something from the box, they could only take one thing, and they had to be sensible with it. These two children also had a coloured rubber mat each on the carpet to mark their ‘magic space’. I found the fiddle box so important because it showed that children weren’t being forced to conform, and sit like statues on the carpet when this was clearly too difficult a task. It showed them being evaluated and treated as individuals.
The term “year group continuity” came to my attention during my time at the school, and I asked the teacher what it entailed. It is a term used by OFSTED, who require year groups in schools to follow the same timetables and lesson plans, down to having the same lesson at the same time of day. The general consensus was that it was a nuisance, as different classes had different needs, and whilst one class may deal well with phonics in the morning, for example, another may be too disruptive at that time of day for that particular activity. The teacher I spoke to said that it took away her confidence, as she felt much more confident teaching the lessons plans she had created that were tailored to her class. However, it was a challenge to be dealt with, as there is good reasoning behind it as it ensures that all the children receive the same education and that none miss out.

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