Completed a literacy project which included drafting action plans, networking with other settings across Ipswich to gain ideas of ways to help support literacy and numeracy in setting. Wrote and redrafted a securing Achievement action plan, acting on feedback from an evidence lead in education.
We were fortunate enough to receive £2000 to be able to spend on resources and training to help improve literacy skills in setting, with the £2000 we were able to purchase new resources which helped us improve literacy in all areas of our setting. We were able to use some of the money for in house training which was amazing as due to Covid none of us had received any in house training for two years, we have some apprentices in setting which had never had in house training so this was so beneficial to them.
The training we received was called ‘For the love of traditional fairy tales’ it sparked so many new ideas on how to promote literacy skills from all the practitioners in setting. We now focus on a different fairy-tale every half term and we base some key activities around the fairy-tale. We now do more local outings based around our fairy-tale of the term. We recently took a trip to the local bakery to see if we could spot the gingerbread man, he wasn’t there but on the way back to setting the children found crumbs which they were so excited by! At the beginning of this project I conducted staff surveys to see how the staff confidence levels were regarding promoting children’s literacy skills this provided me with a baseline on where and which staff needed improving, the new staff rated themselves quite low on confidence levels for activities for children and ways to engage children in literacy activities.
I recently (May 2022) had a conversation with all staff regarding how they feel their confidence levels are and the feedback from staff was that after training and all the literacy activities they see across the setting they are feeling more confident in promoting children’s literacy skills. Our outside area and cosy area was the main focus for areas we wanted to improve literacy skills, our outside area now has whiteboards, chalkboards, lots of writing resources which are being used daily and our cosy area now has many new books, cushions which has made it more welcoming for the children it is now used more by adults and children.
I conducted staff meetings over the past few months to make sure all staff were kept up to date with this project and was always ready to listen to their ideas. This project has given me so many opportunities and experiences, as a practitioner it helped my confidence grow, networking with other settings and taking part in weekly meetings really helped push me out of my comfort zone, I am very grateful I was able to take part in this project.
