In The Moment Planning

At Dandelions we believe that children learn best when they are following their own interests. The environment is filled with open ended resources and loose parts that provide children with the tools to let their imagination flow.  Our practitioners will observe your child in play and support their learning enhancing your child’s learning outcomes ‘in the moment’, taking account of their needs and stage of development.

In the moment planning is not a new approach; it is what knowledgeable practitioners have always done.

As practitioners, we will be observing your child and planning how to respond. This allows the practitioner to add anything in the moment to benefit the child, what we call a teachable moment. We will then respond and act accordingly.

The Teachable Moment

From the teachable moment the child feels valued, interesting, important, capable and able to learn as well as gaining, knowledge, skills and understanding. Therefore, making progress in one of more areas of the Early Years Curriculum. We are able to gain a good understanding of the child’s knowledge, skills, attitude, understanding and progress.

Focus Children

Each week we will focus on a specific group of children; known as a ‘focus child’. We will make you aware when it will be your child’s focus week as we will be asking you to contribute. You will be sent home a focus sheet to complete; asking you to comment on anything significant in your child’s life that is happening and also gives you the opportunity to ask about your child’s learning and development and to upload photographs to Tapestry.

At the end of your child’s focus week, we will post on Tapestry a range of photographs and a copy of the focus sheet that we have completed at Dandelions. Our aim is that your child would be a focus child each half-term.

If it is not your child’s focus week, whilst you may notice less observations, we can guarantee that your child will still be learning. You will still receive WOW moments and photo observations. WOW moments are when we observe a child doing something new for the first time.

Reducing paperwork, allows our practitioners to spend more time engaged with your child.