Having been leader of Southwark Reception Unit for over a year now, it is time to reflect on the steep learning curve that I have climbed! Although I have been in early years education for many years, leading a team of professionals to provide that high quality, play based learning has been a whole new experience!
A different staffing structure in September has provided the opportunity to create a really strong team. We have changed from having six key groups led by three teaching assistants and three teachers, to having four key groups staffed entirely by teachers.
This has freed up the teaching assistants to concentrate on supporting the teaching staff, and the teaching staff can now have full control of their key group. This change also meant my initial time-tabling headache returned! I now had to juggle a timetable to ensure that each teacher could focus and observe their own class, while still maintaining good levels of staffing for outdoor learning and indoor enhancements.
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