Inspirational

As with the outdoors, which Ilooked at last issue, an indoorclassroom should allow forlearning in all areas ofdevelopment, though I’ll stress

again that the two areas should not mirroreach other. There are many advantagesindoors that should be exploited: it’s dry, witha controllable temperature and no wind,making it the ideal place for children to becalm and quiet (and we enforce thisrequirement firmly and consistently atCarterhatch Infant School), pursuing activitieswhich require small equipment, and usingresources that will not survive the elements.

In both our nursery and Reception classes,children choose where to go and what to dofrom the moment theyarrive – they initiatetheir own learning andadults join them andsupport them in theirpursuits. I visit manysettings where thepractitioners say thatthe children canchoose what to do, butI find the choice islimited by what thepractitioners havealready selected andput on the tables. Tosupport genuine choice we have a‘workshop’ set-up, which means that in allareas, resources are available and accessibleto the children at all times, but nothing is setout. Areas are clear, stocked and tidy at thestart of the day; the tables and carpet areasare free of equipment but the resources areavailable next to them. For example, the unitin picture 1 contains a box of play-dough andresources to be used with it. It’s placed neara table and the children can choose whetheror not to go to this area and what to do ifthey do go there.

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resources, individual items such as timers,abacuses, etc., and creative equipment.

Fresh approachesWe constantly assess and review our resources(as well as the different areas), making changesas necessary. For example, we noticed that avery large wooden house was rarely, if ever,used and we therefore removed it from thenursery classroom. I have seen manyclassrooms where the carpet area is only in usefor group times and there is another (often tiny)area for construction and small world play inanother area of the class. It’s more logical toplace the construction toys and small worldequipment around and facing onto the carpet;that way, when it’s not group time, the carpetarea is still being used productively (see picture 4).

Another example of change was in one of ourReception classes where we noticed how the

How do you create an engagingReception classroom to support child-initiated learning? Anna Ephgrave hasthe answers...

Obviously children’s choices are limited bythe areas and resources available, so it’scrucial to have appropriate areas with varied,high-quality, open-ended resources. It’s alsovital that the areas are well stocked, tidy,clearly labelled (with picture and word) orshadowed, and arranged to allow optimumaccess. We constantly reflect on theenvironment to identify which may needaltering. For example, although we haveopportunities for mixing sand and wateroutside, we want the indoor sand to be dry tooffer different opportunities. Therefore it’snecessary to keep the water tray andequipment away from the sand tray. We alsotry to avoid making new play-dough everyday, so this also needs to be placed away

from the water and sand. Shadowing resources (asseen with the waterequipment in picture 2)helps children to beindependent when tidyingup. The ‘shadows’ are cutfrom coloured card orpaper and glued to theshelf. Once the shelf iscovered in ‘sticky back’plastic, the shadowing willremain in place for severalyears. Open shelving, suchas in pictures 1 and 2, is

ideal for displaying and storing resources.Children can see the resources easily andselect what they want to use – a greatimprovement on trays or drawers. Less isdefinitely more with indoor equipment: fewer,carefully selected resources will be well usedand easier to tidy up, and the majority can beused all year – the children will use themdifferently every day. In picture 2, the contentsof the larger boxes on the bottom shelf canbe changed to meet emerging interests. Wealso use shelving like this indoors for blocks(see picture 3), play-dough equipment, sand

Less is definitelymore with indoorequipment: fewer,carefully selectedresources will be

well used andeasier to tidy up

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creative table was always over-crowded. Weextended the area, making the table larger sothat more children could access it at once. Asillustrated by picture 5, a few years ago wealso decided to combine the creative area andthe ‘writing’ area. Young children combinetheir different types of mark-making – theymake a card and write a message; they drawa picture and write a story; they create a robotand add labelled controls. In many cases, theyneed creative equipment and writingimplements – we therefore store them all inone area.

We have also elected not to have a mathsarea in our classes. Again, young children donot usually say, “I’m going to do maths.”Instead, they’ll opt to build a symmetricalmodel, make a play-dough cake with 10candles, sew a repeating pattern onto a bag,‘cook’ enough pasta to fill the four bowls, use asmall scoop several times to fill a large

enablingenvironments

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abouttheauthor

Anna Ephgrave is assistantheadteacher for early years atCarterhatch Infant School, graded as ‘outstanding’ in November 2013.She is author of The Reception Yearin Action and also works as anindependent consultant with hercolleague Ruth Moore at FreedomTo Learn Network Ltd. Visitfreedomtolearn.co.uk

container with water, or balance theingredients accurately when making a cake(see picture 6). They will be experiencingmaths in almost all areas of the indoorclassroom, so we ensure that there isequipment (including Numicon) in all areas tofacilitate this.

Remember to review your provision interms of levels of involvement. If an area or aresource is not engaging children inpurposeful play, then remove it or change it.For example, threading beads might engagea few children in nursery, but cutting fabricand sewing it to make a real bag will be farmore engaging and lead to higher levels oflearning. Areas that deliver the highest levelsof involvement are the role-play areas,creative area (including sewing), small blocks,sand, water, play-dough and small worldequipment (including cars and dinosaurs).With regard to role play, we ensure that there

is always a ‘home corner’ (either indoors oroutside) as this is what is familiar to thechildren – this is where they can practisebeing the adults that they know (and in doingso, develop the vital life skill of empathy).Other role play is set up as and when aninterest emerges – as illustrated by the vet’soffice in picture 7.

Other areasA few points to finish with. Recent braindevelopment research is providing evidenceto support what many practitioners havesuspected for a long time – that children whoseem obsessed with computers and screentechnology are actually ‘addicted’ to them,and also that such activity does not engagethe whole brain, rather a very small part of it.We have therefore removed PCs from ourclasses. We have iPads, digital cameras, CDplayers and interactive whiteboards tosupport learning in all areas, but we are ableto control their use more easily.

Away from technology, most settings havelovely book areas and we ensure that oursare as inviting as possible. We have a sofa,cushions, puppets and props to make theexperience engaging. We also have books innumerous areas of the indoor classroom –craft books in the creative area, cookerybooks in the role-play area, construction andreference books in the small world area. Thechildren also have a folder each and these arestored in low units so that the children cantake them out and look at them wheneverthey wish (see picture 8).

Finally, while the physical environmentneeds to be well laid out and equipped withhigh-quality, open-ended, varied resources,adults are key in creating the emotionalenvironment that supports children (seepicture 9) – ensuring that they feel confidentand independent, ready to try new things inthe knowledge that help is available ifnecessary, without taking over. As SugataMitra says, “Children will learn to do whatchildren want to learn to do”, so let’s supportthem by creating a superb enablingenvironment, including superbenabling adults.

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