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Early Years Courses March to June 2015   
(for booking see below)

Ultimate Outdoor Learning in EYFS - Contrasting not Duplicating

  • Liverpool – The De Vere Village Hotel Liverpool, Fallows Way, Whiston L35 1RZ on Tuesday 24th March 2015, 10am to 3.45pm. Price £130 (plus VAT) including lunch & coffee.
  • Manchester - Madeleine Lindley Training & Conference Centre, Broadgate, Broadway Business Park, Chadderton, Oldham OL9 9XA on Tuesday 28th April 2015, 10am to 3.45pm. Price £130 (plus VAT) including lunch & coffee.
  • Lancashire – Ribby Hall Conference Centre, Ribby Road, Wrea Green, Preston PR4 2PR Friday 1st May 2015, 10am to 3.45pm. Price £130 (plus VAT) including lunch & coffee.
  • London - etc.venues, 57 North Wharf Road, Paddington, London W2 1LA on Thursday 7th May 2015, 10am to 3.45pm. Price £180 (plus VAT) including lunch & coffee.
  • Leeds - Double Tree Hotel, Granary Wharf, 2 Wharf Approach, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS1 4BR. 0113 241 1000 on Thursday 14th May 2015 10am to 3.45pm. Price £135 (plus VAT) including lunch and coffee .

This course looks at the essential nature & long term advantages of offering high quality, challenging outdoor learning. The course will:

• Explores the pedagogy behind outdoor learning providing practitioners with solid philosophical justification useful for coaching, senior management, Ofsted & parents. • Examines the critical role of the adult in supporting learning outdoors.
• Examines ultimate outdoor provision & learning with common sense ideas as to how to put this into practice in the delegate’s provision.
• Identifies what is basic to effective outdoor learning and moves on to consider the essential elements of provision.
• Provides many practical examples of effective provision.
• Considers hazard, risk taking and challenge.
• Explores on-going learning experiences & planning for effective outdoor learning (short & medium term revised May 2013).
• Promotes the use of stories as a starting point for developing early learning in the outdoors developing plods (possible lines of development) and following children’s learning needs & interests.

EYFS: Child Initiated Learning, Continuous Provision & The Characteristics of Effective Learning

  • Lancashire – Ribby Hall Conference Centre, Ribby Road, Wrea Green, Preston PR4 2PR Wednesday 25th March 2015, 10am to 3.45pm. Price £130 (plus VAT) including lunch & coffee.
  • Birmingham Area - Beckett's Farm (A. E. Beckett & Sons Ltd), Heath Farm, Alcester Road, Wythall, Birmingham, B47 6AJ on Wednesday 6th May 2015  10am to 3.45pm. Price £150 (plus VAT) including lunch and coffee.

This course looks at the EYFS statutory requirement to provide a balance of adult led and child initiated learning. The course will consider:

  • What freely chosen or child initiated learning implies.
  • How child initiated learning can be offered through a range of continuous provision in the indoor environment.
  • The nature of basic continuous provision and how this might be set up, maintained & planned for in order to identify potential learning outcomes.
  • Enhancement of basic continuous provision.
  • Challenge for children whose learning needs to be extended (adult initiated or open ended learning).
  • An in depth look at the three characteristics of effective learning & how they relate to child initiated learning.
  • Short & medium term planning for continuous provision, enhancement & challenge.

EYFS & Ofsted – the Early Years Judgement

  • Liverpool – The De Vere Village Hotel Liverpool, Fallows Way, Whiston L35 1RZ on Wednesday 29th April 2015 10am to 3.45pm. Price £130 (plus VAT) including lunch & coffee.
  • Lancashire – Ribby Hall Conference Centre, Ribby Road, Wrea Green, Preston PR4 2PR Friday 12th June 2015, 10am to 3.45pm. Price £130 (plus VAT) including lunch & coffee.
  • Southampton - De Vere Venues New Place, High Street, Shirrell Heath, Southampton, Hampshire SO32 2JY on Tuesday 23rd June 2015 10am to 3.45pm.  Price £160 (plus VAT) including lunch and coffee.
  • London - etc.venues, 57 North Wharf Road, Paddington, London W2 1LA on Wednesday 24th June 2015, 10am to 3.45pm. Price £180 (plus VAT) including lunch & coffee.

This course is designed to bring schools up to date with the current EYFS documentation and Ofsted Documentation in use from September 2014. The course will look at the introduction of the specific EYFS Ofsted judgement, Sir Michael Wilshire’s ‘Unsure Start’ and his letter to those inspecting maintained early years provision analysing the impact this has on good early years practice. The course will move on to consider the main judgements and how they relate to EYFS alongside the specific early years judgement. Ofsted have identified that good practice / neglect of EYFS impacts on the whole school attainment & teaching & learning. This focus on early years is reflected in the whole school judgement relating leadership & management.

Delegates will leave the day with an understanding of how to use self-evaluation of EYFS to support the development of practice and work through the Ofsted experience in a positive way. The course will look at evaluating current practice in relation to developing effective strategic & middle management of EYFS, the essential nature of high quality practitioners, an effective environment for learning both inside & outside, planning for differentiated learning & evidencing progress & achievement.

Managing & Leading EYFS

  • Sheffield - The Double Tree Hotel (by Hilton Sheffield Park), Chesterfield Road South, Sheffield S8 8BW on Wednesday 13th May 2015 10am to 3.45pm. Price £150 (plus VAT) including lunch & coffee.

This completely revised course examines the role of the Foundation Stage manager & leader. The course begins with a comprehensive update in relation to recent documentation and statutory requirements. The course moves on to consider the diverse roles of the EYFS leader.  

The course looks in detail at the challenges when observing FS provision and discusses how this needs to be carried out particularly in relation to what Ofsted are looking for. The course looks in detail at monitoring & evaluating the learning environment inside & outside, the role of the adult in FS, relationships, observation, assessment & planning. Participants with leave with an effective format for leaders to use in school for observing, monitoring, evaluation and identifying next steps.

Other elements of the course will consider the FS leader & the statutory requirement to provide on-going coaching for all early years staff and providing models for coaching in order to develop practice.

Outstanding Ideas for Developing Communication & Language in EYFS

  • Liverpool – The De Vere Village Hotel Liverpool, Fallows Way, Whiston L35 1RZ on Wednesday 10th June 2015, 10am to 3.45pm. Price £130 (plus VAT) including lunch & coffee.

This course will:

  • Look in detail at the Early Years Outcomes for Communication & Language.
  • Raise practitioners awareness and understanding of children’s communication and language.
  • Help practitioners become more aware of language as an essential pre-requisite for all future learning.
  • Help practitioners understand how their own communicative behaviour affects children’s ability to communicate.
  • Develop a range of exciting and stimulating activities to help children learn to listen attentively and speak clearly and confidently through both child initiated & adult led learning with some additional thoughts on indoor & outdoor environments.
  • Think about promoting language for thinking, big questions & the use of plan, do, review.
  • Focus on developing sustained shared thinking, what it is and how to develop it.

Course Booking:
Please e-mail the following details to kathy.bigio@yahoo.co.uk

  • School name, address & telephone number:
  • Order No:
  • Participant Name:
  • Course name:
  • Course date:


In School Advice & Training

We offer customised consultancy & training nationally & internationally for settings, schools & networks of schools. This includes on-site training and/or observation & evaluation of the schools foundation stage practice. All of the above courses can be delivered in your school for your staff. Prices on application.


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Kathy Bigio Limited,
Early Years Advice & Training
1, Dovecote, Clayton-le-Woods, Lancs, PR6 7AY.
kathy.bigio@yahoo.co.uk      www.kathybigio.com      Telephone 0772 589 6063