WEBVTT - This file was automatically generated by VIMEO. Please email info@talestoolkit.com to report problems. Hello everybody, and a big thank you for coming out tonight to attend the webinar with us. And I'm really excited tonight to have, um, Elizabeth Jarman with us. And I've been a huge fan for a long time of the work that Elizabeth does. And when I was working as a coordinator in school and working with parents, and I used Elizabeth book, which I have here, and has been thumbed and gone through a lot, and I funded out to lots of different people. Um, and I'm a big fan of her work. So, um, as you probably all know already, Elizabeth developed the Communication Friendly Spaces approach, which is all about using the environment to support communication skills and emotional wellbeing and physical development. And Elizabeth has worked worldwide. She's author of lots and lots of different books, which are well worth checking out. Um, and also, um, she's actually new to me today and we've been chatting about it a little bit. Elizabeth works in lots of different places, so she's been working in lots of different settings with architects and landscapers and even in prisons, which was a really interesting one. Um, and all of her work is about getting people to think about the way that they view environments and the way that they use these to help the children develop and to feel secure. Um, so I'm gonna hand over now to Elizabeth. Hello Everybody. And, and you know, I'm really delighted that I've been invited to contribute to this evening's discussion, and that's very much what I see this as an opportunity for us all to think a bit more deeply about the way that we're using our environments with storytelling and story making in mind, using the communication friendly spaces approach as a framework For review. And so, as Kate said, my focus is about how are we really setting the scene for children to engage? And my work is very much based on research, latest research, particularly around brain development, Transition, child development, and very importantly attachment daily too. And that research is literally emerging all of the time. And it's critically important that we keep ourselves up to date with it and we apply it to the learning environments that we're offering. And when we begin to do that, it actually challenges quite stereotypical thinking to existed for a long time without question around the way that we organize learning spaces for children. And that's really what I'm trying to do to get people to question, get people to look at their current provision and be much more reflective and considered in the way that we are responding to what children that we're working with now really need. So there's a big emphasis in all of my work on the personalization of environments. I think that's critically important so that our environments are responsive and dynamic and really relevant to the children that we're working with. And so it's important we see those children holistically and we do our utmost to find out more about what they're genuinely interested in so that our environment is full of those things that are gonna really fascinate them and really ignite all of that lovely story making and storytelling. And also we need to really engage families in that process to understand more about what children are involved in and interested in at home and in their communities as well. I always use the word approach because I'm actually not just talking about a space. People often say when I visit them, um, oh, I've got my communication friendly space over here, and that's fantastic, but communication doesn't just take place in a space, it takes place all the time throughout the whole of the environment, inside and out. And so the principles underpinning approach, and tonight I only got time to really, Some of them, um, are, are really going to inform the way that you look at the whole environment. And I think that that's a really important point that we're looking very holistically about inside and outside spaces too. For my first point, really To challenge us around the way that we organize our learning context into areas because I think that if we're not careful, that can ha can almost lead us to compartmentalizing learning and the idea of having a communication friendly space could actually influence that. So we really need to make sure that we're understanding that children learn in, in, well, not in a compartmentalized way at all. They learn all over the place and they blend together different areas. And I just think we need to be mindful of when we have maybe a maths area or a reading corner that we don't, without realizing end up just associating those spaces for those particular areas of development. And I think our environments need to be ultimately flexible. So I just want to to flag that up as well and actually challenge some of you around that because, um, that is a traditional way of organizing our environments to have set zones. And, um, so I think that's something that we need to put up for discussion and, and for review. Okay. So at the heart of what I do is, as I said, challenging people and getting people to question. And more than anything, I just really think it's important that you all nurture your attitude of inquiry. I think that sits at the heart of that responsive practice. I dunno, all there is to know about environments. Um, I'm learning still. And I think that's an important attitude to have. Um, the moment that we stop having that attitude of constantly learning and seeking out new information is the moment that we actually begin to stagnate and our practice and our provision can stagnate to. And I think we need to keep it fresh, and that's our professional responsibility to engage in research, to engage in reading, to engage in professional conversations, to make sure that, um, that we are really ultimately reflective practitioners and teachers. I think that's a, a really important point so that you are then able to evolve your environment over time in that considered and informed way. Not just having a knee jerk reaction to some great photos that you might see on Pinterest or even in some of my books, but actually the environment needs to really evolve over time. So, you know, make sure that you embrace that and that you don't just have a knee jerk reaction to tonight, but you actually really make considered change. And I also think it's important that we don't become routinized. It's so easy for that to happen, especially when you've been working in a place for a while or perhaps with a, with a, a group of people that you've worked with for a long time. It's very easy to sort of default back to, well, we always do it this way. And I think when we are looking at environments that really open up opportunities for children, we need to be very flexible around the way that we organize the day. And, and, and that's, that's challenge sometimes, but I think we really need to put the child at the center of whatever we do. And if they're fully engaged in something, well actually, does it really matter if you have snack later? So we, we need to really make sure that we're not, um, shutting down opportunities for that imaginative role play or whatever it is that's going on because of our, our adult imposed routines that exist sometimes. So I've mentioned brain development already and that's really what I want to start off reminding us of. When we're thinking about environments, it's really important that we remember that we are actively every single day supporting brains that are under construction. And we are wanting to create those optimum conditions to help all of those neurons that exist in the brain absolutely ignite and fire up and wire up together in a positive way. We know that especially during the very early years, we have this prime window of opportunity in which to help that to happen. And we're learning all the time about how we can do that. It's really important that we find ways of sharing with families jargon free, more information around the impact of the environment on children's healthy brain growth and development. And I think it's our responsibility, again, to make sure that our, our communication style is inclusive. Um, you know, and that we really are seeing parents as absolute partners on this. We know a lot, particularly around the links between physical activity and healthy brain growth and development. And I'm sure that you're all aware of the British Heart Foundation's guidelines produced a few years ago now, back in 2011, that encouraged lots and lots of physical activity for children. I think it was three hours worth of physical activity every day when children are walking. And I think that's a really important point for us to think about when we're looking at our environments to make sure that they are absolutely embracing, valuing, and encouraging physical styles of learning. And when I look at a lot of layouts that I see on my travels, I see quite a lot of passive styles of learning, being encouraged and endorsed based on the layouts that I see far too many tables and chairs, um, quite restrictive environments that don't always maximize inside and outside, and environments that aren't considering sufficiently, the integration of the vestibular proprioceptive sense. Um, those are areas that I really encourage people to find out more about because we need to be tuning into that. So vestibular, it's all about gravity and balance. We need to be offering learning, for instance, at different heights to encourage children, to coordinate themselves, to develop that core strength, that sense of balance and so on. So kneeling spaces, standing spaces, stretching out on the floor spaces. And actually, you know, for a lot of children they need to move to think. And so our environments need to be responding to those needs. Proprioceptive development is also very important, and that's very much about children's motor planning skills and also their awareness of themselves in relation to things around them. So I always smile when I see lots of children being expected to be still, again for long periods of time when actually developmentally we know that that skill of being still and coordinating that stillness is absolutely linked to the integration of the proprioceptive sense and is a massive challenge to some of our learners. And so when we look at our routines, we need to make sure that we're not actually setting up children to fail because we're expecting 'em all to sit still at story time again for long periods of time. And so I'm very much advocating a very much more flexible, um, environment that is full of movement opportunity inside and out as a way to highly engage your learners. So here's a couple of examples. A lovely kneeling space. It's actually just a repurpose palette. Um, but you know, again, encouraging that that that coordination strength, lovely spaces to stretch out on the floor in your tummy, really, really important in terms of that core strength and uh, and so on. But, you know, to create space that big, the staff had to have a big discussion about losing some tables. So again, this needs to become a whole team approach. The way that you evolve your environment can't just be down to one person. It needs to be based on understanding and team discussion, because I've had implications for doing certain things like snack. Um, I dunno if you can work out what this is, it's one of my favorite examples of a really creative space and of repurposing something. It's actually one of those cat adventure playgrounds. Um, and it was absolutely, it was integrated into a nursery. There was a lot of work with its intent, um, and they're an outstanding provision, but it was the manager who said, you know what, it's not really used by my cat. And I thought it would be great to offer opportunities at different heights. So stretching up, standing down on the floor. So again, when you are introducing, um, different kinds of spaces, always have your eyes open, and I always encourage you repurposing and recycling, not just buying from, um, catalogs for instance. Mm-hmm. And then my other example, A lovely little outside space touch at the bottom of the garden, um, in a way that, that the, um, the trunks of the trees that, that they're actually almost becoming stools again. We know a lot more about the, um, use of stools and environments, how that's supporting more balance and core body strength, um, more so than for instance, chairs. And so that's quite interesting too. I like the positioning of the, um, the trees here, encouraging a bit of face-to-face interaction, but a lovely open-ended context where children might want to group and gather. So we need to make sure then we're offering environments that really embrace physical activity and development. I'm glad that Kate showed you, um, the handbook. This is a picture of it and it includes a lot of the imagery that I'm using tonight, and it's got a lot of the research as well. Thank you, Kate. A lot of the research as well that, um, that I'm, I'm quoting and it's also lot a detailed audit framework in there as well. One of the key points though in there is the, about the importance of making that connection between your environment and your intention or your vision for your learners or, you know, pedagogy or your teaching style, your approach. And so the starting point before you are even ready to do a review of your environment is actually to be clear about that vision. And not very many teams that I meet at the beginning of working with them are. And I think it's vitally important that you're clear about that vision, because otherwise you'll never develop consistency in terms of your environment. And consistency's really important. So spend time really being clear about that intention. If it's storytelling and story making, then you really need to unpack, unpack that together so that that then almost provides you with a framework to audit your environment against, to make sure that the environment is actively supporting that. And again, I don't see enough of that explicit connection between the two. So really spend time investing, invest time in that. People often don't because it's not a five minute conversation. And, and you really need to, to bottom that out. The other thing that is really important to look at, um, oh, and part of my slide has moved there, um, is, is really to spend time observing your environment a bit differently and really tuning into what the children are actually showing you already in terms of how they're interpreting the space. Where are the places where they, where they're drawn to naturally. Here we've got Aiden and Toby, who absolutely loved in the child minder context here. That little space behind the sofa, you know, that was their favorite place where they settled, where they returned to, where they shared their snack together, um, where they developed a massive story that went on all day, all about dogs and dog biscuits and, and, and so it went on. But you know, that kind of aerial type observation of how children are using your space gives you massive clues that we need to be tuning into almost in a detective role, really, um, noticing what children are showing us and also noticing things like the places that they don't want to go to, the places they don't spend time in. So that we are beginning to analyze the use of the space because if we notice that children are drawn to those smaller spaces, or in the garden, if it's the bushes or on the little step or wherever it is, those are the places where communication is taking place. Those are the places that we need to be, be perhaps developing more of those type spaces as we begin to develop the environment further. So that constant observation is really, really important. We are very good at forgetting all about this, about what the child's perspective is in the environment. And so I always encourage people to really find out what it's like to be a child of the environment. What does it look like, sound like, feel like, and smell like, get down to the child's level and explore the environment from their point of view, because that helps you understand how they're responding. Um, and I think that's a really important point. So spend time with your colleagues doing that. Okay. So what I want to do is to share with you some images after that sort of introduction about these core elements that I like to, um, consider with people, whether I'm doing training or consultancy. It's a blend together of these core elements, the physical space, the materials and resources that we're putting into the environment. And then of course, the absolutely central role of the role of the adult within the environment. Those blended together effectively. Um, those are the elements that are gonna really make, um, effective change. And so I'm going to share with you a few images of each, and then we will pause after the first sequence about the physical space and take some questions. So in terms of the physical space, I, um, I really will encourage people to see it as one space inside and out as one, recognizing some of your children will be most engaged, most creative, most switched on, most ready to story in the outside context. They might be those active learners who need to be on the go, who, who just simply prefer that context. And this is where that relationship with the parents come in because you need to know what the home context is like. You might have children who live in a flat who don't have access to a garden for whom the outside space is so important when they're with you. So we really need to understand that bigger picture so that we can really cater for that when children are with us. And so very much looking at inside outsiders. One, I also encourage people, um, to consider scales of space. So small spaces, um, particularly taking account of those children still at a solitary play stage. Um, medium scale spaces, perhaps even parallel play spaces, and then larger group spaces. And really always coming back to the question, is it developmentally appropriate? Because if you are still at a solitary play stage and you are expecting to spend all day long in an environment that's set up on the basis, you're gonna be part of a big social group, well that's very difficult. And so again, we've always gotta come back to the learners that we have and really make sure that our environment is, is created accordingly. Um, I'm gonna show posters in a minute, but I won't just flag up the importance of matching movement flow environments that are full of movement are full of visual and auditory distraction, and that impacts really negatively on children's engagement levels typically. So make sure that you use what you've already got to screen, define protect areas, manage that movement flow, do some aerial observations of movement flow channels, and really get on top of that so that children can engage. And then the final point, I just wanna flag up, there are lots more, but in this short time I just wanna talk about softening the environment. And I've got some images of that. It's really important that children can get comfy, that you can get comfy, whether it's inside or outside. I think that being able to curl up with a book or, or curl up in a corner and, and look at some resources that you might want to to use, it's so important and it makes a massive difference. And I think a lot of environments that I see are really hard, really to table dominated. They lack softness, homeliness, and coziness. And, and we know that softness really supports emotional independence. So it's an important point to think about. So photos, let's have a look at some of them. Um, this is a lovely example. Um, it's a nursery chain, small nursery chain in Southampton that's done quite a bit of work with. And they transformed this previous dead space that was in the entrance of one of their nurseries. It was a big Victorian house. Um, and it was quite funny because that the under stair space used to be the storage area for Guinea pig bedding. Um, so it was a, it was a bit of a dead space and a prime location. As parents came in, that's what they saw, they cleared out and they created this really lovely little nook, this little inviting space where children and parents could settle together. Lovely textures, A real nice contrast there. And I think texture is really important in the environment. You are wanting your environment to support sensory integration. And so it's important that we've got lots of contrasting textures in there. It's small, there's a slightly lowered ceiling. Um, the mat gives that definition quite calm. Colors, color is really important to think about in your environments. We don't want environments that are OTT that, um, add absolutely can trigger behavioral responses when you are using certain colors. Um, colors like bright red is one of those colors that I really encourage people to avoid. It puts blood pressure up, it triggers, um, high heart rates and it, and it can be a response to a lot of children behaviorally. So nice relaxing colors here as well. I like the use of the adult furniture as well, the, the kind of seat you might have at home, building that connection and supporting transition into a new environment. So a lovely little nook there where parents can linger with children maybe before dropping off or after collecting children. So do make sure that you maximize, um, entrance areas. Another little illustration here from an academy that I'm working with in the Northwest, they analyze the use of this space and they really wanted to cater for, um, parents particularly, uh, um, with young children. Um, when they were coming perhaps looking round the, um, the school. And they realized that it was in the environment, that part of their environment that was full of movement, full of noise and was really detracting from really nice meaningful interaction between parents and children and staff. And so they really cleared out often I think in, um, entrance areas become dumping grounds and delivery points and they need to be calm spaces and I love the way they've created this with nice texture and the lovely wicker pods providing that place to settle, reducing, um, the distraction from movement flow as well because of their shape. So a nice illustration there. And also lovely use of the plants. They've introduced a lot of greenery there and we know that that helps to, um, calm spaces and also reduce cortisol levels. Um, I love this again because it's real. I'm a massive fan of real furniture, not only in parent type spaces but in children's areas as well, again, because it builds that connection between home and the setting. And it also provides that really snuggly space where if you need to just refuel or recharge, you can curl up there, um, for 10 minutes, you know, and that's really important. But the other point is as well, you know, as an adult, if you are sitting talking to children or, or reading a book, yes, of course you're gonna be on the floor and all over the place, but actually there are times when it's really quite nice to get on a real sofa together. Um, and so I really like the use of of that real piece of furniture. I mentioned earlier how important it was to break space down and to manage movement though. And sometimes you can do that really easily just with furniture that you've already got. Doesn't require you to go out and buy anything. Um, and I think start getting a bit more creative about how you organize your space. So just by pulling the unit slightly away from the wall, they've created this little nook where a couple of children can get in together and have that conversation. Um, or choose to take some resources to. It's a non-prescriptive space. And I think that's a really important point. Um, sometimes our visit environments where there's a prescriptive something absolutely everywhere and that can shut down the opportunity for, um, you know, for children's creativity. Mm-Hmm. And so having little nooks like this are are just little places where children might choose to take things to and settle. So make sure that you are using your furniture in so it's not pushed against the wall flat, but you're actually breaking the space down. And also that add in some proprioceptive challenge 'cause children have to navigate around spaces like that. Just another couple of photos, um, this is a, a really nice illustration, some lovely baskets with interesting resources to investigate. And I like the way they've defined the space with the map, but I really like the fact they've added a bed canopy. Um, when the staff sat down in the space without the canopy, they said, oh, it still feels quite exposed. We want to create something that feels a bit more intimate. And by adding the bed canopy, it was just a sheer piece of fabric, but it made all the difference and it just really encouraged children to, um, to settle there. And they almost felt as if, you know, you couldn't hear what they were saying, it almost felt semi-private, but the use of to define and screen areas can, can also be really, really useful and instant. Got a nice example here of a, of an arch. Um, it's an illustration that I like because it's lowering the ceiling and that can make a big difference in terms of social cooperation and in terms of how long children will settle in a so that's something to think about if you're wanting children to linger. Um, it's another way of defining the area. And also just lowering the ceiling, which is, is a big challenge in a lot of spaces. Um, it also helps to manage noise as well. I like the use of the different, um, contrasting materials and the mats there. Uh, just a really inviting place and I like the fact that it's positioned near the window so it's maximizing the use of natural light, which we know helps us all feel more creative and more switched on. Lighting is really important to think about. I like the way that they've introduced here, um, different kinds of lanterns. And I, and I always encourage people to think about having darker spaces with different kinds of lanterns, wind up torches, push button lights, all those sorts of things that can add a whole different feel to a space. Um, and so I think that's something that that's also really important for you to think about. Couple of side pictures. Um, I love this example. It's in a, an early years foundation stage unit in Liverpool, and it's just a very open-ended structure, but it gives a completely different perspective to those children, um, when they go up the stairs and can gather in in, in that structure. There another structure here. Um, just a, um, an open sided structure just handy if you know you are working with a group of children and suddenly you want to go and look at something. So it's just there. And I think, I think that's what we need to be looking at. Um, how is our current environment used? How is our current environment enabling those opportunities for children to come together and, and group maybe in a group. Um, how is is it, are there, are there any things that we need to add to our environment? So do that kind of audit, um, of the environment as it is at the moment. And maybe think about those opportunities particularly around scales of space, both inside and out. Um, another lovely example here, um, that was one of the really popular spaces where children wanted to spend time that really inspired lots and lots of conversation and investigations. So some lovely provocations there. And then before we pause, this is one of the children's absolute favorite spaces. Um, they'd more or less created it themselves with lots of logs, um, pans, all kinds of things that they found and brought together here. And it was really interesting because of course it wasn't an area that you could ever tidy up. Um, you know, because it was never really, um, in need of tidying up because it was constantly evolving. And I do think there's also a point there as well, when we're trying to encourage children to develop, um, stories over time, we need to also look at consistency in terms of the environment and creating those opportunities when they can return to something and extend it or enhance it even further. And so again, that's down to flexibility and it's also down towards looking at the kind of, of of resources that we have available to children, um, so that they can relocate things and that will then help that, that story to develop even further. So those are just a few snippets really, um, to get people thinking. Um, and so really I just wanted to open up the opportunity to, um, you know, see what kind of have been sparked in your minds. So maybe Kate and mm-Hmm. Um, up on that. There was, there was lots of great stuff coming up. Actually, Elizabeth, um, one of the, there was two big things coming through. One of them was that people were really interested in the way that you talked about auditing the environment. So there was lots of discussions. Somebody mentioned using the mosaic approach and there was lots of people talking about listening to young children and like being able to do that and the kind of tools that you might use to do that. So I dunno if you wanted to talk a little bit more about that. Yeah, well I've suddenly got a frog in my throat. You've got a big cough. Yeah, I've got drink water. Okay. Um, auditing. Yeah, I think you need to get really creative about ways to audit. Mm-Hmm. Uh, I mean, I've already mentioned things like the auditing against your vision statement, that's important. Yeah. Um, I think that those kind of, um, aerial perspective observations as well, movement flow channels, but also it's quite good to do some, even just draw some plans of your environments inside and out. Yeah. And, and almost photocopy them. And then across the course of the morning or an afternoon from an aerial perspective, maybe every 15 minutes just do a sort of mm-Hmm. Crosses where the children are Yes. Where are they spending time. Um, and then at the end of the morning. So give that, that someone's job for the morning really. Um, but it helps you to really begin to analyze and have a better understanding of where children are spending time. Yeah. Where are the spaces where you've had no crosses all morning? Why is that? You know, is it because actually what's on offer there is not really very interesting? We've not got that right. Mm-Hmm. Or that space is just not the kind of space that they like. So in that case, why have we got it? Yeah. Or actually, why are they all here? What is it that was going on today that was so amazing that it drew loads of children to spend time there? Or actually there's two children that have been there all morning. So I think that's a really, really useful, um, Mm-Hmm. Exercise. And I think we need to become a lot more, um, in tune with how children are using space. And certainly I'm really pleased that people have mentioned some of the, um, you know, things like mosaic approach. Alison Clark's work is really interesting. Um, yeah, That was mentioned actually a book called Listening to Young Children by Alison Clark Competing. Absolutely. And it's about, about piecing together that picture. And she did some really interesting work quite a long time ago now, and there's some really lovely templates in that book about the kinds of questioning staff can do with children. I think they Mm-Hmm. It was back in the day when they had Barney their dinosaur and they, they used that with children and said, you know, if Barney wanted to go and talk with a friend, where would he go to? And that was, um, and then the child would show the staff, but that was very much about tuning into staff perception and then actually what the, how the child interpreted the environment. So she's done some amazing stuff. Um, I also really like to, I've done a lot of, um, action research projects and videoing of children. So, um, showing them lots and lots of different kinds of environments and photos and getting them to sort them and, and choose the ones they really like and ones that they really don't like. And, and then talking to 'em as well, you know, some of, we did a really lovely project on the, we're all working with six schools trying to understand more about boys preferred context for learning and consulting over the course of a year with a group of boys throughout the school, different ages. And that was fascinating. Mm-Hmm. And some of the kinds of comments that we captured on video, um, were, you know, about the places I thought it was really interesting the places they didn't like. And there's one little boy didn't like the toilets Okay. Because They were very smelly. Okay. He didn't, he didn't like he was actually year one, he said, I don't like going to assemblies. Yeah. Because they're far too long and every time you have to get up, your legs are killing you. You know? Yeah. And, and I think, I think again, it's part of that responsibility. We have to understand more about how children are experiencing the environment because we think we know, but actually we've really got to listen and not just to tick the box and say we consult them and actually, so what do we do with that information? So it's a, we're encouraging that genuine culture of, of pupil voice, um, which is, which is an essential part of our understanding. Yes. Um, someone's just suggested as well that, um, children are giving cameras to photograph the areas that they like. Yeah. That's a nice idea. Do you, um, when you are looking at the different children that go to different areas of the environment, do you monitor kind of this, there's maybe an area where particularly lots of boys would go or girls would go, or, you know, do you look at that kind of thing? Or just generally where children go? I, I think, to be honest, I just noticed really where children go. But yes, there are some specific projects that we've been asked to do, um, that we've been commissioned to, to try and sell. And that that might be, because, you know, sometimes people will say things to me like, you know, well, we're really boy heavy. Yes. Um, you know, we're really boy heavy. And, um, you know, they're, they're just running everywhere and they're pushing things over and, and actually what, what, what, what should we do? Yeah. And I think that, you know, you absolutely have to observe and then you have to also look at all the things I've said. Look at your routines. Are your routines really aligned to where they're at physically? You know, what do they actually need? What do they showing you that they need? Is your environment right for that or not? And I think too often we're trying to squash square pegs into round holes and, and I think we've really got to be prepared to be quite bold and really, you know, go with what children need, but with a, with a total understanding and with confidence about why we're doing certain things. So we have to be capturing the impact of what we're seeing when we make changes. Yeah. So that managers and heads, um, are fully brief stand and are endorsing that Mm-Hmm. So that if you are inspected as well, that you are really confident to have that conversation about how your environment is Absolutely. Um, opening opportunities to children. And it does look different. And you've gotta take parents with you on that journey too, because quite often parents have that idea of what it's meant to look like. And so all of a sudden if you lose tables and there's not a chair for each child to sit on, well, what's happening here? Um, so I do, I do think that, um, yeah. I mean we, we really need to be observing very keenly, not as a one-off thing, but constantly to make sure that we've absolutely got it right. Yeah. We had did a, in one school I worked in, we did a project where the group of parents and a group of about six parents came in and we gave 'em a budget of 300 pound to design and do the home corner for us. And they loved it. They, they built things from wood and one of them created this mad chandelier from something she had her own and lots of old spoons and stuff. And it was great to involve them in kind of becoming part of the environment and getting them involved in creating that. So yeah, I think parents are really key to get involved in, in and training for them. Like I think that's really important. Do you do a lot of training with parents? Um, I do. I I very much see it as a two-way street though. Um, Mm-Hmm. You know, I think, I think it's really important that we are not just trying to tell them. Yeah. But you know, it's that, again, it's that genuine consultation. So, um, a lot of, um, the work that I've done, we've done a lot of projects again that have been commissioned, you know, um, bags of families was one of our big initiatives. There's a lot of research, um, that was an, a research, externally research report that had a massive impact on parent interaction with children, but also it was about influencing, um, or getting parents to look differently at the kind of opportunities children had at home, and that it was okay for them to play with pots and pans or with the Tupperware lids or, or whatever it was, um, you know, at home. And, and so we'd send resources home and they together could create spaces using the kind of things they would already have at home sheets or, you know, towels or, or whatever it was. And, and that opened up a very different kind of interaction between parents and children or between siblings at home. And then parents would come back and, and talk about what they noticed. And really, I think it was, um, it was just really helping parents see for themselves how children play differently when they had open-ended resources. Yeah. And, and how they themselves could actually involve themselves in children's play. Um, and in, in the, their school world without maybe having to sit down and read a book together, you know, so, and we, we actually found, um, you know, a lot of dads got really into it Mm-Hmm. Um, which was really interesting as well. That was an interesting one of the kind of emerging emerging themes. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Um, one of the other things that came up was everyone was quite interested in color. Um, so, uh, there was a few kind of themes that came out of it. One was talk about also bringing that into display so that displays in classroom are using color really carefully. Um, people were saying about the fact that there's a lot of color in the world anyway. Um, so I think it's, we kind of were talking about how it might be just careful use of color and thinking about moving away from those primaries. So maybe you wanna give a bit of feedback on that. I mean, you know, there's, um, a paper about color on my website, it's free to access, um, that I, I developed. Um, it, it's partly in partnership with an architect that I, I work with. Mm-Hmm. Um, you know, one of the things that, um, I'm not advocating, I always say is death by beige environments. You know, I don't wanna see dull, dull environments. I'm not saying that at all, but I'm saying use color and targeted in an informed kind of way. Yeah. Um, so, but equally, you know, we know, um, from research that certain colors evoke a different response. So we know about the reds, we know about the canary yellow, all those kind of things and the voice Mm-Hmm. We know that it's the more natural, um, colors, the more neutral tones that create a calmer kind of response. Pale blue is another cool calm color. Greens tend to be quite natural and relaxing. Yeah. And so certainly we need to be thinking about that when we're, um, sourcing things, when we're looking at changing some of the stuff we've got. I mean, you can't start from scratch. You can't throw everything out. But some schools or settings start covering cushions or, um, you know, um, that's what they've had to do. But, you know, over the years we've absolutely been bombarded with a set of ideas about how environments for young children should look and it's been all bold, bright primary. Yeah. Um, and I, and I think that that ends, you end up within an environment that is absolutely overstimulating Mm-Hmm. And, you know, we know a lot more from a brain development point of view about how brains process sensory information. And if we're not careful, our environments almost wind children up. Um, yeah. So I think again, that comes back to that challenging historical stereotypical thinking and mm-Hmm. Um, so yeah, have a look at the pa color, color paper. I think that's important. And also certainly, um, there's lots to think about there around display backing. Um, yes. And generally a visual busyness that our environments are incredibly busy and visually distracting, I think. Yeah. I used your paper when I was working in school and we got all the staff to, um, to sit on the floor and look at the environment and we used to talk about like, would you actually want to live here or stay here or play here? Like it, is this a space that you would want to be in as an adult? And I think when you decorate your homes, you don't decorate them with lots of crazy bright primary colors. You think carefully about the colors that you use, don't you? Um, You do. But you know, when you look at a lot children's bedrooms, um, yeah. You know, I mean, they're meant to be sleep spaces and actually they're, Yeah, it's true. But there's, you know, there's Yeah. Some interesting stuff, um, you know, to explore there as well. Yeah, that's true. Um, one of the other things as well that came through was, um, how do people work on persuading their team to be on board with this? And I think you probably answered this a little bit already in terms of having a vision and using some of the research that's out there, but is there any other tips you've got? Uh, Yeah, I mean, I mean, to be honest, you know, it's, um, it's one of those things people come on a day training with me and then they've got the task of going and cascading it. And it's, it's really, really difficult. And you can't go back and just say, you know, um, read this book, or I'm gonna give you a five minute, um, you know, debrief from the course. Ultimately, you have got to develop this as a whole team approach together. And so, yeah, absolutely. There are certain key things I would say. You've gotta have the right people on board, so you need your manager or your head understanding it and supporting it because there will be quite, you, you are looking at challenging change here, and it won't happen in three months. You are looking at a long term development. So you need to have that long term vision that might be a five year vision. Mm-Hmm. You also need to, um, with the team, develop your priorities. So involve them in some of the auditing activities that can be really helpful. So they're also identifying areas for development. Mm-Hmm. I think that as well, you know, with the manager as well, or, or head, you need to be developing an action plan Yeah. Because you'll have a load of ideas. Um, and I think really what you need to do is, I always tell people to do, to think about small steps of informed change over time. You've gotta do quite targeted change and then observe what happens and then that, that leads you into what you do next. But I think that having an action plan for that contains those ideas and makes it feel a bit more manageable and less overwhelming. Yeah. Um, for some staff, um, it might be that, you know, they need to do some more training on something that's complimentary to this. Um, it might be that, um, you know, they're not as open maybe as you would like them to be. So again, you, you need to put together your folder of research papers, um, yeah. And involve them in, in that process. And ultimately, um, you know, I always say when people start seeing the impact this has on children's Yes. Learning, um, mm-Hmm. It doesn't really matter what the catalogs might say or what, you know, this works for our children. And, and ultimately that's what all of us are trying to do. It's just really respond to what our children need. Yeah. I was quite lucky when I was working in school and moving towards your approach in that I had a, a local nursery that used a lot of your approaches already. And I think having somebody that was a little bit further along the journey that you could partner with, and they came in and spoke to our school and we went and visited their environment and said, this is the kind of thing we're trying to do, and they could already talk about the impact of that. That helped us quite a lot. So Definitely. Mm-Hmm. Um, and I, I, I, yeah, I, I think that's, that's really helpful to find those local partners. Some I get invited to speak quite a lot to clusters of nurseries who get together. Yeah. Um, and we'll sort of set up that kind of little network then, and then may go, come back together again and share so that, you know, I mean, we're learning from each other then I think as well what works. Yeah. That's it. It's true. Um, one more question from Jackie that came up was, um, in terms of movement and flow in the classroom, do you encourage breaking up the environment so that there's more defined spaces? Or do you kind of open up so that children flow in a particular way? Um, when I'm talking about managing movement flow, I'm thinking about, you know, when I talked about aerial perspectives, observations, the movement flow channels, you know, you might have a room, unfortunately with like three doors in it or four doors in it, or the worst one had eight doors in it that I visited. Wow. Yeah. You know, and so you've got people coming through all the time and it felt like Piccadilly Circus, and then you've got the toilets there and you've got the kit, you know, and, and so that needed, you've, you've gotta be able to screen and, you know, push some of that movement around the edges so that you've still got, um, space where children can settle. So there's that, that's one of the things I was thinking about in terms of, of, um, managing the movement flow using screening, for example. Um, but the other part of that question, Kate, was about, about defining areas so children could settle. Yeah. You're not doing that. So, I mean, there there is, there's still gonna be movement. Um, and, and I wouldn't want to restrict that, but all I'm thinking about is how do we look at the, I suppose it's analyzing different kinds of movement. You've got movement from children, then you've got movement from other people going to those other rooms. So it's get kind of try and screen that off and then focus on the area that you actually have for your children to settle in. And that's when you are using a whole variety of things, whether it's material, whether it's pop-up structures, whether it's your existing furniture more creatively to define areas where they can settle if they want to. Yes. Yeah. Lovely. Okay, I think that's kind of covered all the questions for now. Okay. So another thing that, um, in my diagram that you remember, um, was, was a bit more consideration about the kind of materials and resources that we're actually putting into the environment. If we're really wanting, um, our environments to be irresistible to the children, really. 'cause that's what we want. We want 'em to be absolutely curious and, and fascinated. And, and I, I don't always see that in environments that I visit. And, and going back to that point that I started off with about personalization of the environment, I really think that our resource offer, our material offer needs to be informed by our observations of what children are trying to do, what they're interested in. And I often see what I call a bog standard, one size fits all offer. And I think we need to be really much more, um, observant to make sure that what we're adding to the environment, what we're enhancing it with, um, is really going to switch those children on. So I really am a big fan of open-ended resources that are non-prescriptive. I tend to see far more creativity and imaginative, um, storying going on when children have access to those things. Um, so that's, that's an interesting area for, to, to look at, to actually do an audit and look at your existing resource offer. Um, aligned to that, I also, um, I really like natural resources, particularly thinking again about that agenda around texture. And particularly this time of year, you know, you can get great seasonal collections that are free, um, to enhance your, um, environments. I like to see blend what I call blended collections of materials and resources. And this hooks back into what I started off with about the com compartmentalization of learning. I think quite often children wanna blend things together. So have baskets with, you know, title little collections from different parts of your environment together for them. Um, that can be really helpful. I think you also need to make resources accessible. Um, sometimes people will say things like, you know, yeah, I've got loads of those shells. It's a big, there are a big tray there. We've gotta think, is that accessible If you're too mm-Hmm. Can you get that big tray out? Is it too heavy? Um, are we presenting things in a developmentally appropriate way? So that's important. And I also just want to throw in the word schematic. Are we really thinking about schematic interests when we're actually resourcing our environments? Um, I don't think enough people know about. And certainly when I was teaching, I didn't know enough about schemas. Schemas if I had have known more about schemas out a resource, my environment, a completely different way. Um, and I think that's an important thing for people to, to investigate and then make that connection with the resources. So let's just have a look, um, quickly at a few resources that are lovely and open-ended, I like these. Um, just really open-ended little things dotted about. I like the fact they're in small containers with handles. They're perfect for transporting. That links back to scheme, as you may well have transporters or collectors, you know, are, are you capitalizing on that? Instead of seeing it as a problem, actually using it and channeling it in, in a meaningful way. So again, some really nice open-ended things there. And I just love the way that children use open-ended materials. Um, this is in a reception class in South Ster. The children developed this amazing kind of installation that went on all week. And that raises an interesting point. They, they brought all kinds of things together. They did amazing patterning work. They had all kinds of stories going on about these things. Mm-Hmm. But they didn't wanna tidy it up. They didn't wanna put it away. And so again, back to that point at the beginning, how flexible are we? You know, is it 11 o'clock? So we've gotta tidy up now and it's tough. Or actually, are we accommodating because children have invested a huge amount of themselves into something like this? So where's the opportunity to return to that, to go deeper, to further develop it, to replay it, to retell that story? Um, well, you know, things like, I, I'm a big fan of sensory experience for children. I don't see enough of that, and I really encourage people to think about that, you know, but things like water, don't just say it as water in a tray. It could be water in a, in a shallow container with resources like this that are free. And I think, you know, some of the best resources I ever see haven't been bought. They've been collected. Um, and again, if you're wanting to trigger imaginative language, you're giving children and descriptive language or giving them the right things that are, you know, to actually inspire that. And I just love this presentation. It's, um, at a nursery, um, in the Northeast, um, that I've, I've worked with and visited again recently. Um, the way that they present things is always really inviting, you know, so in that suitcase, lots of dental props and puppets and that, you know, little corner there where you can have a snuggle if you want to, and, and that place there. So thinking around the presentation is really important in terms of those natural resources. If you haven't seen it, have a look on the website. My website, um, this report, we have a foundation and every, we sponsor an action research project. And a few years ago we collaborated with, uh, um, a wonderful artist educator, Diana Siskin, who's based in the States. And we developed, um, a project called Stonework Inspire Storytelling, which was really all about getting children to use natural resources to represent their story, whether it was a family story, lots of lovely case studies on there, um, from different contexts that really tried that out. And, and, and it had some really, really lovely results. Um, I love this little sequence. This is little girl being so particular about basement of her stones that she had collected and wanted to use. And that was a whole story about her family, um, which, which worked really, really well. And she worked silently on that, which was, it was really interesting. So as a result of the project, some places develop things like transient artwork, areas for non-permanent representation. Um, so, you know, just like this. Um, and that was a really interesting thing. I was, I was delivering training last week. I, I delivered a day, um, at a school in, uh, near Bristol. And one of our discussions there was fascinating. It was the head of a school who had attended, um, who, who really was talking about the, you know, his need for some permanent kind of representation. Um, and we were talking a lot about how, you know, the learning for a lot of our youngest children is in the process. It's not about an end product. Um, and so actually how do we capture that? Um, so that was a really interesting, um, interesting discussion that we had. And then I'm always a fan of, um, scrap stalls. Mm-Hmm. Um, they seem to be few and far between nowadays, which is a real shame. However, if they are just gotta make friends with lead people locally and businesses who might wanna give you things like this, um, you've always gotta have enough of it. I always say inside and out, but it's just those kinds of things that really open up the opportunity for children to interpret resources like that, that can become absolutely anything. And those things will be used in 101 different ways by your children. Um, so quite often I find when you move towards those more, more open-ended resources, you actually, um, don't need as much stuff. You need a lot of that, but you don't need all the other stuff because it can become, you can use it for all kinds of different things. Mm-Hmm. I love this example. It's one of the international schools that I'm working with and I love the way they've just got these boxes and, and, and bits of wood available for the children to see what they do with them. Um, incredibly open-ended, um, you know, something that's very different, um, in inside actually. Um, you know, and I just think sometimes you just gotta do that and just see what the children do with it. Um, so that was really exciting to watch. And then outside of course as well, you need those open-ended resources that children can relocate and that's what brings that outside to life. Um, because they can transport those things. They can move them and it can become what whatever they want. So, um, making sure that you've got those lovely loose parts within the outside environment too. So a lot to think about there around a mixture of resources you've got, how you are presenting them. I think it's useful to actually do an audit on your resources to ask yourselves if you've got the balance right. And that's something that you constantly need to be on top of because it's very easy for resources and materials to get outta control. Mm-Hmm. Um, you need to be on top of it and you need to, you know, to really need to, to manage that well. And I also think with those, um, open-ended natural resources you need to replenish because you know, you need to have enough of them. Yeah. So again, um, you know, just to pause to see if there's any questions about that, um, aspect. I don't know if anything's come through Kate? Um, not really. I think everyone's just been loving the pictures, to be honest. There's been a lot of, I love this, this is great, given me lots of ideas. So, um, but no, I've, I've loved this section 'cause this links really well with tell's toolkit because we get the children to move from using very obvious items to story tell with, to using things like pine cones and sticks and stones, and they get more creative over time. So we ask schools to audit their environment to look to see that they have lots of those resources available. So this is great because it's gonna give people lots of ideas for the kind of things they can put out. Um, lots of people live in the scrap stores, so Yeah. Yeah. I always love to trip to the scrap project. That was a good one. And I think also there's been lots of pictures that have showed that you don't have to spend lots of money, so. Yeah. And I, I always say that to people, you know, and I do think, I do think as well, you know, when I talked about real furniture, I think that adds character to an environment. Yeah. I think, think so. You know, Otherwise it can all get a bitsy. So I think, you know, it adds character. Um, that's really important too. Yeah. Yeah. There's nothing like a charity shop in a scrap project, so. Yeah. Yeah. But, but no, I think that was, there wasn't really anything else coming through at the minute, so, okay. So yeah. Yeah. Um, Then, and then really just my final point, really, it comes back to that other part of the diagram, which is, is just so, so important. It's about you out there. Um, yes. You know, and I always say, you know, you are the enablers within your environment. You are the ones who are constantly monitoring and, and enhancing and participating as those, um, really active play partners. And I always say, you know, it's, it's so wonderful when you go in somewhere and you see what I call present staff whose bodies and heads are in the room, who are, you know, noticing and responding and, you know, engaged and also relaxed and enjoying it. That's really, really important because children are absolutely superb observers of our body language and they totally know those of us who are gonna be part of that play, who are gonna be those reliable listeners who are going to want to, um, you know, communicate with them and get excited about that story and participate and those who actually don't. Um, and so it's really important that we are, are really aware of the messages that we are sending out. And also to parents too. And that you need, you need to be really nurturing, you learn storytelling and story making skills. Um, and one of the things that really dawned on me, um, I, I spend a lot of time, I, I live, um, um, through choice. I live out in the middle of nowhere and I walk a lot, um, with my dogs and I go to the forest. And that is, is one of the best places for me to just clear my head and have time for that reflection to rethink things, to play things out to, I suppose story make in my head. And I just think maybe we need to really be more aware of how we are creating space and time for ourselves Mm-Hmm. Um, to be creative and, and, and to engage in, in that as well. Mm-Hmm. Um, you know, 'cause that's hard in a, in a busy week when you working full time, but it's important that we do have that bit of restorative time for ourselves as well, so we can be creative too. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Um, I dunno if there are any, any other questions around, around that Kate? Or people just mulling things over? Um, one of the questions that, sorry, one of the questions that's just gone through is about, um, tidy up time and also setting up pack away settings. So kind of keeping on top of resources, keeping things looking good, and then also if you've got to put everything away and put it back out again, what your tips are for that. It's really interesting. Um, I've, I've written a book about pack away settings Okay. In Place to Talk series. Um, in some ways I kind of think pack away settings are, are at an advantage. Yeah. Because I do talk a lot about decluttering environments. Sometimes permanent environments become so full of clutter that actually it makes it really overwhelming for children. Mm-Hmm. That is one of the key. I know that there are lots of disadvantages too, but, and you're under, under massive pressure to get set up in the morning and, but you know, you've gotta be aware that you don't just default back to that same old kind of way of doing things. You really can think though every day about how you're gonna respond to what the children were doing yesterday and change that environment more easily than, for example, if it's a permanent setting. Mm-Hmm. And also you've really gotta think about, um, you know, what you're putting out and it's gotta be spot on to make sure that you know, the limited things that are available, um, you know, really are responding to children. Can I just show people and you've already done it. The book is really helpful. It's got an audit tool in the back. Really Is. And also I just wanted to flag up my contact details because I do do consultancy training and um, action research projects with people as well. I'm also on social media. Um, so, you know, please, um, join in with further conversations there. And also there's loads of photos on social media platforms, so hopefully they'll be, um, helpful. Mm-Hmm. You did get a mention actually. Someone was typing. You got some good feedback there. They were recommended it to the others that they go in the training. It's been really good tonight, Elizabeth. I'm really, really happy that you've come along and spoken to everybody and, and I know our, our members are gonna be really excited to see the webinar go up in our members area. And a big thank you. Yeah. And you know, I always say to people, you know, if, and if as a result of this, people that wanna go away and find out something new, that's fantastic. Um, or if as a result of this tonight, you look at something differently and you make a change and you see an impact. Mm-Hmm. I always tell people, let me know. It's always good to hear. Yeah, that's true. That's true. And also it's small steps, isn't it? So it's just kind of like, there might be something small that comes away today. That's the beginning of a journey. So Yeah. And that's How you've gotta see it. It's gotta evolve over time. Yeah. That's It. So, no, a big thank you Elizabeth, and also a big thank you to everyone who's come out tonight and joined us, giving up their evening. Yeah. Thank you again.