How often do you avoid those difficult conversations for various reasons? 

Whether negotiating a difficult situation, or engaging in discussions about polarising topics, challenging conversations can evoke a sense of unease. The prospect of disagreement, confrontation, or emotional intensity often leads us to shy away from these interactions. But what if we reframe our perspective and see these conversations as opportunities for growth and understanding?

And why do we find challenging conversations difficult? 

We worry about damaging relationships, escalating conflicts, or being perceived unfavourably. The instinct to avoid discomfort leads us to prioritise short-term relief over long-term growth. Yet, by avoiding the conversations, we deny ourselves the opportunity to address underlying issues and minimise the risk of reoccurrence. Instead, embracing the discomfort and approaching challenging conversations with courage and openness can lead to profound development.

So, how can we approach situations like these? 

The art of navigating challenging conversations begins with a willingness to embrace discomfort. It requires us to acknowledge our discomfort without allowing it to dictate the course of the conversation. Instead of viewing discomfort as a barrier, we can reframe it as a signal that meaningful dialogue is taking place – a signal that we are engaging with ideas, perspectives, and emotions that challenge our existing beliefs. 

Effective communication lies at the heart of navigating challenging conversations. It demands active listening, empathy, and a commitment to understanding the perspectives of others, even when they diverge from our own. By approaching conversations with curiosity rather than defensiveness, we create space for genuine dialogue and mutual respect to flourish. 

You have got this! 

Ultimately, navigating challenging conversations is not about avoiding conflict or striving for unanimity. It is about embracing the richness of human experiences, the diversity of perspectives, the complexity of emotions and the potential for transformation. By leaning into discomfort with courage, empathy, and humility, we can bridge divides, deepen connections, and foster a more inclusive environment. 

So, let’s embrace the discomfort. Let’s lean into challenging conversations with a curious mind. For it’s in these moments of discomfort that we have the opportunity to grow, to connect, and to truly understand one another. 

You are not alone! 

Sometimes, it just helps to talk. Speak to our team by calling 01438 544463 or emailing hrservices@hfleducation.org
 

When I think about equality, diversity and inclusion in literature, this is the first quote that comes to mind. I was going to slim this down and paraphrase certain parts, but I don’t want to ‘water down’ Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop’s powerful words. Instead, I’d like to highlight just how important it is that children experience seeing themselves in the books they read, consider different perspectives, and have the opportunity to explore other lived experiences. This is an integral part in fostering a lifelong love of reading.

Books have so much power: the power to entertain us, inform us, shape our views, affirm us, broaden our perspectives, provide hope and even inspire personal growth. When we read a book that launches us into what we might call uncharted territory, or takes us outside of our comfort zone, we gain new knowledge, understanding and challenge ourselves to grow as readers. Section 7 of The Reading Framework states that ‘stories might be the only place where children meet people whose social and cultural backgrounds and values differ from their own.’ Wow! That statement alone raises many questions to reflect on:
Do the books that we use as part of our English curriculum support equality, diversity and inclusion? 
Do the books in our libraries or reading corners raise cultural capital? 
Which books do children encounter across the curriculum? 
How are the characters represented? Is their presence meaningful, authentic, and accurate?

The centre for literacy in primary education’s sixth publication in the Reflecting Realities Report dives into the latter two questions in great detail with a spotlight on racially minoritised characters. The report and questions to guide consideration certainly offer up much food for thought. Plus, there are many high-quality book recommendations in there too.

In many of the schools that I have the pleasure of working with, conversations around equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in literature are continuing to grow and deepen. Thankfully, the volume of beautifully crafted literature, which supports EDI, is ever-increasing. So, let’s have a look at some of the books that we can choose from. 

Out of the Blue by Robert Tregoning (Author), Stef Murphy (Illustrator) 

A heartwarming and uplifting book which highlights the importance of embracing our differences and being your true and authentic self. The visually stunning illustrations cleverly portray how dull life would be if everyone was forced to be the same. If you are looking for a book which beautifully champions diversity and pride, this will certainly brighten up your collection. 

I Am Nefertiti by Annemarie Anang (Author), Natelle Quek (Illustrator)

This glorious picture book authentically explores themes of identity and belonging.  The heartwarming story shows us the power of being proud of your name and staying true to yourself. The author’s skilful storytelling carefully captures the lived experiences of many black and ethnic minorities. It’s a joyous read which gently highlights important themes. 

Thunderboots by Naomi Jones (Author), Rebecca Ashdown (Illustrator)

This empowering book raises awareness of dyslexia.  The author is honest about her own experience with dyslexia so you can tell just how personal and special this book is whilst reading. Each page is colourful and fun but still manages to shed a positive light on this common learning difficulty.

You're So Amazing! by James Catchpole (Author), Lucy Catchpole (Author), Karen George (Illustrator)

This is a lovely book, which normalises disability and improves our understanding of the challenges that a person with a disability might face. Through its humorous and light-hearted manner, it explores important subject matter and reminds us to reflect on our words even when our intention is kindness.

Not Now, Noor! by Farhana Islam (Author), Nabila Adani (Illustrator) 

Not Now, Noor is a delightful book which gracefully honours women who are Muslim and provides an insight into the reasons behind wearing a hijab. It’s adorable, inclusive and informative. The vibrant colours and magnificent artwork radiate humour and happiness. 

All Bodies Are Wonderful: An Inclusive Guide for Talking About You by Beth Cox 

This inclusive and highly informative book presents a powerful message of acceptance. Exploring body positivity, it navigates the science behind different bodies whilst celebrating uniqueness. Each glorious page will certainly engage readers. 

Hopefully, one of these beautiful books will become a mirror in which your children can recognise themselves, in your library, or a door to enter phenomenal places whilst reading at home.  Do remember when choosing books, to ask yourself: ‘Do the portrayals we encounter in the literature we consume meaningfully and appropriately reflect the realities of all readers?’ CLPE Reflecting Realities - Survey of Ethnic Representation within UK Children’s Literature (November 2023)

If you’d like more inspiration for your school library, check out Books for Topics, Love Reading 4 Kids and Book Trust. 

Whether you are new to teaching in the EYFS, or perhaps returning after some time away, I think we’d all agree that change can be daunting, especially as the education landscape in the UK moves so quickly. I think that we would also agree though, that working with the youngest children in our schools is an immense privilege and joy, and I hope that this short blog will equip you to feel a little more confident to start your new EYFS adventure.

Get to know your staff team, your school, and local EYFS networks

Whether you’re in a large three form entry primary school or a small infant school, you will want to get to know who everyone is and their role within the EYFS team you are joining. Working in the EYFS is very much a team effort, and amongst your team there is likely to be an EYFS Leader who has over-arching responsibility for the EYFS, qualified teachers in Nursery and Reception classes, early years practitioners, and possibly higher-level teaching assistants. In addition, it is likely that there will be additional staff who look after children at lunchtimes or those who might run interventions to support specific groups. All staff play a vital role, and spending time getting to know the team and their areas of expertise and responsibility will be time well spent. If you are new to your school as well as the EYFS, spend some time orientating yourself, meeting key staff members and finding out where those all-important resources are stored! Sometimes it can feel a little isolating working in the EYFS, and so it is vital that you find out what networks are available locally, perhaps with schools in your area or your district. There are a wealth of online forums and EYFS social media communities, which might also be useful, though these come with a health warning; don’t fall into the comparison trap!

Get to know your children and their families

Families at your school are handing over their most precious children each morning and quite often, for the very first time, handing over care to someone new. Building trusted, warm relationships with families is essential, whether this be through informal chats at the beginning or end of each day, invitations to ‘stay and play’ in the classroom, and of course home visits and transition meetings in early September. Taking the time to talk to, observe, and find out more about children individually will not only help to build strong relationships with children but will help to inform your assessments and planning too. Remember that transition is a year long process and open and equitable communication with families needs to continue as the year unfolds.

The statutory framework and other vital reading

The Early years statutory framework sets out the requirements for staff: child ratios, suitable qualifications for staff and safeguarding practices. It also lays out the overview of the EYFS curriculum under the seven areas of learning. 

Your curriculum, regarding what you teach, and how you teach it, over the year will be decided by your school but guidance documents which you may choose to use to support the planning and implementation of your curriculum are here:

Gov.UK: Development matters

Birth to 5 Matters: Guidance by the sector, for the sector

Routines and systems

Children, and many adults thrive with secure, predictable routines so establishing routines and rhythms to your day will be vital to ensure that children feel secure and understand expectations. As you create your timetable (and bear in mind that it will change from September into Spring and Summer) try to ensure that children have a chance for sustained time to create and play, following their own interests. To do this, you will need to think carefully about when to have your adult-led input sessions, balance is key, and although adult-led time is an important way of introducing key concepts and new learning, effective teaching in the EYFS extends well beyond carpet time! Establishing routines to support the development of independence in your children is vital, and this starts from day one. Consider your routines for snack, toileting and changing to go outside in all weathers. What will this look like? How will you support children to be able to learn and develop these skills independently?

Your environment

At the beginning of the year, you will probably want to scale back your resources to make sure children are not overloaded with choices, and to allow you time to model how to use resources safely. You will need to provide a good range of resources that encourage curiosity and exploration but without making your environment feel cluttered. You will also want to avoid having to ‘set up’ resources each morning as you will have an indoor and outdoor classroom to think about. Creating accessible spaces where children can see what is available, access and re-set resources independently is essential, and shadow backing and labelling can support children with this aspect. Consistency in how your environment is set up is important, especially in the first month, where making too many changes and moving things around too often may be a source of anxiety for many children. Seeing the environment through a child’s eyes is a good tip, get down onto your knees and look at displays, resources, and environmental print.

Staff interactions and deployment of adults

High quality interactions are everything in the EYFS. Children need to feel heard and that their interests and ideas are valued. The types of interactions we look for in the EYFS do not always come naturally if you have not worked with very young children before. Sharing attention, responding gently, modelling vocabulary, careful questioning and developing back and forth conversations are all aspects to consider. As the lead teacher in a Reception or Nursery classroom, considering adult deployment carefully is vital to ensure that children have the chance to meaningfully converse and build relationships with all staff members, and peers.

Wellbeing 

Working in schools is hard work, both physically and mentally. To be the best version of ourselves for the children in our care, we must look after ourselves and each other. How we do this is unique to each individual person, to each team, and to each school. Having worked in leadership and the EYFS for almost thirty years I know how hard it is to switch off. If I wasn’t out collecting sticks, picking up free items for my setting from freecycle or making batches of playdough, I was planning or thinking ahead to the next big event. As you make the move into the EYFS I hope you find a way of finding balance, of pulling together as a team and taking time to properly relax and unwind.

In our next ‘Inspire Me’ blog later this term, we will be continuing our focus on fractions and using Cuisenaire Rods to support problem solving involving fractions.

Other blogs in the ‘Inspire Me’ series focusing on Cuisenaire Rods: 
Inspire me! Cuisenaire Rods: The CPA approach to teaching algebra
Inspire me! Using Cuisenaire Rods to explore calculation strategies

It is a fact that the number of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEND) is increasing in schools. The latest data from the GOV.UK website(1) states that:

• 2.5% of primary pupils have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP); a 9% increase between 2022 and 2023 
• 13.5% of primary pupils have SEN support; a 5% increase from 2022 to 2023

The number of pupils with EHCPs who are in mainstream schools has also increased from 51.4% to 52.7% in 2023. This means that teachers must cater for a wide range of learning needs in their classrooms and this is a challenge.

How do we meet every pupil’s needs?

“…at the heart of the inclusive classroom is simply good teaching.”

The Inclusive Classroom (page 17)(2), Daniel Sobel and Sara Alston

What is good teaching?

I Googled this and the top response said:

“A good teacher is one who is able to explain and demonstrate concepts in a variety of ways for a variety of different learners and learning styles. A good teacher is a good learner – they learn how their student(s) learn and modify their teaching accordingly.”(3)

There is nothing I disagree with here but how can we make this a reality?

The crucial role of the curriculum

Having a clear, well-structured and progressive curriculum is a good starting point to ‘good teaching’; what to teach and in what order is helpful.

Ofsted rightly puts a large emphasis on this and in the Ofsted framework(4), under Quality of Education and Intent, it states: 

"leaders take on or construct a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give all learners, particularly the most disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or high needs, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life."

In maths, there are clear, detailed statutory requirements within the national curriculum programmes of study. Many schools use a commercial scheme to support with breaking them into smaller steps. Models, resources and practice are provided to aid teaching and learning.

However, for some pupils with SEND, working within an ‘age-related curriculum’ isn’t possible.

Ofsted recognise this and state: 

"the provider has the same academic, technical or vocational ambitions for almost all learners. Where this is not practical – for example, for some learners with high levels of SEND – its curriculum is designed to be ambitious and to meet their needs."

This adds another layer of challenge in the classroom.

What does ‘inclusion’ really mean?

What do you do?

Teach the same curriculum to all and provide support and adaptations?

In the Ofsted report – Coordinating mathematical success: the mathematics subject report(5), the possible pitfalls of doing this are acknowledged.

It was observed that when pupils with SEND receive the same curriculum as their peers with support, usually from another adult, the ‘appearance’ of inclusivity may be taking the place of real inclusivity; the support may be avoiding learning rather than securing it.

For some pupils with SEND, the learning may be beyond their comprehension and therefore a more personalised approach would be needed.

However, I would argue that this could also lead to the pupils with SEND not being included and again, inclusion becomes exclusion.

How to get the balance right

Going back to my Googled definition of good teaching – “A good teacher is a good learner – they learn how their student(s) learn”.

I think this means that you need to start with knowing your pupils well.

Let me introduce Jay – a Year 5 pupil with additional learning needs.  

Focus on individual learning needs

Using the table shown in the video can help focus on a pupil’s individual learning needs rather than thinking about any labels the pupil might have. I would argue that knowing a pupil has ADHD or Autism doesn’t ‘tell’ you this individual’s needs.

Sobel and Alson(2) agree:

“By focusing on the child’s needs, strengths and motivators, we can provide more individualised, focused and consequently effective support for their learning. An over-emphasis on ‘labels’ can inhibit this and obscure the child from view.”

Considering barriers, strengths, interests and aspirations will help you begin to unpick the learning need and what provision needs to be put in place. It will help identify ongoing adjustments. 

Continue to learn more and make adjustments

Getting to know the pupil well and identifying ongoing adjustments will help when thinking about the curriculum.

Going back again to our definition of good teaching, “A good teacher is able to explain and demonstrate concepts in a variety of ways for a variety of different learners…,” decisions will need to be made as to what is right for Jay at this time. When he will be able to access the same explanations as his peers and when this will need to be varied will need careful consideration.

In Jay’s case, he does need a personalised curriculum but he also needs to be with his peers. To be able to do this well, a good knowledge of the curriculum progression is needed; not just within his chronological year group but the whole curriculum.

This is a lot of knowledge.

Make meaningful connections by tracking back

The HFL Education primary maths team have created a set of tracking back booklets that map the progression through different strands of learning, referencing the content domains from the KS1 and KS2 testing frameworks(6&7).

For example, the teaching of multiplication and division has been separated into five closely related strands of learning.

These strands are:

• Multiplication facts
• Understanding and calculating multiplication
• Understanding and calculating division
• Multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000
• Multiplication and division problem solving

How would the booklets support Jay?

As an example, when Jay’s peers are learning about factors, the learning this builds upon can be identified:

Facilitate inclusion and collaboration

Initially, Jay may join in with his peers if multiples and factors are introduced through practical exploration. This would be an effective way to introduce the area of learning in year 5 for all pupils to re-cap previous learning and would be accessible for Jay.

Some of the learning might be beyond his comprehension but an opportunity to collaborate with his peers may be his focus.

Once the other pupils move on, Jay’s learning could be tracked back to an appropriate level for him but still within the same strand of learning. 

Personalise the learning

The learning has been personalised to a level that is appropriate for Jay but if he grasps learning more quickly, the tracking back booklets identify the small steps through the strand ‘multiplication facts’ towards the age-related expectation. We wouldn’t be holding Jay’s learning back. 

On the training day, we will explore further examples of how the tracking back booklets could be used to support pupils with SEND through case studies.

We will also look at the five-a-day framework from the EEF guidance report, “Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools”, and explore ways to use these ‘best bets’ (all evidence-based) in the maths classroom. 

For schools that use HFL Education’s ESSENTIALmaths resources to support their maths curriculum, there are also tracking back booklets specifically mapped to the small steps within the Learning Sequences.

If you would like to invest in the tracking back booklets but are unable to attend the face-to-face training event, please do get in touch with the team at primarymaths@hfleducation.org. 

References

(1)    Special educational needs in England, Academic year 2022/23 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK (explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk)
(2)    Sobel, D & Alston, S (2021) The inclusive classroom: A new approach to differentiation. Bloomsbury
(3)    What Makes “Good” Teaching? (knowlesteachers.org)
(4)    Education inspection framework - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
(5)    Ofsted (2023) Coordinating mathematical success: the mathematics subject report Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/subject-report-series-maths/coordinating-mathematical-success-the-mathematics-subject-report
(6)    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-1-mathematics-test-framework
(7)    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-2-mathematics-test-framework