Quote:
Originally Posted by niggles78
thanks for replying, I discussed this with my area manager and she's agreed to hand me down one of the other nursery SEF form, as you say they're individual to each nursery but it does give me a feel for what I'm aiming to achieve. It's a lot of paperwork tho and to think we have to do it EVERY year. . .
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I agree. it does look daunting at first, but if you tackle it a bit at a time it is easier. You can save it on the Ofsted site without having to submit it, if you wish, until you think you have it just as you want it. Or you submit, then edit.
They are not compulsory, but they do give Ofsted a better 'picture' or what you do and how the setting it is run. Don't look on it as if it's homework, look at it that it will help your next inspection go smoothly. It certainly helped our inspection and the inspector said it was thanks to a very comprehensive sef.
I don't do my sef annually, I go on and add bits to it or change it as and when.
When you write something down that you do, it then asks you how you are going to reflect and any action you may take, i.e. if you wrote all that you provide for the mark making area - upon relection you may say from your observation boys do not visit this area as frequently as girls. To encourage them you will take mark making to the activities they seem to prefer such as clipboards at the building site, provide old diaries/notebooks for role play such as police or fire fighters etc and take mark making outside where they are playing.
You can write in a similar vein for whatever you are writing about. What you are doing now and upon reflection what could you or how could you improve or make it more accessible in the future.
Of course, your sef may not be able to keep getting 'better and better', but everyime you improve, add or change something, write it in a note book and say what the improvement/reason for it is, then add it to your sef when you have time. This will show that you are always reflecting and acting upon. It will then get easier and become part of your routine.
When I first started doing mine, I saved it and did not submit, printed it out and got a parent to proof read it and asked her if we did anything I'd forgotten to put in. She contributed one or two things and the other staff read it, wrote bits down and I typed it up. I always had a printed copy at the setting if Ofsted arrived before I submitted it formally - and they did. The inspector read it and was very satisfied. It shows the strengths of a setting that they can't always see, and you can't show everything on their visit, so it helps you. That and their observations forms their opinion and grade of the setting.
I hope this helps you to see sef as more of a help and not a hinderance.
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