Webinar Recap: Building a Strong Early Years Culture with Alison Featherbe
This month we were joined by early years experts and experienced hosts, Alison Featherbe and Jamie Victoria in our webinar ‘Creating a Strong Early Years Culture and Curriculum’. It was a fantastic event with hundreds of nursery managers and leaders joining us live to gain some essential tips and strategies just in time for the new academic year. If you missed the webinar, you can catch up on it here.
If you prefer reading, we’ve pulled out some fantastic tips and guidance that Alison shared on building a strong early years culture. Given the wealth of valuable insights shared, we’ve split the content into two articles for easier digestion. Stay tuned for our upcoming blog, where Jamie covers everything you need to know about enhancing the early years curriculum.
Building a strong early years culture
Creating a strong culture in your early years setting involves everything you do, including recruitment, retention, and supporting your team. It’s about addressing issues promptly, providing supervision, and offering ongoing personal and professional development. Investing in your culture leads to better outcomes for everyone involved, from children’s development to staff wellbeing and parental engagement.
Start with your vision and values
Vision:
Your vision is the destination of your journey as an EYFS provider. Reflect regularly on where you want to go and make sure your team understands and embraces this vision from the moment they join you. Consistency in maintaining this vision is key to high-quality early years education.
Values:
Your values form the foundation of your culture. They should be evident in everything you do. Conduct learning walks, make room observations, and consider the experience of children and staff in your setting. Ensure your values are genuinely practised and not just displayed.
Understanding your ‘why’
Regularly revisiting your ‘why’ is crucial—it’s your driving force. Understanding why you wake up and come to work each day is essential as a leader or practitioner.
Financial rewards may not be substantial in our sector, but we find motivation in making a difference to children and supporting our team. We find fulfilment in engaging with children, learning from them, and experiencing joyful moments together.
Encourage your team to reflect on their own ‘why’. What inspires them to start their day and contribute to your shared goals eagerly? Understanding this can reignite passion and purpose in their work.
Leaders shape culture
If you think your provision lacks a culture, think again—it exists, even if you don’t actively guide and manage it. As a leader, you shape the culture, and without your direction, it will form on its own.
Effective leadership goes beyond overseeing a team. It involves mentoring, coaching, and role modelling to guide your provision’s culture. Clearly defined roles that everyone adheres to are essential, this can empower your team and create a strong sense of accountability.
Every team member contributes to your provision’s culture. Everyone must understand they are part of a team and play an equal role in developing that culture. If you don’t clearly define your culture as a leader, the team will naturally develop its own. Consider creating a culture statement or policy to articulate and reinforce your desired culture.
Using the EYFS to build your culture
The EYFS principles are fundamental in shaping your culture, and it’s beneficial to revisit them regularly. The first few pages of the EYFS document are particularly important and provide a strong foundation. Make it a habit to reread the EYFS and share relevant sections with your team. Each reading can reveal new insights, deepening your understanding and adding more meaning to your work.
These principles can be especially helpful when revising or reevaluating your vision. Ensuring your vision aligns with the EYFS principles will lead to a more cohesive and meaningful practice.
Enhancing staff supervision
Leading can be challenging, and maintaining full commitment at all times is difficult. Our job has its ups and downs, but as leaders and role models, we must remember that our teams look to us for guidance.
Encourage your team to be leaders of their own practice and discuss this during supervision sessions. Supervision is crucial as it reinforces the non-negotiable EYFS principles that underpin your practice. While your approach to staff supervision can be flexible (as long as it meets EYFS standards), it’s important to use these sessions proactively to address issues promptly and prevent larger problems from developing.
Here are some top tips for handling challenging conversations during supervision:
- Identify and understand issues: the purpose of supervision meetings is to pinpoint and understand any issues at hand.
- Practice difficult conversations: having difficult conversations can be daunting. Practice with yourself or a trusted colleague, or even use drama activities to simulate scenarios and build confidence.
- Be proactive: use supervision sessions to address issues before they escalate. This proactive approach can prevent larger problems from developing.
Supervision plays a pivotal role in our leadership roles, and mastering these conversations, while initially daunting, is essential for effective leadership.
Review your policies regularly
Regularly revisiting your policies is essential as they form the backbone of your operations. Whether extensive or concise, your policies guide you in addressing any issues that arise. By frequently examining your policies, you ensure comprehensive coverage and close any gaps, providing a solid framework for your team to follow.
Referring back to your policies helps address challenges and incidents, turning them into opportunities for learning and improvement. Keeping your policies up-to-date ensures that your team has clear guidelines, leading to a more consistent and effective approach to managing your setting.
Pedagogy and curriculum
Pedagogy involves three key aspects: head, heart, and hands. It’s about what we know, the skills we use, and how we build meaningful connections with children, families, and each other—forming the heart of our culture.
Interactions:
Clear and consistent interactions are essential for a positive environment. To improve, check out the Ofsted early years inspection handbook. These guidelines can help refine how your team interacts, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Child observations:
Observing children isn’t just about taking notes; it’s about making a real difference. Get your whole team involved in observations to encourage shared learning and reflection. Focus on what children reveal through their responses and interactions. As a leader or practitioner, use these insights to guide effective assessment and planning. Make sure everyone understands and participates in this process.
Conversations:
Start each day with open, purposeful conversations. This sets the tone and reinforces your cultural values. Ensure everyone knows why your curriculum decisions and strategies are in place. Regular reflection keeps you aligned with your vision for quality and helps achieve the best outcomes.
Getting recruitment and onboarding right
Recruitment, induction, and onboarding set the stage for your team’s culture. It’s important to start as you mean to go on.
Recruitment:
Culture begins with recruitment. How you present yourself in job ads and interviews shapes how potential employees see your organisation. These first impressions are the foundation of your culture.
Induction:
Induction can be formal or informal, long or short. No matter the format, make sure it clearly sets expectations and provides clarity from the start.
Onboarding:
Effective onboarding goes beyond initial training. It’s about creating a supportive environment where new hires feel valued and secure. Allow time for team bonding and help new members get to know the team. Understanding each team member, much like you do with children and families, nurtures a strong team culture.
Personal development
Ongoing personal development is key to professional growth. Think about supervising yourself: What are your goals? What areas do you want to develop? Reflecting on these questions helps you see your role within the team. While self-evaluation can be tough, it’s important to consider how you handle situations and how others see you. Building strong connections, effective communication, and maintaining clarity and consistency are the first steps towards a cohesive team culture.
In conclusion, building a strong early years culture is foundational to success in early years settings. By aligning with EYFS principles, empowering our teams, and fostering open communication, we create environments where children learn and develop and staff flourish. We hope you enjoyed the webinar and its findings as much as we did. Stay tuned for more insights in our next blog post on enhancing the early years curriculum with Jamie Victoria.
Don’t forget, if you missed the webinar, you can catch up on it here.
Next Webinar: Maximising Childcare Occupancy
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About the Author
Content Marketing Executive at Connect Childcare
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