Outstanding Early Years Education: ‘The Magic of Atelier’
What does truly child-led learning look like? The Atelier team explore autonomy, relationships, and purposeful planning, blending Reggio Emilia, Froebel, and research-led pedagogy into a setting where children, families and staff feel seen, heard, and inspired.
Brought to you by the Atelier Nursery senior leadership team, proudly produced by Decibelle Creative.
“It doesn’t fit a business plan, it doesn’t fit an educational curriculum… it’s about a feel—what feels right for those children, what feels right for those families.”
Clare, Director
Welcome back to Atelier Talks, the Early Years Collective.
In this episode, the Atelier team explore autonomy, relationships, and purposeful planning, blending Reggio Emilia, Froebel, and research-led pedagogy into a setting where children, families and staff feel seen, heard, and inspired.
Consider this episode permission to do things differently in your Early Years practice, and get ready for a deep dive with Clare, Beth, Lauren and Laura, into research-led Early Years education, the Atelier way.
In this episode:
- Reggio Emilia, Froebel, Vygotsky and Katz: blending research into everyday pedagogy
- Why autonomy matters (for children and practitioners)
- The child-led planning cycle: from individual interests to project work
- The “confronto” process: how Atelier educators reflect deeply on their children’s development
- Why relationships with families are at the heart of our practice
Find out more:
· Website and newsletter: ateliernursery.co.uk
· Instagram: @ateliernurseryltd
· Consultancy enquiries: Contact us via the website
Together, we’ll unlock the potential for incredible growth and learning.
Atelier Talks is a Decibelle Creative original podcast www.decibellecreative.com / @decibelle_creative
Keywords: Early Years education, child-led learning, Reggio Emilia, Froebel, key family groups, reflective practice, nursery leadership.
Transcript
>> Clare: Welcome to Atelier Talks, the Early Years
Speaker:Collective.
Speaker:This is the podcast brought to you by the Atelier Nursery
Speaker:team, exploring the art and science of early years
Speaker:education. We're here to share
Speaker:knowledge and insights from our unique research led
Speaker:approach. So if you're passionate about early years
Speaker:education, you're in the right place.
Speaker:Let's find out what's in store for you on today's
Speaker:episode.
Speaker:>> Clare: Welcome back to our second episode of.
Speaker:>> Clare: Atelier Talks, the Early Years Collective.
Speaker:>> Clare: We're here today to share with you some of the magic of
Speaker:atelier. Last time we took some time to introduce
Speaker:ourselves. Now we really want to introduce atelier. So
Speaker:I'm joined by my co hosts, Beth.
Speaker:Hello. Lauren. Hello. And Laura.
Speaker:>> Laura: Hello.
Speaker:>> Clare: Today we want to share what we think is rather magical.
Speaker:And that's our settings and, the ways in which we work. So we want to give
Speaker:you a little bit of a snapshot of everything. Atelier M.
Speaker:So, Beth, you and I have worked together the longest, so I
Speaker:wonder if we start this conversation off in terms
Speaker:of what atelier means to you.
Speaker:>> Beth: Really, I think
Speaker:it's just embedded in everything.
Speaker:Like, I've been there, like you said, for kind, of since right
Speaker:from the beginning. And it's all
Speaker:I know. It's all I know. It's
Speaker:the place where I've always been. I spend,
Speaker:we all spend a lot of hours there. And actually,
Speaker:yeah, it's home. It feels like a nice place
Speaker:to be. What about you?
Speaker:>> Clare: Gosh. Atelier for me
Speaker:is a mix of love,
Speaker:passion, determination,
Speaker:blooming hard worm, a few
Speaker:tears thrown in for good. Masha. but it's also.
Speaker:It's a bit like you. It sounds a bit cheesy, I think, but it
Speaker:feels, it feels like something we've
Speaker:created. And so it feels really special. And it
Speaker:feels really special to be able to kind of share that now
Speaker:with our listeners and open those virtual doors into what we do every
Speaker:day. and why we think what we do is
Speaker:normal. but actually what we've been told and why we're here today is
Speaker:that actually what we've created is something quite special. Special and quite
Speaker:unique. and, we want to be able to share that far and wide.
Speaker:>> Laura: Now, I am. I echo what
Speaker:Beth says about the home, I think Atelier.
Speaker:When I, when I came to atelier, I was very much looking for
Speaker:something new, a new challenge, new people. And the last
Speaker:three years have just been the most amazing three years.
Speaker:I feel so at home. I feel so confident in
Speaker:who I am. Atelier, I feel so Valued. I feel heard. And
Speaker:I think as well, for our children, that's what we want them to feel as well. We want
Speaker:them to feel heard, valued, safe, loved. So I think it's.
Speaker:It's more than just a job for me.
Speaker:>> Beth: It's.
Speaker:>> Laura: It's connection, it's family, it's home. It's everything
Speaker:that you could ever want it to be, really.
Speaker:>> Clare: Yeah. I think for me, it's one of those things that keeps us there.
Speaker:And m. One of the reasons we wanted to do this podcast is actually we've all been
Speaker:around for so long now that actually it
Speaker:feels normal to us. But actually for
Speaker:so many settings, what happens isn't normal. So when
Speaker:we think about, I don't know, some of the. Some of what we call
Speaker:our. Our values, some of what we call kind of our commitments,
Speaker:so we have things like our mixed age, key families.
Speaker:We have our free flow, we have our enabling
Speaker:environments, we have our pedagogical
Speaker:influences. We have a deep, deep
Speaker:relationship through our staff and our families
Speaker:and our children. So I guess, should we unpick some
Speaker:of those? Should we unpick some of those? Maybe people can get a little taster.
Speaker:So, Lauren, what would you pick as your, like, absolute
Speaker:favourite?
Speaker:>> Lauren: I really. I love, like, theory of research.
Speaker:>> Clare: I just love.
Speaker:>> Lauren: I love the fact that it's a place where
Speaker:we pull out the theories that
Speaker:we resonate with and feel that match our
Speaker:values and add impact
Speaker:and then we kind of mix them m all together to create that little
Speaker:cooking pot of, like, what is unique at
Speaker:atelier. So I love the fact that
Speaker:we are Reggio inspired. I just think because
Speaker:of the history of that, the Reggie Amelia approach and
Speaker:kind of like where it came from following the
Speaker:war, the fact that the reason the
Speaker:founders kind of created that approach,
Speaker:and then how it kind of evolved from there,
Speaker:I find that really, really interesting. So, yeah, I love
Speaker:the fact that we can explain everything that we do every day and
Speaker:back it up with research like that just is really my
Speaker:thing.
Speaker:>> Clare: I think it's something that's so important as well, isn't it? Because we always say we
Speaker:don't ever do anything for the sake of it. So actually,
Speaker:whether it's a resource that we choose, whether it's an approach that we're
Speaker:taking, whether it's, I don't know, a piece of equipment
Speaker:that we've chosen to install, actually, everything is always
Speaker:done with purpose and there has to be research behind it. So whether,
Speaker:actually it's our mixed, ah, stages and our peer
Speaker:Scaffolding from Vygotsky, whether it's our, ah, mixed
Speaker:age, key family groupings from Lillian Katz, whether it's the
Speaker:fact that we have Regio inspiration or Frobel inspiration in terms of
Speaker:our education and the projects that we offer, everything's done with
Speaker:purpose. And I think that makes Atelier really special
Speaker:actually.
Speaker:>> Lauren: And it's never static. Like there could always be
Speaker:new approaches that evolve that we could add to the mixing pot. I think
Speaker:that's what's interesting about it.
Speaker:>> Laura: It's not a fixed approach that it's very dynamic.
Speaker:M isn't it? It changes with what's going on with research,
Speaker:with what's happening in the world. It's very much adaptive
Speaker:to our cohorts, our children, our families, and what
Speaker:they needed to be and what we needed to be.
Speaker:>> Clare: M. But those fundamentals always come back to the
Speaker:same and that's always about play
Speaker:and the fact that children learn best through play. It's always
Speaker:around high quality and the fact that we will always strive to be the
Speaker:best we can do in everything that we do.
Speaker:and for us it's around bringing that
Speaker:together. And I think sometimes being. I always think we're a bit
Speaker:ballsy. I think it's about challenging ourselves
Speaker:to actually think of new ways of working or to
Speaker:embed the ways of what we're doing so that they're
Speaker:always the best they can be.
Speaker:>> Beth: Yeah, I love the fact that as a, as a team we're
Speaker:always up for a discussion or a debate
Speaker:or actually
Speaker:real discussion about what works, what doesn't work,
Speaker:why, why do we do things the way we do them, what is the
Speaker:purpose of them, but also still being
Speaker:really open minded with other people joining our
Speaker:nursery and taking on their ideas and their
Speaker:thought processes as well.
Speaker:>> Laura: And learn practises and the respect that we hold with each other.
Speaker:To be able to have those tricky conversations or ask
Speaker:challenging questions is really important because we all
Speaker:constantly, we're all learning still and we're all trying to
Speaker:grow into the best practitioner or educator or manager
Speaker:or whoever we can be. And you don't get that by
Speaker:just standing still and by just sticking to who you are. You
Speaker:have to.
Speaker:>> Clare: I think it's that lovely quote, isn't it, about, you know, always surrounding
Speaker:yourselves with people who will think in a different
Speaker:way. So actually if we surround ourselves with only like
Speaker:minded people, we're never going to actually challenge our thinking or challenge
Speaker:our thoughts and our ideas. and I think that's what's really special.
Speaker:Particularly about the leadership team is that, you
Speaker:know, yes, we have different roles, we have
Speaker:different responsibilities that we hold for the team and for the
Speaker:organisation and for the business ultimately. But
Speaker:it always centres around the same values. So
Speaker:actually our values are how does being our children, our families, our staff
Speaker:team. But how we'll come to these, you know, how we'll get
Speaker:to that end point will be different. We will have different pathways that we'll take to
Speaker:get there.
Speaker:>> Laura: And I think that's why we work so well because we are all very different and we
Speaker:all have different opinions and different, different ways but
Speaker:we, we actually are able to have those conversations
Speaker:work out okay, this is what we think. But what's right
Speaker:for the children, what's right for the families, what's right for the
Speaker:nursery? and it's a, it's a really,
Speaker:I want to say quite a natural, natural way, isn't it? It doesn't
Speaker:feel forced or it doesn't feel and
Speaker:everything to have those conversations.
Speaker:>> Lauren: It doesn't feel like it comes. I know that
Speaker:this is probably going off topic a bit, but the fact that like
Speaker:sometimes at other organisations you can get like a memo
Speaker:and a memo comes down and the memo comes down
Speaker:like now we do things in this way,
Speaker:but there's, yeah, I think within the whole staff team
Speaker:there's that kind of autonomy, isn't there? And respect
Speaker:that, heterarchy, isn't it?
Speaker:>> Laura: We don't see ourselves as better or more important than
Speaker:others. It's all about working together.
Speaker:>> Clare: things evolve in that way, don't they? Actually you can bring
Speaker:in like you're saying, different thoughts, different ideas. But by having
Speaker:a heterarchy rather than a hierarchy means that you are
Speaker:free to be able to challenge, you're free to be able to express your
Speaker:ideas and your opinions. and I think actually that
Speaker:enables us to always be reflective
Speaker:and to improve on the services that we're offering for children.
Speaker:So I guess for some of our listeners they'll have had a little bit
Speaker:of an insight into our leadership styles now. But if we take
Speaker:that back to our practise and what atelier,
Speaker:we know what's going on every day in the doors of atelier.
Speaker:So we're a child led nursery. So do you want to talk us
Speaker:through, you know, what does that really mean on a day by day
Speaker:basis? Because actually, you know, I'm a real believer that every
Speaker:setting will have a slightly different interpretation of
Speaker:child led or the key person approach or free flow. But
Speaker:what does that mean?
Speaker:>> Laura: For us, atelier, it's
Speaker:so vital, isn't it? And underpins everything we do,
Speaker:that everything is done with the
Speaker:children leading the way. So nothing is
Speaker:ever started. No projects are started, no
Speaker:learning happens that isn't first inspired
Speaker:by a spark from a child. So we would never
Speaker:have a topic or a sort of a termly
Speaker:theme that we'd want to work with the children. It's
Speaker:actually one of them has brought in a space book that they got for their
Speaker:birthday and suddenly we're building rocket ships and we're
Speaker:looking at the world around us. Or maybe someone's
Speaker:brought in a book about cooking that they want to look at a
Speaker:recipe from. So it's always about following the child
Speaker:and also allowing them to then lead the learning off in
Speaker:different directions. And we have to. I think it's quite a hard
Speaker:skill to learn as educators to not have a preconceived idea of
Speaker:where something's going. Because I think as an adult in your head you
Speaker:think, oh, this would be brilliant. We could go here, we could go there. If the
Speaker:children are going off in a completely different way, you follow them and you
Speaker:continue to facilitate their learning with their vein
Speaker:and following that along. I think that's what it means to me to be kind of child led
Speaker:at atelier.
Speaker:>> Clare: It's going to be one of those really interesting ones that we pick up a bit later
Speaker:down the line in terms of what the planning processes
Speaker:look like and the educational that's kind of undertaken.
Speaker:But there's also the child led element. And Beth, I think in your role
Speaker:really in terms of operations, you'll have a much wider
Speaker:oversight of that. But, but in terms of the.
Speaker:How everything is done about the child. So right the way
Speaker:through, from the way the rates are planned to the lunch breaks
Speaker:are sorted to the way the annual leave is allocated to the allocation
Speaker:of key people. You know, actually the child is held
Speaker:at the centre of absolutely all of your work, isn't it?
Speaker:>> Beth: Yeah, ah, yeah, absolutely, massively. I think.
Speaker:And the only way you can do
Speaker:that is through. I think for me, when I think of
Speaker:atelier or I take an image
Speaker:of what it's like walking into atelier, the first thing that
Speaker:pops up in my mind is relationships.
Speaker:and I just think it's, it's amazing that the
Speaker:relationships that we all hold between
Speaker:us and, and our children and
Speaker:actually it's just magical when you walk
Speaker:up the stairs and you can hear the children and they know the
Speaker:names from the director, to the cleaner
Speaker:and everybody in between. It's just
Speaker:amazing. And they want to share with you their
Speaker:stories, what they've been up to, and they know
Speaker:absolutely everything about you as well. And,
Speaker:yeah, it's just truly magical that that
Speaker:relationship and that respect happens across
Speaker:everywhere, in all worlds.
Speaker:>> Clare: And what is really, I think, really funny is. Or
Speaker:really beautiful, but I also think it's funny is that the
Speaker:children are aware that there's other children that they don't even have
Speaker:connection, direct connection with. So if I'm leaving the
Speaker:bath site, they'll say. Because the fences lead down into
Speaker:the car park from the children's garden. And they'll say, claire, Clare, where are you
Speaker:going? Where are you going? Are you going to find your Chippenham family? And
Speaker:it's that whole bit that even though some of the Bath children may never have
Speaker:met some of the Chippenham families, that they know that they're
Speaker:part of a nursery, a clean family, and
Speaker:then a wider organisation and community. I
Speaker:think it's really special. So relationships you
Speaker:touched in there. So for me, I think you hit the nail on the hedgehog.
Speaker:You know, for me, relationships are absolutely
Speaker:everything. When we look at what we're doing, all of our
Speaker:organisation is based around relationships and whether that's an
Speaker:investment in our staff, whether that's the investment
Speaker:in our families and most importantly, obviously, the investment in our
Speaker:children. But it's far more
Speaker:than. It's far more than anything else,
Speaker:isn't it? It's the
Speaker:real love, it's the real passion. I think it's the real drive for me
Speaker:as to where atelier came from. And, for me, I wanted
Speaker:to have a nursery that
Speaker:felt like I was looking after somebody's children in the same way I'd
Speaker:want my own. And I think actually, every day
Speaker:that we welcome a new family and you can see the
Speaker:anticipation on a new parent's
Speaker:face. You can see the anxiety as they're learning
Speaker:to have to leave their baby. You can see the
Speaker:apprehension about the what ifs that are going to be
Speaker:in the back of their mind. And I think no
Speaker:matter how long we've done this job, every single time
Speaker:that I put my arm around a new mum and say, I promise I'll
Speaker:look after them like they're on my own. And
Speaker:there's that sense of
Speaker:connection between us, because I mean it, I really
Speaker:mean it. I want our babies and our children to have
Speaker:the best care and the
Speaker:highest level of education, but also to do
Speaker:it in a way that's around them. it doesn't
Speaker:fit a business plan, it doesn't fit an
Speaker:educational curriculum, it doesn't fit anything
Speaker:that's kind of quantifiable. It just is about a
Speaker:feel and actually what feels right for those children,
Speaker:what feels right for those families. And it will be different for each of them.
Speaker:you know, what one family will take away will be so different to another.
Speaker:But for me, I think that's the magic. It's the
Speaker:relationships. It's how we
Speaker:share and how we care and how we genuinely
Speaker:respond to each other.
Speaker:>> Laura: Yeah, that's so beautiful. I think that really reflects what I
Speaker:feel as a manager as well, is just walking through the nursery and just
Speaker:seeing these beautiful pockets of reciprocal
Speaker:relationships between key people and children, watching
Speaker:the smiles on parents faces as they walk in at the end of the day to see their
Speaker:child really engaged in some really deep learning. And
Speaker:it's that sense that everything that
Speaker:happens is. Happens with purpose and there's a real
Speaker:meaning behind it. And it's just so deeply
Speaker:ingrained in who we are as practitioners, as educators, as
Speaker:the leadership team about. We really believe in what
Speaker:we do and we're really passionate about it. And for us, it's not just, a
Speaker:job, it's. It's a way of life, it's a way of believing, It's a way of
Speaker:being in a space where we just want the very best for our
Speaker:children. And.
Speaker:>> Clare: But do you think that's different? Like, you know, atelier is
Speaker:all I've ever known as a leader in my
Speaker:own right. But actually, you know, when we
Speaker:say, when we say those statements, they're
Speaker:huge, aren't they? But is it because of that or is
Speaker:it that unwaveringness? You know, when you kind of think
Speaker:as a leadership team, actually what we're doing is
Speaker:creating something that's really challenging and really
Speaker:difficult. It's not the easiest way to work. Having mixed stages
Speaker:is not the easiest way to work. Having free flow is not
Speaker:the easiest way of working. But we're unwavering, aren't
Speaker:we? Our expectations of
Speaker:ourselves and therefore of our team and therefore
Speaker:of our children are always that it
Speaker:will be the best.
Speaker:>> Laura: And I think that's, you know, high expectations across the board for our
Speaker:staff, for ourselves and for our children. We
Speaker:know and we can be the very best we can be. And we want that for
Speaker:our children too. And I think you can't expect that
Speaker:from your children if you don't lead by example, you don't
Speaker:support your team in that way. I think it's all about everyone being
Speaker:on the same page or wanting the best or striving to be the best
Speaker:that you can be. And I think that's what. What makes it so
Speaker:magic is that so many of us are there because we. We
Speaker:so believe in what we do.
Speaker:>> Lauren: Yeah, I think it doesn't work. I do feel like when you
Speaker:walk through, there are people that want to be there. And
Speaker:it's a very strange thing because it's. You have to
Speaker:want to be there.
Speaker:>> Clare: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Lauren: We say it's in your bones and, yeah, it's your
Speaker:room. Like, if it's your space. Like, you're
Speaker:proud of your space and you're proud of, like your
Speaker:exhibits that you've got, the children have created, or
Speaker:you're, like, so delighted to tell the story of that
Speaker:project. I think that. And I wonder if that kind
Speaker:of comes down to the fact that,
Speaker:I don't know. I don't know whether that comes. Like, we just seem to kind of
Speaker:source people that want to be there.
Speaker:>> Clare: And have a pair of quirky to work with.
Speaker:I think they have to be brave.
Speaker:>> Lauren: You can't just come in and do, like, sweat,
Speaker:chart off.
Speaker:>> Clare: Like, I think there has to be some unpicking.
Speaker:Sometimes I think of staff, particularly if they've worked in very commercial
Speaker:settings, because I think we want our staff to have autonomy.
Speaker:And I think actually the way in which we believe our children learn
Speaker:best is in exactly the same way we believe our staff learn best.
Speaker:and actually for them to feel that fulfilment and a sense of
Speaker:satisfaction in their work every day, so we know that what they're then
Speaker:able to offer their children is the highest level of
Speaker:quality, means that we have to give them autonomy in
Speaker:their choices and in the projects that they're running or the way
Speaker:in which they're interpreting, you know, the children's observations and their
Speaker:interests, and I guess that's something we do that's really different as well, isn't it?
Speaker:Isn't, you know, the way which we plan.
Speaker:>> Beth: Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker:>> Lauren: I was just thinking about that sandpit. Like, when that
Speaker:sandpit is full and we've got that crane running, you're not going to be able to
Speaker:get me out of there. Like, I'm so invested in that project. I think
Speaker:everyone's got different projects running. They can be on a
Speaker:daily level or they can be a huge level, but we all were just
Speaker:so invested in that little corner that
Speaker:we're working on. But, yeah, you're not going to be able to get me
Speaker:out.
Speaker:>> Clare: We'll let you live in the sand. What about you, Beth, in terms
Speaker:of kind of your role of supporting the staff team through
Speaker:that planning process, do you think that feels
Speaker:different for them when they're coming into work because they are
Speaker:given that autonomy to decide where the children are taking their learning?
Speaker:>> Beth: I think it's, massively different. And I think I always
Speaker:try to explain to a new member of the team.
Speaker:I don't know why I explain it this way, because in hindsight,
Speaker:it's the right way, really. But I always say we
Speaker:do it backwards.
Speaker:>> Clare: We do it backwards.
Speaker:>> Beth: So we always start with our children and we look at what
Speaker:they're showing us, we observe what they're doing. We
Speaker:really reflect and talk in detail and have those
Speaker:pedagogical conversations around what we're seeing and how
Speaker:they're using tools or what is it they're telling
Speaker:us really deeply. We never look at something and just go, oh,
Speaker:they're. They're showing an interesting cars, actually.
Speaker:What is it? Is it about the movement? Is it about
Speaker:the wheels? What is it that they're really trying
Speaker:to tell you? So I think, yeah, yeah, I think that part of
Speaker:it and breaking it down for our children
Speaker:and planning for them in their own
Speaker:right is massive. I think we
Speaker:will never be a nursery that ticks a box or,
Speaker:plans to. Yeah, to mark off a
Speaker:next step. Because actually, what we really want to do
Speaker:is have that real holistic learning approach and.
Speaker:And that spread across joy as well,
Speaker:actually. We want people to enjoy
Speaker:learning and play and being together.
Speaker:>> Clare: That gorgeous statement, wasn't it? Was it the skill, the will and the thrill?
Speaker:>> Beth: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Clare: So actually, you know, our job is to give children the
Speaker:skills, but actually we want them to have the thrill of
Speaker:learning. And I think that's so, so important when we take that step
Speaker:back and we look at tipping the curriculum upside down and
Speaker:starting back to front for one of a better term, and actually
Speaker:always starting with the child. And I think sometimes you have to be really
Speaker:brave to do that, don't you?
Speaker:>> Beth: Yes.
Speaker:>> Clare: And I think that's why some of those practitioners you were talking about, Lauren,
Speaker:that we kind of filter and choose are the ones that
Speaker:sometimes do think a bit differently or actually
Speaker:haven't necessarily been taught or have joined the
Speaker:workforce in, you know, with a slightly different tangent
Speaker:or a slightly different direction, because actually they have
Speaker:slightly different freedom in their own
Speaker:thinking. And I think some of that comes down to their own education as
Speaker:well and their experiences.
Speaker:So the pedagogy is really rich. It's really layered. We've talked
Speaker:a little bit about the projects that happen, in terms of our
Speaker:regio influences. So they're the real
Speaker:projects of longevity. So they're the ones that can go on and on and on and
Speaker:will take different directions over that period of time. But we also
Speaker:plan for children as individuals. So,
Speaker:Laura, you're probably best positioned to talk us through it. the
Speaker:plods and what we mean by plods and the processes that
Speaker:key people undertake there.
Speaker:>> Laura: so, like Beth spoke about taking the child at the centre, every
Speaker:term, we will look at the child and really
Speaker:pick apart their interests and we'll have sort of one central
Speaker:interest for them in terms of maybe what they're
Speaker:wanting to learn. Or, you know, for example, we've got some who we would always
Speaker:call, like an outdoor experience explorer. So they'd always be in the garden, you
Speaker:know, from the moment the garden opens, they'll be out there until lunchtime and,
Speaker:they'll be straight back out after lunch. So for us, it's
Speaker:actually how do we ensure that that child is. Is learning
Speaker:in every single area of the eyfs
Speaker:whilst they're in the garden? So how do we bring in mathematics? How
Speaker:do you bring in literacy? How do we bring in their physical development,
Speaker:their personal, social, emotional and actually within that, the
Speaker:practitioners are so, again, so skilled at unpicking,
Speaker:things that the child is working on for their next steps and then
Speaker:working out. So if they're trying to achieve this next step,
Speaker:how do we facilitate that whilst they're in the garden? Or what opportunities can
Speaker:we provide to further their learning based upon their interest?
Speaker:So it always comes back down to the child, that
Speaker:interest and what is again, like the skill, the will
Speaker:and the thrill, what's going to actually will them to do
Speaker:it. If they've got the will, then they'll learn the skill and
Speaker:then they'll get the thrill of it. and I think that's what's so beautiful about
Speaker:that mixed age free flow is that children can spend all
Speaker:day in the space that they want to. They don't have to be inside,
Speaker:they don't have to be in a space where they're not inspired, they're not.
Speaker:Their curiosity isn't sparked. And
Speaker:that's what I think makes it so easy. I
Speaker:think easy is probably the wrong word, but it makes it a lot
Speaker:more,
Speaker:>> Lauren: I do know what you mean. Not easy, though.
Speaker:>> Laura: Yeah, it's not for you when you make that planning.
Speaker:>> Lauren: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Laura: It's because, you know, the child inside out, you know, what
Speaker:they're interested in, you know, where they spend their time, you know what their next steps
Speaker:are. So it's a really organic process, I think.
Speaker:>> Lauren: And I think from being a parent, like that's how I would. I
Speaker:do think parents naturally provide opportunities for their
Speaker:children to achieve their next steps. Yeah, and it's very
Speaker:intuitive. You're very intuitive as a parent. You couldn't even explain
Speaker:that. Oh, I've
Speaker:object. I put metal objects in the treasure basket
Speaker:because I wanted them to like, learn about the
Speaker:different textures of materials. They parents would just automatically
Speaker:like, they'd start shaking the keys, wouldn't they? The baby would start
Speaker:shaking the keys and think, oh, you like keys? Let's put those in there.
Speaker:And I think we work like that as educators. We
Speaker:put in the next steps that feel like the most
Speaker:logical next steps. But we don't
Speaker:necessarily track. Obviously
Speaker:we do birth to five matters tracking. We bear that
Speaker:in mind. But we don't say, oh, well, they're two, so they should
Speaker:be, I don't know, walking upstairs of alternate
Speaker:feet. So that's going to be the next step.
Speaker:>> Laura: If they're not individuality and the
Speaker:understanding that every child is unique and different and they don't
Speaker:all progress at the same rate, they don't all develop at the same rate.
Speaker:But.
Speaker:>> Clare: Yeah, but do you feel part of that knowledge of that child in
Speaker:context comes through from the key person approach?
Speaker:So, you know, it's all a cycle, isn't it? We started
Speaker:with the relationships and the relationships being of importance.
Speaker:And actually the knowledge that the key person will hold of the
Speaker:child then enables that real analysis
Speaker:of observation and a genuine interaction,
Speaker:therefore gives the child the confidence to move forward in
Speaker:their learning. Because actually they're feeling like they have a sense
Speaker:of belonging, they have a sense of autonomy. So they're able then
Speaker:to make their choices and progress.
Speaker:>> Lauren: I think it links back to autonomy again, because then if somebody
Speaker:questions your assessment, document your
Speaker:plaud. If someone's questioned, say, well,
Speaker:actually, like those children should be doing this, you would
Speaker:say your autonomy and your sense of self as a
Speaker:practitioner, you would say, no, their next step is to do that.
Speaker:Because they've only just done this and I know their logical next steps that.
Speaker:So it all links through. It does all link through. Because
Speaker:if you didn't have autonomy and respect, someone could
Speaker:audit your work and say, well, those next steps aren't
Speaker:appropriate. they're not at the right age band. But we're given
Speaker:the freedom, aren't we.
Speaker:>> Clare: To Be trusted by supporting our educators to
Speaker:have their confidence in their knowledge. And
Speaker:having a real detailed understanding of child
Speaker:development enables them to be able to have those professional
Speaker:dialogues and explain to a visitor, to a
Speaker:parent, to another key person, to their backup key person.
Speaker:Actually, these are my next steps and these are why. And this is, you know,
Speaker:all of that intent, isn't it? You know, we know that if our
Speaker:staff have a strong intent, then their implementation is going
Speaker:to be secure, which means the impact for those children is going to be
Speaker:huge. Yeah.
Speaker:>> Beth: I love the fact that you, Lauren, get to sit and
Speaker:have those, confrontos with our team members
Speaker:and just.
Speaker:>> Clare: Jump in on you. Do you want to explain what our confrontos mean? Because I think
Speaker:some of our listeners, they won't have had those terms.
Speaker:>> Beth: So we have confrontos every term. that's where we sit
Speaker:down with our educators and we talk
Speaker:all about their children. We get them to really go
Speaker:into detail. So Lauren's amazing at being
Speaker:really picky.
Speaker:Tell me about that. Where have you seen that happen? How have
Speaker:you seen that happen? Are they doing it with you as their
Speaker:secure person? Are they confident doing it with your next
Speaker:door neighbour who is in the next room? Are they confident at
Speaker:doing that at home? Have you had some of those conversations with those
Speaker:parents around what that looks like? and I think
Speaker:giving our team the opportunity to
Speaker:be fully confident
Speaker:in all of their children, their journey that
Speaker:they've taken so far from their starting points to where they're
Speaker:at now and being able to
Speaker:verbally talk about that with the confidence
Speaker:that they do is huge.
Speaker:>> Lauren: Yeah, it's just. And a lot of that, that pushing,
Speaker:like I'm being that clerical critical friend,
Speaker:like we're just kind of, taking from a different viewpoint
Speaker:and I would say from other pupil progress meetings that I would have been in,
Speaker:they're that sometimes they're about accountability and like, well,
Speaker:how, how much progress have they made? And
Speaker:like, I didn't really feel like what we felt like for
Speaker:mom. We used to have, we used to call them teacher
Speaker:meetings. We felt like we wouldn't get. We weren't getting to the
Speaker:crux of it where we weren't in real dialogue. There was that
Speaker:surface level of, okay, they're fine, they're on track, let's move on.
Speaker:But actually the confronto process is a bit more.
Speaker:>> Clare: It's really in depth supporting,
Speaker:ah, all of our team, isn't it, to act as researchers,
Speaker:not just researchers alongside the child, as Malaguzi would say, but
Speaker:actually really
Speaker:understanding their own pedagogical knowledge
Speaker:and then m working out what their own pedagogical skills style is and the
Speaker:strategies they then adopt to be able to really develop
Speaker:those children's learning. So in terms of the pedagogical approaches,
Speaker:we've talked about the projects and the planning, we've talked about
Speaker:the individual planning, which obviously kind of links then
Speaker:into some of the home learning environments. So what about our
Speaker:working with parents? So we've talked about relationships from a key
Speaker:person to child perspective, from a leadership to
Speaker:staff team perspective. What about our parents?
Speaker:Where do they sit and fit in all of this?
Speaker:>> Laura: They're a huge, huge part of what we do at
Speaker:Atelier and they form a really, a
Speaker:really big part of our community. We always talk about atelier being a community
Speaker:having lots of connection and our parents are
Speaker:vital for us to understand more about our children.
Speaker:we call them, what's the word?
Speaker:Equal partners, partners in their care.
Speaker:We recognise that the parents know their children better than anybody
Speaker:else in the whole wide world. So why are we
Speaker:not drawing on that understanding from them?
Speaker:So that's why in our settling in process we have lots of time
Speaker:to sit and chat with them, find out what their favourite nursery
Speaker:rhyme m is, how they like to be rocked to sleep, what might
Speaker:make them feel happy if they're feeling a bit sad.
Speaker:And I think that carries on once the child has
Speaker:settled in. It then becomes a really natural
Speaker:two way relationship where it's continual dialogue
Speaker:is shared, stories are shared, information is shared in
Speaker:a really kind, respectful,
Speaker:educational way.
Speaker:>> Beth: And we also get to do really exciting stuff with our parents.
Speaker:Like we'll touch on a little bit later down the line on our
Speaker:festivals and our connection days
Speaker:and our exhibitions and all of those really
Speaker:like amazing days where we get to
Speaker:truly celebrate everything that's been going on at
Speaker:Atelier.
Speaker:>> Clare: There's just so much to talk about. I can't believe that
Speaker:it's only really the tip of the iceberg of everything that's going to be happening
Speaker:in behind the Doors. So I guess for our listeners
Speaker:really, this has been a little snapshot of everything that
Speaker:we're talking about. Beth, can you summarise
Speaker:for us what would be your one thing that you're looking forward
Speaker:to kind of delving much deeper into?
Speaker:>> Beth: I think it's the Oh, I don't know
Speaker:one thing. There's so much,
Speaker:I think it's truly getting out there.
Speaker:What early years can really
Speaker:be and feel like and look like. I think
Speaker:I'M really excited to share in that. And
Speaker:if we can help, even if it's just one person,
Speaker:I think it would just be quite nice.
Speaker:>> Clare: Lauren, what about you again?
Speaker:>> Lauren: It's quite a big one, isn't it? But I think I'd really like
Speaker:to get people thinking outside their
Speaker:comfort zone, I think, and just thinking, oh, like there is a different way to
Speaker:do things or just be reflective. Because
Speaker:I know like my confidence as an
Speaker:educator, how that's developed from being
Speaker:reflective. I think that has the possibility for other
Speaker:people listening to be more reflective and then
Speaker:ultimately be better practitioners, I
Speaker:guess.
Speaker:>> Laura: Yeah, my neck is a bit. What like Lauren said about actually being
Speaker:brave, being able to look at things and turn them on their head a little bit,
Speaker:that we don't have to just stick to early education
Speaker:as we've seen it for years and years and years, you can
Speaker:be different, you can do something different and you can
Speaker:really challenge those expectations of what it should look
Speaker:like. And when you get it right, I think it is
Speaker:magic. It really is.
Speaker:>> Clare: No, I think you're absolutely right. I think there's lots to
Speaker:share, there's lots to think about. I think as the as the series,
Speaker:develops, I think we'll be questioning our own thinking behind what we're
Speaker:doing as well. I think it'll be a really great time for us to come together
Speaker:and think about what we're doing. and I really look forward to teasing
Speaker:out some of those relationships and the quality of
Speaker:practise and making sure that actually in
Speaker:such a period of change, where the landscape
Speaker:politically is changing so much for many years, that
Speaker:we're really supporting people to stay grounded in what high
Speaker:quality practise looks like.
Speaker:So thank you guys for joining me on the SAFER again today
Speaker:and we look forward to sharing with our listeners who again. So thank you
Speaker:for coming to find us and this week for tuning in wherever you find your
Speaker:podcasts. We hope you've had a good time finding out a little bit
Speaker:about the magic of Atelier and we look forward to meeting you again
Speaker:next week.
Speaker:>> Clare: Thank you for joining us for Atelier Talks. If you
Speaker:enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, share and
Speaker:leave us a review. It really helps us to reach more educators,
Speaker:parents and early years professionals just like you.
Speaker:For more insights into our unique research led approach,
Speaker:or to find out more about our services at both the nursery or
Speaker:the consultancy and how we can help you in your early years
Speaker:practise, visit our website or follow us on social
Speaker:media. All the details you need to find us are
Speaker:in the show notes.
Speaker:In the meantime, it's goodbye from us. Thank you
Speaker:for joining us. We look forward to seeing you. Next time for another episode
Speaker:of Atelier Talks.
Speaker:>> Clare: Thanks for listening.
