With a Froebel Trust Action Research Grant, Nursery School Headteacher Alison Hawkins set out to research children’s mark-making
In recent years Wester Coates Nursery School in Edinburgh, Scotland has moved its provision almost entirely outdoors. The team at the nursery school noticed that there is not much guidance, and even less policy, regarding mark-making, emergent handwriting and writing meaningfully for a purpose.
Led by headteacher Alison Hawkins, the team of educators planned to:
- engage with national and international literature on the topic
- learn from other successful initiatives
- see how other outdoor nurseries operate in cold climates.
The project included online training for staff on the subject to explore what constitutes mark-making in early years, and learning to better observe children’s mark-making.
The power of play
Headteacher Alison Hawkins wrote an article for the Froebel Trust making the case for more play in primary schools
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