Page 14: Preparation for placement ...
I have taken inspiration for today's post from a question I got asked when I held a Q+A over on my instagram (@_missyeoman). Majority of questions asked regarded placement from: how to prepare?, what are the essentials?, any personal tips when doing so? As a result of this, I have decided to delve deeper into what can seem a daunting and large task - placement prep.
This is something I personally really enjoy! As long as you are organised (I kept on top of this through 'to-do' lists) it is a pretty easy task and gets you motivated and eager for the placement to actually start. I split my preparation into 2 main areas. Firstly 'academic prep' and secondly 'practical prep'.
Academic Preparation:
When I think back to the exact first thing I did in regards to preparing for my first placement (I was in a year 6 class), I immediately typed my schools name into google to get a feel for the ethos and what the school had to offer. After my curiosity and excitement had been satisfied, I then moved onto the more structured preparation. I firstly completed a contextual analysis on my school. Through doing do I was able to get familiar with the finer details of the school and what I would see when I arrived. Things I included in this were: familiarising myself with staff lists (always handy to know some faces their jobs roles before you get there!!), looking into specific statistics such as EAL, SEN and free school meal percentage, read the most recent OFSTED report and researched their policies to how these are put to practice. Reading school policy before you start is essential. There are some such as safeguarding where this MUST be done and is a requirement, but in addition to this I believe it is key to also read about your school and their expectations as much as you can. For example if you are in EYFS, knowing the schools 'touch policy' is vital, similarly to KS2, where looking at maths policies for expected methods will let you be a step ahead and fully prepared. After this, I then sent two emails to the school. The first was to the headteacher. In this I introduced myself, talked about specific things from the website that I was passionate about to explore further in the school and briefly talked about my previous experiences working with children. (As this was my first placement so had only done 1 week in a primary school prior, I discussed projects such as a sixth form leaders scheme in my school where I taught a variety of lessons to year 10 pupils, and my 4 year experience of teaching RAD ballet to children from 2 years old upwards). I also discussed my excitement for working with the forest school coordinators in forest schools lesson as this was something myself and the school were passionate about. Drawing these relationships and shared passions is crucial when aiming to make a good impression. The second letter was to my class mentor. I similarly introduced myself and talked about prior experience, but in this I also asked for any personal preparation they would like to to conduct. For example if the class were studying a certain book they may ask you to read this.
After completing the more 'research' side of prep, I still didn't feel particularly organised and wanted to start seeing some prep in person. I started this by printing all key documents and organised these into folders. Documents I printed included, the year 6 curriculum, safeguarding policies and my universities placement handbook. This allowed me to begin to set up my placement folder. I purchased a large ring binder folder, coloured paper dividers and lots of poly pockets. To manage my placement and take use of my folder to maximise its potential I split my sections into planning (then stemmed this down further to individual subjects), ROLOs (these were observation notes), personal reflections and key policies and documents. This included my DBS check. I personally packed this 2 weeks before placement started as this is something you don't want to forget. I then accessed the Department for Education's national curriculum and made myself throughly familiar with the expectations. Alongside this, from the school website I got my years termly overview, cross referenced this and recapped/taught myself key subject knowledge required. As well as this I read the 2 novels that my class were studying. It is great to be able to assist and get involved with key conversations and learning opportunities from day one! The last main vital area to prep was my stationary and personal resources. Alongside my placement folder, I brought a matching box where which I brought into school and used to make my own resource bank from resources/worksheets I had made as well as my mentor. Asking your teacher for a copy when they provide work for the class is great when reflecting on progress when drawing back on it as well as using it to stimulate your own lesson ideas in the future. As a result of hindsight, my last piece of advice for this area which is something I didn't do last year but will definitely be doing so this placement is to do a trail run (at the same time you would be going) for the journey to school. If you have read one of my earlier posts which is a great follow on to this one (Page 3: The first day of becoming Miss Yeoman) I got off on the wrong bus stop. This wasn't and issue as I had left plenty for time so a 5 minute extra walk did not cause any issues but to eradicate stress a little trail run causes no harm. Also seeing your school from the outside for the first time is really exciting!
Your placement follows on exactly from your preparation. What you put into placement is what you will get out of it and this can occur to the preparation too. On this note, I will end today's page with a quote that encapsulates this exactly:
"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success" - Alexander Graham Bell
- Miss Yeoman
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