The Strength-based Approach is a meaningful and real style of writing about children in a way that starts with what they can do. A strength-based approach is not about describing a child’s learning and development in a positive light and neglecting to identify areas for further development or areas of concern. Instead it starts with where the child is now, not with what is absent, and highlights where the child can go with additional support. This makes it a vital pedagogical skill for early childhood educators to practice and develop which can be used for transition reports, learning stories or snapshot reviews. The Strength Based Writing programme consists of 4 short components that support Educators to focus on your writing techniques when compiling Learning Stories, Transition Reports or Snapshot Reviews.   *PLEASE READ YOUR 'NOTES FOR THE COURSE' BEFORE STARTING YOUR PROGRAMME*

The Enabling Transition programme will provide the early childhood educator with practical, jargon free guidance on how to compile transition reports that are unique to each child. The programme consists of 4 short components for you to digest, discuss with colleagues and use to inform your practice. If you are a parent, looking to understand a little more about preparing your child for primary school, this programme will also provide you with lots of useful information. 1. The Importance of Positive Transition from pre-school to primary school 2. A Learning Partnership – the child, parents, previous and new educator 3. Good Pedagogy Practice to enable smooth transitions 4. Compiling Transition Reports (practical report writing). Practical supporting handouts are available  for download and print in the users Reference Document section.  *PLEASE READ YOUR 'NOTES FOR THE COURSE' BEFORE STARTING YOUR PROGRAMME*

From the very first time I discovered the work of Dr Margaret Carr and the Learning Story Approach – I have loved it and advocated for it as the most effective means of documenting the assessment of young children’s learning and development. I admire the way a child’s strengths are highlighted in a way that is very personal to the child – regardless of their abilities or stage of development. A learning story is an engaging story of a child’s achievements, abilities, interests and viewpoint as an active learner. Learning Stories can focus on everything from a baby noticing himself in a mirror for the first time to a pre-school child creating a model from junk materials or helping a friend. I like to think of learning stories in this way – an assessment report or developmental checklist show you a black and white snapshot of the child, cold and frozen in time. However, learning stories are vibrant, engaging, funny, full colour mini-movies that parents can keep forever.  They give a rounded, holistic view of who the child is as an individual and as a learner. This is, after all, what early childhood education is all about! ‘Creating Learning Stories’ will provide Educators with practical guidance on this wonderful pedagogical technique for early childhood education. The programme is presented in 5 short components - each one building on the learning from the one before and packed with practical examples. Participants will discover how to structure, compile, and use learning stories as a meaningful assessment tool, to engage parents and to showcase children’s individual strengths, interests and needs.  Avril  *PLEASE READ YOUR 'NOTES FOR THE COURSE' BEFORE STARTING YOUR PROGRAMME*

Fortunately, some children can take major change in their stride.  However for some children, an unexpected disruption to their usual routine, the loss of established attachments to key adults or an increase in home stress may result in changes in children’s behaviour and stress responses. Sensitive responses from Educators are essential to enable children to adapt to change in their lives.  'Settling in Softy' will support Educators to focus on the important role of supporting children’s emotional well-being through a curriculum of care - for exmple, when joining the pre-school setting for the first time. This practical e-CPD programme is a must for all educators to ensure children’s emotional well-being is front and centre during the early months away from home and family.  The interdependent nature of educator well-being and the ability to support children is also explored.  Components include: Why Social and Emotional learning matters Educator self-care – you can’t pour from an empty cup. Child anxiety as a response to change   The Relationship Response  A Curriculum of Care Communicating with Parents Each section will contain practical activities for the Educator to incorporate into the daily routine including some sample activities to enable children's emotional competence. *PLEASE READ YOUR 'NOTES FOR THE COURSE' BEFORE STARTING YOUR PROGRAMME*

The MOSAIC documentation system is designed as an electronic storybook that captures and documents the magic of a child’s early learning and care. ‘MOSAIC Educator’ is used by professional educators to record, support and plan for children’s learning and development. Through the interconnecting ‘MOSAIC Family’ App, the early childhood service and nominated family members can access regular updates in the form of photographs, videos, learning stories and reports. For children under 3, daily care records are also communicated directly to a parent’s phone or tablet in real time. MOSAIC IS THE SOLUTION TO 3 IMPORTANT ISSUES: For childcare providers, time consuming paper-based recording systems that are a burden on time and resources For parents who need secure, real-time updates and communication when young children are away from home For external compliance organisations where quality standards require that recording systems are inclusive, individual to the child, and accessible to parents. **Please note... this is not a training course, it is for information purposes only.     

It can be all too easy to fall into the practice of planning predictable curriculum themes year after year. However, despite the learning opportunities that seasonal and celebration themes can present, they may not interest all children and can inhibit children from following their own natural learning interests. Repeated themes can also become monotonous for Educators where it may be difficult to feel enthused and excited by a particular topic, if repeated on a continuous basis. Emergent curriculum is a way of planning curriculum that focuses on being responsive to children's interests to create meaningful learning experiences. It can be used with any age group from babies to pre-school children. Emergent curriculum is based on the idea that children have a voice in their own learning choices and that children learn best when curriculum experiences represent their interests, strengths, needs, and lived experiences.  This continuining professional development programme by Mosaic Early Education, will enable the educator to understand what emergent curriculum is and how to implement this pedagogical strategy when working with babies, toddlers and pre-school children.  Components include: 1. The background to emergent curriculum and how does it link to curriculum and quality frameworks? 2. What is emergent curriculum, what it is and what it isn’t! 3. What do I need to think about when implementing an emergent curriculum? 4. Planning an emergent curriculum for babies, toddlers and pre-school children 5. The role of the skilled early childhood educator. * The resource documents section contains 7 printable handouts including sample inquiry-based activities, planning templates, a sample curriculum statement  and further information to support the programme content. *PLEASE READ YOUR 'NOTES FOR THE COURSE' BEFORE STARTING YOUR PROGRAMME*