I want to go on a school trip, Claire. A big trip,” said Laura, handing out the high-vis jackets she’d found in the home corner to her friends. I wondered aloud where they would go. Another child went to the shop role-play area and handed me a tin of shortbread.

“Here. I want to go here,” Thamina said, pointing. On the tin was a picture of a castle.

“Ah, you want to go to a castle,” I responded.

From here, some brilliant child-initiated role play took place. Six children headed off on a school trip to a “castle” (the large climbing structure in the garden).

The children acted out first travelling then exploring the castle, and even stopped to enjoy a picnic made with food items they’d gathered from the shop and packed into rucksacks. Once we had returned from the “trip”, I wanted to capture what had happened, so we all sat down together to think and write.

The children came up with a long list of places we could go on a school trip (including a library, theatre or butterfly zoo) and how to get there (such as by bus, tram or walking). We talked about ways to stay safe (including, road safety and listening to the teacher) and what to take (yellow or orange jackets, picnic, teachers and kids).

These are all the children’s own words and ideas. My role was simply to facilitate and scribe. None of it was “planned” in the traditional sense. Rather, it was planned “in the moment” (The Nursery Year in Action, Ephgrave, 2015), responding to the children’s interests. I observed what children were engaged in and extended the learning through sensitive interactions, recognising any “teachable moments”.

Prepared for anything

As I stapled the pieces of paper to the display board, it struck me that this was all rather wonderful. In around 15 minutes of “sustained shared thinking” (The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education Project: final report, 2004), of wondering, talking and listening, we spontaneously covered six of the seven areas of learning in the early years foundation stage. And all this stemmed from one child’s interests.

This was the work of preschool children (average age 40 months) and I was impressed by what they’d told me. But how on earth did they know all this? It wasn’t an accident; it was a result of the interactions, the teaching, the enabling environment and the range of the children’s experiences off site, such as trips to an art gallery or fire station. All this meant that they could capably plan, risk-assess and act out their own school trip.

During a typical day at the Grove Nursery School, there are hundreds of occasions like this, where adults respond to and teach children in the moment.

It might be supporting a child to put their shoes on by themselves, modelling how to hold a pair of scissors correctly, providing books to find out facts about the solar system, explaining which plants guinea pigs like to eat - our team has become increasingly adept at spotting such opportunities.

With our setting having two-, three- and four-year-olds fully integrated into a large, free-flowing environment, it’s important to be able to support children in their exploration and learning: for example, a group of children watering the vegetables in the allotment.

The needs and interests of a mixed group will be varied. Some children may simply like the experience of filling and emptying a watering can. Others may be curious about the plants growing and want to find out more. By focusing on groups of children, (rather than working with one child at a time), we have built a supportive and inclusive learning environment.

Children with additional needs can participate alongside their friends. The two-year-olds can join in at their level, while older children can be role models for the younger ones, as well as seeking out new knowledge for themselves.

Teaching key skills and developing independence has been another point of focus this year. In the dough area, for example, ingredients and resources are accessible along with a simple-to-follow recipe card. Any child can pick one up and make their own dough. Similarly, in the creative area, we have a paint-making station, where children can follow the pictorial instructions to mix their own paint.

In both cases, the resources change across the year. We start in September with ready-made dough, so we can focus on settling new children in. As they become more confident, we introduce independent dough-making. Likewise, with mixing paint, we start off with ready-mixed paint, then gradually introduce independent mixing of a single colour and move on to providing two, so children can explore further. It’s something we’ll continue to develop in other areas, too.

Looking forward

Organisationally, we have been through a lot of changes in recent years, but have now reached a point of stability, with some exciting new developments for next year. We’ve been fortunate to have excellent CPD, which motivates the team to keep things moving forward.

Everyday successes, however small, keep us going because, of course, we all have downs as well as ups. The downs can make you feel as if you are taking one step forwards and two back. But we’re encouraged to reflect on our practice and develop strategies for responding to those more challenging days.

We’re determined to build on our strengths and cement our shared values and expectations. Early years can be exhausting, physically and emotionally. But we’re working towards being a team that steadfastly supports each other and provides consistency for the children.

Next year, I’d like to introduce “floor books”. Created in the moment, these would enable us to document the learning and the conversations taking place. They can be used to collate mark-making or photos of what is created, and to capture the learning. Children and adults can return to the books to reflect back or think about what could happen next.

What really appeals is the central role of the children in creating floor books and the collaborative process. They could also help to strengthen our team, as everyone can contribute - children and adults.

Many amazing things happen in an early years classroom but it’s not possible, or desirable, to document everything for every single child. A floor book would have been the perfect method of capturing the shared sustained thinking that took place on Laura’s castle adventure.

What I must do, very soon, is make sure Laura goes on a real school trip. A big trip.

Claire Navaie is a teacher at the Grove Nursery School in Peckham, South London

This is the first in a four-part series about the year in teaching

This article originally appeared in the 9 August 2019 issue under the headline “Following children wherever their fancy takes them”