Early Years’ Network

The Future Zone Early Years Network was launched in Spring 2017 to compliment the support and training provided by the Islington EYFS team.

The present network consists of EYFS coordinators from 13 participating primary schools. The network’s aim is to encourage shared practice and create a supportive environment for EYFS practitioners to discuss best practice. This will be extremely important as we tackle the upcoming changes in September 2021.

This academic year the Early Years’ Network received fantastic training session hosted by Greg Bottrill (the author of ‘Can I go and Play Now?’) The session focussed on creating play-based mark making opportunities for Nursery and Reception aged children. The Early Years Network were invited to participate in a research project looking at transforming outdoor learning in urban settings. This research project is based on Greg Bottrill’s Adventure Island concept. The participating schools will feedback on their findings at the end of the summer term.

The network meets once per term and consists of EYFS practitioners from each of the primary schools. Due to the current social distancing measures, the meetings have been hosted on zoom however we are looking forward to hosting future network meetings in person. The network aims to inspire best practice by allowing practitioners to experience a range of settings.

The network will host a mark-making follow-up session in the summer term and a session looking at the upcoming changes in the EYFS curriculum in September 2021.