When will my nursery transition to Bright Beginnings?
We will be rolling out the new curriculum in phases, starting in October 2020 and continuing into late 2021. For each phase, Nursery Managers will receive an email inviting them to initial training courses. Once training begins, nurseries will start implementing the curriculum into practice around a month later. Early Childhood Specialists have already received their training regarding the Curriculum and will support and guide Nursery Managers and their teams.

How will this be communicated across the business?
Comms will go out to various stakeholders across the business at relevant times, according to a thorough Communications Plan. Those on an Operational level will be informed in good time before their phase begins.

What training and support will I receive to be able to deliver the curriculum?
You will be fully supported throughout the transition to Bright Beginnings, with internal training, new resources and Pedagogy into Practice (PiP) cards available at your fingertips. Nursery Managers will attend two comprehensive training sessions with our Early Childhood team, with resources to share with their staff. Nursery Managers will then train their staff, with the support of the ECS team. Training will also be available on the Learning Zone as an e-module that will be assigned to teams, to help you understand and reinforce your knowledge of the curriculum.

How will we use the curriculum to plan for children’s next steps?
You will continue to plan for your key children’s next steps or lines of development, in the same way, using your knowledge of individual children and your child development expertise. However, you will use the Curriculum Aspect sections to help you plan your resources, environments and your pedagogical approaches.
Remember, it is important to observe children and what they are experiencing in the here and now, plan for what is happening in-the-moment, not days or weeks in advance. If children wish to revisit the activities again, allow the time and space to enable them to do this, so that they can test out their theories, make mistakes and consolidate their previous learning.

How will it work for different age groups of children?
You can use the Curriculum Aspect areas and focus on the specific age range that you are working with. If you are working with pre-school, you will use the 3-5 years age range, Toddlers, you will use the 2-3 years range to support your pedagogy or if you are working in Baby Room, you will use the 0-2 years for ideas for environments, resources and teaching strategies.
You can use the PiP cards to further support your planning of opportunities for the specific age range of children that you are working with. These cards offer ideas for Practitioner Role, Enabling Environments, Home Learning ideas and Reflective Questions that will support you in becoming a critically reflective practitioner.

When will the parents be told about the curriculum?
Parents will be told in phases, once the staff at their child’s nursery have begun training. This will be in line with the phased roll out for the nurseries, beginning October 2020 and continuing into Q4 2021. Parents of client nurseries will receive communication when the nurseries become involved at each stage.

Won’t parents expect us to be using the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)?
Yes, parents who have an understanding of the early years statutory requirements will expect to see the EYFS in their children’s learning. This is why all Bright Beginnings Curriculum Aspects are aligned to the EYFS Early Learning Goals (ELGs). The EYFS Prime and Specific Areas of Learning are also reflected within the Opportunities and Experiences for Learning, though our curriculum offers more.

Will we still use the EYFS age phases to complete our starting point and summative assessments to monitor children’s progress?
Yes, assessment plays an important part in helping parents, carers and practitioners to recognise how children are progressing.
You will still use the EYFS age phases (0-11m, 8-20m etc) to complete your Starting Point and Four Monthly Summative Assessments, as statutory requirements require early years providers to show progress towards the Early Learning Goals.
The Bright Beginnings Curriculum Aspects are aligned to the ELGs at the top of each Aspect page.

Will we still need to complete Two-Year-Old progress checks?
Yes, the Progress Check at Age Two is one of the two statutory assessments that Early Years providers must complete by law, along with the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile Assessment at the end of children’s Reception year.
The Progress Check must identify the child’s strengths and any areas where the child is making less than expected progress. This assessment can be completed any time between 24-36 months in the Prime Areas of Learning, and should be shared with parents and ideally with the child’s Health Visitor or any other professionals involved with the child.

How will the Progress Check at Age Two be done if we are using the Bright Beginnings Curriculum?
You will observe all children against the Curriculum Aspects. There is a diagram in the Curriculum Guidance that aligns the Aspects of the Curriculum to the EYFS Prime Areas of Learning. Two alignment documents have been created to make it simpler to see the links between the EYFS areas and the curriculum Aspects.

When we have our inspections, will they expect to see us using the EYFS in England?
You will continue to use the statutory Safeguarding and Welfare Requirements (Section 3) in the EYFS, but you will use the Bright Beginnings Curriculum to plan your range of Opportunities and Experiences for the children in your setting. It will be your role as a Key Person, together with support from your Room Leader and Nursery Manager, to ensure that you are fully confident in using the Curriculum and that you can talk about how the Curriculum works and how you use it to enable children to make good or better progress towards the ELGs.

Will Bright Beginnings be rolled out in Scotland?
The BB curriculum is currently Scotland compliant. However, we have taken the decision, in consultation with colleagues in Scotland, that any roll out of Bright Beginnings curriculum in Scottish nurseries will take place when all of the newly introduced, country specific compliance requirements are met. Scottish nurseries can be assured that their specific needs will be addressed, through local consultations in the coming year, and that any additional regional or evolving compliance factors will be included before the implementation of the BB curriculum in Scotland.”

Will we still use the Growing Enhancements?
Yes, Growing Enhancements are a key part of the Ready for School programme for our preschool-aged children. They also form a vital role in Play and Learning at Home cards. As such, they will run alongside and complement the new curriculum. Bright Beginnings Aspects are aligned to the areas of learning covered by Growing Enhancements on the 3-5 years PiP cards.

What about Boogie Mites and myHappymind?
myHappymind is currently ongoing. Boogie Mites will continue to be used to complement learning of early phonics and reading through music. Boogie Mites training is available on the Learning Zone.

Will children’s Learning Journeys still be the same?
Learning Journeys will continue to be used in the same way using the observation, assessment and planning cycle. However, observations will be carried out against the Bright Beginnings Aspects. Observations will take into account newer aspects that may not have not been recorded in detail before.

What will happen with settings that use ‘Tapestry’ or online tracking tools?
We are currently working to ensure that the settings that are using online tools are aligned and able to use the Bright Beginnings Curriculum effectively. We are creating some separate communications around this to ensure that this is as seamless as possible.

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