EYFS
Early Years Foundation Stage
Generate Teaching Hub’s staff team includes Amanda Quirk, a highly experienced Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) consultant and teacher. Amanda leads our Early Years work, sharing her expertise and enthusiasm for this vital educational stage.
Impacting Classroom Practice
During her 30 year career, Amanda has amassed a wealth of practical knowledge and resources to share with colleagues. She is a sought after expert to whom school leaders turn to when they need to implement change in the classroom quickly.
Amanda is also a highly emotionally intelligent consultant, working with colleagues’ strengths to elicit sustained improvement. She maintains an up to date knowledge of policy and curriculum change to bring wider good practice into the classroom.
Working across the North West region, Amanda has led a number of large and successful projects with in-school interventions including:
- Being the Area Lead for the DfE’s Early Years Covid Recovery Programme in Warrington. Amanda coordinates Experts and Mentors to provide advice and support to local EYFS settings.
- The Make A Difference project, a programme of CPD and support to EYFS practitioners in 56 schools in disadvantaged areas across seven local authorities with 2,000 children. Evaluated by Cumbria University the programme made a tangible difference to children’s literacy. The project was as effective for children identified as disadvantaged: 97% of participants reported some level of impact, with 58% at a high level of impact.
- Maths and Boys’ Literacy Extended (MABLE) was a celebrated project introducing an approach to EYFS practice aimed at improving math and boys literacy outcomes in Early Years settings across the North West. Focussed on disadvantaged areas in Warrington, Halton and St Helens the project reached 52 PVI providers and 38 schools that were achieving low development scores. After involvement in the project, we found that significant improvements had been identified in maths, boys’ literacy, children’s development, early years teaching practice, teaching environment, parental engagement, transition and moderation.
Amanda is also working with several schools and Local Authorities across the North West and West Midlands, on a long term basis, to sustain improvements to the curriculum offered and mentor EYFS leaders to maintain this change. She provides training and mentoring to our EYFS Trainee Teachers on the School Direct programme.
EYFS CPD
Amanda our EYFS expert is delivering an annual programme of workshops around self-regulation, speech, language, and communication for teachers within Early Years settings. It is called S.E.L.E.C.T.
Started back in 2022, the current series is fully booked. Interested practitioners can message hub@wpat.uk to join our mailing list and hear first about further CPD opportunities.
NPQ in Early Years Leadership
EYFS leaders can also apply to join the new NPQ in Early Years Leadership that Amanda tutors on with other local expert practitioners. Find out more about dates and elibility here.
EYFS Research
Evidence tells us that children’s speech and language has been affected during the pandemic, and we also know that the link between disadvantaged background and speech and language is also an important factor.
The Oxford University Press, Why Closing the Word Gap Matters (2018) tells us that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to have lower language and communication skills that can impact their school learning.