Making good use of Glow at Bathgate Early Years Centre.
At Bathgate Early Years Centre we use Glow to develop and extend children’s learning through participating in Glow TV events and hosting Glow meets and events of our own in the Early Years Meeting Room (West Lothian Council) . Our families also tell us they find our Glow blog is an effective means of communication and sharing information with them.
Transition to P1 Glow meets.
Bathgate Early Years centre is associated with many different schools within the area. Meeting with children and staff from other establishments online enables us to build strong links with our associated schools. This gives our nursery children opportunities to chat to the Primary 1 teachers and pupils, many of whom they remember from the previous year at nursery. It is good practice to have a discussion with the nursery children beforehand to find out what interests them about moving on to school. This information can then be emailed to the P1 teacher in advance of the Glow meet to allow the P1’s to prepare their answers.
Glow meets provide a great opportunity to have ‘all together’ story and song times with P1’s in associated schools, particularly when it can be difficult to travel between establishments. They are also a good way of participating in special events, e.g. watching Nativity performances/ concerts/ assemblies.
Collegiate Glow meets.
Arranging to meet a colleague from other establishments or departments in a Glow meet is a useful means of communication and also saves on travelling time. The Glow meeting room has the facility of allowing you to ‘share your screen’. This has been a particularly helpful resource when faced with technical issues as the I.T. professional can easily guide you through them.
Sharing our learning Glow meets.
Another way in which we can use the Early Years meeting space on Glow is to share our learning with other establishments. When the nursery within our centre had chicks in an incubator, a web cam was set up to watch the every move of the chicks hatching. An email was sent to head teachers in West Lothian, inviting them to share the meeting room link with their staff so pupils from other establishments could also be part of this special learning experience.
Glow TV Events.
Children at Bathgate Early Years Centre are keen to take part in the exciting events on Glow TV. Previously we have enjoyed tuning into ‘World Book Day’ events and ‘Meet the Author’ events.
More recently we learned about dinosaurs when we took part in National Museums Scotland’ ‘Dinosaur Discoveries’ Glow TV event and also chatted to an astronaut about his experience as commander of the International Space Station!
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/beyc/2015/03/31/beyc-space-station/
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/beyc/2015/02/26/dinosaur-discoveries-on-glow-tv/
Early Years Centre Blog.
In addition to updating our centres blog with newsletters and policy information our parents/carers and families enjoy regular updates on the children’s learning and interests in nursery. After consultation with parents, they agreed it would be helpful to understand what the children were learning from the activities and opportunities on offer and can now access Curriculum for Excellence outcomes on each post.
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/beyc/
