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and we either joined them when invited or observed from the sidelines when they were busy. By simply going about their normal play, the children showed the inspector not only what they learn, but also how, which was incredibly powerful. Time to talk “Children excel in their speech and language development, and literacy is embedded in the curriculum.” I’ve talked before about how slowing things down creates more space for rich, meaningful conversation, and again this was true on inspection day as the children chatted away to each other, to myself, and to the inspector, demonstrating their expansive vocabulary and understanding. Written language also features heavily in our everyday experiences, and I place books and dedicated reading areas strategically throughout the setting or bring them along when we’re out and about. The inspector was delighted to see even my youngest children taking themselves off to sit with a book or bringing one over for us to read. I believe that spontaneity is the key to capturing children’s interests, and by stripping back our scheduling, we have opened up many more opportunities to relax with a story as and when the moment takes us. Everyday adventures “The natural world and community have a strong influence in the curriculum.” One of my biggest concerns was that most of our time is spent out away from the setting, whiling away the hours in the countryside, visiting our vibrant village, and connecting with the huge array of people in our local community – obviously something we wouldn’t be able to do on inspection day. However, we were able to talk about this thoroughly, and although she didn’t experience it first-hand, the inspector spent a lot of time on the floor with the children, asking them questions and listening to them chatting enthusiastically about everything we get up to while showing her examples in our photo album. My focus is always on active learning, and our play spaces are filled with natural treasures that we bring home from our daily adventures. Luckily for us, the pupa that we had brought in from the garden chose inspection day to emerge as a beautiful ladybird, with the children able to excitedly show the inspector their knowledge of life cycles and their fascination with minibeasts. Making it look easy “There is an exceptionally calm, happy, respectful and reassuring atmosphere.” Because I was able to relax into the inspection by staying true to our comfortable, unhurried ethos, it made space and time for my children to naturally demonstrate their knowledge, skills and creativity as they normally would. They were calm and confident because I hadn’t thrown them a curveball by making any inauthentic changes, and they made wonderful connections with the inspector, inviting her to be part of their journey, sharing their understanding and ideas with her first- hand. Towards the end, she commented that it all looked so easy. I admitted that by shaking off the urge to cram in activity after activity, I have certainly taken a huge amount of pressure off myself, but that really is the magic of a slow pedagogy – when we allow children the time and space to be curious, the learning opportunities present themselves almost effortlessly. Teachearlyyears.com 17