The Staff Room

Hi again!

Now, as important as it is for providing for the children in early childhood is providing for the staff. When you have staff who truly work together as a team, support each other within and outside the centre, collaborate ideas and question methods, the quality of the program you are working to provide skyrockets! These sorts of staff relationships and behaviour have to be built and nurtured somewhere, and for most centres this place is the staff room.

At my first placement centre, the staff room was positively tiny however the space in there was set up in a way which allowed traffic to flow through and yet still allowed staff to have a place to come to where they could sit down, unwind and converse. 

In contrast, when I first arrived at my current centre, I noticed they had a significantly large staff room but it was crowded with ill placed furniture. When another director came in, she too noticed this problem and set out to fix it. The current set up has distinct spaces; a table for eating and talking, a small desk to read important updates, read the roster and update the timesheets, two couches for occasional napping and a large table specifically for heating and cooking appliances.

Another update was the staff discussion board. While they are common, they are often not used to their fullest potential, which was the case here until the educational leader rubbed it out completely and redrew. This was the final result…

Staff began writing positive messages on the board; the updates were regular and well communicated and included ways that the staff could improve their practice. The educational leadership update was posted every Wednesday as a result of visiting each room weekly and really looking at what they were doing well and what needed improvements. Sharing concrete and local examples of good practice was so much more meaningful then grabbing examples from online or other centres. If you can walk next door and see what a lovely portfolio looks like rather than having to go research, so much easier! The staff also had a more informal way of communication…

This little exercise book had little notes about how a child was sleeping that day, happy birthday notes and messages letting staff know who appreciated and special they were to the children and to the staff. Staff were very eager to check this book in the mornings and after breaks and loved the opportunity to write and read something in.

These were two changes that came from looking at how the staff room was organised and what the staff at the centre needed to take away from it were extremely effective. Take a look at your staff centres; what do you need, what do you have and how can things be changed?

Keep me updated!

Miss Tracy xx