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We, and the children, no longer notice it and it blends into the background. One way round this is to invest in some blackboard paint. A wall, a table-top, even large wooden blocks with a simple coat of such paint will give you the opportunity to change the text or pictures on display, sometimes if need be from day to day. Chalk is a great thing. By all means invest in colours and thicknesses if you must, but even straightforward white chalk will open up possibilities that a fixed, pre-printed and laminated display can never achieve.

And the best thing about such a display? It’s interactive. Children can add or take away their own interpretations, they can engage and invest in the display – they become part of the fabric of your building. Chalkboard paint at various heights also has the added benefit of contributing to their gross motor development as they pivot using shoulder, elbow or wrist to interact. Chalk is also great on the carpet or floor tiles if you have a patient and understanding cleaning staff. Arrows, key words, footprints, trails, numbers can all be quickly drawn and written, and easily added to or removed.

Such displays create engagement; they can help each day become something new and exciting. Above all, such displays enable you to meet individual children’s next steps by allowing you to leave messages for them that directly meet their development in reading, and you can do this on a daily basis quickly and easily. Children very quickly get in to the idea that they can leave messages for one another too – suddenly your display becomes playful and truly purposeful.

Not only does this approach to display have a positive impact on children by immersing them in an environment that is neutral and purposeful, it will also have a significant impact on your time. We never seem to have time. Free time seems to come as a blink-of-an-eye gift that no sooner arrives than it is gone again. Weekends no doubt will contain an element of preparation for the week ahead – that is the teacher’s burden that mustn’t be forgotten when non-teaching friends crow about our long holidays. Less time spent on immaculate displays and being a laminator slave will free up time for other, more meaningful things. One of those things could be to relax and enjoy some me-time. Maybe in among the chalkboard notes and messages for your children you could leave one for yourself that might simply act as a reminder that there is a life beyond the classroom.

Freedom – George Michael

We’ve already touched upon the idea of freedom within the Early Years space and we’ll pick up on this thread later too, but it’s worth pausing for a moment to consider two key components to your practice that will ensure that this freedom which children deserve doesn’t end up in a free-for-all bun fight.