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Hygge case study by Philippa S

My practice before the accreditation:

Our classroom was light and spacious but due to the high ceilings and cold colours, prickly carpet and blue lino flooring it was lacking a homely welcoming feel to reflect our nurturing practise. The classroom I inherited was disorganised, chaotic and messy, lacking order and calmness, requiring an air of order enabling the children to feel calm and in control of their own learning.

The visions I’ve created in my work:

I have created a classroom exuberating a nurturing, peaceful but exciting and inspiring continuous provision-based room. I have thoughtfully planned each area of the classroom, with the children at the heart of my planning and practise.

This has included, but is not limited to:

• Reading: Working with colleagues to read and sort all of EY/KS1/2 reading books to match their phonetic teaching. Working closely with parents to build a partnership based upon trust and honesty –...

By Anna Webb

-My practice before the accreditation (What I needed help or guidance on)

-The vision I've created in my work

-The changes I've made to my personal life and practice

-The impact this has had on myself, the children and the setting. 

-Your next steps for future development.

Before I began the Hygge accreditation I felt we lacked direction and that we were all bringing something to the table but not being able to be consistent with the approaches, I wanted the Preschool to be relaxed and open ended and after having completed the Anna Epgrave in the moment training realised that using the child’s interests and building on this to create a more child cantered approach worked well with our cohort of children, however we still lacked direction, on signing up for the course I really hoped that this would support us with mental wellbeing, self-regulation, behaviour management and the links with the outside being that we are a Forest School setting.

I started...

Tidying up time can be one of the hardest parts of the day and can feel as though it goes on for ages with very little progress!  

Here are three thoughts to help you reflect on your practice:

• Use tidy time as a teaching time: if you’ve got 2 pencils off the floor and you find one more how many will you have altogether? 
• As an adult don’t tidy up! Support your children in tidying up through the interactions you make. If children see you tidying up then they may start to believe that they don’t need to put the effort in as someone will do it for them! This is a tricky thing as an adult to stop yourself doing but it’s worth it in the long run!  
• Transition points in the day are often the times when we see big feelings or what we might describe as more challenging times of the day. When I worked with children who needed support with managing their big feelings I found keeping an ABC record of their behaviour really useful. It helped me...

I have been a Year one teacher for many years now and we have always followed the routine of continuous provision in the first term to smooth the transition from Reception to Key Stage one and then moving to a more formal method for the rest of the year in preparation for Year 2. We had the same issues each year that some children were ready for that transition whilst others weren’t. They missed the outdoor area from EYFS and the freedom to choose and follow their own learning. Add on top of that the missed opportunities the children have had the last couple of years due to covid and we realised that something needed to change.

I have been interested in hygge for a while from a personal point on view in terms of my home and life so when I discovered hygge in the early years it felt like the natural transition for me. I started listening to the podcasts and at the start of lockdown watched the daily Instagram lives whilst on maternity leave. I returned from maternity leave into...

Many of us have a separate space within our setting designated for mark making and writing opportunities. This might act as a central space for children to collect their mark making equipment from and take into an area of provision. Over the years I have had this as part of my classroom set up in both nursery and reception classrooms. I always think it's important to reflect on this area and decide if it's working for you and your cohort. If it's taking up a a large space and no-one is ever at it, consider removing it. 

Here is a list of some of my favourite continuous provision for this area obviously this will vary depending on the age and stage of the children you have):

• Pencils
• Crayons
• Chalks
• Whiteboards
• Paper (different colours, types sizes, lined, unlined, squared)
• Envelopes (of different sizes)
• Alphabet books
• Name cards
• Stamps
• Notebooks
• Card
• Wipeable boards
• Home made books (zig zag books)
• Crayon rocks
• Bark pencils
• Ink stampers
• Gell pens
• Charcoal
• Sand paper letter...

I recently heard one of my lovely members panic that she wasn't doing hygge right or even very well. 

It's so easy to get distracted with what everyone else around you is doing and start believing that there is only one way to do provision or practice in the early years. Especially when you see so many set ups on social media and start to feel the self doubt creep in: Should I have no plastic toys? But what if my children like playing with lego...is this OK? Or what if I don't have lots of money to buy brand new resources?

When we look at high quality early childhood practice and drawn upon research we know that the most effective early years settings are those that put the child at the heart of the curriculum and reflect/ respond to their needs accordingly. Recognising how and what your children want to learn and making this possible. 

A setting could be picture perfect, with the most beautiful wooden small world figures and loose parts to explore, but it's important to...

"When I first joined my setting at the end of 2018 was the first time I heard the word “Hygge.” I remember it took me a while to remember how to spell it, ‘Hoogah, Huggeh’ I could never get my head around it. We used to have a room dedicated to all things ‘Hygge’ and it was my favourite place in the nursery. The room only lit by the salt lamp, fairy lights and whatever cosy image was projected on the wall, a crackling fire, a calming underwater scene or even a forest with the sounds of rain and bird song. The diffuser always puffing out a gorgeous smell. No matter how busy I was I always had time to stop and appreciate how the ambiance of that little room made me feel. After around 6 months unfortunately the man who used to look after the Hygge room left for another setting and as time went on the Hygge room disappeared, something broke, someone took bits of it for a project they were working on and it was soon in a state of disarray and later...

Hygge Case Study by Natalie Carrigher

I began my Hygge in the Early Years Journey in January 2020 after 15 years in Early years, and 8 years in the same school (through special measures to good) I felt lost.  I was at a stage in my career where I needed ‘something’ but I had no idea what!  I still loved  working in Early years but felt my CPD had severely lacked in the past few years.   Through teaching in my mixed Reception/ Year One class I felt lost between knowing in my heart what the children needed and pressures from SLT (OFSTED/school improvement support/LEA) to deliver the National curriculum.  My practice had become segmented between the two curriculums, where I felt divided in  both my time and being able to provide a challenging learning environment for all children in my class.   I spent hours during evenings and weekends planning for both curriculums in great detail and  resourcing sessions. I would have all...