Where the Magic Happens: Inside an Exceptional EYFS Classroom with Dixie-Louise Dexter, Mind the Gap, Ep.123 (S6,E21)
episode
Mind the Gap: Making Education Work Across the Globe
57 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
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Who is Dixie‑Louise Dexter and what is her role at Ashby Hill Top?
Hello and welcome to Mind the Gap, making education work across the globe with me, Tom Sherrington, not in my normal place, as some of you will see if you're watching on YouTube, and Emma Turner. Hello, Emma. Hello, Tom. You're in my favourite city in the world today, up there in Liverpool. I am in Liverpool and I'm looking forward to working with people here tomorrow. And today I was in Blackpool, so I've been doing the sites. And we are very pleased this evening to be talking to, drumroll, Dixie Louise Dexter. So, Dixie, welcome to Mind the Gap. Hi. Hi.
I've been trying to get you on for absolutely ages, Dixie. And Tom said, how do you two know each other? And full disclosure for this episode, I have known and worked with Dixie for a very long time. And she's taught all of my children. So anything that she says tonight, I can fully corroborate. Yeah.
Well, I think there are some things which the children probably don't deserve to be revealed on a podcast. Can you believe it? Oh, my God, my mum does this podcast and she told everyone. That's probably unacceptable. But I've mentioned my own children a few times, but I don't think they know, so I'll keep it quiet. But anyway, so honestly, it's one of these things about this type of thing, podcasting generally, that... You need to have people on who do the work because it's quite easy to talk to people who are experts in various things or read books and stuff. But to have someone who's actually in the work do it all the time is really exciting. And as we've said on a previous podcast, we're in the middle of writing an early years walkthroughs book. Yeah.
And I say we, I mean, I am involved, but I'm not the main expert. But it's really exciting to have a specialist person involved. So, Dixie, tell people about what you're up to, where you work, what your interests are. And bearing in mind that some people are diving in from Canada, Australia, US. They might not know our terminology and everything. So just tell people a little about what kind of work it is that you're doing.
Yeah, of course. So I work at a just above average size primary school in a small market town in Leicestershire. It's called Ashby Hilltop. The place, it is magic. It is somewhere that I've been there since 2012. I started there as an EYFS and year one teacher. And from the moment I walked in, I just knew that was where I wanted to be. I had taught all over the country before then. I moved here for my now husband. And I just, from that first show round, i've just not left the there's some kind of magic about hilltop that for years everybody anybody connected with the school in lots of different you know different stakeholders in lots of different roles have always tried to describe what that magic is and nobody can quite put their finger on it um so over the years my job has changed so um as i say i started as an eyfs in year one teacher
I'm now the assistant head, EYFS lead, obviously EYFS class teacher, and I lead English across the school as well. So spitting quite a few plates as we do as teachers. But I am really, really passionate about the early years and getting it right from the start for all of our children and what that looks like year on year and how that's not the same year on year, which means a lot of work, but doing the work means it makes life easier in the day-to-day running of the classroom, but also those outcomes that we get for the children. It makes such a difference.
So tell us a bit about the context of your school then. So, I mean, obviously, just give a flavour. So is it, you know, is it part of a whole primary all the way through, you know, up to year 11 or, you know, age 11? What's the setting?
Yeah. So we're a primary school. We are children that we have. We'd love to have a nursery, but we don't have one. So the children start with us in reception. So when they're four and they leave us at year six, when they're 11, we are part of a trust. So there's 20 schools in our trust. and we're one and a half form entry so we take 45 children each year so when the children leave us after eyfs they go into mixed age classes so three classes in year one two three in year three four and three in year five six which also brings its own challenges but massive benefits as well i get asked that a lot how do you deal with big stage classes i just go ask emma i'm
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Dixie‑Louise Dexter and what is her role at Ashby Hill Top?
0:10–7:55
2
What does ‘going slow at the start’ mean and why is it important for EYFS children?
7:55–16:42
3
How does the school design its induction process to build strong family relationships?
16:42–24:37
4
What key features make the reception classroom environment feel like ‘magic’?
24:37–33:01
5
How is continuous provision organised without a fixed timetable?
33:01–41:12
6
How does the transition from EYFS to mixed‑age Year 1‑2 classes work in practice?
41:12–49:01
7
What are the three characteristics of effective learning and how are they modelled daily?
49:01–57:05
8
Why should schools focus on preparing Year 1 for the children rather than the other way round?
57:05–57:31
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Mind the Gap: Making Education Work Across the Globe
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Comparative Judgement and the Future of Assessment with Daisy Christodoulou Mind the Gap, Ep.125 (S6,E23)