Running a Setting
Preparing for the new year in your setting
New Year is traditionally a time of discarding the old and bringing in the new. It is a time to reflect on what has gone well in the last year and to bring your dreams and goals for the incoming year to the forefront. New Year’s resolutions...
Everyone’s a reader -10 top tips to create engaging-rich literacy environments for all
I remember when my son was three months old, and I had a conversation with my friend about books that she was reading to her son who had just been born. She asked me which books my son enjoyed and I panicked! I realised that although we had...
What does leadership look like when … you notice room for improvement? – part 1
One of the most important aspects of leadership is recognising when, where and how things could be improved. In the context of a nursery, leaders are constantly assessing what is happening in the setting and how there might be room for...
The individual and collective nature of learning stories
The content of this article was inspired by personal experience which is often the encouragement one needs to put pen to paper. Having observed and listened to people close to me whose children started at new settings this past September, I’ve...
Salaries or toys?
I have had many conversations with managers and childminders and one recent conversation has really stuck with me. The manager of a nursery informed me that she was having to choose between salaries and purchasing toys and resources for the...
Identifying child grief stages & signs: what you can do to help
National Grief Awareness Week is coming up from December 2-8, and as this important week approaches, we need a reminder that adults are not the only ones who experience grief. Children are affected by grief too, though they show it in different...
Inclusive end of year musical celebrations in the early years
Towards the end of the year, many Western countries traditionally celebrate Christmas. With the increase in travel for so many reasons, it is clear that even this one occasion is not celebrated in the same way in each country and culture. In...
Back to basics – part 2
We have reflected on how we are overcomplicating our practice and approaches to children’s learning and development as a result of new pedagogies and concepts within the early years education system and how this is impacting upon the learning...
Where would we be without imagination and creativity?
Creativity and imagination are not just for artists; the same level of openness to ideas and creativity is required for science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM). Without imagination and curiosity, we would not have built a rocket to...
Exclusive interview with Dr Kathryn Peckham: the whys not the whats of early childhood development
We asked the early childhood consultant, researcher and author “Are we doing everything we can to develop the full potential of the children in our care?” How often do we question why we chose to become a childcare practitioner? Working with...
What does leadership look like when… you’re feeling overwhelmed?
Feeling overwhelmed is something that affects us all and leaders are not immune. So how can you lead while you are feeling overwhelmed? In this article we will look at three practical steps you can take to find a way out of overwhelm and into...
Black History Month
October is Black History Month, where everyone, regardless of race, is invited to come together to celebrate and remember some of the accomplishments of Black people from all over the world, whose inventions and achievements have not necessarily...
Kindness for The Queen
To commemorate our late Queen Elizabeth II’s support for charitable causes, we have found some fantastic ways to spread kindness within our settings and our own community. These ideas and activities, together with more information, can be found...
World Mental Health Day
In May we wrote about Mental Health Awareness Week and how it aimed to bring the whole of the UK together to focus on mental health, and in particular, to help tackle loneliness, a factor identified as affecting people’s mental health. In...
Family Learning Festival
This October sees the return of the Family Learning Festival, which is a national celebration recognising and promoting the learning that can be achieved through family life. When you think about it, family life is how most of us learn in the...
Halloween around the world
The ancient festival of Samhain Halloween (October 31st), as we know it today, may have become more commercialised over the last 20 years or so, but its origins date back many centuries to the ancient Celtic peoples who first used it as a...
ADHD Awareness Month
ADHD is a term that has come into common parlance in recent years and more people are being diagnosed with it as children, and even as adults. However, there is still a lot of misinformation in the public domain about the condition and a lot of...
Movement and how it can help the well-being of your little ones
We have all had those days when we need to get outside to go for a walk to clear our heads. Have you ever wondered why this helps? The reason is that when your body moves, so does your brain. The movement promotes the production of the...
Physical health and music in the early years
Last month we looked at the effect that music can have on mental health in the early years, and this month, we thought we’d have a look at the effect that music can have on physical health. The NHS constantly considers the health of the...
Safety and safeguarding new legislation
Introduction On the 1st of September 2022, the Department for Education (DfE) published their 2022 version of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE). This is a statutory guidance for all schools including maintained nursery schools. However,...
Tip Two: Don’t Say My Name – Align-Attune-Invite instead!
My second son recently turned two. Friends have commented that my first son skipped the terrible twos. They presume my professional skill set will get us through them again. I don’t fancy my chances. This series of articles presents ten tips for...
View from the classroom ceiling: Guiding principles of design & beauty
Think for a moment about the most famous and beautiful ceiling in the world. Which ceiling automatically popped into your mind? Of course, Michelangelo’s painted masterpiece in the Sistine Chapel in Rome might have been the first ceiling that...
Managing emotions in a social world
Managing children’s emotions can be tricky at the best of times. But you enter a whole new playing field when children get together and they need to start considering the emotions and behaviours of others. It does then help to have techniques...
Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
According to one cancer charity, 12 children and young people are diagnosed with cancer every day in the UK. That’s one every 2 hours and of those, only 10 out of the 12 will survive. Even then, a diagnosis of cancer in childhood can have...
FASD Awareness Day
FASD stands for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder and is an umbrella term used to describe a group of conditions that can affect a person because they were exposed to alcohol in the womb. It is a spectrum disorder but is not well understood...
Great British Beach Clean
There’s no doubt, it’s been a wonderful, sunny summer and many of us have headed for the UK’s beaches (of which there are many) to have a few days relaxing by the seaside. We’ve taken the picnics, the buckets and spades, water bottles to stay...
What to do in the event of a safeguarding disclosure
Over the last two magazines, we have been looking at how to help your staff and young people with issues regarding peer-on-peer abuse, and safeguarding disclosures. In this issue, we will look at what to do if someone discloses a safeguarding...
View from the walls: Curate don’t decorate
It’s about that time again - a time when educators think about sprucing up their classrooms, moving and changing the furniture around, creating new bulletin boards, cleaning out drawers and closets, and even throwing away some stuff in the...
Back to Basics – Part 1
For so long now our sector has been inundated with new research, theories, concepts, pedagogies and approaches to learning and development, in addition to being bogged down by guidance, legislation and adaptations as a result of the pandemic and...
The wonder of learning by seeing, feeling, and doing
I bet you have children in your setting, that just can’t stop moving and need to wriggle or move in some way when they are sitting down and always seem to have ants in their pants! I was that child and can tell you I was a total nightmare for...
