Running a Setting

Question: What do an ex-soldier, an Albanian nun, and an 11-year-old boy camping in his back garden in Devon have in common? Answer: They have all done some amazing things for other people, and for charity. September 5th is the United Nation’s...

It’s a new academic year and we are welcoming new people to our settings: children, staff and parents alike. To intensify matters, the new EYFS kicks in too. But what about the general things that you can do to help your new intake adjust to...

“In the face of climate change, diet-related ill-health, and widespread decline in wildlife, the need to change our food systems has never been greater.” The Soil AssociationDid you know? There are 2,500 billion tonnes of carbon stored in the...

The last eighteen months have been difficult for all of us: lockdowns, self-isolation, furlough and social distancing are all unknown words back in 2019, yet are now in common parlance, even in our junior schools! Some industries have fared...

On August 9th this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest report, which concluded that human activity has caused an unprecedented change in climate patterns, the effects of which are now being felt all...

Summer’s here and it’s time to ‘get on your bike’ – literally. Yes, Thursday 5th August is Cycle To Work Day where everyone is encouraged to cycle to work… or round the park, or in their back garden! It doesn’t matter where you are, how old you...

In the first part of this short series, we looked at how mentoring can help in early years settings and how different staff members may need mentoring, be they new starters, apprentices or more established staff taking on new roles. We also...

“Hi, I’m Olaf, and I like warm hugs!” Remember the little snowman from “Frozen”, who, contrary to his cold exterior, admits freely that he loves the feeling that a warm hug gives? Hugging comes naturally to most of us, and is one of the things...

The first thing you learn when working with SEN children it that there is never a ‘one-size fits all’ approach and it is important that all your efforts are focused on the very individual needs that each child has. Just because they have a...

Holistic learning, together with mindfulness practices, develops children’s memory and focus skills. The creative practices enable children to exercise their imagination and problem-solving skills. Here are 5 of our top holistic development...

A sensory bag is really an umbrella term that means a collection of items that children can either use to stimulate their senses, isolate them or soothe children in distress, and within this article we have used the term ‘bag’ to encompass other...

The UK is an island - an area of land surrounded by sea, and the sea has been instrumental in shaping modern Britain. Whether it’s brought Viking invaders, or helped Elizabeth I’s ships see off a Spanish invasion, or allowed Victorian explorers...

You may hear the word ‘pedagogy’ in educational circles, and there are many research articles which assess the effectiveness/importance of one pedagogy over another. But how do you know which ones are really relevant to the early years? In this...

Learning is a life-long activity and the old adage that ‘you learn something new every day’ is true – it could be something you read, heard on the news, or something from a more formal learning activity such as a course or book. If you undertake...

The so-called ‘freedom day’ of June 21st may have recently been postponed until July 19th, but one thing that nurseries and pre-schools should be aware of is that there are no more postponements of graded Ofsted inspections, which restarted...

Whatever experiences we’ve had in the last 18 months during the pandemic, one thing we can all agree on, is that we have missed out on seeing our friends and family, and that we will never take everyday acts, like being able to hug a loved one,...

Most of us have suffered during the pandemic in one way or another: we’ve been in lockdown, perhaps lost some income and have been prevented, temporarily, from seeing friends, and family. But what if that was a permanent change? What if we had...

Death has been in the headlines continually in the last year. However, one statistic you might not have heard, is that on average, 402 UK and Irish citizens die each year of accidental drowning, deaths which the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS)...

June is the month of the year when we all look forward to enjoying some warm weather, lighter evenings, and a long-awaited summer holiday. It is also the month of the Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year which officially marks the start...

Dyslexia and dyscalculia are two separate learning difficulties that can cause children to have problems with literacy and writing, or with numeracy, and are relatively common in children. It is estimated that 10% of people have some degree of...

Children undergo so much physical development from birth to age 5 that clearly, we are not able to cover all these changes in one article. We have therefore narrowed it down and focused on how you can work on an important physical attribute...

It’s June, which means we’re already nearly halfway through the calendar year and are drawing to the end of the academic year, with all the changes, transitions, goodbyes, and hellos that that brings. In schools, children usually sit exams and...

In our February magazine, we covered Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week and looked at what nurseries and early years settings could do to help promote good mental health for the children in their care. This month we are looking at the...

In the film, “Inside Out”, every time the main character had an experience, a memory ball was created and sent to the memory store in her ‘brain’. Memories were made several times a day and when she needed them, they were retrieved from the...