Articles

If you don’t have one of those big personalities that can enthuse and amuse, do you end up feeling rather inadequate compared to that “inspiring” conference speaker or trainer? I do.

I’m fascinated by children’s behaviour and the possible reasons behind it.  It can be tempting to just look at what’s on the surface (the behaviour we see) and ignore what’s happening underneath (the underlying causes) but this only leads to short …

Recently I was invited to spend time with Mr and Mrs Paintpots (aka David and Anna Wright) at some of their settings in Southampton. Their energy and passion for early years is infectious and their dedication to their staff team and the children an…

I’ve worked in Westminster for over sixteen years now, yet the past couple of years since the EU Referendum and the election of President Trump have doubtlessly been the most fascinating in my career.

We need to challenge historical thinking about learning environments based on new understanding of brain development, language acquisition, physical development and attachment theory. We need fresh eyes!

Reflective practice is never going to be truly effective unless we are 100% honest with ourselves about what we do, remembering there is a distinct difference between what we might say or think we do and what we actually do.  Reflection is like put…

Quality Early Years practice comes from an understanding of child development and also a belief that children should play the principle role in leading their learning. What we do and how we do it is built on centuries of theory, research and succes…

Practitioners do excellent work that goes unnoticed, leading many to feel disconnected and retreat in their field or even their classroom. So, then, many convince themselves that they are “just teachers”. When you are in the classroom, aren’t …

It would seem that many years after the first publication of a statutory EYFS Framework, we are still grappling with one key question: how much paperwork is actually enough?

Isaacs had a passionate belief in the place of nursery education in society. She felt that attending a nursery school should be a natural part of a child’s early life: the early years setting was a place that should both mirror the family through l…