FSFRebecca

I've put a brief article up on the home page which links to all the key discussion points. I'd like to assume that we have some agreement on the key points:

• providing additional funded childcare hours for parents is a good thing
• providers are worried that the currently proposed levels of funding fall short of the actual cost of providing the hours
• Currently most providers ‘cross subsidise’ (i.e. they put prices up for hours outside the funded hours) the existing funding shortfall by increasing costs elsewhere in their provision
• With the increase in hours the opportunities for ‘cross subsidising’ funding are limited

I thought it would be useful to hear what providers are doing in preparation for this ... practical ideas, costing calculators, cunning timetabling ...

Let's be positive and put our collectively brilliant brains together

I look forward to hearing from you!

Was that before or after my review?!

I've started the book reviews up again! (Hoorah!)

The first one links nicely into any theme around animals or transport. More excitingly for me it gives you the opportunity to get children thinking philosophically about how and why we have rules. This would lead brilliantly into any discussion about rules to protect you and rules in consideration of others - this would be a lovely PSED discussion in any pre-school group and would address some of the questions posed by the British Values requirement.

The Amazon link on the review gives you a couple of sample pages to see

To read the review click here!

giantalice I really feel for you, this is such a tricky thing to be dealing with. Biting always make emotions run so high doesn't it? I presume that you have managed the first aid needs of the child who has been bitten? If the bite has broken the skin parents should really take him to the doctor - he may need a booster jab as human bites can be nasty. I would make sure that when you talk to his parents you explain exactly what happened and reassure them that you are doing everything you can to prevent it happening again. In my experience I would resist saying that you "promise it will never happen again" you cannot promise that - but you can promise "to do everything we can to try and stop it happening again". His parents will be very upset and angry, this is their right - You must apologise and then look at what has been happening.

You have already identified times when the biting happens - write a full and detailed risk assessment of these - when it happens, what the triggers are and what you are going to do to try and prevent it. Put that risk assessment into place. Make sure all staff know - you will probably need 1:1 for the biter for a while - you can do this even if you don't have additional staff.

Previously I have grouped children in the ratios knowing that a larger group of children playing happily together with one member of staff with the other member of staff on 'biter watch' makes life easier for everyone. Make sure your 1:1 staff isn't just being a 'minder' they need to be pro-actively helping the biter with their social skills, using distraction techniques (bumbags of goodies like tiny pots of bubbles and magnifying glasses are great for this) if necessary to draw them away from tricky situations. the member of staff needs to be constantly talking to the biter - verbalising 'sociable' thoughts - e.g. "There's not room here ... I think we need to find a bigger space..... X has got that lovely book that you like, I wonder if there's another one?' I would put a very experienced member of staff in for this role. I would also swap them over after an hour or so if you have more experienced staff available as it can be very 'intense' supporting in this way

You say you have been working with parents, you need also to be working with the additional support team from your local authority, they may have more ideas. If there is nothing going on from a speech and language point of view then you need to be looking at the PSED aspects - has this child always had issues? If they are nearly 4 then they will be off to school soon and so any concerns will need to be flagged with the school. Take advice from your local authority team.

Talk to the parents again, explain the measures you have put in place. Find out if it happens in other places (at the park? at soft play?) or is it just nursery?

Get through today - telling parents that their child has been bitten is horrible, I know this from experience. Once you have told them look really closely at your safeguarding risk assessments - you may not be able to stop the child from wanting to bite - but with robust risk assessments you should be able to stop it getting that far.

Good luck, We're really interested to hear how you get on and we're all here to help!

Thanks Helen,

I'm really excited about this new venture for me ... I've got oodles of ideas.

I have been in Early Years for a really really really long time and have worn many hats (several with feathers and glitter). The things I write are based on my experience and what I've learnt on my (interesting) journey. I'm really happy to debate articles, add bits in, have a healthy dialogue about what I've said / seen / done - I don't claim to have all the answers but you can bet your bottom dollar I've got an opinion on it!

The next planned articles are about the dreaded inspection process as that seems to be a real concern for many forum members. I am currently hunting Ann Inspector, I have tracked her down and once I have wrestled her into my net I will ask her all the things you have always wanted to know. Do you remember that book about pregnancy called "What to expect when you're expecting?" I'm planning to call the article "What you inspect when you're inspecting"

Toodlepip