Jules

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted another pandemic, that of loneliness. Though more prominent among the elderly, it affects all age groups – and not only during a global health crisis. Fortunately, a whole range of exciting and dynamic initiatives are helping to tackle this problem. Intergenerational care is one of these, and it is definitely growing. United for All Ages is a ‘Think-and-Do Tank’ co-founded by Stephen and Denise Burke which champions intergenerational enterprises. Denise and Stephen support interaction between all ages: “Covid has shown how much we miss mixing and intergenerational interaction. The 2020s will be a decade of reconnection as we recover”. United for all Ages works with a range of national and local organisations to build communities for all ages. One of these is The Together Project. I spoke to Louise Goulden, its founder and CEO. Louise points out that intergenerational work is often understood as something that benefits the oldest and youngest generations. However, she clarifies, “Most of the time there is a broad range of ages who benefit. For example, in our Songs & Smiles groups, parents and guardians value interacting with older members of society. It also provides the opportunity for all ages to form new friendships and feel connected to their community”. Songs and Smiles is a sixty-minute music group for 0-4 years olds, their adults and older people. The groups are designed by experts in the field and aim at being interactive fun for all. The positive effects of having older people in the lives of young children, and vice versa, are vast. Louise shared with me her two favourite examples. “Alexa attended a session with her few-weeks-old daughter, Iris. They continued to participate in the group for several years. Alexa loved to see Iris interacting in a happy and joyful way with the care home residents. One day when out shopping, Iris saw a group of older women and pointed towards them saying, “Friends!”. She’d never met them before but associated these women with those she had fun with in the group. It’s a really lovely example of developing positive mindsets from a very young age. As well as this, Alexa joined the team as a volunteer and is now employed here”. Another time that sticks in Louise’s mind was when an elderly woman came in, moving painfully slowly. “She didn't look happy as she sat down. Once the children started arriving and the music began, she seemed to relax. As I was packing things away at the end of the session one of the care home team nudged me and said, 'Look who's left her walker behind!’ She was clearly in a very different mental and physical state to when she arrived.” The main benefits of Songs and Smiles: · brings quality of life to older people who may otherwise not encounter the spirit of young children · reduces loneliness and improves the health of older people · breaks down the segregation between the youngest and oldest in our communities - older people are seen and interacted with, not invisible · incorporates staff, parents and carers and volunteers, who are all different ages · uses music which is well-documented as nurturing well-being for all The main challenges of running this group: The most obvious one has been Covid. As Louise points out, “Constantly balancing the risks and rewards of in-person activities has been an ongoing concern. The threat of Covid, of course, has to be considered, but so has the impact on mental health from isolation.” Another thing to bear in mind with any group work are individual support needs and wishes. These must be respected and responded to at all times. Well-trained and attuned staff are key. The following case studies illustrate this. Case studies “We had one of our older women who had fallen asleep when the children arrived,” says Louise. “She woke mid-way through and was quite disorientated. Her carer responded calmly and helped her leave the room. After taking some time to adjust, she re-joined the session and loved every moment.” What made this work was having the right people on hand to help. This is a critical element of all care initiatives, not only this particular one. “During another Songs and Smiles session a resident with dementia cried the whole way through. An onlooker could, quite understandably, see this as a worrying or negative experience for that person. However, her carer told the staff that the tears were a release and functioned as a calming and healing process for her.” The presence of reassuring and sensitive professionals is key to these sessions having positive outcomes. Louise went on to say how, in her experience, the children seem to take it in their stride when the older people express emotion. “When the lady cried, a dad attending the session with his baby sat and held the lady’s hand for the full session. It was really lovely to watch. I didn't see any of the children get upset or particularly react to it. They just carried on interacting with her and with the format of the session as normal. I think it can often be we grown-ups who get more affected by these things.” A new project afoot The Together Project is launching a new initiative, that of Crafting Connections. It involves pairing up children and care home residents to send artwork and letters to each other every month. The intention is to build long-term friendships and understanding of each other. It will also help the children develop creative and literacy skills in a meaningful and real way. Conclusion Ageism, loneliness and a phenomenal increase in mental health difficulties are prevalent in our society. In response to these sad truths, United for All Ages recommend that every community should find opportunities for younger and older people to mix and share activities and experiences. This can only be a progressive and, indeed, critically necessary aim. Further information and how you can get involved: If you would like to help make this happen, find out how by clicking here. This blog about Songs & Smiles groups in Guinness Care properties gives lots of useful insight into the benefits that participants of different age groups experience. This blog is about another project involving Early Years children - We are Friends You can read part two of this series here. Part three is available here.

What do we mean by oracy and why is it important? Oracy, a term coined by British researcher Andrew Wilkinson in 1965, characterises oral language ability. Voice 21 - UK’s oracy education charity defines oracy as “our ability to communicate effectively using spoken language. It is the ability to speak eloquently, articulate ideas and thoughts, influence their views confidently and appropriately.” Oracy is the literacy of the spoken word and using speech to construct knowledge and make meaning. It is so much more than just being grammatically correct. It is how we speak and express ourselves by structuring our thoughts and knowledge, so they make sense. It is having a voice and knowing how to use it. It is a life skill and pivotal in improving educational outcomes, economic viability, literacy, and emotional skills as well as developing personal development (well-being, self-esteem, confidence, citizenship). The ability to communicate effectively is a fundamental ingredient to success in both early years and beyond. How are oracy and literacy linked? ‘Reading and writing float on a sea of talk.’ James Britton, 1970 The links between oracy and literacy are clear. They are like two sides of a coin and intertwined. Whilst oracy is the ability to speak, literacy is the ability to read and write. Oral language is a prerequisite to the development of literacy skills. Before we can read and write, we need to be able to speak and articulate our understanding. An effective communicator has specific speaking and listening behaviours in place. To be a good speaker, we must be able to effectively express ourselves and our views, using language which stretches from the basic to complex. To be a good listener, we need to understand what is being said, process and organise our thoughts before we respond. Both aspects are active engagements, and necessary for children to fully access reading and writing. Thinking skills and oracy are also interconnected. Children’s ability to think carefully about the language they are using and tailoring it to their purpose and audience is a key part of oracy. Explaining their thinking and learning supports the development of critical thinking and cognitive skills. Researchers Neil Mercer and Lyn Dawes state “They learn to use language as a tool for thinking, collectively and alone.” (Dawes & Mercer, 2015). So, oracy is important for language development and language is central to children’s development and learning. A level of language is required to be literate, and we know that children from disadvantaged families enter early years with much lower levels of communication and language skills than those from more affluent and language enriched homes. Children with a large vocabulary bank at the start of school also have better outcomes than those with language deprivation. Limited vocabulary restricts ways of communication and impacts directly on children’s development and learning, and in general life. The rise in children entering early years with growing language and communication gaps over the years has been a significant concern within the sector. The recently published Speak For Change report (April 2021) by the Oracy All-Party Parliament Group highlights “the impact of the pandemic on an already marked ‘language gap’ between disadvantaged children and their peers.” The Covid 19 pandemic has widened that impact across society. Many young children have missed out on vital social interactions and key early language development, which is crucial to later learning. Now more than ever, there is a need to raise the profile of oracy in the early years and close that language gap. In the early years, oracy can be easily linked to the Prime Area of Communication and Language. The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage March 2021 (page 8) states “The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development.” However, the communication and language area has no greater status than all the others and lies alongside all the other Early Learning Goals of the Early Years Profile. Oracy education is not prioritised. Learning across all the areas of learning and development is highly dependent on language development. Young children are required to learn to read, to form strong relationships, to express their feelings, to articulate ideas and structure them in speech. Good communication skills are essential be able to talk and listen, feel confident and make friends. Poor language puts children at risk of not being school ready - developmentally, emotionally, or academically. I CAN, the children’s communication charity’s enquiry into oracy (September 2019) highlights the need to place more value on the spoken language and recognises that development of language and communication skills do not just happen. Children need adults around them who understand how to support the development of the language skills needed for oracy education which provides a communication supportive environment. This is particularly important for children with speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN). It is also important for children with English as an Additional Language (EAL). So, what can we do to support oracy in the early years? An oracy aware and enriched environment has direct positive impact on children’s outcomes. It gives children a voice and helps them to communicate confidently to those around them; develop strong and positive relationships with adults and children; communicate their ideas; express their emotions and their needs; access everyday life; understand and engage with the world around them and that early language underpins later learning. It cultivates the acquisition of vocabulary necessary to better communicate and access the learning. I would recommend some strategies for developing oracy: · Make oracy a priority. Give children the best opportunities to develop their oracy skills. · Create a holistic and consistent approach. Raise the status of oracy through policy and practice - developing a collective responsibility. · Empower staff confidence. Provide training in oracy and language development to develop knowledge, skills, and confidence. Build capacity by supporting any language planning and delivery. · Talk! Talk! Talk! Close the vocabulary gap! Identify the vocabulary hindering access to the communication and learning. Plan to introduce and model new vocabulary within context. Explore meaning and clarify any misconceptions. · Support sentence building. Model and recast different sentence forms clearly. You want to leave the children with a good, modelled sentence. Unless they hear a variety of ways of constructing sentences, they will be orally limited. · Develop receptive language alongside expressive language. Have a clear language focus for all activities to avoid missed opportunities. Explore key and peripheral language. Plan for numerous opportunities for structured and purposeful talk so you can support children to understand what is being said to them and how they need to respond. · Think quality before quantity. Beware of the amount of language used during interactions with the children. Consider the excess language children must negotiate to understand what they are being asked. Pace the language, so it is clear and coherent. Do not make assumptions that children will understand colloquialism or nuances but equally do not dumb down the language. They need exposure to copious amounts of rich language. · Embed rhymes, songs, and storytelling within provision. They are very effective tools due to the repetitive nature of the language and refrains. When supported by props and actions, they create the hanging pegs for recalling and re-using. · Play language games such as ‘Guess Who’ and what I call ‘car games’, where there is repetition with building up of language, all providing great opportunities for ample oral rehearsal through fun activities. · Determine the home language of your children with EAL. They may be code switching without realising and if this skill is not used, it will be lost. · Ensure all the staff have a clear understanding of SLCN - how language develops and can identify the difference between SLCN/SEND/EAL. · Implement interventions - for example, talkingpartners @primary (Education Works), Helicopter stories and Pie Corbett Talk for Writing are some proven effective tools for language development in the early years. · Provide home language books for children with EAL. Use dual language books for prior learning and to involve the parents in supporting oracy through home language. If children are skilled in one language, they can build on another language. · Use culturally relevant books and resources. Children are more likely to engage if they connect with points of interest. They will be motivated, be the ‘experts’ and are likely to have some language in place already. Finally, by building on the good practice of early years pedagogy, we can truly enhance the role of oracy and make a considerable difference to the lives of our young children. I leave you with this quote which captures the essence of oracy and the crucial role it plays in the development of our young children. "‘The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for.’ Lugwig Wittgenstein (Austrian philosopher) If you would like to hear Sejal discussing oracy, including how to support children who use predominantly non-verbal forms of communication, you can listen to our podcast here. We also have a forum post with further reading supplied by Sejal here.

In context… Research has long shown the relationship between strong leadership and the quality of the setting. We know that leadership is a driving force behind the experiences and outcomes for children and therefore there is a need to get it right. This is what can make the role so rewarding – knowing there is an impact. Leaders hold on to this as a motivational tool, especially in light of the many challenges associated with the leadership role in early years. The challenges of leadership Like all those employed in early years, leaders are accustomed to working long hours with poor pay and terms and conditions. Unfortunately, their role simply does not come with the respect afforded to other leadership positions within education. The lack of understanding and recognition of the sector means that morale can often be low, particularly evident throughout the pandemic. With little appreciation of the leadership role and where the sector sits within education, policy makers further harmed the sector at a time when support and appreciation was greatly needed. Leaders have buoyed up staff during these difficult times, acknowledging the amazing talents, skills and values held by those employed in the sector. The leadership role is multifaceted and often misunderstood or misinterpreted. There are many aspects to the role which have evolved over time, impacting on the challenges a leader faces. Poor pay across the sector, the current recruitment crisis, COVID, workload, hierarchy factors and consistently poor funding rates influences the experiences of the leader. These pressures can unfortunately impact on their wellbeing which, in turn, can impact on the quality of practice and provision. To be a successful leader requires a drive and determination to do the best for children, families and staff. Early years professionals will experience emotional challenges related to their work and require support from their lead. In recent years, this has become even more noticeable, for instance with the closure of children’s centres, meaning settings are having to pick up some of the vital work these hubs did. Educators are often having to have sensitive conversations with families which can lead to feelings of worry and stress. In these circumstances, a good leader will be listening and acknowledging the feelings of the team, in some ways becoming a container for the emotions of the staff. They assure them that their feelings are valid and work to develop an environment where staff wellbeing is prioritised. Not in a tokenistic way but through ongoing, thoughtful interactions whereby everyone feels valued and able to voice their feelings and concerns. It is vital to appreciate the pressure leaders can feel when supporting the emotions of staff. Leaders can become so consumed with managing others that their own wellbeing is impacted. This leads us to question – who safeguards the leader? It’s a difficult question to answer. Leaders can’t confide in others outside of the setting due to confidentiality. Within the setting, the leader needs to maintain a professional stance which can often make it difficult to share feelings. Similarly, offloading to an owner or committee member could lead to feelings of unease. We all want to be seen to be preforming well. Because of this, it can be challenging to communicate feelings about our emotions or workload to those we are reportable to. This leaves few options, meaning leaders often struggle through the mental demands of the role on their own. Accountability It is the leader who bears the brunt of the emotional strain. They have many groups to whom they are accountable, and therefore need to ensure quality and systems are maintained. Their role is such that stress, worry, apprehension and turmoil goes hand in hand with responsibility. Firstly, there is the responsibility towards the children: ensuring the provision is meeting the needs of all children attending and that all children see themselves reflected in the provision, with diversity, equality and inclusion at the forefront of practice. Families put complete trust in the setting and this needs to be respected, with staff understanding their role of ‘in loco parentis’. Children need to be valued and have their voice heard within an environment which is safe, happy and meets their individual interests and requirements. To achieve this, it is the role of the leader to ensure all staff have thorough inductions, ongoing supervisions and regular professional development opportunities to maintain the quality of the setting. Families need to know that their children are at the heart of the culture and ethos of a setting. Finally, leaders need to monitor the quality of the provision, ensuring all requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) are met. This incorporates learning and development, staff recruitment, safeguarding, ratios and more. Without this, the setting would not be meeting Ofsted standards. What can we do Settings need their leaders to feel valued and supported in their role. This enables them to be fully focused on their job of empowering staff and maintaining a high quality environment in which all children can thrive. Early years leaders do need to be resilient. This can be challenging for some who naturally overthink and worry – criticism of the setting, their leadership skills or the pressure of accountability can be difficult to manage. In these situations, it is important to step back in order to gain some perspective. To protect their own wellbeing, leaders need to remain objective rather than take things personally – easier said than done, of course. As much as possible, the stresses of work should be left at the door, with clear definition between ‘home’ and ‘work’. Having ways to wind down and relax help a leader to manage their own head space. This could be reading a book before bed, watching a favourite tv programme, a hot bubbly bath or an evening walk. It’s about finding what works for you. However, the most important thing is for the leader to limit the pressure they put on themselves. Rather than needing to be resilient, perhaps instead the sector needs to recognise that leadership is a diverse, challenging role, and different to other leadership roles in education. Leaders still need support networks and time and space to share worries, concerns and pressures. Finally… Although the role of a leader does come with significant responsibility and factors which can cause emotional strain, it is still the most rewarding of roles. Playing a part in the lives of young children, creating environments where they can thrive, should always be valued.

Five things I’ve taken from working in Early Years to teaching across Key Stage 1 and 2 1. Behaviour support 2. Creativity 3. Childhood development 4. Expectations 5. Parental engagement I started my teaching career in Key Stage 1 for the first two years, I then moved to Early Years and after that year I moved across Early Years to Key Stage 2. The experience I had in Early Years changed my future teaching practice and my understanding of children’s learning and development. Here are the top five things I took away from Early Years to working with children across Key stage 1 and 2. 1. Supporting children with distressed behaviour Simply moving away from terms such as “challenging behaviour” or “behaviour management” can change your perception of these behaviours, children, and your approach to addressing these issues - being able to understand that a child may not be able to identify why they are behaving in a particular way let alone articulate themselves when questioned by a teacher. In Early Years I was conscious of asking how the child was feeling and what maybe caused X behaviour. If a child was unable to share this, I’d act as a co-regulator of their behaviour and emotions. Ensuring I explained calmly why such behaviour isn’t appropriate, acknowledging their feelings and sharing different tools or verbal skills to apply instead. I see a lack of this approach as children progress through the school years as we assume children are older so they should know right from wrong, how to behave and control their feelings. Knowledge of children’s development and the Early Years framework can help us to understand that if children don’t receive support from grown-ups (parents/carers/educators) acting as co-regulators, children will struggle to self-regulate their feelings and behaviours. Raising our voices doesn’t lead to “desired” behaviours of children and we can often see children as “attention seeking” when most likely they are “seeking connection”. It could be validation, acknowledgment, or there might be underlying issues which we need to consider and effectively “address”. 2. Creativity Having worked in different schools, with different guidelines, SLT expectations, colleagues and most importantly children, being creative is vital – but it is important to understand creativity will look different for one child to another and an activity might be considered more appealing or engaging to some rather than others. In the Early Years there is more freedom with the structure of the day, but I was able to take some of this creative approach into Key Stage 2 when differentiating and planning resources or the delivery of the lesson. Reflecting on what works well for some children and what doesn’t work so well for others really does help. Being versatile with resources and providing concrete resources for those who need it, rather than as a tick box exercise, rotating adult support depending on the task and grouping children who can work well together, discuss and share ideas, rather than focusing on ability. Of course, with different lessons and groups of children, you need to see what works best for you and the resources you have available (Covid permitting) but it doesn’t always have to be ‘ability groups, starter, activity, plenary’ as the generic primary school lesson structure suggests. Ultimately class teachers know what works best for their children. 3. Understanding of childhood development As briefly mentioned in paragraph 1, working in Early Years gave me the opportunity to plan an environment, activities to support the development of children, and to learn more about the areas which are not shared beyond Early Years. Let’s look at personal, social, emotional development. I was conscious to support this effectively, whether asking children about what makes them happy, sad, scared, angry or worried etc. and share “role play” with my assistant where we would both want the same thing or were upset with each other. We would model language to use to resolve issues, say how we felt and why. Also using text to discuss feelings, emotions and behaviour and reflecting on this, as well as creating a space for children to go and reflect, resolve or have a bit of space to themselves away from everyone – I know this isn’t always practical or achievable as we move through the school years, but it is something we should consider. Another example where understanding child development has helped me when teaching older children is with handwriting. There has been debate about commenting on children’s handwriting in their workbooks, and setting aside time for handwriting practice. But if a child doesn’t grip their pen or pencil firmly, their handwriting won’t be the best it can. Taking their physical development, posture, core strength and pencil grip into consideration, these are all areas that can impact a child’s handwriting. Instead of perhaps thinking the child is being “lazy” and not putting care or effort into their work – which I have heard verbally said to children and read as feedback in their books. Of course, sometimes children might not put the effort in, but it’s also being able to differentiate and understand the mechanisms when it comes to writing. 4. Expectations Honestly, working in Early Years was refreshing and changed my approach in many ways (including out of the classroom). A big one for me is expectations. A child can only do what they can and do it how they know to do it. Sometimes it’s easy to think if I model this to a class, they will be able to understand. It might take more than once to show them but then they should be able to do it - I’m sure all classroom practitioners are aware of this, but how wrong! It’s refreshing to understand all children process, understand and work differently, so if they don’t understand the first time or third, maybe we need to change the language, or the resources and cater to the child. I know it’s hard to do that effectively for each child in a class of 30, when lesson timings or long-term plans and end of topic assessments don’t allow for this. This is something that needs to be addressed effectively on a much wider scale, our expectations determine our lesson structure, topic plans etc. but if we cannot support a child effectively and ultimately teach them the depth and breadth required because we’re having to skim over topics and work with 30 children at the same time, there’s not a lot we can do individually – government funding, CPD, resources, adult provision, SLT all have a part to play here. But we can reframe our expectations which will support us with planning, delivery and assessment. 5. Parental/carer engagement We can see how our parental engagement differs from younger children to older children, from parents with English as an additional language, to children with additional needs and children with distressed behaviour or those who are performing “below expected” in their academic studies. With Covid we can see how parental/carer engagement has differed, limited or been restricted, and I’ve heard and seen the impact from school staff and parents/carers. There may be parents/carers we communicate with where it feels there is a lack of interest. Thinking about how we can support them and changes we can make to our approach can help. It’s important to think about whether other children/adults are nearby and whether the parent/carer and child appreciate others hearing the conversation. We can also think about what is the purpose of our communications, and what would we, and the families, like the outcome to be? Are we telling parents/carers something or involving them in the discussion? Engaging in conversation first and sensitively opening the discussion of behaviour for example, asking the parent/carer what they think, how they feel, any suggestions they have. I remember doing this with a child in Year 5, in the same way I would have conversed with the parent if the child was in Early Years, about their behaviour – how can we move forward, this is what we have tried, what works well or not so well at home? On the other hand, when recognising a child’s achievement, not just sharing the work, but sharing how they persevered, asked questions, were creative and how proud we were of this achievement (also encouraging the child to recognise their effort and to feel pleased/proud). Another example, if a child is struggling in a particular area, discussing how we can move forward, what resources would support them, like we do in end of year reports, because we want to encourage this relationship and effort both in school and at home throughout the year. In conclusion, there’s a lot we as teachers already know and do but when working with 4 and 5 year olds it does change and this practice will have a positive impact on our role as we move across the school, even out of the classroom – understanding the nurturing experiences a child has from birth to 5 years of age will support them in different ways as they grow up. All our primary articles have been moved to Tapestry.info. You can read them and lots of other articles there.

Almost ten years ago, in 2013, More Great Childcare was published by the then Minister, Liz Truss. A watershed policy document, this paper included the proposal to reduce the number of adults:children in early years provision in England: More Great Childcare (Department for Education 2013) Many will remember the headlines, the debate and petitions around this highly contentious issue. Later that year the proposal was overwhelmingly rejected by the early years sector and quashed by the then Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. Fast forward to late April 2022 and reports emerged from a government Cabinet meeting that the Prime Minister wants to relax staff to child ratios in nurseries to help cut childcare costs for parents, and tackle the cost of living crisis. The BBC reported that the proposal came directly from the prime minister, who wanted to lower the legal limits on adult supervision for children in England, as part of a drive to reduce living costs. So the early years sector is faced yet again with a proposal to prioritise cheap childcare for parents over quality early education for children. Cue a collective intake of breath from the sector. It has been, and is likely to continue to be, a debate in which the needs and priorities of multiple stakeholders are at the centre of the fray. Here, I highlight what I think are the five most prominent arguments circulating against changes to ratios: 1. Safety and welfare of children would be at risk It is widely felt that children’s safety and welfare would be compromised if fewer adults care for more children. The EYFS framework is clear: Children learn best when they are healthy, safe and secure, when their individual needs are met, and when they have positive relationships with the adults caring for them (p.21) Staffing arrangements must meet the needs of all children and ensure their safety. Providers must ensure that children are adequately supervised… Exceptionally, and where the quality of care and safety and security of children is maintained, changes to the ratios may be made. (p.28) Safeguarding concerns remain at the forefront of the arguments against a change to ratios with many colleagues who are working in practice voicing their fears about the implications for reduced number of adults, particularly in group-based care. Several commentators have highlighted how common sense tells us even the highest-qualified practitioner only has one pair of hands and one pair of eyes. 2. Quality of experience for children and their outcomes will suffer. As we emerge from the pandemic and the government presses the need for children to ‘catch up’ on ‘lost learning’, there are greater expectations about the importance of quality experiences for children. At the same time the social, emotional and communication needs of young children have been described (by Ofsted): The pandemic has continued to affect children’s communication and language development, and many providers noticed delays in their speech and language progress. Providers are making more referrals for external help than before the pandemic and are waiting longer for this specialist help. To compensate, providers were making sure that children were learning in an environment rich with language, with a focus on extending vocabulary and practising speech. The negative impact on children’s personal, social and emotional development has also continued, with many children lacking confidence in group activities. This is born out in the experiences of many educators in the sector. Author and Pre-School Chair Sue Cowley recently tweeted: ‘There are such high levels of need at the moment, that a lot of settings are doing more 1 to 1 than ever before. If a child needs 1 to 1, they need 1 to 1. Increasing ratios doesn't change levels of needs’ So it is difficult to see how a reduction in the number of adults to children supports a commitment to quality provision and the needs of children in a post-pandemic context. Research by Bonetti and Brown (2018) highlight the iron triangle of ‘structural’ elements of quality provision, namely: workforce training and professional development, child to staff ratios and group/classroom size. Bonetti and Brown summarise: The evidence on child to staff ratios is fairly conclusive: having fewer children per staff leads to better children’s outcomes as it provides the opportunity for more individualised attention and leads to better teacher and child behaviour. (p.6) Therefore, it is likely that any proposal to increase the number of young children cared for and educated by adults would jeopardise the ratio and group size elements of this quality triangle. 3. Staff wellbeing will be worsened with further implications for recruitment and retention An important and pressing argument is the suggested impact on staff wellbeing and on resultant recruitment and retention issues. We know from multiple studies that recruitment challenges in the sector are intensifying (Hardy et al 2022, EYA 2021, NDNA 2021). Indeed, in April 2022 in research on ‘Education recovery in early years providers’ Ofsted highlighted: ‘Staff shortages were affecting the quality of teaching and implementation of catch-up strategies. Having fewer staff on site could also result in behaviour management issues.’ It is difficult to see how increasing the number of young children cared for and educated by early years staff, and thereby increasing educator workload, would remedy either the wellbeing of existing staff or the ongoing recruitment and retention challenges. 4. Cost savings will not be passed on to parents There is also little evidence that the proposed savings from changes to ratios (i.e. fewer adults or more children and resulting cost savings) will be passed on to parents in the form of fee reductions. Over 70% of providers’ costs go on staffing; with the adult minimum wage increasing annually (+6.5% in 2022). Coupled with increases in the employer contributions, providers are facing a substantially higher wage bill. Alongside this, the longstanding and continued underfunding of the entitlement hours (EYA 2021a) creates little alternative but the subsidy of this through ‘paid for’ hours. Thus, as this gap between income from funded places and costs is sustained or widened, income generation rather than fee reduction remains of paramount importance for provider sustainability. There is also the argument that the risk of a two-tier childcare sector will emerge, with more prosperous areas retaining the current ratios because parents can afford the higher fees, while nurseries in disadvantaged areas will either be forced to close or relax ratios to take more children in order to remain solvent. 5. There are limitations to the applicability of international comparisons A further claim is the limitations of international comparisons. Ministers appear to look to (and seemingly cherry pick) the early years systems in other nations to compare adult:child ratios. But such benchmarking needs to be undertaken with extreme caution given the multiple factors which differ in each context. The selective quoting of ratios in particular nations often masks additional support staff employed in settings but not always counted in mandated ‘teaching’ ratios. In addition, it is interesting to note that UNICEF found: ‘In 21 countries the ratio fell between 2005 and 2018 reflecting rising standards or falling fertility rates that allowed for formation of smaller groups.’ (p.17) As I write this, early years membership bodies are seeking members’ views, sector media reflects the arguments and a gov.uk petition is gathering momentum with tens of thousands of signatories already secured. Arguments and action on the issue from early educators, parents, carers and supporters of the sector appear as strong as they were ten years ago. In the proposed review of deregulation, DfE have stated ‘health and safety as well as quality of provision will continue to be of paramount importance', and many will continue to cite these words. If the Minister is to honour his word and not ‘compromise quality and safety’ it is difficult to see how a reduction in adult:child ratios would support this commitment. Increased investment is the answer.

Ever feel like you’re missing something? For the last few years I have found assessment for children with SEND questionable. I continued down the path of setting SMART targets and planning next steps in line with reaching development goals, but I felt uneasy. I began to get the feeling I was missing the point somewhere. I found that much of the assessments I made demonstrated a negative view of the child, highlighted gaps in learning and described the things that many children could not do rather than celebrating what they could do and what unique abilities they had. Different areas of my assessments stood in isolation along with the interventions and therapy to support children’s learning. Was I only just reaching the tip of the iceberg? I wanted to develop a more holistic approach, with an understanding that learning differences in one area impact on other areas of learning and an understanding that areas are interlinked and must be considered together as a whole picture of an individual child’s learning profile. When Pen Green’s A Celebratory Approach to SEND Assessment in the Early Years was published in May 2021 I was keen to embrace the model. The notion that ‘children must not be defined by their needs, we need to be courageous and aspirational for all children, igniting curiosity and encouraging them to be all that they can be’ (Pen Green 2021) particularly resonated with me and reflected the shift I was hoping to make in moving away from a deficit model of children’s attainment. The ‘Celebratory Approach’ described the change in assessment culture I was hoping to bring about in Doncaster. I set about developing a strengths based holistic approach to assessment. Firstly reaching out to colleagues in my team and regional partners. After conversations with my team in Doncaster and attending regional meetings regarding assessment I couldn’t find a model which encompassed the range of areas that I wanted to cover for an individual child. My colleague Shelley Petta, who leads on assessment and moderation in Doncaster, had spoken to Stephen Kilgour at Tapestry about what I was seeking, and she connected us. Stephen brought his experience of developing the Cherry Garden Branch Maps assessment tool to the project. We worked together to design a toolkit that offered the opportunity for practitioners to reflect on a range of aspects for each child, lifting the lid of opportunity for individual children. Our collaboration led to sections including basic needs, inclusive practice, characteristics of effective teaching and learning, speech and communication, well-being and involvement, executive functioning, sensory aspects, belonging, schemas, and family aspiration. Prompting questions, and space to record reflections and actions, formed the basis of this Reflection Toolkit. Our regular meetings took us on a journey of professional development. As we began to devise and develop the Reflection Toolkit we were introduced to new vocabulary and concepts about ableism and neurodiversity - the beginnings of a necessary change in culture around SEND. As we learnt more, we were committed to ensuring that the toolkit was neurodiversity affirming, celebrating learning differences not difficulties and embracing the authenticity of every child’s play and learning. Stephen and I were keen to emphasise a strengths-based approach and a celebration of a child’s individual learning. We were led by the work of neurodiversity affirming advocate, Emily Lees (An Autistic Speech and Language Therapist). Emily’s advocacy for radical changes in therapy practices developed our thinking about the assessment process and the toolkit evolved to represent all forms of communication instead of focussing on speech and language. We thought more deeply about observation and about recognising children’s communication in all its forms. Emily’s advocacy of well-being and emotional safety also led to a reflection of our own practice. Historically the education sector interprets observations of children’s emotional states from a neurotypical perspective. For neurodivergent children, well-being could present very differently. We felt the toolkit needed to support practitioners to focus on knowing a child in depth and how they demonstrate well-being, not on how well-being looks for neurotypical children. Emily's collaboration with Stephen to develop A Beginner's Guide to Ableism was particularly influential in shaping the Reflection Toolkit. The Guide opened up more conversations between Stephen and I about our own practice. These included sometimes difficult reflections that we had not always got it right. We painfully had to admit that at times there may have been aspects of our practice that might have had a negative impact. We needed to reflect and unlearn some of the practice we had upheld for a long time. One of the most powerful aspects to consider was the notion of privilege, and the privilege of neurotypical people. A lightbulb moment came with Emily’s quote from David Gaider – ‘Privilege is when you think something isn’t a problem because it’s not a problem for you.” We reflected: had we, as part of an already established system, spent much of our careers trying to ‘fix’ children to be more neurotypical? Following on from Emily Lee’s influence, Stephen introduced me to the work of Kerry Murphy, an independent early years specialist and trainer. Kerry’s advocacy of neurodiversity affirming practice in the early years and her book A Guide to SEND in the Early Years also heavily influenced the content of the Reflection Toolkit. Kerry talks passionately about staying true to the authenticity of play for every individual child. Play happens naturally for neurotypical and neurodivergent children and we need to celebrate that individuality. Kerry’s insight into our sector’s role in continually making things in education be ‘normal’ and the notion that we are continually advocating power and privilege in the normality of our education systems, struck a chord with Stephen and I. We reflected that too much emphasis for too long has been placed on how a child fits into a school or a setting, when the real notion should be how do we, as early years educators, ensure children belong in the provision they attend. How do we make provision fit for the individual child? How do we enable true acceptance and value all children? We were keen for the Reflection Toolkit to be used to enable practitioners to consider a child’s learning profile in a holistic way, encompassing many aspects and using their depth of knowledge of the child to change their provision to create a sense of true belonging. Our collaborative journey so far has led us to develop and publish a final draft of the Reflection Toolkit. We hope it will aid practitioners in developing their provision for individual children and support the sector in recognising the need for cultural change away from stereotypes and existing historical practice entrenched in neurotypical perspectives. Kerry writes that ‘upholding the rights of the child’ is at the heart of her book ‘SEND in the Early Years’. We aim for the Reflection Toolkit to uphold those rights and enable reflection and knowledge, to change early years practice and ethos and move towards achieving true belonging for all children. You can download the free Reflection Toolkit from this link: Reflection Toolkit.pdf Ann and Stephen have also recorded a podcast episode discussing the Reflection Toolkit, which you can listen to here.

The power of community When I think about the power of community and the impact that educators have on children, it takes me back to the many magical moments I had as a little girl seeing my teachers (who also lived locally) outside of nursery ‘in real clothes’ doing ‘real things’. Like buying meat from the butcher's. I would often hide behind my mum when we spotted a teacher, as I had an innate feeling that I wasn’t allowed to see my teachers in this odd but clearly human capacity. Such seemingly small moments are both meaningful and empowering for a small child, as these are the kinds of things that help children develop a strong connection with their educators and a sense of belonging within their community. Community, according to the Oxford definition, is ‘the group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common’. Put even more simply (and as the word itself suggests) it’s people with a ‘common unity’. Being able to unify because of the things we have in common and our ‘particular characteristics’ is so important and not something we can afford to overlook in the early years. However, with equity in mind it hopefully goes without saying that it is equally important to recognise, appreciate, and celebrate, the characteristics that make every child different. Because representation, in relation to human characteristics, also cannot be overlooked! Working everyday with groups of children that (whilst in the same community) are all unique, provides a daily opportunity for educators to reflect on what makes us the same, what makes us different and what they need to know and do to authentically engage with families. Independent, community-based nurseries (such as pack-away nurseries) have a unique opportunity to decide how their knowledge of their locality can be threaded into the daily set up of their provision. The family support that these settings provide can also be tailored to the needs of the local community, according to the ever-changing local circumstances affecting them the most. Thinking about each child’s family being their first community, helps us to understand why establishing strong parental partnerships is so important. A strong collaboration between the family and the setting speaks to the very popular African proverb that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. Similarly, phrases such as ‘you are a product of your environment’ speak to the importance of not only the connections we make but the quality of these. Now, thinking about the above phrase in relation to ‘cultural capital’ should hopefully highlight for educators the importance of being conscious and intentional about how and why they embrace the cultures, diversity and richness that exists as an accessible resource around them. It should also illustrate (when done right) how powerful community cohesion can be for children and families. The nursery down the road in the community hall With the above in mind, we must remember that the ‘little pack-away nursery’ down the road in the church/community hall, is well positioned to build on the many things that children who live locally have in common. Educators within these nurseries are loaded with local knowledge and insights about their area, and this enables them to tailor learning to ensure maximum impact on the outcomes of children within such localities. Growing up in Peckham, London during the 80’s was where it all started for me. This was my community, my special place and where everything was familiar to me. My early years education started with a childminder then I later attended a Pan-African pack-away nursery in the centre of Peckham (now Peckham library), so from a young age I was very fortunate to have been nurtured in an environment where I was both understood and represented. Everyone knows where their local places of worship or community spaces are (even if they don’t attend) and they are also likely to be familiar with the location of their local library, bakery and supermarkets. So, when educators arrange outings to these places, they are helping to add layers and further embed learning within spaces where children already feel confident and familiar. My own positive experiences of attending a pack-away nursery in my community has been a key driver of the passion I have for the early years. Despite having over 20 years' experience in this sector, I am still very intentional with my commitment to further explore and learn about the very special and unique learning opportunities that pack-away nurseries and childminders can provide for children and families in those first five years. I think many of us can agree that due to these educators being tucked away in a side road, they are often forgotten. Historically, and from what I have experienced throughout my career, the partnerships and transition arrangements that happen between childminders or pack-away nurseries and schools are not as strong as they could be. I have often (but not always) observed a snobbery against pack-away nurseries by schools (and oddly, this has appeared to happen less towards the bigger nursery chains). This apparent reluctance to engage and respect these community-based nurseries is unfortunate, and often results in the loss of what should be a central part of the information educators need to understand and plan for the holistic needs of the unique child. However, it is my hope that with the focus on a reduction in paperwork (DfE, EYFS 2021, Section 2.2) this will mean educators are afforded more time to properly connect with previous educators to ensure information gathered about the first five years of children’s lives can become a springboard for the design of the curriculum in the year ahead. Creating safe spaces through truly thoughtfully planned provision Pack-away nurseries are often the pillars and helpful hubs within communities. Educators who work in these spaces have the opportunity to look through the lens of each unique child and consider which experiences children need that may not be afforded to them at home or within their local surroundings. The knowledge educators hold about children who live locally enables them to be the bridge between home and the setting that can create meaningful, safe spaces which reflect the familiarity and comfort of home. Despite the challenges of running a pack-away nursery - which often includes the additional set up time, sharing the space with other community groups and ‘playing tetris’ with the storage cupboard! - there is no doubt that the advantage educators have to think critically about how they design their environment daily, outweighs these challenges. Whilst maintaining a level of consistency is an important part of providing children with a high-quality continuous provision, the flexibility that pack-away nurseries have to renew their set up is a powerful springboard for inspiring creativity and critical thinking in children that nurseries who have a static environment aren’t always privy to. Social mobility at the heart of the pack-away setting To summarise, the DfE publication ‘Unlocking talent, Fulfilling Potential’ provides educators with some important and key considerations for what and how all education providers can do to positively impact social mobility. Below are some short extracts and a few questions I have written that I hope educators will use to reflect on within their settings: Levelling up opportunity - ‘Talent and hard work alone should determine how far people can go in life, whoever you are, wherever you are from’. Q - How do you recognise and celebrate the unique talents and abilities of children in your setting? A plan for improving social mobility through education - ‘To make a real difference, we must align our work and relentlessly focus our energy and resources to where it can have the greatest impact.... where it is most needed to unlock talent and fulfil potential’. Q - How do you assess where the greatest need is in your setting and what are some examples of the targeted responses you take? No community left behind - ‘In Britain today, the community where you grow up will shape your chances of attending a good school and your wider educational and career outcomes’ Q - How do you ensure that efforts to enhance ‘cultural capital’ are meaningful and properly take account of and include the unique needs of each child and their family? Tackling the injustices that hold people back at each life stage - ‘Even in good schools, disadvantaged pupils underperform; and even when they succeed in education, they achieve poorer career outcomes than their more affluent peers with the same qualifications’. Q - What is an example of how you provide equity for children in your setting? Ambition 1: Close the ‘word gap’ in the early years - ‘Disadvantaged children are less likely to experience a home environment that can best support their early development, particularly with regard to early language’. Q - How do you both work in partnership with parents/carers and design your setting to ensure good opportunities for early literacy?

I arrive at my son’s day-care and through the window, I see that he is having a great time with his Early Years Practitioner and the other children in the role play area. The day-care setting is language rich, and high frequency key words and labelling are situated on the walls and creatively hanging from the ceiling. A very organised and well utilised space, with the different learning areas, thoughtfully arranged to provide the children with an environment to explore and play. It is a home from home; happy, warm and welcoming, the best choice for our son and his needs. My son attends the day-care part-time, therefore I am still able to provide him with an early years education at home, within my well-resourced home-nursery. Between the two early years settings, there is a continuation of his learning. The synergy between the parents (myself as an Early Years Educator and Tiney childminder) and the Early Years Practitioners at the day-care. This synergy also extends to my son's support network of his grandparents, who are involved in his upbringing and learning. Communicating with my child and the Early Years Practitioner As the day-care door opens, my son excitedly tumbles out from behind this rainbow bright rectangle, into my arms. The playground is dimly lit as it is the late afternoon and the sky is darkening, but my son is the ball of light, bursting with energy and joy. He's so excited, that when asked about his day, this usually chatty boy has no words to communicate to me what happened at the day-care. Instead, he stuffs his pages of art into my hand, points to his hair and then runs around the playground, flapping his arms like a bird. The Early Years Practitioner has a short conversation with me about his day and explains that he has a head full of brightly coloured clips because he was at the ‘hairdressers’ with his friends. He wanted to undo his braids, to have his curls fluffed out to put these clips in. He loves his long afro hair, and I didn't mind the fact that he chose to undo his hair (which took me close to half an hour to create in the early morning!) to take part in a role play activity with his friends and Key Person. Hair care is a Caribbean cultural, bonding tradition that encourages talk and I have passed down this tradition to my son. In this diverse multicultural day-care, there would be other children who can relate to this as part of their own hair care routine. It’s moments like this - a simple everyday task that is carried out at home and is then recreated in the early years setting and opens up various opportunities to expand upon his understanding of the world, communication & language, social and emotional skills. My son didn't want to verbally communicate to me that he had a great time, but I knew it was a special day for him. With great pride he wore the clips until bedtime. I've written about this experience of my son's day-care, to highlight that communication is integral between the childcare provider and the parent/guardian. This level of importance should be the same between the childminder and the parents/guardian. There are other methods of communication that the day-care utilises. They include the digital journals on ‘Tapestry’, journal books and newsletters. I am invited to contribute to these journals by providing evidence of fun activities carried out at home and photos of family life. Myself and my partner also provide the day-care staff with any updates about family life, new routines and interests or changes which may affect my son’s behaviour. The day-care staff supported us during the early days of our son's toilet training. We worked collaboratively to keep the successful methods consistent. Our son is now a confident little boy, who proudly wears pants and can independently use the toilet. As a childminder, I curate my home-nursery, as a space where the children see themselves. My home-nursery is a representation of the children in my care. Representation equates to a child knowing and feeling valued. I talk to the parents/guardians to learn about their at home routines, their culture, faith, traditions and interests, to then use it within my daily planning and running of my home-nursery. It is detrimental to assume that every child has the same home life/ routine, therefore it is important to include key information that is provided by the parent/guardian. Continuity and consistency are key when working collaboratively. Let's also highlight the importance of the child communicating their needs, whether it be verbal or non-verbal; we listen. The process of finding families and children choosing me as a childminder I have been able to gain interest from families, through word of mouth, and social media. Tiney is a trusted Ofsted registered, early years agency, that gives me extra prominence in this sector. An Ofsted registered independent childminder, is a trusted childcare option, who can provide excellent care. An independent childminder will need to work on ways to stand out to build a credible reputation within their community. An idea would be to have a specific niche and to showcase childcare experience, education knowledge, background, skills and interests to stand out amongst other childminders and childcare providers. All childminders have to be savvy at the various ways that they can promote and market their services. A great way to promote childminding is by advertising on childcare websites and producing flyers to pin up on bulletin boards at venues that host parenting classes or children’s activities. I have friends who found their childminder by coming across a flier on a bulletin board at the local supermarket. You can market yourself in the most unexpected ways. For example, my excuse to release my inner child at the park with my son, meant that all of a sudden I became the "Pied Piper" with the children gathered around me to engage in play. This then became an unexpected opportunity to talk about my childcare service (and then became an opportunity for the adults to have fun with the children on the massive slide!). You are your business and brand. It's important to remember this in your local area, so that you can become that trusted childminder who is popular and will be the talk of the town! Nowadays the settling-in period (to limit footfall in the home, due to the pandemic) might be carried out over a video call where the childminder, parents and children can introduce themselves and get to know each other. This is where a short Storytime can take place, or a family art activity facilitated by the childminder is a lovely way to break the ice and begin the rapport between all involved. Important conversations about the child's needs and interests take place during this visit. My favourite and most recommended way of getting to know families is at the park, because children love the outdoors. It is an EYFS statutory requirement, that all children play outside on a daily basis; therefore it will demonstrate how you will interact with the child away from the childminding setting. The outdoors is a wonderful place for a child's development and mental health. You really get a good insight into the child's imagination (and your own) and creativity when in nature. Finally, after the play date or/and video call, arrangements for the introductory visit to the nursery will take place. Over a consistent few weeks, the childminder will have more time with the child without the parents present, to establish a strong rapport with each other and to gain reassurance and confidence. This is when you can then establish if it is a good match for all. Here, I have outlined the Tiney protocol for the settling in period, but some independent Ofsted registered childminders may have a different way of settling in (for example, over a few days consistently in the same week). The settling in period is a gradual process that should not be rushed, and the purpose is to ease everyone into this new routine with the child as the central focus. If the childminder and the parent/carer feel as if the partnership is a good fit, it is down to the child to choose the childminder. Contracts and fees are discussed to establish the type of childcare needed. For example, morning school drop offs, after care, full day or half day, flexible contract etc. The contract talk I can honestly say can be an awkward part of the process, but it is necessary for the childminder and parents to be precise with the expectations, rules and regulations. As it's a professional service, this is a process that should be as thorough as getting to know each other. Both parties also agree on the boundaries of communication and discuss aspects of the contract that are unclear before signing the agreement. In my home nursery setting I use the Tiney app to enable parents to access the observations written about the child on the digital journal, along with anything relating to billing, payments, contracts, policies and Tiney community news. As it is my own business, I send out a digital or hard copy newsletter to the parents as a way to inform them about the fun and exciting activities that take place and will be taking place in the future. The children will most likely have produced an art piece or written work to take home to show their family. Most parents want to be updated daily via a text message just so that they are kept in the loop with what fun activities their child is engaged in. This would usually be once a day and I feel this is a nice way to reassure the parents who may feel anxious about not being present with their child. I know exactly how this feels during the first few weeks of this new change and I want to best support all parents and to gain their trust, that I will provide excellent childcare for their child in my home that is full of love. Trust is a wonderful thing. When you see that the child fully trusts and feels safe and confident within the setting, this is where the magic resides. We cannot reach this without the communication between the child, parent/ guardian and childminder. The child's trust is a foundation that opens up a whole new world of opportunities for them to flourish.

Tim Gill, one of the UK’s most reputed experts in play, has a great ability to look at life through the eyes of children: how they experience life, benefit from it and suffer it. In his well-known book, No Fear: Growing up in a risk averse society (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2007), Tim argues that risk averse behaviour in childhood can damage and endanger children’s lives. Rather, he would like to see a freer environment for children with more of a balance between protecting them from real threats and enabling them to pursue nourishing and challenging opportunities. In his recent book, Urban Playground: How child-friendly planning and design can save cities (RIBA Publishing, 2021), Tim draws on cities around the world to see how they can be healthier, more sustainable, and more inclusive, for all ages. It informs us how urban designers and city planners can make cities better for everyone, and the planet. What would you think was the main cause of formerly ‘normal’ play opportunities being labelled dangerous or irresponsible? I think it was a shift in the way our British-Anglo culture saw children and the adult role in children’s lives. It’s what I call in No Fear the development of a philosophy of protection: the adult role being to protect children from all possible sources of harm. In previous generations parenting was more focussed on children being resilient and learning how to overcome obstacles. Do you think there is a social class and / or cultural heritage aspect to risk aversion? I think it’s complicated. I haven’t seen studies that compare children from different social classes. It’s interesting that the vast majority of parents who I have contact with, in setting up Forest Schools programmes or getting play streets happening, are middle class parents who feel that their children’s lives are too scheduled. Regardless of social class or cultural background, most of the adults that I speak to have very positive memories of the value of some freedom and being away from adult anxieties during their own childhoods - that sense of the importance of having everyday freedom comes through. In terms of culture, as lots of research shows, you can certainly see families of Chinese and Pacific Asian origin have a very strong focus on formal education from a pretty early age, so very little free time. I could see that in the countries I visited – Korea’s the most dramatic. One of the things you say about risk aversion is that it ‘corrodes children’s relationship with adults’ - can you say more about this? The growth of fear of predatory adults drives a mistrust between adult and adult, and between children and adults. For children, they start from a position of doubt and suspicion. For adults, there’s less willingness to get involved if they see children in difficulty. It wasn’t so long ago that if someone saw a child in a difficult situation, they would offer to help, but now there’s definitely some anxiety. Conversely, children don’t feel the adults around them are, by and large, well disposed towards them. Was there any backlash to No Fear? Were you accused of being irresponsible? There was hardly any backlash. I felt that, on the whole, the book gave voice to a lot of anxieties that adults had been having. Not only teachers and parents, but also business leaders who were worried about the next generation of entrepreneurs. Do you think risk aversion is more of an issue in urban environments? I actually think - and there is some evidence for this - that it’s more of an issue in rural environments. This reflects the fact that rural lives can be quite isolated, and parents have to be more involved in everyday freedoms, for instance the parental taxi service. We might think that rural families have the countryside on their doorstep, but it’s frequently not the case. The greenery that’s around them is often not readily available – it might be fenced off or cut up by busy roads. Sometimes I talk of childhood as being a journey from dependence to independence. That journey is best made in a series of gradual steps. In a rural context the steps can be really quite big – once you get beyond your own garden where do you go next? If your friend is in the next village or the play area is across a busy road, that journey can be harder. How does your work on risk aversion link with your more recent focus on urban play design? Well, it comes back to the case that I make for a good childhood. That is, the need for a rich diet of childhood experiences. If children don’t have this then they’re less happy, but also less able to grow. One of the reasons why children’s lives are more constrained is because of their built environment and features of that built environment, crucially the dominance of the car. It’s also about the quality of parks and play spaces, and how safe and welcoming they are for children. In No Fear I essentially said, ‘here’s the problem and this is why it happens’. The two things we need to do are to shift to a philosophy of resilience, and to create more child-friendly neighbourhoods where children can enjoy more freedom. So, the urban playground argument unpacks what a child-friendly neighbourhood is. Of the many countries you’ve visited, where would you most like to raise a child? I’m going to say The Netherlands. I think the Dutch are known as a culture where children are respected and cared for. They’re also a country that does a really good job of designing and planning towns and cities. They are the world’s leaders at humane, sustainable, equitable planning. Levels of cycling in the Netherlands are enormous and that’s not just because it’s flat or because the Dutch have always cycled, but because it’s been a focus of their planning ethos. They’ve recognised that cycling is a healthy way to get around. Coming back to that journey of childhood, cycling is a wonderful next step from walking. In the Netherlands it’s a step that most children make. In the UK it’s extremely rare to make that progression from walking to cycling. If children do cycle here, it’s often recreational rides with their parents in a park. It isn’t a surprise that the Netherlands are always top of those league tables of children’s wellbeing. What would you say are the three most important aspects of urban planning? (i) Taming traffic and reducing the dominance of the car. That includes both moving and parked cars. Parked cars are less understood as problematic, but essentially they are big chunks of metal occupying space that we could otherwise do other things with. Also, cars are getting bigger, which should give us pause for thought. (ii) Welcoming and attractive and playful public spaces involving playful nature. I did a little bit of work around trees - if you ask children to draw their favourite neighbourhood or park it’ll be full of trees. There seems to be something particular about trees, for adults too. (iii) Compactness. It’s a Goldilocks thing, not too dense but not too sprawling. If you live in a sprawling neighbourhood it may be three miles to the nearest shop. If you live in a dense neighbourhood it often goes with shortage of space. But there’s also the issue of the way that buildings relate to or speak to the space outside. If you’re on the fifteenth floor of an apartment block you can’t check your kids playing on the swings. Things need to be close to hand. What would your main message be to EYFS practitioners and parents reading this interview? I would invite parents and educators to think about that journey of childhood and what a good diet of experience might be. For me a lot of it is about outdoor play. I talk about ‘triangle of play’: space, time and a supportive or permissive adult attitude. We can get hung up on the physical space and forget about the time aspect. The final thing is that I would invite managers to think about those bigger questions: cars, pollution, sustainability. I’m not asking them to join Greenpeace or Extinction Rebellion, but to think about ways they can make a difference. For instance, encouraging parents to allow their kids to walk or cycle or setting about implementing a school street. In all, I’d encourage any steps that parents or educators can take - for themselves, on behalf of their children, or with their children - to tread more lightly on the earth.