The FSF at 20 years old is now free!

[Steve]

Dear FSF friends -

As many of you will be aware, this year the amazing community at eyfs.info is celebrating the 20th anniversary of our launch. Since 2003 we have been a gathering point and support network for tens of thousands of early years educators, developing a safe community to share experiences through conversations and debate. Many of you have become close friends in that time, and many are still here from those early days.

We introduced an individual annual subscription fee of £20 in 2004, in order to be able to provide the FSF with the means to ensure its maintenance and add resources in the form of articles and other helpful materials. In the twenty years since we have not raised that subscription fee, aware of the fact that the early years workforce is one of the most sparsely funded areas in the UK.

So in this 20th anniversary year we thought we'd change this, and are very happy to let you know that we are removing the subscription completely and making the community free of charge for all. In these volatile days, with early years (along with all other forms of primary education) under pressure as never before, providing a platform for committed, professional educators to gather, and to seek and offer support, is, we believe, essential.

We are able to do this due to the success of our Tapestry service, which will fund the costs of the FSF through the revenues it generates. As many of you will know, Tapestry emerged from the countless conversations between members here, many of whom were struggling with the time required to prepare traditional 'special books' and, as they became, learning journals. So it is fitting that Tapestry, which grew from the FSF and became, rather unexpectedly, a huge thing, is now able to repay the discussions and debate that led to its genesis.

(On a practical note, could anyone who has paid their subscription over the last three months make contact with Sue who will be happy to re-imburse you.)

Thanks for your company, wisdom and camaraderie over the years (decades!). I'm sorry that in recent times, for reasons that many of you will know, I have not contributed as regularly as I once did. But I have always kept a close eye on things here, and I commit to being more active in the coming months. We have other little improvements and developments planned - the front page will, for example, change soon to put the community front and centre. I hope you enjoy them, and I am sure (!) that you will let me know, as you always have, when you don't. Keep that feedback coming; it's what made the FSF the wonderful thing it is.

Best wishes,

Steve

 

[finleysmaid]

What a great birthday present Steve. Thank you for all your support (and the team) over the last 2 decades. 

[Plin]

☺️ My goodness very generous of you to open up membership for free.  Your forum has been a great help over many years but our local authority did not join your scheme and it was a bit too much for me to pay on top of other things needing payments - we mere mortals spend our own hard earned pennies on things for our little treasures as funds in our pre-schools are very tight!  So a very big THANK YOU from me!

[Helen]

Welcome to the FSF, Plin 😀. It's lovely to have you here!

[Steve]

Welcome to the FSF Plin! :)

[Froglet]

What a lovely birthday present Steve - thank you!!

welcome Plin, it’s lovely to see you!

[louby loo]

Welcome to the forum Pin. :)

[Mouseketeer]

Hi from me too 😊 

[Plin]

I already knew this was a friendly place 🙂 - Thank you for your very kind welcomes.

[Outnabout]

Great news, been with this from the start. Excellent resource 

[Alison]

Great news, well done and thank you, 20 years where has it gone? 

[Steve]

Hi Alison - I know what you mean! And while I posted my profile pic back then I wasn't expecting there to come a time when I could probably compete with it for grey hair and wrinkles!

Great to see you still around having joined only two months after the FSF was launched in Feb 2003. 🙂

[Froglet]

On 20/05/2023 at 18:28, Steve said:

Hi Alison - I know what you mean! And while I posted my profile pic back then I wasn't expecting there to come a time when I could probably compete with it for grey hair and wrinkles!

Great to see you still around having joined only two months after the FSF was launched in Feb 2003. 🙂

I remember when I first joined not really looking closely at the profile pc and for a while thought it actually was you!

[Alison]

Yes still around and working hard in the Early years the help and support I’ve had from this forum over those years helped me through a degree and my Eyps and my own setting has gone from strength to strength so again thank you all  

[sunnyday]

On 20/05/2023 at 19:42, Froglet said:

I remember when I first joined not really looking closely at the profile pc and for a while thought it actually was you!

Eh? What? Are you telling me it's not 🤣