An important point on the BBC today: "Two in three councils providing nursery services do not employ any men, the Victoria Derbyshire programme has learned. How can diversity in the profession be improved?". David Wright, who wrote this ar…
This research piece funded by DfE looked into the following: effect of early education on children’s outcomes, quality of provision and value for money of providing funded early years education to 2-year-olds from lower income families. Wit…
Elizabeth Truss, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare, has written in a letter to Norman Baker, MP for Lewes, that 'Development Matters' may still be used in early years settings. Her response follows a request…
Chair of the Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon MP, has announced an inquiry into the impact that the early years of a child's life have on their life chances. The Committee’s inquiry aims to understand the impact that early ye…
The new Minister of State for Children and Families has written an open letter to providers, you can read it here. If you would like to comment on his letter you may do so on this forum thread.
Sean Harford's blog clarifies inspectors' expectations when they are looking at safeguarding in schools and early years settings. Read his blog and access additional documents from here.
The low pay commission has released their Autumn report and has highlighted clearly the impact of the ongoing statutory wage increases for workers. The early years sector, as a care industry, is identified as one of three sectors that will f…
The Pre-school Learning Alliance (PLA) submitted a Freedom of Information request regarding the Deloitte data referred to in the Government's 'Review of childcare costs' document (published November 2015). The ICO has today ruled in favour …
It can be challenging to work within the structure of the EYFS and Development Matters when teaching and learning with children with special needs. We want to show progress, but how can we do that when the child’s successes are evidenced…
The Childcare Service website has been beset with problems since it was launched earlier this year. Parents have found it difficult to sign up and use the website for it's intended purpose. Following reports of issues, the Treasury select com…
Helen Jones MP calls for cross party early years inquiry: At the Petitions Committee debate on Monday 21st November FSF watched as Labour MP Helen Jones called for a cross party EY inquiry to examine the issues facing the sector from all sta…
The headteachers' union NAHT review group has called for the abolition of tests at the end of KS1 and has asked that the baseline assessment be reintroduced in Reception classes. Their view is that there is too much testing in KS1 and that a …
We have a very short Coffee Break for you this week.
It’s a call to all early years practitioners to respond to the proposed changes to the EYFS. We have until 31st January to have our say. The ELGs are under the spotlight. They may …
On New Year’s Eve, like so many other people, I made my resolutions for 2020. I also looked up the meaning of ‘resolution’ in the Cambridge Dictionary and discovered some thought-provoking definitions that wouldn’t seem out of plac…
The Guardian have published an interesting piece of research today regarding the number of men currently employed within the early years sector. You can read the article here and discuss it here.
Research conducted by Ceeda and commissioned by PLA has highlighted serious miscalculations in the DfE's predicted figures regarding the number of children that will be seeking to claim 30 hours free childcare from September 2017. You can r…
On 3 March 2017, the Department for Education (DfE) published the early years workforce strategy that included the intention to work with the sector and awarding organisations to develop criteria for the content of level 2 childcare qualifi…
The Government response to the primary assessment consultation was published last week and addressed questions regarding baseline assessment in Reception, the EYFSP and statutory assessments during Key stages 1 and 2. You can read the respons…
Pupils in England’s schools are currently taught about relationships, health and the wider world through sex and relationship education (SRE) and personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) lessons. The Government would like t…
The Government has published it's response to the 30 hour free childcare entitlement delivery consultation. You can read the response here. We are discussing their response here, on the FSF.
The additional 4 four local authorities brings the total number of early implementers to 12. Hopefully the information gained from these trial providers will help inform and educate settings and parents when the full roll out occurs in Septem…
This is a report on the outcomes of the consultation regarding the proposals to make revisions to the framework for the inspection of early years providers from November 2013. You can access the report here
You may have read some of the furore in the EY press over the weekend regarding Gill Jones' comments on singing in nursery. Gill, Ofsted’s deputy director of early education, told an NAHT conference that the demise of singing in nursery …
Speaking at Child Expo this morning, Minister Caroline Dinenage has announced that the GCSE maths and english requirement for L3 practitioners has been scrapped. She said: "I was determined to listen to you" : Minister says that response to …
We have been asked to collect and submit our views on a series of questions that are due to be discussed in Westminster on 21st November. Please share your thoughts here.
