I’m sure it was never his intention to make out that teachers were not experts in teaching. He himself comes from a family of teachers, and since 1974, has visited schools to support teachers in providing an exciting and real curriculum.

Like most visitors who are booked to visit schools, they are asked because they bring something extra, something real, to the topic. Whether it be the local fruit and veg shopkeeper, an illustrator of children’s books, or your Police school’s liaison officer, when they step in front of the children, they are able to speak from their own experiences in their area of expertise. And they can tell real life stories.

Being a teacher certainly makes you an expert in teaching. But as a teacher, if you want to inspire a child to write – and maybe to become the next Children's Laureate, or to find out exactly what it takes to join the Police and what a typical day for them involves, you ask an expert in that area to speak to them. If you want children to learn about living through Roman times, due to the lack of living Roman citizens, you go on a class trip to a Roman villa and ask the experts there to help bring it to life.

You will be thinking about who to ask, not just because they have experiences in a particular role or subject area in the world, but because of the other ways they can inspire children: perhaps through their gender, additional needs, age, religion, or their race.

Teachers have been asking expert visitors to talk to children for many years. I hope that they continue to do so (whether virtually as is the case at the moment, or in person), providing that extra layer of learning and experience, and supporting the other expert in the classroom – the teacher - for many more years to come.

By Ben Case, from our Education Team. 

Just like a podcast, an article is a way to connect you with new ideas. They can reinvigorate your practice, encourage you to explore with links to websites and books for further reading, or help you to reflect on what is already good in your provision, and what could be improved.

With a podcast you can multitask – listen and do! But with an article you have to sit for a moment and give it your full attention. This has its advantages, so make sure you give yourself that time every so often if you can.

Here on the FSF we have lots of articles to support your teaching and learning. Some inform you about the latest research, such as this one by Dr Lala Manners looking at children’s physical development and the links to their essential body systems, or this one by Dr Rebecca Webb and Kathy Foster about reflective practice. Others invite you to look more closely at aspects of your own practice, such as the article by Dr Stella Louis and Hannah Betteridge on unconscious biases, or Liz Pemberton’s article on how to talk about race with young children, or Leslie Patterson’s piece about the language we use with and about children. Then we have some that discuss the latest changes to guidance, like this one by Dr Julian Grenier with a focus on the early years curriculum, and a recent article by Ruth Swailes exploring the possibilities offered by the early years reforms. We also have contributors who share their daily practice with us, like childminder Doreen Barton, or Joss Cambridge-Simmons who tells the story of his journey to becoming a Manny.

At the end of every article there is the opportunity to have a conversation about it in the comments section. Although reading is generally a solitary experience, we can all learn from each other by sharing our thoughts about what we have read. 

There are so many other places you can go to find articles and blog posts that will inspire you. Here are just a few we visit:

Early Education have a blog page full of thought-provoking pieces. PEDAL (the Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning) has a Hub which gathers together research articles, reports and resources about play. Their ‘Play Pieces’ offer short summaries on relevant research. Julian Grenier’s blog Inside the Secret Garden shares good practice and thoughts on current early years guidance.  The organisation BAMEed Network, which has a mission to create an education sector that is reflective of society, collects together articles to support this aim. TES has an online presence and covers everything from early years to secondary – did you know it began as a pull-out supplement in the Times newspaper in 1910!  And finally, Inclusiveteach.com is a SEND focussed website with loads of articles relating to special education.

We hope you enjoy reading and learning.

One of our roles as educators is to keep up to date, to keep growing and learning ourselves, so we can support the children we work with to grow and learn too. In times like these though, CPD might just be the extra bit that we haven’t got the capacity for.

Enter the podcast. A friendly voice in your ear you can listen to wherever you are – whether it’s travelling back from work, or doing the hoovering, or taking a moment with a cup of tea. Podcasts can be a simple way to add to your CPD and keep you on your learning toes. You may find you hear about a subject that leads you to find out more in other ways, by reading an article, or looking for a book by the podcast guest. Or they might make you think about an aspect of your practice that you can adapt the very next day, or something that you need to think about and work on over a longer period of time.

Here are three suggestions to get you going:

Here at the FSF and Tapestry we have a weekly education podcast, hosted by members of our education team, usually with a guest. We cover a wide range of topics, from discussions about new guidance, to men in childcare, the importance of the language we use, wellbeing, antiracism in the early years and transition to Year 1. You can subscribe to them wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t listened to the Early Years Conversations podcast yet, stick on those headphones now! Kerry Payne, a practitioner and early years consultant specialising in additional needs, and Kate Moxley, an early years trainer and consultant who specialises in wellbeing and mental health training, have created a safe space conversations podcast where they discuss key topics and experiences. The podcast includes discussions around mental health, race, gender, sexuality, neurodiversity and adversity. It is full of reflection, challenge, and joy.

The podcast Becoming an Antiracist, hosted by educator and antiracist scholar Dr Muna Abdi, is an honest and challenging dialogue about what it means to be antiracist. Joined by guests, Muna discusses what it means to be antiracist, and the intersectionality of race, gender, religion and place. This podcast shares a lifelong journey, and provokes thought, reflection and understanding.

We hope you enjoy listening and learning. 

But I decided to keep to the annual tradition of making a resolution. Not everyone is into new year’s resolutions, but I actually quite like to press the reset button and find an intention to focus on for the coming months.

A friend of mine (who happens to be a Head Teacher) is very strict about resolution making. According to her, they should follow the SMART objectives: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound. That way we’re more likely to see them through. I frustrate her every year by making completely non-specific, unmeasurable and therefore unachievable and unrealistic, totally open-ended promises to myself that, of course, I never keep!

So, I can’t help but wonder that perhaps she has a good point?

Resolutions can take many forms, and they can be individual or communal. Setting an intention as a staff team could be just the thing for 2021. Something to bring you together when things are still so challenging and fragmented. If you haven’t already, you might like to try one of these ideas:

·         Choose a word for your team to focus on for the year – one that sums up something you are aiming for e.g. ‘Communication’ – this could then represent an aim to find ways to meet the challenges of communicating as a team, and with your families, and your teaching and learning community. You could make a screen saver with your word on, or put it up in every room in your setting.

·         Choose 21 things you will do for 2021 – this could include small things, like tidy the Tea Cupboard, or bigger things, like do a diversity audit to improve your resources, provision and approach.

·         Go SMART – choose something that you can achieve and timetable into the year. For example, ‘Each month the children will make a class or group recording to send home to their families about the learning they have done that month’.

Remember, setting an intention for the new year should be something to aim for, not something that quickly becomes a stressful chore. 

Wishing you all a happy and hopeful New Year.

‘Play? Play is not learning! How are you learning? It’s just playing.’ I have heard this many times from individuals who may not understand the role and importance of play within the Early Years Curriculum.  As Early Years educators know, play is fundamental to a child’s development, including supporting cognitive skills, social interaction and creative skills.

With our current climate, living in and experiencing a pandemic, children need play more than ever before. As a parent myself, I understand that it can be challenging to find various ways to prompt play at home. Early Years professionals and educators need to work collaboratively and supportively with parents and carers, to ensure they feel confident to play with their child and understand why it is so important.

How can Early Years Educators support parents and carers with playing at home?

Before COVID-19, parents and carers were able to attend workshops within a nursery, preschool or school, where they could ask questions and Teachers and EYFS educators could share and show parents how to play at home and support their child’s learning. However, as educators we have had to adapt to the use of technology while taking into consideration that not all parents and carers may have access to the internet. In this instance, learning sheets or a contact book can be sent home, keeping COVID safety in mind.

With the use of technology, educators can share videos of play activities based on particular aspects of the EYFS Curriculum. For example:

·         Engaging in Lego play and block play

·         Using household items to support fine motor skills

·         Sharing stories and creating lollipop stick puppets to retell a story

·         Providing Q&A sessions or parent consultations

Currently, within my setting we use Tapestry, which enables parents to comment on their child’s experiences and see what learning is taking place within the EYFS setting. This in itself can give them ideas to try at home.

Using learning sheets educators can:

·         Provide three simple play activities for the week with photos

·         Play dough ingredients list

·         Photos of household items and resources that can support learning through play at home

·         Share learning outcomes and an activity that will support the learning

We also use home contact books so we can communicate with parents and carers.

Providing a contact book can help with:

·         Writing messages to parents and carers

·         Parents and carers can write a question for their child’s EYFS Educators

·         Educators, parents and carers can share positive learning celebrations for each child.

The key is for educators to provide clear advice to encourage and engage parents and carers with learning activities at home. Using visuals, such as photos or short video clips, can relay information to families where more than one language is spoken at home, and where spoken or written communication may create hurdles. There should always be an opportunity for parents to ask questions about their child’s learning and progress.

Tip for parents 

Learning through play at home is enjoyable and fun with the five top tips below:

1.        Notice your child’s interests

What does your child enjoy playing with or what is their favourite activity? Once you know this, you can use their interest to engage with them in their play.

2.       Provide an environment where your child can access their learning resources.

Is there a space within your home where your child can store things so they can reach them, read books quietly, or complete an arts and crafts activity and enjoy their own play? Place resources and activities in boxes or easy to open containers. Providing an opportunity for your child to freely access their resources supports their independent play.

3.       Get on your child’s level and play with them

Allow your child to lead the play and interact with their learning through their play.

4.       Have fun!

Play is fun and enjoyable - there is no wrong or right way to play.

Overall, as educators we know we need to ensure that parents and carers are comfortable to ask questions and know that there are various ways to contact the educational setting whether it is a nursery, preschool or school. Working collaboratively with parents and carers, building a rapport and giving clear advice will support families to feel confident about learning through play at home.

The new rules that came into effect last week, allow for these celebrations to go ahead as normal but with social distancing remaining for those who come along to watch, depending on which tier you find yourself in. With space already being at a premium in most school halls, this might mean that the children would have to do a West End like run of performances to ensure that they were able to fit in all the families over a number of days! Anyone who has had to prepare a performance with children who would rather be exploring the painting table, or jumping off the equipment outside, knows that with every show it gets harder and harder to keep the enthusiasm up!

Not only that, but with singing having been largely banned in schools until last week, the usual weeks of preparation for such a performance have not been filled with the sounds of continuous songs and learning of words and actions. Instead different approaches are being thought up.

A popular option is to record a performance and then share it with families by uploading it to something like Tapestry or as an unlisted video on YouTube. The advantage of this is you can reach a much wider audience. Family members who may not normally be able to join in with performances for whatever reason can now watch the whole show. Depending on your editing skills, you could also try recording it in scenes and putting these skills into action as you piece together all the different takes and angles!

One of the easiest things to put together will be a ‘Celebration Video’. Whatever the occasion, getting the children to produce different pieces of work – whether it be artwork, writing or even models - and gathering these into a photo slideshow is a quick way to ensure that every child has something displayed. Asking them to narrate or talk about their work adds the personal touch of the children’s voices to it all.

No matter what you do, it will be appreciated by the families, who understand the stresses that those in education find themselves under as they battle to keep bubbles from popping.  And the memories created by a video or slideshow will be something that they can look back on fondly for years to come.

Nuffield Health has published a new report called How are the lives of families with young children changing?

This review looks at two decades worth of evidence and aims to highlight the changing nature of family life and how this impacts young children now, and in their future. It reaches out to policy makers, asking them to look at the implications of family circumstances, economic security, development and wellbeing for children.

The report states that:

The current generation of children in the UK is the first in which the majority are spending a large part of their childhoods in some form of formal early childhood education and care.

It stresses the importance, therefore, that the early years environments provided for children support their development, growth and learning.

The report recognises the changing nature of the definition of ‘family’. It also examines changes in living, working and formal/informal care arrangements, and the lower likelihood of take up of funded entitlements by disadvantaged families and families with English as an additional language. It demonstrates the effects of poverty, advantage and disadvantage, stating that:

A recurrent theme in this review is inequality and gradients between advantaged and disadvantaged families.

Meanwhile, we have the publication of the findings of the 5 Big Questions survey set up by the Duchess of Cambridge in January this year. This asked the public for their views on questions relating to the Early Years.

The survey found that the majority of people are not aware of the crucial importance of the early years in a child’s life. As the Duchess of Cambridge has said:

They are about the society we will become.

There were results relating to parental mental health, feeling judged, parental loneliness and community support – all showing significant areas of need.

Both the Nuffield Health report and the Duchess’s survey have been published with the backdrop of COVID-19 and an extended period of lockdown. A time when support for parents and families was restricted, when vital regular healthcare checks couldn’t happen, and parents and carers - especially lone-adult families, were isolated. The impact of this on young children and their families is being seen as they attend their early years settings now.

It is heartening to see the recognition of the early years in children’s lives, although of course this is not new information. But the message needs to be repeated often, and both these publications serve to shine a spotlight on the crucial role of early childhood care and education as well as evidence the huge gaps that show how far we still have to go.

My worry is that the freedom we have been given to design an ambitious curriculum that suits the needs of our own group of children will turn into another ticklist of targets that children will have to achieve. I’ve not come across any publications that advise teachers and practitioners to break down skills into ‘subsets’, or to write extensive documentation on a progression curriculum.

My hope is that over the course of this year, schools and settings will read the guidance and begin to make small changes; starting with a greatly reduced focus on assessment data. Everyone is busy enough just trying to cope with the pandemic with no time (or the need) to add to the workload by replacing assessment collection with progression curriculum design. Let’s focus on the current positives that are materialising and being shared on social media platforms and decide, over the next few months, how to make changes to our curricula (if indeed any changes need to be made). We don’t have to do it all now.

Here are some extracts from the Early Adopters Facebook group - a thoroughly inspiring bunch of people.

A positive of being an early adopter is:

Time with the children, less paperwork and freedom to go with the children in the moment more.

That it’s proving to be a brilliant opportunity for professional discussion!

Trusted to make judgements about children and be present in their learning without worrying about evidence.

It’s made us all start to question our processes and asking why are we doing it, is it relevant and what does it tell you!

Let’s fly with this enthusiasm, reflect, and enjoy the process of constantly improving our curriculum and pedagogy, without feeling the need to write all of it down. I always go back to the EYFS educational programmes. They tell us what we should be offering our children. Let’s not overbuild the curriculum!

By Helen Edwards

The problem is, back in September the days were longer, the sun was (mostly) shining, and the temperatures were warmer. But now we’re in November, and the days are shorter, the sun is often hidden away by a layer of thick cloud that tends to drop a lot of water, and the temperatures have plummeted! At home, I have seen the thermostat creeping up for longer (and the calls for jumper wearing instead falling on deaf ears!) but at least at home the windows stay closed. In a classroom, where all the windows are still wide open, is there any point in having the heating on, especially with school budgets being as tight as they are?

Well, having worked in a classroom that had very poor insulation and a door that was almost always open for the children to go to the outside learning space, I can say with good authority that having the heating on does make a big difference. Admittedly, a lot of the heat goes straight out the window, but for those brief moments where it is actually raising the temperature of the air in the classroom, it brings just enough warmth to take the edge off.

It’s encouraging to see more and more schools allowing the children to wear extra clothes – a warm jumper makes a lot of difference compared to a thin school polo shirt – but what else can be done to keep warm?

·         I always tried things like a Jump Start Jonny or Joe Wicks 5 minute warm up, to get the children active and turn up their inner thermostats. Most of these can be done while keeping the children socially distanced as required.

·         Rearranging the room so that children aren’t sat too near an open window can make a massive difference. If this isn’t possible, try moving the children around between sessions so it’s not the same children sat in the coldest area.

Hopefully, this will be a mild winter, but always be aware of the cold when teaching your class. If they start to turn blue, it might be time to do something to warm them up!

By Ben Case from the Education Team 

The last couple of weeks, however, I have been reminded to look at things a different way.  How about we flip the negative words we use around this time of year and consider the darkness in the way that a 4-year-old might – ‘magical’, ‘exciting’, ‘mysterious’ and maybe even a bit ‘scary’.  Greg Bottrill talks about ‘Adventure Island’ being a ‘world of story and dream’ and the last week or two has encouraged me to think about how amazing the possibilities are when capturing the imagination of a young child.  In my article ‘Spinning A Yarn’, I recommend that as adults, we try to fully engage our children in the world of storytelling, in an effort to set them up for a life full of incredible tales.  I suggested a walk in the woods could be a great starting point for storytelling, but even your own street becomes a magical place after dark.  If you consider it was probably early February since it was dark at 5pm, that’s a very long time ago in the life of a child in the Early Years.  The novelty is not lost on them (especially as you can pretend it is later than it actually is!).

In ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ there seems something magical about the family stepping out to go for a meal in the café on the High Street, as there is no more food in the house.  It is a particularly amazing experience for Sophie because it is dark: ‘all the street-lights were lit, and all the cars had their lights on’.  It is my birthday at the end of October and that means a curry is on the cards.  Ten years ago, this curry may have taken place at 11pm on the way home from the pub, but these days I settle for a 5.30pm booking so we’re all home for ‘bedtime’.  My 4-year old was in heaven this time around.  He was thrilled to grab his torch and get his coat on for the outing.  He shone his torch, gasped at the stars and moon, and ran and ran and ran.

Since then we’ve been out for spooky Halloween walks and built our own kitchen-roll telescope to see the full moon.  Both have fully captured his imagination and fuelled many conversations.  To have an activity after an evening meal like this can be a very rewarding experience.  If you are working in an Early Years setting, maybe you could suggest that your families seize the opportunity to banish the doom and gloom and embrace the darkness!

By Stephen Kilgour, SEND Advisor 

I think they might drive the people around me a bit crazy…

I have lists of things to do: for today, in half term, to tell my work colleagues.

Then there are the lists of things I want to remember: books I have read as an adult, books I read as a child and want to pass onto my children, films I love, places we have been on holiday, words I like, and more recently a list of all the new words and phrases related to the pandemic (I thought this would jog my memory one day when someone much younger than me asks about it).

When each of my children were born, I made lists of names we liked and their meanings.

Way back, for a friend’s hen night, I made a list of pros and cons for keeping her own last name or changing to her fiancé’s (she kept her own - if you’re wondering!).

When our family were deciding whether to relocate, I made a list of the pros and cons of staying or going (we stayed – thankfully as it turned out).

Throughout my life, lists have helped me remember things (daily or long term) and have helped me make decisions. They comfort me, support me, make me feel ‘in control’.

Some of you may know the lovely ‘first reader’ books by Arnold Lobel, originally published in the 1970s, about Frog and Toad. There is one story called A List, in which Toad writes a list of everything he will do that day:

Wake up

Eat Breakfast

Get Dressed

Go to Frog’s House

Take Walk With Frog…

As he does each thing, he crosses it off his list (and yes, I do that too). But then, while on said walk with Frog, a gust of wind blows the list out of Toad’s hand.

‘What will I do without my list?’ cries Toad.

Frog suggests running after it, but Toad says no. Frog asks why not?

‘Because’, wailed Toad, ‘running after my list is not one of the things that I wrote on my list of things to do!’

Ahhh, the wisdom in those words. The problem with lists is that we stick to them. We rely on them. And we forget to be spontaneous, to look at what is happening right now in front of us, in this moment.

There has been a lot of talk about lists in early years education recently, with the publication of the new Development Matters and the new ELGs. Educators are thinking about how we have recorded young children’s learning in the past (maybe by looking at a list of statements and, dare I say it, ticking them), and how we could do it differently. 

Perhaps we could all learn a lesson from Toad.

It’s never been more difficult to remain ‘present’ with our friends and families when we are spending time with them (whether that be in person or virtually, considering the current climate!).  Most households have hundreds of television channels they can be watching at any given time.  Our phones have become an extension of our bodies.  They go everywhere with us, and with the proliferation of apps, they are constantly notifying us of something.  It has to be said that we are obviously communicating more with the people we don’t actually see as regularly – even if that is to share the funny video your brother in law just sent you. But if the instant text communications come at the expense of genuine conversations with our nearest and dearest, then are they justifiable?  More importantly, our youngest children are growing up in a world where their achievements are celebrated for the purpose of sharing on a group chat (how many parents these days actually miss their child’s first steps because their face is behind a phone filming them?).

It is important to clarify that I am myself guilty of being that pre-occupied parent some of the time.  I am trying my best to literally distance myself from my phone for significant chunks of the day because I was more and more aware of how dis-engaged I was becoming.  It doesn’t help when a lot of us have access (in my case, choose to have access!) to work related emails/messaging services/social media on our personal handsets.  An increase in ‘working from home’ blurs the lines further: ‘I will just respond to that email at 6pm because it means I won’t forget tomorrow, even though my 4 year old desperately wants me to finish the Lego pirate ship’.  I appreciate many people have their priorities better organised!  Throw in the mix instant access to news at a time when frankly it’s pretty important to hear it, sporting scorelines and highlights delivered to the palm of your hand as they happen, and weather notifications that tell you it’s going to be pouring down all day tomorrow.  All of a sudden, you’ve got a pretty unhealthy situation on your hands.

Back to the children who are witnessing all this.  They are likely to have grown up seeing this behaviour since they arrived on the planet.  It could be entirely normal to see Mummy and Daddy sit in silence as they catch up on various un-important Facebook updates of people they don’t actually like.  This behaviour is becoming typical in many households.  So, it is accepted by our little ones.  The knock-on effects can be huge for the communicative and social development of these children.  What can we do to ensure we are more ‘present’ in their lives and be able to get back to a time where it was normal to talk together in the living room (as there was nothing on the 3/4/5 channels on the TV)?  Personally, I would advocate screen free time for the entire family for significant chunks of the day (easier said than done).  Leaving devices in a different part of your home until an agreed time – this is particularly effective for those of us who even if a phone doesn’t light up, feel the need to look at it every 2-3 minutes!  With our youngest children, this provides opportunities for creative play that everyone is truly engaged in, and from there, communication will flow.  For our older children, it’s an opportunity to practice the age-old art of conversation (I appreciate this will go down like a lead balloon with teenagers across the land).  Even if these scenarios aren’t realistic at the minute, the one key takeaway from this provocation should be to never forget that the behaviour and lifestyle we model is hugely important to the choices that our children will make in the future. 

Let’s chat more.

This Coffee Break was written by our SEND Advisor Stephen Kilgour. 

Here are some of the main points from the survey:

·         95% of early years practitioners and reception teachers feel that better communication with parents and carers who find it difficult to stay connected is needed to support children and families who may be impacted by self-isolation requirements or partial setting closures over the coming months.

The pandemic has presented challenges in keeping in touch with families. There may be language barriers, work related reasons, physical or mental health issues, or where the technology is not available - and these are only a few of the many hurdles in the way of staying connected with their child’s key person or teacher. This is not easy for parents, carers and staff, even at the best of times.

• 83% of early years practitioners and reception teachers reported that they would engage with parents differently following lockdown and are more confident to approach parents and carers to discuss their child’s learning and wellbeing.

During lockdown, educators found themselves in a new situation, connecting with families in a different and often more personal way. Perhaps this is what has led to this greater and very positive confidence in approaching parents and carers.

• 87% of respondents feel schools and settings will make greater use of technology to stay in touch with parents and carers where classes or bubbles need to be quarantined, or there is a local lockdown.

Educators rose to the challenge of remote learning in March. They used all kinds of technology to support families: email, video, voice recordings, online learning journals, visual platforms. As we continue to teach and learn in uncertain times, these tech tools will carry on being used creatively by staff.

• 70% of respondents believe staff need more training in remote learning to support children.

This is a new area of training settings and schools were not expecting a year ago. But it is important to note that staff are seeking their own learning to improve the learning they offer children and families.

The survey also showed that early years practitioners and teachers were more likely to use technology to support their teaching after lockdown. The top three uses they think this will focus on were:

Communication with parents and carers - 93%

Sharing resources and activities - 91%

Supporting children with remote learning - 83%

As early years and school communities continue to grapple with what education during a pandemic looks like, it is heartening to see that connecting with parents and carers is at the forefront, and that new skills that were learned during lockdown will be invaluable over the coming months.

Here’s the tree in question with my 4-year-old making his way up:

So, what’s the point of this piece if tree climbing is still happening?  The fact is, it’s not happening nearly as much as it used to.  In my opinion there are two obvious reasons for this.  The first is that now there are other things children can be doing with their spare time.  You only have to go back a decade or so to find a difference in the kind of on-tap visual entertainment available for children, and certainly a whole generation will take you to a time when children had far fewer options for entertainment, and so they had to be more creative in their play (cliché time: ‘when I were a lad’/’it’s not like it used to be’ etc etc).

The second reason is risk.  Whether it be at home or at nursery/school, children aren’t exposed to the same risks that they were a few decades ago.  Thankfully there have been really positive changes over recent years to introduce more ‘risky’ play into our settings and schools. I particularly love the emphasis woodwork is now getting in the EYFS (Pete Moorhouse’s excellent work has a lot to do with this).  Progress hasn’t necessarily been fast enough though – my colleague, Jules, wrote this article way back in 2010 about the value of risk and challenge in the Early Years, and finding a balanced and proportionate approach.

The benefits of letting our children have opportunities to climb trees are significant, as ‘Nature Kids’ point out:

·         Our child is building their own awareness, ability to assess risk and prevent injury

·         They are building their focus, spatial awareness and coordination skills

·         We are offering them a huge opportunity to build their self-confidence and not just through the physical act of climbing but also their ability to make the decisions that got them there

·         It goes without saying that their strength, flexibility and physical abilities improve each and every climb

·         Tree climbing is a challenge for the mind; enhancing problem solving and analytical skills

·         Children develop their own sense of achievement, particularly for those that maybe couldn’t get there last week, month or year but did it today!

·         A child learns that injuries are a part of growing up, and a grazed knee or splinter in the finger is a lesson in itself.

I’ve visited two nurseries recently that have actually designed their playground around ‘climbing trees’ which I think is such a great idea.  There was a time, when the trees would have been removed and the whole space covered in rubber!  Wouldn’t it be amazing if every Early Years setting had a climbing tree?

Dr Lala Manners has written a helpful article that advises on how to support parents to understand the benefits of ‘risky’ play.

This Coffee Break was written by SEND Advisor, Stephen Kilgour. 

Being in the classroom means you may see things from a different angle than your SLT do. You may also see things that are being introduced that you think will benefit your school – perhaps to do with a curriculum area, children’s wellbeing, supporting a positive learning environment, or the kind of assessment data you’re collecting.  So, how can you approach your SLT so that they consider your ideas?

·         Make sure you have researched the idea fully and are clear in your mind what you are sharing with them and the impact it will have on the school, children, staff or the budget!

·         Think about why you want to suggest it. Is it just something you’ve seen on social media that you think will make a difference, or does it come from a policy change that you know is on its way and you’re thinking about in advance?

·         Everyone in a school is busy! Arrange a time to meet with SLT so there is a focus on what you are saying and it’s not just a passing conversation in the corridor, or just as they are about to go out to another meeting.

·         Before meeting with them, think about the benefits and any downfalls. Others may not share your enthusiasm for this new idea, so be prepared to help them understand where you are coming from and why you think this will be a positive change.

·         If appropriate, offer to run it just in your class / year group. During this time, keep SLT informed about how it’s going and, if it isn’t having the impact you were hoping for, admit this, summarise what you have learned from it, and move on.  If it is going as you expected (or even better!), invite them to see it in action, and arrange another meeting to discuss next steps. If you are going to be running it in several classes, make sure the other teachers are on board too and understand fully what is being asked of them.

·         Be prepared with a plan to introduce it to the rest of the school if asked to. This may involve you having to speak with other teachers but keep the idea clear and explain the benefits that you found when you tried it, say what you found difficult and how you overcame those difficulties and most importantly, offer support to those who may struggle with the change.

The important thing to remember when going to SLT is that they know what it’s like to be in the classroom, but they now have to think about the impact on the whole school. If you’re well prepared and help make their decision easier, you’ll certainly be on the right track to helping bring about a change in your school.

By Ben Case, from the FSF education team. 

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how 2020 is the perfect time for us to get back to basics when it comes to our practice working with young children or those with additional needs.  I mentioned in my previous Coffee Break that we should be looking to the past for inspiration, and considering what genuine high quality CPD is about.  I referred to the Nursery Nurse qualification of yesteryear and the amazing placement opportunities and studies that went into earning the revered NNEB badge.

I was inspired by a conversation on Twitter recently to purchase a classic ‘NNEB book’.  ‘This Little Puffin’ is now over 30 years old and is a collection of songs, rhymes and games that “no parent, teacher or nursery group should be without”.  I really wish I had bought this book a long time ago.  It is crammed full of resources.  The majority of the songs and rhymes I know were learned ‘on the job’ when I started teaching in the Early Years in a special needs school. I was lucky to be surrounded by brilliant, experienced support staff who guided me on my way. Since becoming a parent I have dug into my back catalogue countless times and having a level of knowledge has been very helpful.

Parents in 2020 have numerous technological options when it comes to entertaining a child or preventing them from becoming upset.  I think this is one of the key reasons that it has become less necessary for us as adults to know a handful of songs that we can turn to.  To me this seems very generational.  At the risk of gender stereotyping, my mother and mother-in-law both know hundreds of little songs or rhymes for children (neither have ever worked in education).  I would have heard them as a child when my mother sang them to me, but as an adult, until I worked in an Early Years setting with women from a similar generation to my mum, my knowledge was extremely limited.  In 20 years time is anyone going to know any?

In Ben’s article he reminds us of some of the many benefits of using nursery rhymes with our children:

·         They help develop a child’s imagination.

·         They help develop a child’s vocabulary.

·         They help develop a child’s communication and social skills.

·         They help develop a child’s language rhythm.

·         They help develop a child’s understanding of how words are formed.

Inclusion and diversity should be reflected in the rhymes we sing with our children. We can learn from parents in a nursery/childminder setting. They are a wonderful source of ideas for traditional songs that their children respond well to. It is also so easy to change the words in existing rhymes to reflect differences - food being an obvious one. 

Thankfully, there is an organisation that is trying to re-promote the developmental benefits that Ben mentions.  World Nursery Rhyme Week is taking place this year from November 16^th to 20^th and they have a brilliant website that you can visit.  Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could use that week this year to share the knowledge and start a movement to support anyone who works with young children or those with additional needs to fully embrace nursery rhymes, and pass on the wisdom to everyone who needs to know!

By SEND Advisor Stephen Kilgour 

I know what you’re thinking. Desks? How can desks be interesting. Well, it’s all a matter of perspective. And, interestingly, it’s the apparent change of perspective which I find...interesting.

In the new “socially distanced” world, we must consider the space between us more often than ever. This was always going to be problematic in a school. Tight corridors, shared bathrooms, limited classroom space. And that’s before considering children’s innate penchant for closeness.

However, this situation has seen a very “old school” trend re-emerge (and I use that saying very literally).

‘Victorian Style’ classrooms. Otherwise known as positioning your desks in rows facing the front. Before continuing, I would like to make it clear I’m not advocating the use of this style for younger children. I think we are all agreed on the benefits of a more loose and movable desk arrangement for children in Reception and Key Stage 1.

However, as an ex Key Stage 2 teacher, I can personally attest to this old school style. As with every classroom configuration, it won’t be for everyone, but it’s been really fascinating to hear some Key Stage 2 teachers who are trying out this set up for the first time and really singing its praises.

I can remember the first time I did this in my Year 6 class. It took a little while for the children to get used to it but, as with all things, we adapted. Having two to a desk and all facing the same way, I began to notice a huge uptick in focus.

The problem I had with group tables is it that you often end up with some children facing out the window or at the back wall. This is not conducive for concentrating. Also, it wasn’t that comfortable for the children who had to keep turning round to see me. Having them all face me meant gaining and maintaining eye-contact was much easier – a really important factor when communicating effectively with other people. And they didn’t have to shift about all the time.

If you do want to switch up your classroom a bit for the new year, here are my top tips for 'Going Victorian’.

1)      Keep 1 group table for yourself. You can use this for your focus group that lesson, or as an intervention space.

2)      Allow the children to switch desks at regular intervals. Some children may not want to sit next to the same person all year. And nor should they. Mix it up every few weeks and allow them to work with others.

3)      Get into the habit of asking the children to put the tables back at the end of the day. The one problem with Victorian style is “desk creep”. Those desks are going to move. You won’t notice it throughout the day, but they will slowly creep towards the front and before you know it you are sandwiched between 15 desks and your interactive whiteboard. Build it into the end-of-the-day routine. Each pair of children are responsible for their own desk. I put little bits of tape under where the table legs should sit so the children knew where they needed to be, and how far they had moved!

By Jack Dabell 

Although you might not believe it, and 5 minutes on social media would certainly encourage you to think otherwise, there have been some positive developments in education over recent years.  The two areas I am most invested in are Special Educational Needs and the Early Years.  In both these fields of late there has been a concerted effort from the powers that be to move away from a data-centric model.  Firstly, following the Rochford Review in 2016, P-scales are now no longer statutory when working with children with additional needs.  As a Deputy Head teacher in a school for children with complex needs for 7 years, I had a responsibility for ‘assessment’.  This time allowed me to become well versed in the significant benefits a shift away from progress scores can make.  Ten years ago, if Ofsted were visiting a specialist school, they would have an unhealthy interest in a school’s data.  There was a phase where a document called ‘Progression Guidance’ was introduced which told you exactly how much progress a child with complex learning needs should make over a given period of time.  Obviously, it was in the best interests of schools to ensure that the vast majority of their pupils adhered to the guidance in terms of their progress.  It was the ultimate example of a ’tick-list’ approach at its worst.  Teachers were required to mark off statements from each P-Scale on the computer (with a presumption of linear progress – otherwise the data didn’t work!).  This, unfortunately, even in an ‘Outstanding’ school led to bad classroom practice. It is completely unsurprising that it did so.  Teachers are judged on the progress that their children make – the measure of this progress is what the computer says it is – so inevitably we teach towards targets that are not necessarily developmentally appropriate, and certainly not child-centred.  Thankfully there has been a shift in inspections over the last couple of years, and Ofsted no longer wish to see this assessment data.  This is hugely significant, and the best schools are embracing the newfound freedom.  Unfortunately, where these systems were relied upon to patch up knowledge and skills, then the removal of these systems has led to a level of panic – and obviously there are now tens of alternative models for how to do assessment ‘right’!  Who’s to say which is the best?!

The subject of guidance in the EYFS is a very topical issue right now.  Although I have witnessed denial of it ever being a problem in recent weeks and months, many early years settings had fallen into a similar trap to their specialist counterparts.  I know this from my time visiting nurseries in London as part of outreach work from my special school, and now as an advisor in the North East, visiting nurseries and schools, supporting them with children who have additional needs.  I have heard many times ‘we need help with child x – we just can’t show any progress data for him’.  One option in this scenario is to break each milestone down into ten tiny ‘targets’ – that way progress data can still be calculated and shown to whoever might want to see it (hopefully no one!).  My preferred approach would be to get back to basics and consider developmentally how the child is currently achieving.  For this particular child, what is the most important thing for them to learn next – and is it developmentally appropriate? Involving the family is key here. Can everyone involved with the child tell the story of the learning, and what they have done to enable it?  If there has been no learning, then what are we going to do about it? 

This would be my advice in a specialist setting or in the Early Years, but it relies heavily on practitioners having a sound understanding of typical child development.  It would appear that documents such as Development Matters have been patching up gaps in training and knowledge for some time now.  That is not to say that they can’t be incredibly useful as a guide for practitioners, but they should not replace high quality CPD that focuses on child development.  How many new practitioners these days are pointed in the direction of books like ‘From Birth to Five Years’ by Mary Sheridan?  If they’re not, why not?  There is much to learn from the old NNEB qualification and the types of practice that were expected. The placement expectations for the training were also amazing.

I am a huge believer in progression in education, and improving what has gone before, especially if documents start being used in a way that they were never intended for.  At the same time, it is crazy to think that we can’t learn from the past – exceptional learning took place before 2012/2008/…...  If ever there was a time to consider the CPD needs of our practitioners, it is now.  In my opinion it is the perfect time to get back to basics.

The new Development Matters document (DMs) is structured with broad ‘Pathways’ for children’s development: Birth to three, 3 and 4 year olds and Reception. Within the Prime Areas of Learning there are additional ‘Checkpoints’ to tune in to what a child is demonstrating in relation to typical development.

The introductory pages of Development Matters (DMs) 2020 contain some clear statements. Here are a few:

No job is more important than working with children in the early years.

It guides, but does not replace, professional judgement.

The document is not a tick list for generating lots of data. You can use your professional knowledge to help children make progress…

Babies and young children do not develop in a fixed way. Their development is like a spider’s web with many strands, not a straight line.

Depth in learning matters much more than moving from one band to the next or trying to cover everything.

The observation checkpoints can help you to notice whether a child is at risk of falling behind in their development. You can make all the difference by taking action quickly, using your professional judgement and your understanding of child development.

Reading these statements, it is clear that early years professionals need to bring their own knowledge of child development to the new DMs. They are intended as a guide, just as the previous Development Matters was.

Before we can go on a road trip we have to learn how to drive. Once we can drive, we set off on our journey, perhaps with some company, and with a map to guide us (phone/SATNAV). There will be some unexpected turns along the way, lots of adventures and stories to tell. And the more we drive, the wider variety of road trips we take, the better we get.

Before we can become early years professionals, we need to learn about child development. Once we have grounded ourselves in this knowledge, we set off on a professional trip accompanied by children and their learning journeys. With a map (DMs) to guide us, pathways to follow, checkpoints to notice. Along the way we learn more, take courses, reflect and deepen our knowledge and understanding, take more journeys, have some stories to tell. And so we improve.

DMs cannot (and never could) replace professional knowledge and development. That can only come with good quality training that includes an understanding of child development. It will come with teams, large or small, where more experienced staff share their knowledge with those nearer the beginning of their road trips. It will come with excellent and affordable CPD. And it will come with policy makers valuing the workforce who do this most important of jobs.

We have a long way to go.

Change is hard. And this particular change is coming at a time of huge uncertainty, socially and within the sector.

But let’s think of it as another road trip. Fold up the new DMs and stick it in your back pocket so you look at it every so often. You may need to pull over and discuss it with your fellow passengers. You may need to take an extra course and extend your driver's licence. But before long it will become tatty and dogeared, with some coffee cup stains and sticky fingerprints on it (snacks are very important on a trip!). Just like the old DMs, which you can keep in your other pocket (because the DMs are non-statutory). And all the while you will have been continuing to learn with your children, noticing what they know and can do, intervening to support development, deepening their experiences and your own.

You can read about Julian Grenier's thoughts on the Early Years curriculum in an article published on the FSF in June.

We also have some discussion areas on the Forum for you to share your thoughts and ideas on the new Development Matters. 

A lot of things will be different for you and the children this year but try not to let that distract you from what you know works well.

The first few weeks of the new school year are arguably the most crucial and I have seen lots of people discussing about how they are best spent.

There’s a lot going around about catch up curriculums, fillings gaps, closing “The Gap” (awful lot of gap talk) – and that’s all very valid. But, personally, I don’t think we should be charging into any of that straight out of the gate.

Yes, we should be identifying how to build on the previous learning and the progress children have made during last year.

Yes, we should be taking time to figure out our priorities when it comes to “what to work on” this year.

But I think one thing should take priority in the first couple of weeks: routines.

Routines can be anything. They can be for understanding expected behaviour, timetabling, transitioning from one thing to another thing, earning rewards, lining up at the door, working with specific groups. The list goes on. It doesn’t matter what they are for. What matters is remembering that routines are crucial for children. Proper routines that are put in place early and followed through will make your year, and the children’s year, much easier.

For my very first official teaching position, I was put in a Year 6 class at the start of the Spring term. Only looking back now, I realise how difficult that was. Missing out on the first term with my class meant I was learning their routines, and not the other way around.

My advice is to decide on your routines beforehand, implement them early, and follow through with them all year. It is very difficult to introduce new routines halfway through the year. Routines can be adapted, but you need to have something to adapt in the first place.

For some practical advice, I have found unique noises work very well. Paring an action with something auditory can really help cement a routine. For example, if I ever had something to announce to my whole class, where it was imperative everyone needed to listen at the same time, this would be preceded with a unique sound. One year I used a wind chime, another year it was just me saying “bing bong!” like some kind of human elevator.

I established very early that if the children heard this sound, the expectation was that everyone stops what they are doing, puts everything down and looks at me.

With any routine, it took a few tries to get everyone used to it but after that it was very effective.

Also, everyone enjoyed me saying “bing bong” at least 4 times a day.

This was tweeted by Junior School Head teacher and TES columnist Michael Tidd @MichaelT1979 this week and was part of a discussion about concerns around returning to school in September.

The bit that got me thinking is the last phrase ‘imploring parents’.  

‘Implore’ is a powerful word.  Many parents and carers are anxious about their children going back to school, particularly if the child has a health condition, if there is someone at home with a health condition, or if they are in regular contact with an elderly relative. And, as Michael Tidd says, the DfE finds itself 'imploring' families ahead of September's planned return. 

It is worth noting that very young children have been able to return to their early years settings since 1^st June and that group sizes were able to accommodate usual numbers since 20^th July. Initial DfE data showed that uptake by parents was cautious at first, with one in ten children returning to their provision. Early Years providers may well have useful experiences to share about how they persuaded families to come again. This attendance, of course, was not mandatory. The Government has made it clear that attendance for school children in September will be compulsory: It is vital that children and young people return to school and college, for their educational progress, for their wellbeing, and for their wider development. School attendance will be mandatory from the beginning of the new academic year. This means that it is your legal duty as a parent to send your child (if they are of compulsory school age) to school regularly. (‘What Parents and Carers Need to Know…’ DfE guidance).

Voices from all stakeholders are united in agreeing that going back to school in September needs to happen, for the wellbeing and education of the nation’s children.  In mid-August the Government launched a campaign #backtoschoolsafely to reassure parents and carers that it is safe to send their children to school again. But the return of all children to school will only work if parents are on board. And to be on board, they will need to feel confident. If the outgoing message is strong, clear and honest, then it should be a matter of ‘persuading’, rather than ‘imploring’. I suspect it will be at the coal face that this persuasive message actually has an impact.

So, at said coal face, educators will be working extremely hard to facilitate this huge transition for children and families, who have been together, perhaps in struggling conditions, for many months without the structure, connectivity and outward reaching environment of their school.  They will be making special provision for children who are more vulnerable, planning how children will move around the environment, how they will organise play times and lunches, exploring creative ways to learn for certain curriculum areas, and communicating to parents and carers the measures they have put in place to ensure safety for children, staff and families. Partnership with parents will continue to play a central role as each school community rises to the challenge so all children do return.

Ultimately this is about trust. The trust parents and carers have in the Government; and the trust they have in their child’s school.  

What seems like months to us is a large part of a small person’s life. Even though the year label on the door will have moved onto the next level, the children will be at varying points along the developmental journey to their new year group.

Educators will be thinking about how they can build bridges across the experience gap for their children. Julie Fisher uses the phrase ‘building on’ rather than ‘catching up’ or ‘being ready’. It takes time to get to know children, and to notice where they are in their journey. Children’s wellbeing will be at the heart of ‘building on’.

Your learning environment will play an enormous part in how you ‘build on’ for the children arriving in September. As much as possible it will need to reflect what they left halfway through their previous living and learning year. This will differ depending on the age and stage of children you will be welcoming, but it will be a truth for all educators in all year groups. Think about the spaces they occupied previously, talk to the staff who worked with them then, and use what you already know about them. Reflect on the outdoor spaces children can learn in. Alistair Bryce Clegg reminds us that the environment you provide needs to work for your children, and for you. There is a lot of pandemic-related guidance to wade through as well as embracing a stage of learning for children you may be less familiar with. Year 1 staff who will be welcoming Reception children will be bridging the gap between the EYFS and the National Curriculum, for example. Find a starting point with your learning environment that you and the children can build on from together.

You will also need to think about the flow of the day. Can you be more spacious with your timetable, removing interruptions and allowing longer stretches of time to be with children in their new learning environments?

And of course, the curriculum you provide must be relevant to your children. What do they need right now? What are their interests? What are they telling you in those first few days and weeks back? Noticing and listening will enable you to offer meaningful learning experiences. In return you will see children who are engaged, confident, thriving.

All this takes time, determination and teamwork. There will be lots of pressures to ‘catch up’, as though we are running an enormous race. We mustn’t lose sight of what children need, and if we miss out this all-important phase of return with this very special cohort of children, we run the risk of them missing out on being life-long learners.

You can listen to the education team chatting with Alistair Bryce Clegg about learning environments and continuous provision and also with Julie Fisher talking about Transition to Year 1 in 2020 on our podcasts. 

This useful video gives more information about DLD: 

The role of Speech and Language Therapists in supporting the development of children with additional needs cannot be understated.  I’ve seen first-hand, working in a school for children with complex needs how their knowledge and shared strategies can impact hugely on a child’s life – and provide practitioners in nurseries and schools with lifelong understanding of how they can appropriately support these children.

It is the role of a Speech and Language Therapist to diagnose DLD, and currently the process of assessment can take approximately 45 minutes.  At present there is an innovative collaboration taking place between Therapy Box, the Bristol Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit, Newcastle University and three NHS sites in Hackney, Newcastle and Bristol.  The project started in November 2019 and will take place across two years, with the aim of developing an app that will make the process of assessing children for DLD much quicker.  The Language Explorer is a free story-retelling app that aims to learn about children’s language and communication abilities. It plans to achieve this by collecting data on how children between the ages of 4 and 8 perform on its three assessments: story retell, comprehension and repetition.  It has been designed with children to ensure it is engaging, and to make sure the language used is suitable for its audience. After creating your profile, you will first listen to the story. You will then be asked to retell the story in your own words, complete a quiz and play a repeating game. Once you’ve completed all three challenges, you have the option to listen back to your story and play a game where you steer your ship to collect as many treasure coins as possible, making sure to avoid dangerous rocks!

The team behind the project are hoping for 600 children between the ages of 4-8 to use the app and record their stories.  They want children to take part from a range of backgrounds and areas to ensure the information that they gather is as useful as possible.

The potential benefits of a collaboration of this nature could be far reaching.  If successful, it is hoped that the assessment of a child who may be affected by DLD could be reduced from 45 minutes to 15 minutes.  The time saved is obviously significant, but the major benefits will come when the saved time can be used to work directly with the child and their parents/teachers to support their learning.  Many parents and teachers will tell you that 30 minutes of a Speech and Language Therapists time is very precious, which gives an indication of how highly respected the role is and how impactful their work can be.  If you know of any 4-8 year olds who would like to support this project by taking part in the story telling activity, you can download the Language Explorer in the App Store or Google Play (I can personally advocate that my 4 year old loved it!).

You can learn more about The Language Explorer App and the research behind it by listening to our podcast with Rebecca Bright from Therapy Box and Dr Yvonne Wren, Director of Bristol Speech and Language Therapy Research Unit and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol Faculty of Health Sciences. 

Stephen Kilgour, Tapestry and FSF SEND Advisor. 

The Rain Stick

for Beth and Rand

Upend the rain stick and what happens next 

Is a music that you never would have known 

To listen for. In a cactus stalk

Downpour, sluice-rush, spillage and backwash

Come flowing through. You stand there like a pipe

Being played by water, you shake it again lightly

And diminuendo runs through all its scales

Like a gutter stopping trickling. And now here comes

A sprinkle of drops out of the freshened leaves,

Then subtle little wets off grass and daisies;

Then glitter-drizzle, almost-breaths of air.

Upend the stick again. What happens next

Is undiminished for having happened once,

Twice, ten a thousand times before.

Who cares if all the music that transpires

Is the fall of grit or dry seeds through a cactus?

You are like a rich man entering heaven 

Through the ear of a raindrop. Listen now again. 

by Seamus Heaney. Included in his collection of poems The Spirit Level (1996). 

The thread running through the report is that the attainment gap is growing:

Having slowly but steadily decreased from 2007 to 2017, the gap in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile by 2019 had increased back to 2015 levels. (p.4)

The economic, social and emotional effects of living through and with the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to widen the gap even further.

The document covers everything from Early Years provision, to the early years workforce and sustainability moving forward. Here are just a few things that stood out:

What is good early years provision?

The report made the point that policy makers often see ‘more’ as meaning ‘good’. But quantity is not the same as quality, and we need to have both in balance to achieve good early years provision that works equally for all. As the authors explain, improved child development has a direct impact on closing the attainment gap for disadvantaged children, while enabling increased parental employment reduces poverty and therefore indirectly impacts the closing of the gap. We know that child development improves through high quality provision, and we know that parental employment increases through longer, flexible and affordable provision. This presents a constant ‘tension’. (p.7)

What impact has the 30 hours initiative had?

The report reminds us that while the 2-year-old offer and the universal entitlement were introduced to improve child development, the 30 hours entitlement was all about upping parental employment. However, only working parents end up being eligible because of the minimum salary requirement. Meaning that children from families with very low or no income are only able to access 15 hours. The authors site the Education Select Committee report Tackling disadvantage in the early years, which recommends that: ‘The Government review it’s 30 hours childcare policy to reduce the perverse consequences for disadvantaged children.’ (p.15)

Is the Early Years workforce valued?

One of the most startling points in this report was the evidence from CEEDA (2017) that ‘the childcare workforce is less qualified than both the teaching workforce and the general female workforce.’ (p.32). Yet this is a workforce that can make a huge difference to the lives of children now, and the lives and prospects of the adults of the future. We know this requires skill and knowledge, as well as many other things. We also know that this needs investment, so that managers can afford to continue to train their staff, and so that these roles are well paid and highly valued. All of which would be in line with the Early Years Ofsted Inspection Framework requirements around CPD.  As the authors state in one of their recommendations, we need to ‘level up provision.’  (p.7)

How well is all this measured and monitored?

Something that appears throughout the report is how much more evidence and monitoring is needed, whether it is in relation to the impact of 30 hours entitlement on equality and quality of provision, or whether Ofsted judgements and ratings are the most appropriate way to monitor outcomes for children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, or how barriers to accessing funding relate to uptake of the funding that is on offer. We need more evidence to understand what is happening and why.

The report is comprehensive and timely, even though it was commissioned and written before the COVID-19 crisis. It highlights the challenges, and the necessity, of balancing the policy making seesaw for the early years sector, and it confirms the findings of Steps to Sustainability, a report commissioned by the APPG for Childcare and Early Education. 

If you'd like to hear Beatrice Merrick and Nathan Archer discussing the report, look out for our podcast episode with them called 'Getting the Balance Right' available here soon.