FSF articles and podcasts
In our March article, educator and researcher Sarah Holmes shares her experience of exploring spaces ‘in-between’ homes and settings as places to begin to connect and build relationships with children and families. You…
FSF articles and podcasts
We have two new articles for you this month. Richard Waite shares thoughts on a long career in the early years. And Vanna Fossella, who is part of Tapestry’s Product Support team, writes about the impact of hearing Ker…
FSF articles and podcasts
In our May articles, Early Years teacher Ann-Marie Piper shares her experience of cultivating curiosity in young children. And book confidence coach and bestselling author Winsome Duncan shares tips and support for par…
FSF articles and podcasts
Our new article for June is by Caroline Vollans, who considers whether we have a narrow view of risk and risk-taking in the early years. We’re also highlighting content from our extensive library of articles – this tim…
The Role of the Adult in Early Years Settings: Part 2
Part 2 continues the journey of exploring our role in supporting young children’s learning and development. It outlines the five remaining ‘selves’ of the ‘plural practitioner’ framework that …
Jenny Barber wrote for us this half term 'Shake up! Refresh! How to reflect and move your setting on...'. Jenny's article encourages us to consider how we make changes to our provision that are necessary, understood and consistently implemented by…
Ofsted Inspection Reports for Childminders (Part 2) In this article we look at the quality and standards of the early years provision and outcomes for children.
The Practitioner as an Explorer: Effective Observation Techniques Observation is …
How do young children learn to make decisions?
Babies and young children are able to make decisions that are relevant to their lives. This article examines what kinds of decisions children can make at different stages of their development and …
On our forums it has been a very full month with staff beavering away to ensure they have everything ready for the ‘end of the year’ handovers. We constantly monitor our forums to ensure that threads are constructive and welcoming. We also use the …
This term we have published two articles designed to help you and you staff team set ‘Next Steps’ effectively. There seems to be an ongoing conversation about the best way to approach ‘Next Steps’ and hopefully our articles will give you things to …
Resilience and early years experience: child, family, community
Kate Cairns invites us to consider the interaction between resilience and trauma, the key aspects of resilience, and the links between resilience and experience in the early years…
Our last newsletter was published in February. Since then we have commissioned several articles from well-respected members of the early years community. This half term we have worked in collaboration with national trauma expert Jane Evans, in our…
Since our last newsletter, we have published articles written by Alistair Bryce Clegg and by Penny Tassoni. Alistair asks us to think about how we prepare and present our setting to ensure that we are encouraging children to be ambitious, inquisit…
This half term we have kept our courses and events page up to date with details of CPD being offered around the country as well as online. There is sure to be something that interests you! Some courses are completely free, others are more pricey, …
Child Development: fact or fiction?
Knowledge about child development is an important tool which enables practitioners to make appropriate provision for young children; but if we are not careful it can also be a dangerously limiting illusion that…
We've been very busy this half term writing and commissioning articles to extend your knowledge and to challenge your thinking. We have brought you details from two masterclasses held at the Nursery World South show. Kate Cahill reported back to u…
The New Ofsted Inspection Framework
Summarising the revised inspection framework documents, we include reflective questions and some useful proformas for you to use in evaluating your provision in the light of the new framework.?
Characteristics …
We have published an inspiring article this month by June O'Sullivan who is the CEO of the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF). June was very recently listed on the Debrett's '500 people of influence 2017' list for her work with LEYF. June's article…
Here at FSF and Tapestry HQ we have been looking outwards in more ways than one!
Earlier in October, Emily and Jules went to Devon to do some training for Ventrus MAT. This was a new experience for us - we don't get out much! Thank you to the …
We have published an inspiring article by Alistair Bryce Clegg this half term. In it, he discusses the ways in which different theorists impact on our practice. At FSF HQ the practitioners amongst us agree we are probably all 'magpies' lifting lit…
Aspects of Art: Printing
We continue our series on Art in the early years with a closer look at printing.
Exploring practitioners' perspectives on 'quality' in early years services
Michelle Cottle is a senior lecturer in early childhood stu…
Twenty top tips for helping to develop self-discipline for positive behaviour management in young children
With increasing numbers of children being diagnosed with special educational needs such as ADHD and autism, managing challenging behaviour i…
In this month's article we have been thinking about the managers who struggle in the first few months of their role. It can be hard to 'manage' colleagues who you have worked alongside as an 'equal' for some time - in her article, Anni McTavish tal…
Characteristics of Effective Learning: creating and thinking critically
The EYFS describes creating and thinking critically as when ‘children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things’ (Df…
Are You Ready for Your Joint Observation? Observing Practice under the OfSTED Inspection Framework
Why does the joint observation element of OfSTED inspections cause us panic and anxiety? Providers and senior management are the people who have ove…
