Helen

Hi lovely to see you here, Mundia and Sunnyday! Very happy times in the early days of the forum- and I can now admit, after 20 years, that it was indeed me who had 5 different names and was talking to myself for the best part of a month! 😂 I think Mundia might have already known that.... I love your expression Sunnyday, 'You can take the girl out of early years...' I totally agree. Can't imagine not being interested in what's going on and how we educate and care for our youngest children. There's always something to learn and get excited about.

You're welcome! Are you, like many others, finding it hard to recruit qualified practitioners?

Hi Anju, The statutory framework states that one member of staff must hold at least a level 3 and that 50% of your other staff must have at least level 2. So, no, they can't be working towards that level 2; they must have achieved it. Page 29 of the statutory document.

Sorry, Looby Loo! Hopefully it isn't too stressful 😃 Have a great weekend.

It was my very favourite part of the day when I taught, both in school and in my nursery. The children always loved it, as did I when I was at school. There's nothing better than getting lost in a story read by your teacher. In nursery, I found it always worked best after the morning tidy up, but before snacktime. Children had had a great time leading their own play, with one or two adult-led activities on the go if they were interested, and were really ready for a sit down and a good book! When I taught in school, that end of the day slot was great- I've not been in school for quite some time now, so not sure if that's still popular?

If you're a regular visitor to the FSF, you may well be wondering what on earth's happened today! 😃 You might know the FSF is approaching its 20th birthday and we have some exciting things in the pipeline for this year; one of which is to make it easier to start discussions, join in with existing ones and to look for specific subjects that may have been discussed before. One of the ways to do this is to reduce the number of forum areas so members don't have to spend ages deciding where to post. So I've had a bit of a sort out today and we now have, in a new area called 'Practice and Provision', 11 forum areas from which to choose: Teaching and Learning Early Years Setting Management Reception Learning Differences-SEND Diversity & Inclusion Inspections Research Courses, events and CPD Staff Lounge Key Stage 1 & 2 Vacancies I've archived (still available if you scroll right down to the archive section) some of the very old conversations relating to out of date statutory guidance, etc and moved relevant and current and/or still useful discussions into the appropriate areas. Hopefully it all makes sense. If I've done anything stupid, please let me know!

The advertising criteria for FSF are as follows: We will advertise courses that are free or from other national providers with whom we have a connection: NDNA, PLA, Early Ed, Ofsted, DfE etc We will advertise accredited courses run by charities The FSF Admin team reserve the right not to post any course or event at their discretion You can use the search bar above this text on the right hand side - search by key words for subject, town or county to find courses near you. If you need any help or guidance then please email sue@eyfs.info

I look forward to that, Looby Loo! I think you've summed up the feelings of most people working in the early years and primary sectors. Exhausting and challenging times. 😟

I'll start us off, then! And I'll begin by telling the story of the birth of the FSF 😀 After teaching in a primary school for a while, and after the birth of our second child, I decided to set up my own nursery. It immediately became apparent that I missed the support and camaraderie of the school staff room- somewhere to seek and offer advice, etc. Leaders to support my professional learning and development as a new leader myself. So my husband, Steve, who knew about this stuff, set up the forum. Forums, in those days, were pretty much the only way to communicate with like-minded individuals- no facebook, twitter, etc and they were often very popular this one included! At its most lively, we had over 30,000 members- many of whom quietly sat on the sidelines and read all the interesting discussions that were going on. This was a real highlight in my teaching career and such a supportive, and often hilarious, place to be at the end of the working day or week. I learned all sorts of wonderful tips and tricks when running my nursery for 20 children in East Sussex. Several individuals on here really took the time and made such a huge effort to support others- you know who you are- many of you are still here even though you've retired! And we can't thank you enough. In recent years, social media has attempted to replace forums and in some cases, has been successful. But it's still my belief that the likes of twitter/facebook, etc are really not conducive to a professional discussion; one that can go on over a few days or weeks, which allows participants to really think about issues. And not just blat out the first response that comes to mind, at the risk of sounding irritable at best and rude at worst. I'll end with a wish for the future- that forums such as this one start to grow again so that we can support each other in the early years and primary sectors, both of whom are really struggling under these challenging circumstances. 🙂

I've just had the luxury of half an hour on a Friday afternoon catching up with the website and watching this really beautiful short video, celebrating the first 5 years of a child's life. Until today, I hadn't really had time to learn the details around the focus of the Centre's work in years to come. I feel pretty upbeat about it! Apart from the stats that say only a quarter of the population understand the unique importance of the first five years, obviously....😧 I particularly liked the phrase 'positive protective factors' that a high quality early years experience can bring to children, particularly those in difficult and deprived circumstances. Have you had a chance to watch these? What do you think? Is change and recognition of the importance of the early years about to happen? And what can we all do to help make that change? https://royalfoundation.com/early-childhood/ https://shapingus.centreforearlychildhood.org/ 'Not for the quick win, but for the big win'. Princess of Wales, 2022.

Hi Chelsea, How did your research go? We'd love you to share your findings with us! 😀

Hi, I was wondering how things are going, littlerainbows? Were you able to support staff in reducing their time on their ipads?

Do you have an idea of size and venue? Where are your nearest settings- do you think there are enough children in the area, and that there is a need for another setting? They would be my first two considerations. 😀 How familiar are you with the EYFS and working with young children? How exciting! I ran my own nursery for 10 years (also retired from that, now!)

We used to provide toast and crumpets and fruit- with 20 children 2-4 all sitting at 3 small tables with an adult at each. Children may have baked something that morning that we share, but generally, an adult prepared the food and children helped to serve it.

As co-sponsors of the APPG, we are pleased to invite you to the next meeting of the APPG for Childcare and Early Education on 14th December at 2pm. This session will explore different pedagogical approaches in early education and hear from experts and proponents on their benefits. Please let us know if you would like to attend, and you will receive the joining details in due course. If you're wary of attending an APPG- not sure what is involved or whether you will be asked to say something- don't worry! You don't have to say anything, you can have your video off so you can relax, watch and learn. Usually, APPG meetings are held in Westminster but for obvious reasons, they have been online for quite some time. 🙂 This is the opportunity to see how MPs are informed about the early years sector, and what the process is in raising awareness of the successes and challenges in early years provision. Please come! Anyone is welcome to attend and we look forward to seeing you there. Please do not hesitate to get in touch should you have any further questions. Best wishes, The FSF

Tilly was amazing! It was so refreshing to hear a headteacher share her understanding of, and enthusiasm for, the early years. You don't get that very often.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience- that's really kind of you. Was there much talk about your curriculum- progression skills, etc? There are a number of posts on facebook saying their inspector was asking for those.

Hi Olivia, We have a tutorial here which I think might help : If that doesn't fit the bill, do get back to us with the kind of thing you're looking for. 🙂

What an inspiring article- thanks so much, Francesca. I can feel your delight in winning over those reluctant readers! Our son adored being read to from a very early age, getting totally absorbed by the story. But in Year 1 he was totally put off by the dreaded reading scheme books. His Dad and I were worried he would be turned off books forever and asked him why he didn't seem to like reading books anymore. He replied, 'I do, but there are more funner things to do'. He's 26 now. And reads more than me!

The Confucian quote that Sue mentions in her comment is so relevant to today's pressures towards a knowledge-based curriculum for our youngest children, where they are required to remember 'stuff'. How many times does the new EYFS mention learning about things 'from books'? It's so obvious we learn so much more from doing than passively absorbing information. Thanks for this, Rachna-an interesting read. I haven't come across the Vedic ideas of learning by doing but, like Leedslassie, I'm keen to find out more. I've always loved the idea of yoga sessions for very young children.