Jules

Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs are being funded across every region in England to help children recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a major issue in the EYFS. Young children, especially those from low income backgrounds, continue to suffer disproportionally. This is shown in their drop in attainment. By the end of the Reception year in 2022, outcomes show that 65.2% of all children achieved a ‘good level of development’ (GLD). However, the outcomes for children from disadvantaged families were quite different. Only 49.1% of those eligible for free school meals achieved the GLD, compared to 68.8% of other children. So, we see a striking 19.6 percentage point difference. As well as this, it is important to note that in 2019, prior to the pandemic, 57% of children from low income households achieved the GLD (compared to 49.1% in 2022). Although the 2021 figures relate to the reformed EYFS framework and the 2019 figures relate to the 2012 framework, it is noticeable that there has been a 7.9 percentage point decline in children from low-income families. These statistics cannot go ignored. Responding to this In November 2022, The Department for Education selected thirteen settings in England to be early years Stronger Practice Hubs. They form part of the Early Years Covid-19 recovery support. Their purpose is to specifically tackle the impact on children from low income backgrounds. Funded for two years, the programme is supported by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the National Children’s bureau (NCB). One of these Stronger Practice Hubs is A Brighter Start, led by Sheringham Nursery School and Children’s Centre in the London Borough of Newham. Sheringham is currently the only London-based Hub: a further one will be announced later in the year. Lindsey Foster, deputy headteacher, shares her reaction to being chosen, “I think it is a huge achievement for all of us at Sheringham. It will contribute to and compliment the important work that is already happening through the research school. It also brings with it new and exciting prospects for staff in terms of CPD and leadership.” She adds, “As well as this, we have the additional prospect of developing and sharing practice with practitioners across the whole of London.' Rehema Essop, interim SPH lead at Sheringham, comments, “A Stronger Practice Hub enables practitioners to have greater access to evidence-informed programs. This will support them with thinking about exactly what the children need to make more of a difference to their development. As a sector we are playing catch up to support them and their families.” Rehema adds, “The children at Sheringham are fortunate to benefit from leaders and staff who are willing to question their own practice. This is key to being a Hub. Practitioners are focussed on finding out more about improving daily provision for children.” This seems like an exciting prospect for Sheringham, but what does it mean in practice to have this designation? What does it mean to be a Stronger Practice Hub? Hubs are required to share good practice, offer advice and provide evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners. In short, they are a central resource for the advancement of practice across the EYFS. The NCB outlines what this entails: establishing local networks of early years educators to share knowledge and effective practice proactively sharing information and advice on evidence-based approaches - for example, using newsletters, blogs and social media acting as a point of contact for bespoke advice, including signposting to other funded support working with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to select evidence-based programmes to deliver, and making these available without cost to nurseries and childminders More information about the first round of stronger practice Hubs is available here. The centrality of evidence informed practice Evidence informed practice is fundamental to the work of the Stronger Practice Hubs. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) focuses on breaking the link between family income and educational outcomes. They will be supporting the Hubs as ‘evidence guardians.’ Their role being to ensure that all professional development is based in validated evidence. Before going any further, it is worth clarifying what constitutes evidence based practice. It is an aspect of early years education (as well as other sectors) that is often misunderstood. The following scenario, familiar to many, illustrates how this can happen. A practitioner undertakes some action research, focusing on how a group of children respond to a new approach or intervention. The practitioner’s assessment information shows that the children have made good progress. This could be in any area of development: communication, physical, emotional. The practitioner concludes that the approach has worked in their setting. If they write their findings up for a publication or in a book, they can be seen as ‘evidence-based’. Though this is an understandable and well-intended position to take, it does not stand up as evidence-based practice. The basic reason for this is that positive outcomes on a small scale are not enough. The intervention might be effective: or it might be that the particular group of children developed very well for other reasons. Or the practitioner worked with such enthusiasm on the project that it made a big difference. Neither of these conditions might hold true in a setting 20 miles up the road. A practice that seems to work and produce favourable outcomes is not the same as evidence. Until an intervention has been rigorously researched it ceases to be evidence-based. It might be that this project is promising enough to be evaluated on a larger scale and, in time, could become part of the evidence base. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) curates high-quality research from a range of robust studies, carried out in many different types of schools and settings. Nicola Cherry is their Early Years Content Specialist for the EEF. She clarifies the purpose of evidence-informed practice, “The use of educational evidence can be like a reliable navigation system, supporting us to create great learning opportunities for all children, particularly those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds who we know stand to benefit most from high-quality early education.” Nicola goes on to talk about the EEF's new resource, launched in February 2022: "The EEF has launched a brand new resource, The Early Years Evidence Store – developed as part of the EEF’s work supporting the Department for Education’s Stronger Practice Hubs. It is designed to support early years professionals in putting evidence-informed approaches into practice. The store zooms in on key themes of learning and development – such as language and communication – to explain and exemplify how they can be adopted, prompting educators to reflect on their own current practice.” Nicola continues, “Each theme is broken down into specific approaches that can support that area of learning and development and provides information on the strength of the evidence underpinning each approach. These are supported by a list of practices and help explain how each approach could be implemented. The Early Years Evidence Store can support a community of early years practice; using a shared language and understanding of the evidence, and what it means for children.” (EEF blog) In a nutshell, the rule of thumb is that evidence-based practice comes out of findings that are documented and published. For more details of such robust research see the EEF’s Early Years Toolkit and Early Years Evidence store. Getting a Stronger Practice Hub started The first 6-months at Sheringham will focus primarily on its local area – the borough of Newham and neighbouring East London. Dr Julian Grenier, headteacher of Sheringham, outlines one of the main projects: “We are delivering the evidence-informed Newham Communication Project in collaboration with the local authority. This is free for Newham early years settings and aims to help children develop their communication. It is a 6 month hybrid programme that includes face-to-face training, online twilight sessions and mentoring. We are offering it to managers and room leaders in early years settings, as well as nursery teachers and EYFS co-ordinators in schools”. As well as this Sheringham are pursuing the following: Setting up a childminders group. Here childminders can meet each other; get the chance to build networks; have access to professional development at no cost. Developing the Early Years Conversation Project, due to launch in September 2023. They are currently signing up the 100 settings they need from across East and North-East London. Developing Maths through Picturebooks. This was trialled in North Yorkshire during the summer term, 2022. They are now working on an across London roll-out. One of the first big SPH events is a free webinar about Maths through Picturebooks. This is on 29th March, with Dr Herbert Ginsburg, Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia University. The Hub has a WhatsApp group. You can join it by sending the message ‘Join’ to 0759 616 5918. Also, there is a Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/people/A-Brighter-Start-East-Londons-Early-Years-Stronger-Practice-Hub/100089998383323/ It is an indisputable fact that young children from disadvantaged backgrounds need substantial input to tackle their drop in attainment caused by the pandemic. It will not remedy itself. The introduction of Stronger Practice Hubs focussing on the use of evidence-based practice seems like a progressive move by the Department of Education. We wait to hear the announcement of five further Hubs in May.

When I think back to the time when my three children were aged six, three and newborn, I recall a blur of constant activity, episodes of exhaustion, and adrenalin levels of being on a non-stop adventure! As thankful as I was to be mum to healthy, thriving children, the memories are certainly peppered with feeling overwhelmed and uncertain when new phases would crop up, tipping the domestic balance that had been delicately stacked alongside the wooden blocks. Both slipped easily. That was why I found connecting with local mums at the same stage I was at, a lifeline. From our informal cups of tea, to organising small local projects with the help of a friendly health visitor, these kept us all connected. It helped to share. It helped to be heard and reassured. That was many moons ago, and now that my children are adults, I’ve got the luxury of looking back and reflecting. So I was interested to speak to community-based practitioners, and mums with young children, to find out about their experiences. Meeting local needs Two community venues I approached in Buckinghamshire support local parents through running nurseries where language and familiarity with the local culture encourages parents’ participation. The first is a nursery run in Castlefield Community Centre situated in the heart of a diverse neighbourhood. Madiha*, the Nursery Manager, shared her experience of working with local parents and their young children. ‘This nursery is for three to five year olds and started off because of the specific needs of the local community which is mostly of Pakistani heritage. It helps we’re in a Community Centre as it houses the local authority Family Services provision, and partners such as Little Talkers for children with speech delays. We have a library here too and parents use IT facilities daily, and just go there for some quiet time.’ Madiha explained that for some of the parents English is a second, or third language. Whilst many speak English fluently, other parents are still struggling with communicating. Nursery staff help parents by sign-posting them to local ESOL classes as well as being bilingual. The staff communicate important information related to their child’s development, which might otherwise be missed. Communication can still be a challenge, but as Madiha shared, they use other approaches to involve parents in their children’s learning: ‘We send parents information via Tapestry with photographs to help them carry on activities at home. But to get them more involved, we invite parents to literacy sessions, so staff can model the techniques we use. We used to run a ‘Play and Stay’ session weekly which we opened up for the whole local community, where parents could stay with their under-five year olds, and join in with activities. It was good for them to socialise and we got asked a lot of questions that they might not ask anyone else. Things about nappy changing and potty training would come up, as well as little issues like a child eating crayons and what to do about it. The parents that come to us feel confident to speak up because there’s someone familiar with their home culture.’ Faith-based spaces WISE mosque in South Bucks runs both a small pre-school nursery and a mother & toddler group in its community space. Nahid* recounts how she started with just a few children six years ago as ‘Wise Owls’ which has grown into a regular play and learning space with several children and parents joining in. ‘Mums stay with their children aged between 2.5 - 4 years old, and participate in activities like tracing Arabic phonics, followed by hands on activities like tasting foods that begin with a particular letter sound they’re practicing - they all enjoyed that! We have puzzles, games and story time too.’ As the mosque is a focal point for the Muslim community, it was important to start something to cater for the youngest children and their parents, so they could feel part of the community. Nahid remembers how ‘Some mums were really isolated and were happy to come to a relaxed environment. They seemed to love coming as much as the children and learnt with them! For some, this is the only time they sit and talk about education issues and exchange numbers with other mums. They get a chance to mingle and find out about services for families and children locally.’ Taking a holistic approach There is plenty of evidence from research which links the wellbeing of parents, and the family unit in general, to the best start in life for the young infant[1]. In addition, it’s established that a mum who has given birth, needs looking after too. Seeing to the needs of a newborn is all consuming, and often there’s an elder sibling under the age of five to care for. This can easily lead to a mum’s emotional and mental health suffering if, in some cases, they don’t have a kinship network, or access to the help they need. This reality has driven the partnership between MIND CPSL – a branch of the national mental health charity (MIND) and The Lantern Initiative, a non-profit social enterprise educating communities about mental health in Peterborough, to work together on supporting specific minorities on their perinatal, postnatal, and early years journey[2]. Using an evidence based approach, their partnership provides a physical space for Muslim mums to meet and socialise with their babies and toddlers, as well as running a free six week course to improve their mental wellbeing. Two women involved in the project, Maryam*, mum of two daughters under 3 years old, and Zeenat*, a volunteer on the project, share their experience of what this course offers attendees. Maryam: I went to ‘Connecting Muslim Mums’ in person once a week for two hours. It’s local and I hadn’t been out the house since the first was born in Covid. The course ran for six weeks and I can say it completely changed my life. I felt supported, safe, and understood. We were guided gently through my emotions and how to move on. The faith factor helped a lot, it brought me to a better understanding about why we go through struggles. Now I take my girls to a fortnightly ‘Chai and Chat’ morning where I meet other mothers and our children play. It helps my girls to interact with other children in another environment and it’s nice for them to see me communicate with other mums. Going there helps my emotional wellbeing and I’m able to offload. The mothers just know what you’re going through, you don’t need an opinion. I’m volunteering now to care for other mums and help them through this stage.’ Zeenat: Digital Communications Specialist for Cambridge Foundation Trust and volunteer for The Lantern Initiative’s courses for Mums I volunteer for the course ‘Connecting Muslim Mums’ which is free for mums who have children under the age of 2 yrs. The course takes a holistic approach supporting mums with their physical and emotional health, with practices like mindfulness which are related to their faith, like focusing on the names of God - it’s all interconnected. It helps Mums with coping strategies and handling expectations, a lot of mums don’t know where they can go for help. This course is based on ‘The Five Ways to Wellbeing: connecting; being active; taking notice; keep learning; and giving. When I check in with the mums, they’ll say they feel much better because they’re putting things into practice. Having a creche for the under 5’s helps them to attend.’ Taking a look at some community-based support has shown just how vital it is to take a joined-up approach and connect a variety of providers. The youngest in society deserve the best start in life, and supporting their parents plays a significant part in that. [1] The Best Start for Life A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days The Early Years Healthy Development Review Report (March 2021) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/973085/Early_Years_Report.pdf [2] https://www.cpslmind.org.uk/how-we-help/supporting-parents/ *Pseudonyms are used as requested by contributors You can follow Suma on Twitter @Suma_Din And Suma's website is www.therootedwriter.co.uk

There are moments of awe and wonder around us each and every day. However, sometimes, we, as adults, are too busy or not in the right headspace to appreciate them. For children, though, their natural curiosity means they are often much more attuned to moments of fascination. Defining awe and wonder… It’s a beautiful moment where a child is mesmerised by something. During this moment, children are experiencing a strong connection – they are focused, interested and engaged. Sometimes, awe and wonder arises from a moment we have planned, but often it is spontaneous, occurring as a result of the child’s innate drive to explore and be curious within their environment. What sparks this awe can be different for each child but we do know that the natural world can offer us a wealth of beauty which can inspire all children, just on different levels. It is these experiences which ground us and can move us emotionally. It could be the first time a child has seen a frosty cobweb on a cold morning, a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, a rainbow appearing after a storm or finding a big, wiggly worm when we’re playing in the digging pit. Why is awe and wonder so special? Children naturally have a sense of wonder, something many of us see diminish as we get older. We become immersed in our busy lives, focused on work, family life, caring responsibilities, money worries…the list goes on. Our world lacks the simplicity we experience in childhood, impacting on our ability to notice and appreciate the world around us. Even children have busy childhoods with many modern distractions. Think about what childhood looks like now compared to when you were a child – how is it different? There is much discussion to be had around the impact and influence of technology, risk averse parenting and the datafication of Early Years. To counteract this, it is valuable to ensure children get to experience the awe and wonder of the world around them. The role of the adult… As educators, it is important for us to be present and in the moment with children. We need to be tuned in and emotionally available, as well as physically. This can be challenging in busy settings where there are routines to follow, administrative tasks to complete and staff to cover for. However, it is important to factor in time for children to feel inspired and empowered and we can achieve this through not only our provision in Early Years but also our practice. Educators have a role in facilitating an environment whereby children are motivated to play, explore and find those magical moments. Audits will help settings to assess their provision, indoors and outdoors, and understand what it feels like to be a child in the environment. Look at the space from the child’s height, seeing things through their lens. In terms of practice, an educator can inspire and empower children to seek out and appreciate moments of wonder. We need to step inside the child’s world and see things from their perspective. Observe as the child notices something they connect with. Watch their body language and be an active listener – communication is more than just what a child says. You’ll witness a moment of delight, and this is when you can share in the fascination. It is the interaction that can add value to the experience for the child, helping to bring meaning. How you react with your body language, your words and how you share in the magic can influence the child’s engagement. Be excited, surprised and listen as the child expresses their wonder. However, remember that for some children, the way they express their wonder may be non-verbal, but no less valuable. Children are unique, and many different experiences may hold value and joy, with many different responses. It is our role to open up these experiences to all, providing an environment which is diverse and inclusive. Awe and wonder and sustained shared thinking… Experiencing moments of awe and wonder can be valuable in terms of a child’s learning and development. Through the process of sustained shared thinking, we can really tune in to the child’s thoughts and ideas. It is a precious way of connecting and sharing in the wonder as they process what they are observing. These moments are not a time to impose learning as this puts parameters on the moment and can inhibit the experience - we need to be mindful of our interactions. Instead, we can wonder with the child, using language which encourages thinking and the sharing of ideas between adult and child. The process of sustained shared thinking is rooted in curiosity rather than answering questions and our language should reflect this. We can offer a running commentary, ask ‘I wonder….’ or talk about what you see. This brings the moment to life, with both adult and child making sense of what they are observing. We act as a role model, sharing our own thoughts and ideas – ‘I wonder where the ladybird is going…’ ‘The cobweb is glistening but I wonder how it happened.’ ‘What a pretty rainbow. I wonder where it ends.’ ‘The bee has gone right inside the flower. I wonder what he’s doing.’ ‘There was water in the tray yesterday but now there’s ice. I wonder what happened overnight.’ Statements such as these, and open ended questions, prompt children to think out loud, wonder and share their ideas. It’s a fantastic way to nurture language development, especially in light of the increased focus on this area of learning in the revised Early Years Foundation Stage. When we employ sustained shared thinking strategies, we are working with the child, helping them feel valued, included and inspired by the awe and wonder all around them. The impact of awe and wonder on learning and development… Connecting with children as they experience moments of awe and wonder can enable us to encourage thinking skills, helping them to process what they are observing. We can engage in interesting back and forth interactions, extending vocabulary and exploring concepts related to different areas of learning, such as shape, space, measure, colour and texture. When children experience awe and wonder, it can act as a hook to explore the subject further. Watching a snail slither its way across the garden can lead to investigating patterns, reading books such as The Snail and the Whale and making snails out of play dough. This builds on the child’s initial interest, facilitating an environment which is inspiring and helps them to make sense of their experiences. We know that children learn best when they are interested. Awe and wonder can really help engage children, impacting on their communication and language development in Early Years and beyond. Not only do these quality interactions influence language development in terms of vocabulary, understanding and listening skills, but it is also valuable for those children who are non-verbal. We can recognise that although a child is not communicating verbally, they are able to experience and express their delight at the awe and wonder around them. They can express themselves through their body language, facial expressions, gestures and emotions which we can interpret and give words to. We might have children in our settings and classes who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL), and who may express their feelings in their home language or through body language and gestures. Awe and wonder can give all children a voice, we just need to tune in. When children are experiencing awe and wonder, they are learning to make sense of the world around them, building points of reference and enriching their lives. These moments encourage future interactions with the natural world, further enhancing learning and development. We know that children are powerful learners with a natural drive to be curious and we can build on this, valuing spontaneous opportunities for children to be wowed but also ensuring our curriculum and pedagogy supports these early magical experiences. Finally… Children have been on the earth just a short time. Everything is amazing and wondrous to them, especially when experienced for the first time. No matter how many times we have seen a rainbow, or a frosty cobweb, we must still remember the magic of these moments from the perspective of a child. Take time to connect with children - their wonder at the natural world is contagious and joyous.

A new year often brings time to reflect and set goals. While within education this event falls part way into our ‘year’, personally it can be a good time to look at what we would like to achieve for ourselves. We all have our areas of passion and enthusiasm within our roles, areas we love to learn about and knowledge that makes us want to shape and change the way we, and our colleagues, work. In an ever changing and developing world we need to be working to better inform ourselves to continue to be inclusive. While we strive to incorporate learning for ourselves, our colleagues and the children and families we serve in a range of areas, at the heart of my focus, my area of passion and enthusiasm, is the Neurodiversity paradigm. I feel this topic is best explored through a wh- question framework, which appeals to the speech and language therapist in me! - What is Neurodiversity? - Why is it important? - How do we start to practice in a more neurodiversity accepting way? What is Neurodiversity? Neurodiversity is simply the diversity of brains that exist in the population. The variety of people with our different wirings, which create our wonderful world. Within this term we can think of neurotypical (NT) brains, and Neurodivergent (ND) brains. The term Neurodivergent refers to many different neurological profiles, some I have listed here. These are brains that typically diverge from the typical developmental profile. Historically Neurodivergent individuals have been seen through the eyes of the medical model, where they are seen as disordered, different, and needing treatment and changing to ‘fit in’ and succeed. With growing awareness and spaces for Autistic and other Neurodivergent people to share their experiences we are becoming better informed about the significant short comings of the medical model’s lens. Ableism refers to a process where disabled people are discriminated against. This discrimination may be unconscious, but it is often steeped in historical social narratives around disabilities. In the context of a physical disability for example, this might be a building design that is not accessible to a wheelchair user. In the context of a Neurodivergent person, this might be a child being taken for another activity during story time, because they cannot sit still with their peers. It isn’t necessarily a conscious process, or people commenting ‘we’re all a bit autistic’. When bringing together an understanding of ableism, and the historical practice of viewing ND individuals as disordered we can come to understand why so often goals and expectations for these children become about being like their peers or being more neurotypical. Which I believe to be wrong for a few different reasons. Why is this important? Firstly, what we know is that there is a significant correlation between Neurodivergent profiles and poor mental health and quality of life. This is linked to a lack of understanding, the lack of correct support and a world that promotes them to ‘mask’ who they are to ‘fit in’. Secondly, when an individual is not ND, but just viewed as a bit different, they are not given an unrealistic set of expectations. For example, a child who is a bit ‘bouncy’, who may find sitting still tricky and is a bit fidgety might get a jovial approach from staff and jollied along, even allowed to move a bit when they seem to need too. If that child is diagnosed with ADHD, we might then find they have targets for sitting still, referrals for sensory assessments, consultations on how to support their ‘behaviour’. The narrative changes because our lens can still be stuck in the medical model, but both these children present similarly in setting. I wholeheartedly believe that we should accept all individuals for who they are and meet them where their strengths lie. In particular in the early years, this a key time for fostering resilience, confidence, and self-esteem. If the lens is wrong at this stage, the negative impacts can last for a very long time. What I believe we need to move to do, is flip the narrative. Taking what we once did, and shifting to a more accepting space, which creates a narrative that celebrates each ND individual. Flipping this narrative, particularly so early on in a child’s life can help them, and their families, build confidence. It starts the foundations for a life of nourishing relationships, meaningful activities, and happiness. With a team around a ND child who has brought their awareness to their practice and is making changes, the child can thrive. So, how do we go about it? First and foremost, get to grips with the language and concepts. Do some further reading around ableism, the neurodiversity paradigm and I’d recommend double empathy theory too. Once you know more, you will automatically become more aware of how you think and practice. There are some brilliant accounts on social media, free or low-cost webinars and a whole host of awesome books you can read. Finding disabled people who have written these things and share their experiences is key; we cannot know their life, we must seek to understand it. Once there is a level of awareness of neurodiversity and how you perceive it, you can start to make changes. Being aware of your own presumptions and attitudes towards ND students is a good place to start. Following that, beginning to shift the language you use, incorporating the preferred terminology into your spoken and written language, reducing ‘person first’ language (e.g., child with Autism, and saying Autistic child instead), looking at wording within your documentation, policies and enrolment forms. You can take a deeper look into the practices you use when working with ND children in your setting. Challenge yourself to consider why the goal is the goal, if they have an education, health, and care plan, what are the targets? Are they accepting of the individual, or trying to change them to be more neurotypical? Consider your interventions and how you deliver them, the things that you use if you have a ND child in the setting, there are a lot of ‘go-to’ strategies like visual schedules, timers, sensory diets, the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), social skills and bucket time to name a few. How are these being used, are they in line with being accepting of the ND child or are they being used to try to change them to fit our narrative of who they should be? It can seem overwhelming, stressful and if we are honest quite uncomfortable. What do you mean we shouldn’t be moving the hands of these children to make them communicate with their symbols? We shouldn’t be getting them to sit still to watch a parade of exciting toys? Sensory diets aren’t just for sensory diet time on the timetable? There are a lot of things that we just do, because that has been the way, and no one likes to feel they’ve been getting it wrong. There is a lot of passion out there about changing practice to be more neurodiversity accepting, and we need to be open to feeling vulnerable and uncomfortable. A piece of advice is to find people you feel safe to talk to about this. Where you can be vulnerable and feel supported, listened too and understood, not belittled or made to feel guilty. We are all learning, it is part of what makes us good at what we do. My favourite thing on this journey to remind myself is a Maya Angelou quote: Do the best you can, until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.’ So be kind to yourselves, this reflection and development is not easy. Ultimately, if we can sit with our own sense of vulnerability while we learn, adapt and grow, the outcomes could be marvellous for the population of Neurodivergent children currently in early years settings, and those who will pass through the doors in the future. When we start to bring our awareness to our own ableism, our use of out-dated and discriminating practices, we can begin to make changes. In turn, we will better serve the population of Neurodivergent children that we see in early years settings. This will enable a better foundation, sense of self and resilience that can only be the best start for growing up. You can read more about Ruth's work on her website: https://www.ruthjonesslt.com/ And you can listen to Ruth chatting with Stephen about how we can start addressing ableism in our schools and the importance of connection over compliance in this podcast episode.

Introduction The notion of the spiritual dimension of humanity has developed for centuries, mostly linked with religion, faith or divine nature of an invisible higher being. It is only in more recent times that spirituality has been investigated outside religious contexts. For example, spirituality is considered as an innate ability of the human being, including young children, to show awareness and consciousness of the surrounding worlds through curiosity, wonder, a sense of compassion and love. We often hear children asking big questions about the meaning of life and puzzlement about the world: Who made the first person on earth? How does the world become the way it is now? Is God more powerful than the sun? Is Heaven bigger than the Earth? Do animals understand what we said? Why do we need to care about the environment? These questions reflect children’s daily observations and the cultural messages they encountered. These questions show children’s curiosity and thinking in relation to spirituality. The covid-19 pandemic has caused big challenges for children and family lives on a global scale. Connecting with family members and friends was a luxury for many in the context of staying at home and self-isolation restrictions. Children’s learning had to be monitored at home, to a greater extent, and that had never happened before in the most recent decades. All of this has urged us to rethink education and develop more holistic approaches to children’s learning considering the ultimate importance of mental health and wellbeing. Addressing children’s spiritual development arises as an urgent call in these challenging times. The importance of spiritual development for young children The early childhood pioneer Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) advocated revolutionary visions such as the value of early childhood in its own right and the importance of holistic learning for young children. Froebel’s educational philosophy and kindergarten practice were linked to his religious thinking drawing on Christianity, but as recognised by contemporary scholars, Froebelian legacy has left a clear print on the importance of seeing the child in connection with the family, community, nature, divinity and the wider world. Froebel addressed the importance of engagement with nature in providing space and time for children to develop a sense of wonder, peaceful mind and connection with and care for living things and non-living things, which creates moments for them to pause and listen to the world around them. Froebel saw play as the highest phase of child development, as the self-active representation of the child’s life, and as the most spiritual activity of the child. Therefore, children’s spiritual development is not a new phenomenon in the context of early childhood heritage. However, somewhat narrowly defined spirituality focusing on the Euro-Western Christianity might have distanced early childhood educators with diverse backgrounds in relation to religious and secular experiences. On the other hand, within the Early Years Foundation Stage (2021) in England, there is no recognition of spiritual development as part of young children’s learning or guidance for educators to support and promote children’s spiritual growth. This might have led to a lack of confidence among the early childhood educators in discussing and supporting children’s spiritual development in their practice. Contemporary research recognises the complexity of defining spirituality and the transcending nature of spirituality beyond religious-secular binary boundaries. Spirituality is commonly acknowledged as the child’s ongoing pursuit for a sense of his/her place in the universe. This enables children’s capacity for developing more abstract conceptions of wonder and relational connections between self and others including key people, living and non-living things, and aspects that they have developed connections with. As addressed by researchers and scholars, spirituality is an important dimension of young children’s holistic development linking to autonomy, compassion, resilience, responsibility and wellbeing. Spiritual development encourages children’s deeper understanding of themselves and empathy for others and helps children gain appreciation of the wider impact their behaviour and actions have upon themselves, other people and the world itself. Not addressing spirituality in early childhood settings deprives children of a significant learning experience. Nurturing children’s spiritual development in early childhood context As mentioned earlier on, the complexity in defining spirituality combined with a lack of recognition and guidance in the Early Years Foundation Stage (2021) in the area of children’s spiritual development leaves early childhood educators faced with the challenge of how to implement spirituality as an important domain into practice. It is fortunate that the wealth of early childhood heritage, research and scholarly work can act as valuable resources for educators to draw on and develop their own reflective practice in nurturing young children’s spiritual development. Develop an open-mindedness towards spirituality It is important that early childhood educators develop open-mindedness towards spirituality and recognise that spirituality is not a closed entity purely focusing on children’s experience and appreciation of the divine being, the almighty God, but extends to something beyond religious beliefs. It might also be helpful for educators to develop their own vision of spirituality in support of children’s spiritual growth as part of holistic learning and wellbeing. For example, you might find yourself deeply resonating with a Froebelian perspective, seeing spirituality as a mechanism by connecting the child to the family, community, nature, divinity and the wider world; or you might feel more connected to viewing spirituality as the child’s developing sense of their place in the universe. Create an inclusive and safe learning environment Research evidence shows the importance for early childhood educators to create an inclusive, safe learning environment and provide sufficient time via the role of being sensitive and supportive listeners to enable children to speak, talk and express their feelings, wonderments, confusions and puzzlement about family, nature, faith, religion as well as the unknown aspects in their lives. This supports young children to develop confidence and resilience for deeper, wider and diverse ways of thinking and understanding of the world around them. Educators offer further support when children encounter challenges in understanding and exploring difficult aspects. For example, when children deal with the loss of family or community members, something small such as sharing discussion of the person’s life and his/her contribution to the community via photos or memorial objects from the family might create special moments for all children to develop compassion, sympathy, sense of celebration, pride and resilience. These moments would create spiritual space for the community to keep together in difficult times. Play, nature and spiritual development It is time for early childhood educators to be confident about the role of play and engagement with nature in supporting children’s spiritual development. It is important to address here that play and engagement with nature are interdependent in nurturing children’s spirituality due to children’s ways of being with nature via play experiences. Nature acts as a meaningful space and environment for children to play in and play with, whilst play is a unique experience to enable children’s inner contemplation and reflection via natural environments and outdoor spaces. By engaging with nature, children learn about biodiversity and ecology, they take responsibility for the local community environments, and they develop deeper understanding of who they are in relation to nature. In the 21st century, the ‘natural’ nature might be difficult to be present in early childhood settings, but even a small sized garden acts as a spiritual place where children themselves and adults can talk, play, imagine together, experience connections and develop relationships with the wider world. Work with families and community It is also important for early childhood educators to work alongside families and communities in supporting young children’s spiritual development. Community and culture are central to educators’ understanding of each child, as family and community cultural values affect children’s perspectives and experiences. Educators working closely with families and communities invites a shared understanding about children’s life experiences. For instance, educators celebrate cultural traditions including religious or non-religious rituals with children and families in early childhood settings or community spaces via special events and routine activities. In this way, educators can support children to explore, question and reflect in the pursuit of their place in the family, community and the world while remaining confident and respectful. The connection and continuity between home and setting is crucial in supporting children’s spiritual development, as in other areas of development and learning. Conclusion There is a need to demystify young children’s spiritual development in the 21st century. Spirituality is addressed as an important aspect of young children’s holistic learning linking to autonomy, compassion, resilience, responsibility and wellbeing. Spiritual development encourages children’s deeper understanding of themselves and others and helps children gain an appreciation of their place in the wider world. The lack of recognition of spiritual development as part of children’s learning alongside the lack of guidance for early childhood educators to support children’s spiritual growth in the Early Years Foundation Stage (2021) in England is a stark contrast to the significance of spirituality for young children. It is strongly hoped that this article provides space for open dialogues among early childhood educators to enable deeper thinking and understanding of their crucial role in nurturing young children’s spiritual development.

Teaching children to read is no easy thing, there’s such a lot to it! They’ve got to be able to remember the letter shapes, match the letter shapes to the corresponding spoken sounds, then blend them together to read whole words. At the same time, children as young as four need to understand that words are read from left to right, that some words can’t be blended, and try to make sense of what these words mean. Phew! It’s so easy to forget how hard learning to read is. How frustrating, overwhelming, and difficult it can feel, doing all of these at the same time. So, how can we make this process easier for children starting out with so much to learn? How can we reduce the feelings of frustration, overwhelm and general feeling of learning to read being ‘too hard? Much has been said during the last twenty years about the role of Phonics in supporting this process. Both the DfE in the Reading Framework (2021), and Ofsted’s current inspection framework, focus heavily on the implementation of systematic synthetic phonics programmes as being the answer. Foundations in Phonics But here’s the thing. Starting Phonics in school is the end of a long developmental journey, not the beginning. For children to be able to embark on this critical process of recognising the letters on the page, matching the letters to the spoken sounds and blending, there are fundamental building blocks which impact significantly on success. After all, if we decide to run a marathon, we don’t set out one day and run twenty-six miles! We would build up to running the distance. We’d master diet, mindset, and health. We would need to start by walking, then jogging small distances, building confidence and stamina. Maybe we’d watch, listen to, and read about other successful runners. Preparing children for the end goal of reading is the same! Our task is to prepare preschoolers and nursery children exceptionally well. To put the hours in, to train them step-by step from the beginning. We need to know where they’re starting from, with high expectations of the end goal, building confidence at each stage of the pre-reading journey. A deep mastery of what comes before Phonics is critical for our children to become capable, confident readers. Letters and Sounds Phase 1 For years, EYFS practitioners have been using Letters and Sounds Phase 1 with some success. This series of games and activities provided a broad prephonic EYFS curriculum, but there were some fundamental flaws. There was no clear progression, no developmental order, or even a way of assessing to build on what the children could already do. These Phase 1 Phonics games did support prephonic development, but the approach was haphazard, with outcomes achieved more slowly and randomly as a result. Remember, preparing children to read is like training for a marathon. Success is achieved through consistency, repetition, and a step-by-step approach. Much of the success achieved by Phonics schemes used in schools is that they are systematic, chunking down learning through a clear and coherent progression. Progression in Prephonic skills Simply put, before we can expect children to recognise, say and remember letter-sound correspondences and blend these together, they need to be able to look closely, remembering what they see, hear and say. Children also need to be able to make sounds, matching them with objects, people, or patterns. If you’ve ever encountered a child struggling with Phonics, it’s likely that there are some developmental gaps in these areas to explore. Opening their eyes, switching on their brains Spotting the similarities and differences in letter shapes is a key part of prephonic development. We all know children who seem to consistently get muddled between the letters b and d, or struggle to differentiate between the letter s and number 5. This undervalued skill, known as visual discrimination, begins when children are very young, through toys like shape sorters, stacking cups and simple shape-based puzzles. This links with visual memory, a critical prephonic skill which helps us to remember visual similarities and differences. What’s the point in being able to distinguish the difference and similarities between m and n, only to forget these later? Training preschool brains to distinguish and remember visual content is central to our role as practitioners, especially in a world where technology does a lot of the remembering for us. Great ideas to develop Visual Discrimination and Visual memory · Pairs and snap games · Jigsaw puzzles · Loose parts collections · Observational drawing and painting · Spot the difference or ‘look and find’ books Tuning in ears with the brain Phonics is a sounds-based system, so hearing the differences and similarities between spoken sounds is vital. This is especially challenging as sounds like f and th can be difficult to distinguish between. This process is known as auditory discrimination and begins in everyday situations. Children develop auditory discrimination by spotting the difference between the ring tones matched to family members, or by experimenting with sounds as a spoon is ‘bashed’ on different surfaces! Matching sounds to objects and people is an essential prephonic step to master before the introduction of abstract letters. If little ears aren’t well tuned in at an everyday level, matching the letters with their spoken sounds is going to be much harder. Children need to have had hours of exploring how to make and change sounds with their voices, bodies and with objects or instruments, copying more complex sound patterns as experience and vocabulary grow. Auditory Memory The most challenging aspect of learning Phonics is auditory memory and it’s a major element of successfully learning to blend sounds later. You’ll recognise this in children who begin by reading each of the separate sounds in a word like c-a-t, but then struggle to remember them to blend. You might hear these children say, “ca”, or “at”, or “ta”, or make up their own word entirely. The heart of this difficulty lies in auditory memory. For children who struggle to remember songs from memory, copy a complex clapping pattern or follow a two-part instruction, remembering a string of abstract letters in the right order is going to be way too difficult. Great ideas to develop Auditory Discrimination and Auditory Memory · Sing songs everyday without You Tube, too much visual stimulation reduces the auditory memory process. · Read the same stories and rhymes repeatedly; this builds strong neural pathways in the brain in the area which associates processing with storing what children hear. · Organise your stories and songs into a progression, starting with easy rhymes like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, building to complex songs like One Man Went to Mow. Think less about topics and themes, and more about where children are along the prephonic progression. · Play games like Simon Says, I Went To The Shops and I Bought… or whispering 'pass it on' word games to help the children hear, store and repeat what they’ve just heard. Warming up their mouths! Children are saying spoken sounds constantly as they learn to talk. This begins when babies babble, coo and blow raspberries, later becoming abstract in nature like “oo”, “s” and “ch”. From babbling onwards, children are developing strength and control in their mouth muscles to form the spoken sounds they’ll need to articulate whole words. To develop super strong mouths and to control the speed of air that leaves the mouth we need to give our preschoolers the equivalent of a gym workout for the mouth! Making noises in stories, blowing bubbles, pulling faces, and singing songs help develop the physical control they’ll need to say letter-sound correspondences correctly. Ongoing challenges It’s very easy to feel pressured, to rush to the end goal of recognising letters and sounds during the nursery or preschool year. We can be forgiven for thinking that getting the children to recognise these earlier and earlier propels children into reading more speedily. From the outside this looks like our children are ahead of the game, and it’s common for families to expect this too. However, rushing ahead like this creates a very serious situation which becomes apparent later. When these foundational elements of phonics aren’t mastered at a deep level in Nursery and Preschool, Phonics can become harder than it needs to be for many children. Prephonics is so much more important than simply reading a range of lovely stories and singing a few favourite songs. The concepts underpinning converting our spoken language system to print are complex, requiring a consistent, systematic and fun approach. To prepare our children well for Phonics we need to know that their ears, eyes, mouths, and brains are in peek condition! Like running a marathon, they need to have the core elements in place to be primed for success. Useful Resources Prephonic Progression FREE ebook for Nursery and Preschool Become a master in Prephonics to prepare you preschoolers to be Ready for Reading https://learninglady.co.uk/ready-for-reading-training/ Super Sounds- a Nursery and Preschool Prephonic programme to use before ANY Phonics Programme https://learninglady.co.uk/phase-1-phonics

What is STEM and why is it important? STEM is a neat little acronym for Science Technology Engineering & Maths. One idea behind grouping these broad disciplines into something memorable, is to draw attention to an emerging policy choice within schools, focused on increasing educational interest within STEM. By stimulating interest in STEM early on, we can begin to motivate more young people to study STEM at an advanced level and to enter STEM related industries. This is particularly important for Black individuals who at university for example, only represent 6.2% of students enrolled onto STEM related subjects*. Why is it important to spark this passion for STEM when children are very young? STEM subjects create the inventors, leaders and innovators of tomorrow. So we feel it’s important to spark the interest for these subjects early on. It’s also the highest paying industry. A study by the World Economic Forum done in 2021 showed the top 25 university subjects by demand and pay are all STEM related subjects. The demand for STEM skills in jobs is very high. Our society is forever evolving rapidly, for example, climate change and technology. STEM subjects will give children the skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving, to deal with these challenges once they leave education. We believe introducing STEM early on can help to foster a life-long love of learning and help them perform better in school. STEM in early childhood The idea of introducing STEM to children in the early years is to begin the process of creating scholarly minds. Little children who ask questions, seek out answers, solve problems and become innovators who go onto contribute to the human story. The sooner we get our little ones to see that our world is filled with shapes, materials, forces and numbers, is the start of something special in the form of inquisitive minds. Learning STEM enhances the below core skills for young children: · Critical thinking and problem solving skills - encouraging children to ask questions and seek out answers. Problem solving is a critical skill in the early years · Collaborative learning - as STEM subjects often encourage children to work together · Enhances a child’s memory through experimental learning · Improves communication skills - learn new vocabulary · Exposes children to real world challenges and experiences For example, a child taking part in a simple sink or float experiment may just look like they’re playing in water but they’re carefully considering whether the item will sink or float, making predictions and then analysing the item's features which could have caused it to sink or float. How early years educators can nurture STEM in their teaching and learning with very young children Encouragement and exposure to broad experiences is a good place to start. Try to nourish as best as you can the little sparks of interests you may see early on in the children in your setting. Introduce new ideas continually, invest in wide-ranging books and learning resources that stimulate an interest for STEM. From early on, some simple but effective things you can do include: · Questions - ask ‘why,’ ‘what’ and ‘how’ as a way of getting children to explain their thinking · Language - use words which link to STEM related topics like: balance, hard, soft, hot, cold, push, pull, high, low · Exploration - encourage exploratory play, by introducing messy play with different textures and liquids of varying consistency · Imagination - create experiments which include role-playing, scenarios and task specific activities · Explanation - explain how simple objects and tools around the setting work What families can do to encourage interests in STEM for their young children Introducing STEM at home doesn’t have to be expensive. We created a pack of STEM activity cards where parents can create STEM activities and experiments using simple items from around the home or items from the supermarket. Simple science experiments using baking soda, vinegar and food colouring are always a hit with young children. Make it fun. If you're able to, activities like cooking help to develop early maths skills for example. The list below shows how you can incorporate learning maths when cooking/ baking at home: 1️) Counting - simple things like counting the right number of ingredients needed when baking can help improve maths skills 2️) Ratios - making pancakes is a fun way to practice ratios, by using the 3:2:1 ratio (300ml milk, 2 eggs, 100g flour) 3️) Geometry - children can explore the properties and names of different shapes and match the identical shapes through baking biscuits 4️) Fractions - making pizza is a fun way for children to learn fractions, they can divide the dough into different fractions How creativity plays a part in STEM STEM can also help to boost a child’s creativity; we usually associate creativity with art. However, learning STEM can help to spark a child’s creativity. When doing a STEM related activity children have to be creative when they come up with their solutions to problems. For example, creating a bridge using toothpicks and blu tac in our STEM activity cards. It’s an engineering challenge. But children also have to be creative with what their bridge looks like. Or creating a boat that floats, they have to be creative with the materials that they use. You may even hear some people refer to STEM as STEAM, where A for Art has been included. An example of STEM in the real world If you think about the many technological advances humankind has achieved over the centuries, you should be able to appreciate the importance of STEM in our everyday lives. The aeroplane for example is Denhue’s favourite technological advancement. It has transformed our ability to be connected globally. The thirst for flight has been achieved by combining maths and science, and by applying engineering skills to find technological solutions. Continuing with the theme of flying, we want to introduce you to Dr Mae C. Jemison, an American engineer, doctor, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first Black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. Mae’s story is one of high achievement and adventure. Mae’s introduction to STEM came from her uncle, who encouraged her interests for science, anthropology and astronomy. As parents and caregivers, the impact of your encouragement and feeding a child's curiosity can pay off massively, as we’ve just seen in the example of Mae. *Stat according to the Black British Professionals in STEM Denhue and Natalie have recently launched a STEM range, which includes a pack of 32 STEM activity cards using everyday items from around the house or items from the supermarket, great for both parents and early years educators, a STEM inventors journal: a little book of ideas to show children how new inventions are created and their latest book STEM inventors: Black inventors and innovators who changed the world. Visit www.littlescholarsplayground.com for more information. You can also listen to Natalie and Denhue discussing STEM in the early years in this episode of the FSF and Tapestry podcast.