Scrolling through social media as a dog lover, I come across numerous, delightful videos of charming dogs doing cute things. At the same time, there are very many clips of dogs with babies which I choose not to watch as they always make me feel a bit uncomfortable. Dog owners may think they have the …
Parents’ perspectives of childcare and early years
This week Polly received a letter in the post from the Department for Education (DfE)! She has been randomly selected by Ipsos Mori, an independent research organisation commissioned by the DfE, to complete an online survey about parental views of childcare and out of school activities. The letter arrived with a free reusable shopping bag …
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Trends in early years practice.
This week’s post has been written by one of our regular contributors, Karen Matthews, who is an early years practitioner. Thanks once again Karen for a great post! Many areas of life are spurred on by trends or hot topics and the early years sector is no different. It’s all too easy to get drawn …
What can babies get out of the theatre?
Last weekend one of us went to see a theatre performance aimed at children aged from six to eighteen months.
Moving at your own speed
Rebecca Reynolds is an independent early years literacy consultant; this is the third blog in a series on children’s early writing that she has written for us. What does moving at your own speed look like in the classroom? In my second blog about handwriting (as distinct from writing in its other forms), I explored …
World Health Organisation update their recommendations for children under five
This week the World Health Organisation has updated some of their recommendations for children under five.
This fine place so close to home
Thanks to Paula Stone for this week's article; are some children seen as more important than others in our society? Since reading the article in the Guardian on 25thMarch “Too poor to play: children in social housing blocked from communal playground” I have been deeply, deeply troubled. The story reports how a housing …
Should we reward children for full school attendance?
Should we do away with school attendance prizes and prosecuting for term-time holidays? Or do you think we should return to medals for those pupils who don’t miss any lessons?
Busy times, busy women
Busy times for us both at the moment because, as well as everything else going on in our lives, we are working on the first draft of our second book. Generally, this seems to involve occasionally meeting up for coffee and comparing notes on how much (or how little!) we have done and promising to …
Children’s Centres’ “fight for survival”
Yesterday the Local Government Association (LGA) claimed that Sure Start children’s centres in England and Wales are in a “fight for survival” as the amount of funding for them fell by 25% between 2014/15 and 2017/18.
Contemplating Childhoods 