earlyyearsreflections

Talking About Pride with Young Children in the Early Years

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 12:13:14 GMT

Do you want to celebrate Pride in your setting, but you're not sure where to start? Keep reading!

June marks Pride Month – a time to celebrate love, identity and inclusion. For many adults working in Early Years settings, it can raise questions: How do I talk about Pride with young children? What’s age-appropriate? What if someone challenges the conversation?

The good news? These conversations don’t need to be complicated. In fact, young children are often more open and accepting than we give them credit for. Let’s explore how we can gently and meaningfully talk about Pride with children in Early Years, while staying true to our values of kindness, respect and belonging.

Why Should We Talk About Pride in Early Years?

Children begin noticing differences in families, relationships, and people from a very young age. When we create spaces that reflect real-life diversity, children learn that everyone belongs – and that difference is something to celebrate, not hide.

Here’s why it matters:

It builds empathy and respect.
It helps children from LGBTQ+ families feel seen and safe, as well as ensuring their families feel safe and welcomed in to your setting.
It teaches that love and identity come in many forms – and all are welcome.
It gives children a strong foundation to feel like they are not alone as they grow up and start to understand themselves a little more.

Keep it Simple, Keep it Positive

You don’t need to dive into complex concepts. Children learn best through:

Repetition – it is so important that the messages children are hearing through Pride month are present across the whole year and are not just a one day/one month a year thing.

Stories – the books and stories we use in our settings MUST be representative of all and this includes representing the LGBTQ+ community. I’ve suggested a few books at the end of the blog which are great to have in your setting all year round, but there are starting to be more and more inclusive books out there.

Play – questions will come up through play, as educators, we can address these as we go. I’m sure lots of us have had the comments from children when playing weddings, or ‘mums and dads’ – “she can’t marry her, they’re both girls” for example. These are great opportunities to correct this thinking and open that conversation with children through their play.

Warm, consistent adult modelling – ensuring that children see adults being open, welcoming and inclusive to all is integral all year round. This modelling again, helps children to see and understand that everyone should be valued and respected.

Pride is not about telling children what, or who, they should or shouldn’t be, it’s about making sure children know that whoever they are, they are welcomed and valued and the same goes for anyone in their family or wider community.

At this age, it isn’t about going in to lots of detail, we can keep it super simple and still portray that important message of inclusivity.

How to Explore Pride in Early Years Settings

Incorporating Pride Month into your setting can be playful, natural, and inclusive. Here are a few simple ideas:

Books with diverse families and with characters that reflect a range of experiences – Let children see themselves and others reflected on your shelves.

Encourage children to share their experiences – lots will have been to Pride parades, let them talk about it and what their experience was – go with this and extend it in whichever way is relevant and interesting to the children.

Talk to older children about the ‘why’ – for younger children this may not be relevant or appropriate, and you will know your children. But for some of your older children, if they question why or what Pride is for, we can talk to them about this in simple terms.

Rainbow-themed activities – Although rainbows are in no way the point of Pride, for some children (especially younger children), this might be the part that has captured their interest and attention so go with it. Creative spaces, water play or baking are lovely ways to introduce the Pride flag, and how many fantastic conversations can happen while children are engaging with these activities

Share plans with parents – Let parents know what you are planning and what you will talking to children about. This helps parents to facilitate conversation at home and might also encourage parents to offer help, advice or resources which you can use to support.

Challenges You Might Face – and How to Respond

We do need to be real about this, you may encounter hesitations and pushback – from colleagues, parents or even within yourself. Here’s how to gently hold space for them while staying true to your inclusive values:

Concerned parents, family members etc.
“We’re focusing on kindness, fairness, and helping children understand the world around them.”

“It is important that children grow up to be understanding and inclusive, we are more than happy to share our plans with you and talk through what celebrating Pride will look like at our setting”

It is important that you stand by your beliefs and ethos around inclusivity – if you have a family that doesn’t agree, that’s on them, explain why it’s important and leave the rest up to them.
If we are ensuring that Pride is celebrated all year round then all children are hearing these important messages, even if they may not at home.

Worried staff – your team may be concerned about parents’ reactions or may have their own beliefs around Pride
We can offer advice around what to say to both children and parents, reassurance that it doesn’t have to be anything fancy – just a message of inclusivity and acceptance and space to talk.

Not everyone is confident yet – and that’s okay.

Remember, Pride Month isn’t about pushing an agenda. It’s about making sure every child feels valued – every day.

Some book suggestions to have in your settings all year round:

There are just three here, but the good news is, there are so many more inclusive books these days – TinyTravels_UK and maistorybooklibrary on Instagram always have some fab suggestions!

This Day in June by Gayle E Pitman – A fab book about Pride parade, super simple and shows pictures about what Pride parades are like.

Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer – A gorgeous book about love, representing all different families. A great one for children to recognise families just like them.

My Shadow is Pink by Scott Stuart – A lovely book about a boy who doesn’t feel like he fits in. Lovely to open the conversation about gender stereotypes and was written for the authors little boy who felt like the boy in the story.

The Big Message

Pride Month is more than rainbows. It’s about helping children understand that:

Everyone deserves to feel safe and loved.
Differences make us special.
Being yourself is something to be proud of.

Let’s raise a generation of children who grow up confident in themselves, feel free to be who they are and are kind to others.

Is Story Time for the Children - or for the Schedule?

Tue, 06 May 2025 12:20:34 GMT

I recently came across a statistic that genuinely made me pause and reflect: only 41% of parents of under 4s regularly read with their children at home . As Early Years professionals, that’s hard to read - especially when we know how critical those early reading experiences are for language development, emotional bonding and lifelong learning.

We know that part of what we do in Early Years settings is to offer experiences that children might not be getting at home. So, what can we do to support a love of reading and bridge that gap in our settings?

Let’s take a moment to reflect on how we use books in our environments, and how we might do more to foster a deep, meaningful connection between children and stories.

1. How Are We Using Books in Our Settings?

It's easy to fall into routines - story time at the end of a session, often with the whole group, just before tidy-up time or mealtimes. But when we do this, who is the story time really for? Are we reading to settle the group and make transitions easier for us, or are we truly focused on engaging children in the joy of storytelling?

Let’s ask ourselves honestly: is reading becoming a task to tick off or a moment of connection?

There is value in sharing stories as a whole group – that sense of community and connection. There’s not much better than sharing a funny story with a group of children and seeing how much they enjoy it and hearing how hilarious they find it (The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak is absolutely fantastic for this), but if that’s the only way we share books, and we’re not thinking about what books we’re sharing, how we share them and why, then we maybe to look at our Story Times and reflect how much they are benefitting the children.

2. Are We Creating Cosy, Personal Story Moments?

Some of the most powerful reading experiences happen in small groups or one-on-one, snuggled into a quiet corner with a book chosen by the child. These are the moments where real engagement happens - where we can respond to children's questions, follow their curiosity, and take our time.

Moments like this give us chance to take our time over a story, developing understanding and supporting language development.

I’m sure lots of us remember curling up with someone we have a great attachment with and reading a story – it might not be the story that sticks with us, but the engagement and the attachment.

3. Are We Sharing a Wide Variety of Books and Stories?

Representation matters. Children need to see themselves, their families and their communities in the books we read. They also benefit hugely from stories that show them other ways of life, different cultures, and new experiences.

A varied bookshelf includes:

Picture books from different cultures
Books featuring children with additional needs
Stories with different family structures
Non-fiction and poetry
Wordless books that encourage imagination and storytelling

The more diverse the selection, the more children learn about themselves and the world.

Providing a wide range of different reading materials might encourage children to read who previously have not shown much interest. Having comics for example, provides opportunities for children to look at stories independently and start to understand the importance of pictures and understanding the story through these.
They may even start to use their imagination to make up their own stories based on the images. So opportunities for learning and enjoyment that go way beyond the physical books/comic etc themselves.

4. Do We Tell Stories as Well as Read Them?

Storytelling doesn’t have to come from a book. Telling stories from memory, sharing real-life anecdotes, or making up silly tales together helps develop language, sequencing and creativity.

Children also love telling their own stories. Could you offer a story basket, a puppet theatre or blank books where they can narrate and illustrate their own adventures?

Again, this doesn’t haven’t to be a big group activity – some educators will be expert at this but you may be less confident. So, take your story telling to the children, engage with them in their imaginative play and tell their story alongside them. This might be as far as it goes, or they may want to create their own book or pictures of their story!

5. Are Books Available in All Areas of the Setting?

Books don't need to live only in the reading corner. We can weave them into every area:

Recipe books in the role play kitchen
Nature guides in the garden
Storybooks near the construction or small world area
Emotion books in the wellbeing corner

When books are integrated into play, they become tools - not just an activity. Children learn that reading connects to everything they do.

Giving access to books in other areas can mean that children who tend not to choose to spend time in the Book Corner may still access books through their play. With adults nearby to support this, these books can still have as big an impact on how much children respect and enjoy books as sharing a story can.

6. Do We Use Books for Research and Discovery?

Children are full of questions - Why is the sky blue? How do caterpillars turn into butterflies? Using books to find answers builds critical thinking and shows that books are a source of knowledge.

Non-fiction books should be just as accessible and celebrated as picture books. Keep them in reach and use them during child-led inquiry.

We are so used to going straight to Google (other search engines are available!) these days to find our answers, but we can still encourage children to find the right book to find out what they want to know. Of course, it may take a bit more time, but how much learning can be done along they way!?

7. Are We Supporting Children’s Families to See the Importance of Books?

Many parents want to help but don’t always know how or feel confident enough. We can support them by:

Sharing tips for reading at home during parent chats or newsletters
Reassuring them that it’s not about perfection - just being present and sharing the moment matters
Sharing some of the children’s favourite books
Giving books as Christmas/leaving/birthday gifts

Helping adults understand the power of shared reading can have a huge impact, but also ensuring they have access to books at home – this may not be something which some families have and we need to find ways to support this.

8. Could a Lending Library Encourage Home Reading?

A simple, low-cost lending library could be the bridge between home and setting. Offer books to borrow and return, perhaps with a little bookmark or suggestion sheet inside with prompts for adults to ask their children as they read.

You may add story sacks in to your lending library, but remember that just a book is enough.

It doesn’t need to be fancy - just accessible and welcoming, and it sends the message home that books are to be loved and shared.

Final Thoughts

Book Corners and Story Times should be more than just a part of our Early Years environment or daily routine - they are invitations into imagination, windows into new worlds and opportunities to connect. In a time when not all children are getting those experiences at home, what we do in our settings really matters.

Let’s make sure we’re not just reading to children, but reading with them. Every story shared is a moment of magic and every book is a chance to make a difference.

Creating a Child-Led, Play-Based Curriculum

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 13:35:30 GMT

Embedding your ethos into your curriculum.

When we talk about curriculum in Early Years, it’s easy to get caught up in documents, frameworks and checklists. But at its core, curriculum is simply the journey a child takes while they’re in your setting. It’s about understanding where they are when they arrive and supporting them in reaching their full potential by the time they leave. How we guide them on that journey is what makes up the curriculum - and in an Early Years setting, there’s no better way to do that than through play!

Leadership in Building a Child-Led Curriculum

Strong leadership is essential in shaping a meaningful curriculum. It starts with setting a clear vision of what you want children to achieve by the time they leave your setting. This could include fostering independence, nurturing creativity, developing social skills or building resilience.

Leaders should define their ethos and pedagogy, ensuring that these principles are embedded in everyday practice.

A well-articulated ethos might include:

A commitment to play-based learning as the primary tool for learning.
Creating engaging environments that inspire curiosity and exploration.
Allowing space for fun and joy as an integral part of the learning journey.
Building strong relationships with children and their families to create a sense of belonging.
Encouraging problem-solving, critical thinking and independence through open-ended activities.

Leaders must also ensure staff feel confident in delivering this vision. Providing training, reflective practice opportunities and fostering a culture of collaboration can help embed a truly child-led curriculum.

Curriculum That Works for Your Setting

One of the biggest misconceptions is that curriculum is just about following Development Matters or Birth to 5 Matters. While these frameworks provide useful guidance, they are not your curriculum – they are tools that can help shape it. Your curriculum should be unique to your setting, your children and your community. What works for one nursery won’t necessarily work for another, and that’s okay! The key is to build a curriculum that reflects the children in your care, their interests, their needs, and the values of your setting.

Creating a Child-Led, Play-Based Curriculum

So, how do we build a curriculum that is truly child-led and rooted in play? Here are some practical steps:

1. Start with the Children

Observe, listen and engage. What are the children interested in? What sparks their curiosity? A child-led curriculum means following their lead, not prescribing what they should learn. Use their interests as the foundation for planning activities and experiences.

2. Create an Enabling Environment

A well-planned environment invites exploration, problem-solving and creativity. Open-ended resources like loose parts, natural materials and role-play areas give children the freedom to direct their own learning through play.

3. Be Flexible

Play-based learning isn’t about rigid plans. If the children suddenly develop a fascination with dinosaurs, space or cooking, go with it! Your curriculum should evolve with them, allowing for deep engagement in meaningful experiences.

4. Build Strong Relationships

A child-led curriculum relies on responsive adults. Staff should be attuned to children’s needs, scaffolding their learning without taking over. Conversations, interactions and well-timed questions help extend play and encourage deeper thinking.

5. Weave in Key Learning Areas Naturally

You can still ensure children develop key skills within a play-based approach. Maths, literacy, problem-solving and social skills all emerge naturally through high-quality play experiences. For example, a child building a tower is exploring balance, measurement and spatial awareness without needing a formal ‘maths activity’.

6. Reflect and Adapt

Leaders should create a culture of continuous reflection. Regularly evaluate what’s working and what needs tweaking. Are children engaged? Are they progressing? Are staff confident in facilitating child-led play? Continual reflection ensures the curriculum remains meaningful and effective.

A child-led, play-based curriculum isn’t about ticking boxes – it’s about creating a rich, engaging learning journey for children. With strong leadership, a clear vision, and an ethos rooted in play, fun, and relationships, you can build a curriculum that not only meets developmental goals but fosters a lifelong love of learning.

So, let’s embrace play, follow the children’s lead, and build a curriculum that truly works for them!

Born to Play, Built to Learn

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 13:24:00 GMT

O. Fred Donaldson, Ph.D said that "Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn."

This summarises the basis of play based learning and explains the key to why play is so integral to child centred learning within our Early Years settings.

This blog will explore why play based learning is vital and some of the ways it benefits children in their holistic development.

Problem Solving and Critical Thinking

When children play, they are given the opportunity to explore resources, try things out and find out more about the world around them and how things work.

This means that they are developing important skills around problem solving and thinking critically, for example, if children are building towers, they will be learning about balance, thinking about how to make their towers tall and learning to solve problems when their towers collapse.

As educators, we might best support this play by stepping back and allowing children to problem solve independently or with their peers.

However, for some children it may be more appropriate for us to support them through Sustained Shared Thinking – this involves playing alongside the child or children and supporting their critical thinking. We might ask questions, or use statements, such as:

What would happen if…?
How could we…?
What do you think?
I wonder if…

Using questions like this, helps children to learn those important critical thinking skills and also feel that sense of accomplishment when they manage to solve their problem. These skills form the basis for so much other learning but also are important life skills in their own right.

Interactions and Developing Relationships

As children grow, the way they interact with other children in their play develops. From playing mostly independently as babies, to playing alongside other children and then ultimately to playing with their peers – all the way through this journey, they are able to build skills which help them to understand how to build relationships effectively.

There are so many skills which are developed through playing with, or alongside other children. These may be sharing, turn taking, managing disputes and collaborative working.

Although these skills may need a little bit of adult support initially, the more we include children in this, and allow them opportunities to practice this through play, the more confident they become in these skills and the more they are able to build successful relationships.

For example, if a child comes with a problem such as “Jack won’t let me have that toy”, rather than going straight in and solving it ourselves, we can talk to the children about what to do, how can we solve the problem and help them to see this through. The next time they have the same problem they may need a little less support and then ultimately will be equipped to deal with these sorts of things independently.

While play based learning is child centred, this does not mean removing the adult from the equation and a co-regulation and scaffolding of learning are so valuable in supporting children learning and development in a play-based curriculum.

Developing these relationships through play, also helps to build children’s communication skills - whether this be copying words or signs that their peers are using, learning about body language or using communication skills to listen and solve problems.

These early relationships that are built through play are key to learning those important life skills around relationships and communication.

Creativity and Imagination

Providing opportunities for children to be creative is essential within Early Years and it is important to remember that creativity doesn’t just mean providing opportunities for arts and crafts.

Mary Lou Cook says that “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun.”

This summary of creativity highlights the importance of providing opportunities throughout all areas for children to develop and explore their creativity, and the best way to do this is through open-ended play.

Through play, children are given the freedom and space to explore, learn how things work, test theories and develop critical thinking skills. For example, children might work together with some boxes in the construction area to create a spaceship, they will have to think about what it needs to look like, how they can attach the boxes together, what to do if it falls down etc…

All of these sorts of opportunities develop key, lifelong skills of problem solving and adaptability which children will carry with them throughout their lives.

Enjoyment!

I’ve left this until last, but I believe it is the most important. We want children to love learning, to want to find out more and to be engaged - it’s how every single one of us learns best.

Play is fun! So, if we can provide a range of purposeful play opportunities, engaging environments which allow for play and adults to understand the importance of play in learning - we are creating the perfect environment for learning to happen and for children to flourish.

Play = Learning

This is ultimately what it comes down to - when children are playing, they are learning. It is up to us, as educators, to support that play to ensure it is purposeful and provides the learning opportunities which are relevant to the children we are working with.

I couldn’t cover all the benefits of play-based learning in this one blog, to really get stuck into it, it needs a whole book!

So, this is your permission to ‘just’ play - get stuck in with children’s play, make it purposeful, add resources, develop your environments and, ultimately, learn alongside children - they have plenty to teach us as well after all!

Deck the Halls with Christmas Crafts – or not!?

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 10:40:14 GMT

It’s that time of year again, where the debate starts to rage about what Christmas activities we should be doing with our Early Years children.

Do we send home matching ‘handprint’ Christmas cards to each child? Or do we leave everything entirely up to the child and allow them to create something, if they wish, that is entirely child led.

The controversy around this can seem somewhat irrational and, to be honest, hasn’t been helped in recent years but the use of the term ‘craptivities’ when it comes to these more uniform Christmas crafts. I really strongly believe that we should be able to debate and share our opinions in Early Years, without belittling what others do.

Realistically, I think there’s a middle ground that we can meet in, which still involves the child and gives them to opportunity to be creative, whilst also sending something home at Christmas for parents.

I think that provocations are the way to go in terms of Christmas Activities – setting up some resources, and potentially some examples, to provoke children’s interest and spark an idea.

This may be Christmas coloured paints and glitter for them to explore, green card and finger painting for trees or pieces of card that could create a snowman. Children can then be as creative as they wish with these resources, some may be inspired by examples you have provided and others may use their creativity to make something else, even adding in extra resources maybe.

There is learning to be had in this, whichever way the children go about it. Whether it be fine motor skills using some of the tools needed, problem solving to work out how to make a something like the examples or developing creativity by finding other resources and making their own creation.

None of these examples are entirely child-led, they have all come from an adult led idea and set up – but, as long as we are providing a wide range of other opportunities for child led learning and creativity, then an adult led activity here and there can fit in really nicely.

I’ve also found that some children can find entirely open-ended creativity a little daunting, so providing some ideas and support may actually be how we support children’s individual needs and help them to engage in something they may otherwise have found tricky to know where to start.

But what if they don’t want to join in? Well, the simple answer is, they don’t have to! You might offer a little encouragement, make a suggestion of who they might want to make a card for, but ultimately, if they don’t want to, we’re not going to force them.

For children who don’t want to join in, I would often take a picture of them enjoying some other Christmassy play or even just in their usual play and pop it on a card for their grown-ups.

Of course, we all work really hard to put the child at the centre of everything we do and honestly, pre having my own children, I was a little more ‘militant’ in my belief that focussed, tick list Christmas crafts should be banned – then I became a parent, and the hypocrite in me surfaced that quite likes the card that comes home at certain points in the year (as long as I can see my child has had something to do with its creation other than just on handprint placed on!).

I think we have to acknowledge that we do what we do for children’s families too, to a lesser extent of course than the child, and I don’t think it causes any major harm to sometime do a small activity with the important grown ups in that child’s life in mind as well.

So, let’s try not fall out this Christmas about the sort of activities you’re doing in your setting for those little people – and maybe we can just meet somewhere in the middle whilst also agreeing that we’re all just doing our best to make Christmas special!

My Essential Early Years Book Shelf

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:43:38 GMT

I absolutely love children’s books – there are so many fantastic books out there and it can be hard to know where to start.

I started this as a top ten, but it was too tricky to narrow it down, so here is my list of essential Early Years books to have in your setting. It certainly is not an exhaustive list, but it is one that is full of books to enjoy with children that hopefully you will love as much as they do!

Shark in The Park – Nick Sharratt

A modern classic and always a favourite. I love a book that children can join in with and this one is a great example of that. Even from an early age, children will enjoy looking through their telescope for sharks and then very quickly start joining in with Timothy to shout “There’s a Shark in the Park”. If you love it, there are several “Shark in the….” books that you can get hold of to expand your collection!

You Choose – Nick Sharratt and Pippa Goodhart

This is a lovely book which does exactly what it says on the tin. Each page asks a different question, and Nick Sharratt’s fab illustrations give options for children to choose from. This is a great book to spark conversation and encourage language with you little one while you discuss big questions like “if you could live anywhere where would you live?” and “is there a job you’d like to do?”

This book can serve as a fantastic conversation starter circle times or meals times with the children.

I am Enough – Grace Byers

The title says it all. A book which celebrates the fact that while we may all be different, we are all enough.
This is just such an important message for us to share with children, helping to build their own self-esteem and also being open and welcoming of people who are different to them.

Naughty Bus – Jan and Jerry Oke

Not a very well known book, but one that is always popular. All about a bus that gets up to no good. Children love the photos which are used rather than drawings and, for older children, the interesting text can spark conversations around all sorts including grammar and descriptive writing! You can also have lots of imaginative fun, wondering what adventures the bus might get up to next.

Bodies are Cool – Tyler Feder

A relatively new book that I have fallen in love with. This book is all about body positivity which is so important to instil with our little people and it is full of diverse images of people from all walks of life. There is so much to talk about in the illustrations on each page that sparks interest and conversation from the children.

Invisible String – Patrice Karst

This a lovely story in it’s own right but one which is particularly useful to use when children are experiencing loss. The book talks about how we are attached to people we love by Invisible String, however far away they are and even if they are no longer with us.

Mae Among the Stars – Roda Ahmed

A lovely book about being able to achieve anything you set your mind to. A popular one with our many budding astronauts too!

My Shadow is Pink – Scott Stuart

Another fairly new book which is all about equality, diversity and breaking down gender stereotypes. A lovely one to read to children as they are learning about what they love and we are teaching them that we are all different and have different interests, styles and personalities and that this isn’t just OK, it’s amazing – the world would be a pretty boring place if we didn’t wouldn’t it!?

This Is Not a Stick – Antoinette Portis

This one is a great example for the children of how they can use their imagination to make resources into lots of different things. A stick is a great place to start with this but then you can extend this with different resources – one of our favourite things is a box – endless possibilities!

Another – Christian Robinson

A book with no words, just some gorgeous images. Books like this are fab as the story can be different every time as children talk through what they think is happening on each page and they can use their imaginations to build the story.

I Want my Hat Back – Jon Klassen

I absolutely love a Jon Klassen book, so this was tricky to narrow down but this one is my favourite I think. It encourages children to look at the pictures as well as listening to the story and the children find this sub text really funny – especially the ending!

Stuck – Oliver Jeffers

Again, it was tricky to narrow this down to one Oliver Jeffers books but this one is one that gets picked up by children again and again. Another one that children find really funny and joyful, which is just so important – lots of ways of extending interests and learning from this one too.

Love Makes a Family – Sophie Beer

This one is a lovely book about family, and how, although all families are different, the most important this is love. Such an important message for children to be hearing and a lovely book for children coming from all sorts of families to feel included.

How Are You Feeling Today? – Molly Potter

A great book to support children with their emotions. With ideas of how to deal with a range of different emotions, this one isn’t a story book, but one that is great to share with children to help them with all the big emotions they feel in the Early Years. It’s also a great opportunity for children to come up with their own ideas of things they can do to manage their own emotions – lots of opportunities for co-regulation.

Press Here – Herve Tullet

A lovely book where children can carry out an action on each page and affect what happens on the next. Lots of opportunity for children to get involved and be engaged in the book.

As I said, this was tricky to narrow down, and there are certainly lots more fabulous books that didn't make the list, as well as tonnes that I am yet to discover, but these are definitely some of my favourites that I really feel every Early Years setting should have.

I’d love to hear some of your favourites as well!

What does 'Quality' Early Years provision look like?

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 14:07:56 GMT

So, you book me to come in and support you to improve the quality in your setting, but what does that look like?
Does quality have to fit within a certain approach? Does it have to involve particular styles of resources? Do you need all your team to be trained to Level 6?

The answer to all of these is ‘no’ but of course it’s more complicated than that, let’s try and unpack it.

When we really break it down, at its core, quality Early Years provision is one that puts the child at the centre of everything it does and focusses on meeting each child’s individual needs.

The Early Years landscape can be confusing and overwhelming right now with different approaches and schemes telling you they are the right way to ‘do’ Early Years. The reality is, you need to find what works for you and the children in your setting. There really is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to Early Years!

When I look at quality in a setting, there are a few key things that I am looking for:

Sequential Learning - does learning flow through the rooms to support children’s development and support with transitions

Adult interactions - are adults at the child’s level, engaging with them and learning alongside them

Why this? Why now? - can Early Years Educators talk about the ‘why’ for what they are doing and why it is relevant for that child/group of children at that moment in time?

Curriculum and ethos - what do you want for children when they leave your setting and how are you supporting them to get to this point?

Team wellbeing and support - are staff happy and well supported at work, do they want to be there and have the training they need to be able to

Leadership - are leadership confident and clear about what they are wanting to achieve as a setting? Do they model this for the rest of the team? Do they have a good knowledge of what is going on within the setting?

Team training - are the team well trained? Do they understand what is expected of them and have the tools to achieve this?

Safeguarding - do the team have a good understanding of how to keep children safe?

All of this can be achieved with a range of approaches, resources and schemes and, in the most part, is focussed around the team and leadership in the setting all being on the same page and having the skills and tools they need to achieve the best for the children.

I am a big advocate for In the Moment Planning and open ended resources, but this might not work for your cohort or for your team to meet the needs of your setting. That’s something that you can decide as a team who knows your children, families and community and what they need.

When I come in to look at quality in your settings, what is important is for me to get to know you, your setting and understand the ‘why’ behind everything you do. This way, I can help to support you to develop the quality in your setting, whilst still keeping what makes you, you!

If you think I can help, feel free to get in touch.

Teaching or Childcare - and do we have to choose?

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:33:05 GMT

This debate is something which feels like it’s raging in the Early Years world at the moment and there are two big areas of focus:

1 - To raise the profile of Early Years and its amazing, wonderful practitioners

2 - To help people (especially the powers that be) to understand the importance of play and how children learn through play.

There is a lot more around this area but these are two topics which I think the majority of the Early Years community would agree are important right now for so many reasons - policy making, the staffing crisis and outcomes for children to name a few.

So what is it that we do? It’s a complicated question, because if you list out the daily job role of an Early Years Practitioner it is endless. But the overarching question is, are we teachers or are we childcarers, and does it matter what our title is at the end of the day?

Let’s take a look at some of the opinions people have about Early Years and how they could impact the sector.

“You just play all day”

We’ve all had this said to us about our jobs, haven’t we? And it’s very tempting to argue back that we don’t just play all day - but actually at its core, isn’t that what we’re doing? Shouldn’t we be responding with “yes, and it’s great, let me tell you about all the things we learnt while we played today!”?

If we argue against this idea of ‘playing all day’ then are we risking reducing people’s understanding of the importance of play in the Early Years even more?

“We’re teachers, we spend all day teaching”

This is absolutely true as well - teaching and play aren’t mutually exclusive! In fact, I would go as far to argue, in the Early Years, you can’t have one without the other.

Early Years practitioners are 100% teachers, and I strongly believe that they should be valued just as highly (if not more so) than any teachers throughout any of the rest of the education system. If we don’t get it right in the Early Years, then it can have a massive impact on children’s future journey through the education system, and the same can certainly be said for when we do get it right

But there’s more to it than the typical ‘teaching’ role (or how that is perceived), we have to be careful not to lose the ‘care’ aspect of Early Years as well.

“Our job is to get children ready for school”

This belief about Early Years definitely leans into the opinion that changing to using ‘teachers’ would make sense.

I would argue that our job is absolutely not to get children ready for school - it’s about supporting children where they’re at and building on their skills and passions while supporting what they need. This benefits them for going out into the wider world but also just focusses on the ‘now’ and not always looking to this goal of ‘school readiness’.

“Our job is to care for children while parents are at work”

This has definitely felt like the message in recent years coming from the policy makers, with extending funding entitlements etc so that people can get back to work.

There is an important role here, if people want or need to go out to work then they should be able to do that, knowing that their children are in a setting where they are safe and cared for. The caring aspect of Early Years is so important and if we have to get this right. However, this perception of it just being somewhere for children to be while parents work can be damaging to the work being done to highlight the importance of Early Years and the impact it has on children and families.

In summary, where I’m conflicted in this whole debate is this:

If we re-title jobs to Early Years Teachers, then we definitely tick the box of giving the role more gravitas and hold it in a similar regard to any other teaching position. This could have the positive effect of helping to change policy around Early Years professions and raise their status with policy makers who can actually make a difference.

I was talking to an Early Years lecturer recently, who said that when her students leave university into an Early Years Practitioner role - unless it is titled as a teaching role, they don’t count as having gone in to a profession after university. This clearly needs to change, but is it the title that needs to change or the perception of what we’re doing in Early Years that needs to?

My concern with shifting entirely to using ‘teacher’ as the job role is the potential perception this brings from government and parents. Would there be an expectation for Early Years settings being more ‘schoolified’ and for more formal learning to take place?

Although we know that we are teaching children all day through play, without a shift in how people view play - does changing the name of the role to ‘teacher’ risk having a more damaging effect than positive?

I also think it’s integral that we don’t lose sight of the ‘care’ side of what we do by focussing too much on the title of ‘teacher’. The care is so, so important and has to be the basis of what we are doing every day - building relationships, supporting children’s wellbeing, helping through tricky transitions, the list goes on. All of this is ‘childcare’ and it is so important that none of this gets forgotten in the debate.

I guess the question we need to ask, and I wish I had the answer, is which fight can have the biggest impact, most quickly.

Do we push for a re-naming of Early Years Practitioners to Early Years Teachers but potentially risk a shift in perception and, in some situations, practice?

Or, do we put our efforts into shifting the perception of how integral play and care is to learning and development in the Early Years and focus on that?

I think ultimately, my answer is that we work on the perception of play and how important it is to learning - I would like to think this could positively impact the whole education system and highlight the importance of play based learning all the way through education - but maybe that’s a blog for another day!