At the moment I am putting the finishing touches to a new book that I am writing for Sage all about play. I have always really enjoyed writing about my own thoughts on Early Years education, but in creating this book I have had the opportunity to go back, re-read and discover what other people have to say about it. One of my favourite re-reads has been The Educational Value of the Nursery School by Susan Isaacs. Her writing is so relevant to today it is hard to believe that it was first published in 1937! Isaacs was a pioneer of children’s play putting the development of emotions and feelings at the heart of her practice. She was committed to … Read More
Good Level of Development – A National Picture.
This week I launched a project that I am doing in the North West of England in conjunction with our Ofsted Big Conversation steering committee. The idea for the project came about after Ofsted released their findings in relation to the number of children who achieve a Good Level of Development (GLD) at the end of the Reception year. This is their Good Level of Development by Local Authority map for 2017/18. You can find it here The North West region, where I live and worked for my entire teaching career, has a high number of Local Authorities where the attainment of GLD is in the lowest National band. The idea of the project is to provide some really cost … Read More
Blowing Activity to Support Speech Development (at least, that’s how it started!).
Increasingly in the settings that I work with, there are more children who are showing some signs of speech delay. This can be for a number of reasons and we should always seek professional advice if we have any concerns. There are some activities that you can do with all children, that are not only fun, but give them the opportunity to explore a range of skills and experiences that also link to the physical development that can support successful speaking. With this in mind I popped into my local packaway pre school – The Ark – (find them on Facebook here), where Sally, Nigel and Janice kindly gave up one of their Tuff Trays. The activity that I wanted … Read More
Mini Maths Measures That Make a Difference
This weeks guest blog is from Juliet Robertson. Juliet is one of Scotland’s leading education consultants who specialises in outdoor learning and play. She works at a national level delivering training, giving keynote speeches, leading and supporting innovative outdoor projects and writing content for websites, documents and case studies. She is passionate about enabling schools, play organisations and early years settings to provide quality outdoor learning and play opportunities for children and young people. You might have already discovered her website Creative Star Learning and her blog I’m a Teacher, Get Me Outside Here! Today, she is going to be talking about mini maths measures… Mini Maths Measures That Make a Difference Creating a maths-rich outdoor environment … Read More