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
Self-regulation in the EYFS: Unfit for Purpose. Guest Post from Mine Conkbayir
Self-regulation in the EYFS: Unfit for Purpose. I have been writing and talking about the fundamental importance of understanding self-regulation (SR) and the neuroscience of early brain development for well over a decade and in this time, I am disappointed to have not seen it feature in early years (EY) qualifications or training as mandatory practice. However, recently, things have changed and SR (which simply put, is the individual’s ability to manage big emotions and their resulting behaviours and to return to a state of calm) has become the ‘’buzzword’’ in the EY sector. ‘What’s the problem?’ you may well ask. Based on my observations, a few key issues come to mind including the proliferation of unscrupulous consultants who have … Read More
Guest Post – Julian Grenier – Successful Early Years Ofsted Inspections.
Julian is the headteacher of Sheringham Nursery School and Children’s Centre in Newham, East London and the author of Successful Early Years Ofsted Inspections (Sage, 2016). He is also a National Leader of Education, one of the co-founders of the East London Partnership Teaching School and he works as an additional inspector. He has previously been the senior Early Years Adviser for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and was headteacher of Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children’s Centre in Islington. In his school career, he has worked in primary, special and nursery schools across inner and east London. I’m delighted that Alistair is giving me some space to share an extract from my latest book, Successful Early Years … Read More