A guest post by Connor – a Nature Premium youth ambassador. Tiptoeing out of a pandemic, we all know now just how valuable time in nature is for our physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Although we now have a greater sense of freedom, access to nature and playing outdoors is still limited and not equally accessible. This inaccessibility is especially true for our children and those of disadvantaged and marginalised communities. However, a Nature Premium could see this change. I was lucky to have somewhat of a nature premium growing up. My mum and grandparents passed on old wildlife and natural history books, I would watch documentaries and go to zoos, aquariums, farms, and green and blue spaces in and … Read More
OP&L Assessment – an update!
Alistair first gave us the opportunity to write about OP&L in February 2021 and for more detailed information, please refer to our previous blog posts on abcdoes.com. OP&L is an assessment tool, developed by us at Barnet Early Years Alliance (BEYA). We wanted to give our practitioners back time we felt was wasted collecting unnecessary evidence. Who is this evidence for? We know that it is through our interactions that we get to know our children best. We believe that if we are behind an iPad capturing the moment, we cannot be part of the moment. We wanted to share and be a part of our children’s fascinations, their curiosities, the awe and wonder. It also coincided with the key objectives of the … Read More
Developing Parent Collaboration in SEN Support
‘If a community values its children, it must cherish its parents.’ (John Bowlby) Take a look at the below statements. Do you find them helpful or harmful when speaking about children to parents? ‘It’s such a shame; she is so beautiful!’ ‘You must be so worried!’ ‘Your child is still the same, even with the diagnosis.’ ‘Boys are slower to talk, don’t worry.’ ‘Oh my God, how do you cope? It must be so hard!’ ‘It’s such a shame because it’s not just his life but all of you.’ ‘It’s so sad that his sister won’t have a normal life!’ ‘Don’t worry, in my opinion, everyone’s a bit autistic.’ ‘It must be like grieving the loss of the child you thought you … Read More
Play and Neurodiversity
This is part three in Kerry’s series around Neurodiversity. You can find parts one and two below. “Play must be the right of every child. Not a privilege. After all, when regarded as a privilege, it is granted to some and denied to others, creating further inequities. Play as a right is what is fair and just. Although children will engage in play differently, play is a child’s right” (Souto-Manning, 2017) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states in Article 31 that play is the right of all children, yet if we think about it, play is something that we continually have to defend. Through self-directed play, children gain many things, including joy, learning, … Read More