Schema and Fairies

June 9, 2011
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Schemas are one of those things that divide practitioners, like fairies at the bottom of the garden. You either believe in them and are in absolute awe at how amazing they are, or you just don’t believe they exist. It’s really interesting when you discuss this with people and it’s extra exciting when a ‘non-believer’ [...]

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The EYFS Review – part two – The Impossible Curriculum

April 14, 2011

This is part two of the posts about the Tickell, or Early Years Foundation Stage, Review. In part one I have looked at the quantitative and qualitative data which was gathered during the consultation phase. Here in part two I’ve considered the 46 recommendations in detail and how these might affect practice in the Early [...]

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The EYFS review – part one – much ado about nothing?

April 8, 2011

So, the long awaited EYFS Review is out and being pored over by one and all. I thought it might be interesting to see what line of attack the media had on this one. Supportive? Derisive? Outraged? The TES decided to go front page here and then misunderstood Dame Tickell’s view on phonics here. The [...]

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Where’s Wally? And why it’s important

March 8, 2011

Yesterday I was at the most amazing training session. It was the last session on a course which I have thoroughly enjoyed leading and am proud to be a part of – the Early Years SENCO, run by Stockport Local Authority and certified by Manchester Metropolitan University. All ten sessions have been really informative and [...]

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What does Assessment mean?

March 2, 2011

An interesting article caught my eye this week, based around a mother’s conversion to the EYFS. There a few things which also raised an eyebrow – “every setting in the country” should be “the majority of settings England”, for example. But the sentence which really intrigued me was that children should be allowed to be [...]

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The Trouble with Play. A thought provoking book

February 18, 2011

The Trouble with Play by Susan Grieshaber and Felicity McArdle. Open University Press (2010) This book will challenge any preconceptions about the innocence and universal benefit of play. It is based on naturalistic observations of children, where researchers do not interrupt or disturb the play, so the ‘real’ situation can be witnessed.The result is a [...]

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Frank Fields’ Poverty Review

October 15, 2010

The consultation date has passed for getting your views to Frank Fields regarding poverty and life chances. The findings are not expected to be reported to the Prime Minister until ‘the end of the year’ [2010] (http://povertyreview.independent.gov.uk/) Unfortunately this initiative has been somewhat overshadowed by the proposal to remove the child benefit payments from households [...]

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Breathtakingly Beautiful Land of Me

September 16, 2010

The amazingly talented team at ‘Made in Me’ understand the lesson that Disney demonstrated in Snow White 50 years ago – attention to detail and watercolour beautiful animations are a winning combination. They have designed a computerised book, which is issued in themed chapters. Chapter one is shape, size and colour; Chapter 2 the Outside [...]

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Paying for summer holiday care

September 12, 2010

Frank Field is the man charged with the unenviable task of tackling poverty. His report to the PM David Cameron on ‘poverty and life-chances review’ is due week commencing 13th September 2010. Mr Field has had a lot to consider in the short time since he was appointed. One of his recommendations, as reported by [...]

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Reflective Practice and the EYP

September 7, 2010

EYPS, reflective practice and how this can improve outcomes for children at a setting Reflective practice is one of the tools which can be used by Early Years Professionals to fulfil their role as ‘change agent’, which is at the heart of the Early Years Professional Status (CWDC, 2008). By structured reflection on current practice [...]

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