Many nurseries are starting to run training days for their staff teams.  The opportunity to get staff together at a time when they are not already tired from a day at work, is both a positive team building exercise but also a fantastic time to introduce new practice to the nursery.  However, in order to have all staff present you have two choices: run the training on a Saturday (or in the holidays) or close the nursery for a day.  Which of these … [Read more...]

As a Paediatric First Aid trainer, I get asked a lot of questions.  Sometimes the questions are easy "Can I let a child sleep after a head injury", sometimes hard "How should we store asthma inhalers in the nursery to allow them to be accessible but also prevent theft?", and sometimes just weird "Why do children with food stuck up their nose smell?".  I often get asked about what First Aid training courses people actually need to attend, in fact … [Read more...]

Almost two whole years ago Jo wrote this article about Fundamental British Values, it remains the most read post on our website.  Despite the time passing, understanding and guidance of this subject are clearly still lacking.  With the recent events across the country and politicians using British Values in their election campaigns, we thought it might be a good time to look again at just what we need to be doing. Fundamental British Values … [Read more...]

Just like the rest of the country those of us in early years are left in a state of uncertainty as to the future of the current, or indeed any of the proposed policies that have been presented by various parties during the recent election campaign! One thing seems sure though, 30 hours isn’t going away and it may be more of 'out of the frying pan into the fire' looking at some of the ideas that have been muted. However, here we are, left … [Read more...]

I was proud to attend Little Rascals day Nursery Professionals afternoon this week where all those involved with the company's training and development were invited to meet up, view the latest expansion of their Darlaston site - which has grown to now take 82 children - and have some afternoon tea. It was a lovely warm afternoon and the children were enjoying their play both inside and out. Hannin, Manager of Darlastan was a congenial host and … [Read more...]

Ofsted announced today that they have introduced a logo for GOOD providers alongside the existing one for Outstanding providers. About time I say and what a great idea! As a GOOD provider myself I have often felt a bit of 'logo envy' for those setting that are Outstanding - that is not to take anything away from them as it's a great achievement - but I still want to shout about being GOOD, as that means that I'm better than satisfactory (a grade … [Read more...]

We’ve had a month to prepare and make changes for the new EYFS 2017 – so you can expect any inspection from today to incorporate those changes and expect them to be in place. Have you had a chance to read the new document and adapt your policies accordingly? If not then there has been some useful analysis done by the Pre-school Learning Alliance and the NDNA both of which inform you of what has changed. There has also been a Newsletter from … [Read more...]

The Government have named the date for formally launching the Tax Free Childcare Programme as 28th April and parents can now start to calculate their own eligibility for this and the 30 hours funded entitlement from the government website. It’s important for them to do this as, subject to what they claim at the moment in Employer Vouchers, Tax Credits or Childcare Tax Credits, they may not be better off with Tax Free Childcare and depending on … [Read more...]

Well I’m not sure quite who, how or what happened but it seems as a sector we have made one step forward and been knocked several steps back. The LA Statutory Guidance for Early Education and Childcare  was released alongside the Model Agreement: Early years provision free of charge and free childcare at the end of last week. Notice THAT word there?  The four letter word I refuse to use in my literature – ‘it’s not free for me’ as those of you … [Read more...]