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Happy World Nursery Rhyme Week! Launched by Music Bugs in 2013, this special week celebrates nursery rhymes’ huge role in early childhood learning and development. Nursery rhymes aren’t just fun but foundational for developing early literacy, language, and social skills that support a child’s growth. This week, we’re exploring why nursery rhymes are so impactful…

This is your friendly reminder that from last Friday (1st November 2024), all early years providers must transition to the updated Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. Make sure you’re working from the correct version—either download, view it online, or print a copy—because this is the document that legally guides your practice. Using the updated…

In May 2024, the Government launched a consultation on proposed changes to improve safeguarding in the early years sector. We shared a summary of these proposals in a previous blog, which you can read here. Since then, working parents of children as young as nine months have started accessing 15 hours of funded childcare each…

In recent years, the approach to observations in the early years sector has seen significant changes. Practitioners no longer need to provide physical evidence of a child’s progress and needs. They can rely on their professional judgment instead. Fortunately, we no longer just check off children’s milestones on lists using frameworks like Development Matters —…

Cultural capital is a key concept in early years education, highlighted in the ‘Quality of Education’ section of the Ofsted Early Years Inspection Handbook. This guidance explains how early years settings are judged on how well they use the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework to enhance children’s learning experiences. According to Ofsted, cultural capital…

Understanding how children learn and explore their environment is key to early years education. One important concept that helps us make sense of children’s play is the idea of ‘schemas’. If you’re new to the term, it might sound a bit technical, but schemas are simply repeated patterns of behaviour that children use to learn…

If you joined us for our recent webinar, ‘Creating a Strong Early Years Culture and Curriculum,’ you’ll know we had the privilege of hosting early years experts Alison Featherbe and Jamie Victoria. In case you missed it, you can catch up on the webinar here—it’s packed with valuable insights. This blog will focus on Jamie’s…

This month we were joined by early years experts and experienced hosts, Alison Featherbe and Jamie Victoria in our webinar ‘Creating a Strong Early Years Culture and Curriculum’. It was a fantastic event with hundreds of nursery managers and leaders joining us live to gain some essential tips and strategies just in time for the…