More than half of England’s maintained nursery schools struggling to cover core costs
A survey carried out by sector body Early Education in association with education unions the NAHT, NEU and UNISON, has found that more than half of all maintained nursery schools in England had an in-year deficit in 2021-22 and 28% of had a cumulative deficit. Only 4 in ten (41%) had been able to set […]
Times Education Commission calls for “significant boost” to early years funding
The Times Education Commission has today published a report which calls for “A significant boost to early years funding targeted at the most vulnerable and a unique pupil number from birth, to level the playing field before children get to school.” It also calls for wellbeing to be put at the heart of education and […]
The Family Music Hub – early childhood practitioners set to benefit from an exciting new initiative
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Press release: May 2022 Early Education and Early Childhood Music practitioners Katie Neilson, Rosie Adediran and Nicola Burke are pleased to announce they have been awarded funding to develop a brand new initiative – The Family Music Hub. This new initiative seeks to explore existing early childhood music (ECM) practice and collaboratively develop new ways […]
Inspiring Early Years across the UK: a reflection on the May 2022 National Conference
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Cathy Nutbrown, President of Early Education The twelve sessions of the May Annual National Conference 2022 left me reflecting on a strong thread which I felt wove, in different ways, through every contribution. I wanted to take a moment to share my thoughts here. Slowing down is very important, slowing down and being patient. These […]
Why we need anti-racism training in the early years
We deplore the recent article by The Telegraph which singled out Liz Pemberton for criticism of her anti-racism training, which she has delivered for many clients including local authorities. The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (as recently revised by the current Conservative government) states that: “The EYFS seeks to provide: …equality of […]
Ofsted’s new strategy and focus on the early years
Ofsted has today launched a new five-year strategy. Elements of this which affect the early years include commitments to “simplify the regulatory regime for childminders” “develop the evidence base about early years education, including curriculum and pedagogy, and act on it… develop the evidence base around the early years learning and development curriculum through our […]
Government’s new sustainability and climate change strategy
We welcome the government’s new Sustainability and climate change strategy for education and children’s services, and that early years is reflected through a range of strands including commitments to: provide opportunities to develop a broad knowledge and understanding of the importance of nature, sustainability and the causes and impact of climate change and to translate […]
Families’ access to nature project
The Families’ Access to Nature Project was undertaken by the Froebel Trust and Early Education between October 2021 and January 2022. Children, their parents, and their early years educators talked to us about their access to nature and being outside together. The document below summarises key findings from the project for early years practitioners interested […]
The importance of early experiences
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by Leslie Patterson At the very beginning of the 1970s I was lucky enough to attend a playschool, at a time when there was very little early years provision available. It was a very informal provision run by a lovely lady from her house around the corner from where I lived but, despite its informality, […]
The Schools White Paper: highlighting the gap between early years and schools policy
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Government has today published its Schools White Paper “Opportunity for all”. We welcome the fact that early years gets a few mentions: However, the “key facts” only list the numbers of children in the school system, not the 1.5m in early years provision. There is mention of where children’s outcomes are improving, but no mention […]