This monthly eight-page supplement which is entitled Practice Insight - Provocations for learning from across the sector - aims to provide a window into the best practice of settings and individual practitioners across early years. Each month is split into the following sections:
If you would like to be the Guest Editor of a future edition and showcase the wonderful practice happening in your setting, please get in touch! elly.roberts@markallengroup.com
Nothing beats being a child again and caring for different young children with supporting their needs. It's so satisfying to know you've contributed to a happy childhood. Being around children is uplifting and energising for me, especially when I am offered the chance to view the world through their eyes and explore their interests with them.
Every month, we introduce a new Book of the Month for the nurseries to read to the children and to provide activity prompts. These books are also promoted to parents and carers. All nurseries purchase multiple copies of the chosen book to share with the children and to use in their nursery lending libraries for parents to borrow.
Thanks to such a partnership, children can develop the life skills needed in the future and the adults keep discovering various ways to influence their little ones to help them reach their full potential. This is a learning journey for all of us.
Exploring the benefits of a long-term art project inspired by Paul Klee's Castle and Sun.
Having worked at Fennies for four years and within the Early Years sector for six years, I was looking for progression and a way to further my learning and so I joined the Fennies Graduate Scheme.
The early years sector is, rightly so, the ongoing subject of political discourse with various parties unveiling their proposals for its reform at their respective conferences. It is a crucial moment for this sector, with hope for the future. Amid these deliberations, it's reassuring to see providers continuing to inspire, lead and put children at the heart of all they do.
As a senior lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Chester, I was about to start the thesis stage of my Doctorate in Education qualification and the opportunity arose to focus my research on intergenerational practice with The Nursery in Belong. My initial focus was to observe the ways in which children, families and older people made connections with each other and how their relationships developed, while living and learning in such a unique setting.
Within our model we have to think about the families of children and also their grand-friends. Both family groups spend a lot of time in the Care Village and interact with each other in organised and spontaneous ways. Many family members of the older people have formal caring responsibilities and it is important for us to respect this role and the anxiety and pressure it can sometimes bring. Equally, we have been careful to make sure that the children's family members understand the unique...
As a team of early year's educators, we have always been fascinated by the potential to accelerate early learning and development by bringing children and older people together to support and nurture each other.
We frame or reframe everyday learning in ways that enable people of all ages to experience them as entertaining, intellectually stimulating, and personally interesting. This helps to establish situations in which all ages can interact playfully with each other and are able to use their playfulness to develop, sustain and expand meaningful relationships.
We should not be surprised by the ways that our DfE Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and the Care Quality Commission's Key Questions and Quality Statements for the care of older people, mirror each other. After all, both are intended to guide professionals to provide the highest standards of care.
Don't we have a wonderful time with Amanda! says 75 year old Glenda, a resident at our intergenerational Care Village. As creative lead, it is my role to promote as much playfulness and creative exploration as possible while balancing this with the diverse health and well-being needs of older people and developmental stages of our nursery children.
Looking at my favourite reading this month has been varied. As we all learn differently, I've included, a multi-media learning pack from Alice Sharp, a Ted Talk to listen to on your walk to work, a magazine that highlights what permaculture means especially for those interested in the regenerative economy, a practical book to support the children in the garden and a thoughtful book.
