Early Years

Wednesday

17th Apr 2024

NI ‘early years communication crisis’ highlighted
More children in Northern Ireland waiting for speech and language therapy per head of the population than anywhere else in the UK, ministers told
Tin can phone Northern Ireland

Tuesday

16th Apr 2024

EYFS: How unusual objects can nurture curiosity and creativity
Young children rarely have the opportunity to get bored any more, says Helen Pinnington, but we can create moments of curiosity to spark their imaginations
EYFS: How unusual objects can nurture curiosity and creativity

Tuesday

9th Apr 2024

Early years: 5 simple ways to play with nursery rhymes
Nursery rhymes help to develop linguistic skills, introduce storytelling and, most of all, they’re fun – so let’s make sure we keep the tradition alive, says Michelle Windridge
EYFS: How early years teachers can make best use of nursery rhymes
Poorer children helped by Sure Start ‘got better GCSEs’
Having access to a Sure Start centre significantly improved the educational achievement of children, according to Institute for Fiscal Studies research
Children living near Sure Start centres in their first five years of life performed better in their GCSEs than others, according to a new report

Tuesday

26th Mar 2024

Reception baseline: wrong time, wrong data, wrong idea?
Three years after the introduction of the DfE’s controversial test for four-year-olds, John Morgan finds out what, if anything, the Reception Baseline Assessment has taught us about assessing early progress
Baseline assessment

Sunday

10th Mar 2024

How our ‘family zone’ is making more children school-ready
When one headteacher noticed fewer children arriving in Reception with basic skills, she knew the school needed to take action
Family zone

Sunday

3rd Mar 2024

Reception pupils in nappies reveals societal challenges
More children are starting Reception not school-ready, creating added pressures for early years staff – and this is a symptom of a wider issues in society, says this MAT leader
Children's scooters

Thursday

29th Feb 2024

EYFS: How to use ‘in the moment planning’
This child-led approach can help you tailor your teaching to the needs of individual pupils. Education lecturer Michelle Windridge explains how it works
EYFS: How to use ‘in the moment planning’

Thursday

22nd Feb 2024

EYFS: How underfunding hits learning
As schools struggle with ever-diminishing budgets, one early years lead shares the impact of a lack of funding on her pupils – and how her team are trying to combat it
Broken toys

Friday

2nd Feb 2024

EYFS recruitment bonus ‘is a sticking plaster’
The government, launching plans to tackle staffing problems in early years, has been accused of lacking ‘an effective workforce strategy’
Early years recruitment bonus is a ‘sticking plaster solution’ heads warn

Wednesday

31st Jan 2024

How language got sidelined in schools and why it matters
Language development is a critical foundation of education – and one of the areas worst hit by the pandemic – so how can schools best support it? We speak to expert Charles Hulme to find out
Hero language

Monday

29th Jan 2024

How trusts can turn the tide for early years
With the early years sector in crisis, one multi-academy trust that has started running EYFS settings says its approach could offer a solution
Early years erosion