As Clive Belgeonne of @genderaction.bsky.social says, we need both subject parity and gender equity in schools for more #girls in #STEM. Because "when boys feel comfortable to do dance and drama, girls are more likely to do physics and chemistry". www.cypnow.co.uk/content/best...

@ofstednews.bsky.social inspectors will no longer spend large chunks of inspections in front of a screen typing, but will take down notes in longhand first as this is less intimidating. P1 of new series on #childminders changes www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat... @nurseryworld.bsky.social

We are 100, but we still don't know who was the first ‘editress’ of @nurseryworld.bsky.social Launched by Sir Geoffrey Cust Faber, of @faberbooks.bsky.social at 24 Russell Square London. One possible name is Mrs N Rieu. Who can help? @annetterawstrone.bsky.social @gabriellajoz.bsky.social

Campaigners are trying to make #play a statutory duty in England, but Parliament looks unlikely to pass a crucial amendment. Why? Wales already has this, Scotland and NI have protections @appgonplay.bsky.social @eugeneminogue.bsky.social www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

What is your curriculum? Could you define it to a friend, a colleague, @ofstednews.bsky.social inspector? Going through this process doesn't have to be complicated, provides excellent CPD focused on a cohort and helps in inspections: @profveritycb.bsky.social www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

When did #nature become uncool? Scheme aiming to tackle #adolescent #mentalhealth, learning disengagement and #climate finds being seen to act environmentally is a challenge for teenagers. We must build this love from the #earlyyears My piece for #CYPNow www.cypnow.co.uk/content/best...

An eye opening project using #theatre to drive home messages on #CCE. from @peelxo.bsky.social and Challenge Academy for #CYPNow magazine. www.cypnow.co.uk/content/best...

Govt's new and significant £500m investment in 'family hubs' means the remaining 65 or so councils which don't have them now will 'by April 2026', and 1000 total by 2028. (At its peak in 2010, Sure Start received £1.8 billion a year funding 3,600 centres.) www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

How to apply the findings of #research #toolkits such as those from the @theeef.bsky.social to #EY practice? @juliangrenier.bsky.social has written a short series for @nurseryworld.bsky.social based on experiences in Building Blocks nursery, Tottenham: lnkd.in/ebF8rzHV lnkd.in/ePPiNZyN

My son and I had fab day of #storytelling @ Barneskidslitfest using nursery rhyme rap from @MrMCGrammar #clay from @aardman and sensory storytelling from Vanessa Woolf @ londondreamtime nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat... @nurseryworld.bsky.social

More #earlyyears settings are investing in personalised training - #learningjournals for staff - to overcome the difficulties of getting staff out of ratio for CPD. #fennies and #littlebarnowls tell @nurseryworld.bsky.social in detail how it works www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

#babies #schoolreadiness - As @danwuori.bsky.social said at @literacy-trust.bsky.social conf: "We want children to come to kindergarten age five ready to learn, as if learning doesn't take place before. But learning begins in the womb." My piece for @nurseryworld.bsky.social shorturl.at/io9y2

Good grief. Adult Social Care in Leicestershire now being run by a 22-year-old who doesn't believe depression is real... And a 19-year-old student is in charge of the £200M children's services budget. new.basw.co.uk/about-social...

Delighted to win a @basw-uk.bsky.social award last night for my piece for #CYPNow on the barriers to diversity in #socialwork - why are there only 11 directors of children's services from #BAME backgrounds despite 26% of social workers being from these backgrounds? www.cypnow.co.uk/content/feat...

#Earlyyears research doesn't have to be complicated - one #EY practitioner used a simple research #toolkit to develop a project to ask children how they played in their garden, and used their responses to redesign the space to make it more meaningful for them www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/prac...

Confused about how T levels, apprenticeships and college courses intersect? Myself and #NCFE #Cache have devised a Level 2 to 6 guide in the annual Training Today supplement with ratio and english/maths changes explained @nurseryworld.bsky.social shorturl.at/wTfFh

Why babies like playing peek-a-boo? 'This is where predictability comes into play; psychologists often refer to children's brains as ‘prediction machines’, which are constantly making predictions and testing whether they are correct.' Read more here... www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

100 years of #NurseryWorld was depicted at the #nwbigdayout2025 last Friday through an exhibition of more than 80 covers - a fascinating glimpse into social change, the evolution of childcare and depictions of child and parenthood. Was a pleasure to curate this #NWarchivewoman

My piece on a simple yet effective #Babybox project from the children's foundation up in the north east - shouldn't this be rolled out nationwide? @childrenscomm.bsky.social www.cypnow.co.uk/content/prac...

Labour's nurseries in schools policy "does not appreciate that schools are not experts in early years education and care; it could be argued that they do not prioritise it highly enough" www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news...

This is truly terrible. If Trump’s destruction of the environment were given even a fraction of the media airtime that his destruction of the global economy is, the world might be a safer place for all of us

What will be the impact of the impact of the school-based nursery policy on PVI providers, including those with settings on school grounds? An understandably upset @eyalliance.bsky.social is FOIing the #DfE to find out www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news...

We now spend less than a quarter of the £2.5bn that was spent annually on children’s centres in 2010, despite benefits for children's health, wellbeing and attainment. My piece for #CYPNow #SureStart www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news...

Part 4 draws our superb series on #spatialreasoning to a close. Find age and stage ideas on composition and decomposition - fitting shapes together and taking them apart www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat... #Nurseryworld thanks to @ekfarran.bsky.social and the team

You aren't going to get more men in #childcare until you raise the pay, which means more Government funding. Early education is low paid and undervalued because has traditionally been women's work. www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news...

"Given the vital role that PVI providers will play in the ongoing rollout of the early entitlement expansion to younger children..I cannot understand why the government continues to put out messaging that suggests that our vital part of the sector is held in such disregard." 1/4

Funding for school based nurseries doubles, with 300 nurseries approved, mostly in the north or the Midlands, with around one in 10 of them in the North East

New digital youth work standards launched - my piece for CYPNow here www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news...

New AI observation tool allows you to speak observations into a mic + then transcribes and links to 'the most relevant ELG'. What do practitioners make of this? Useful hands-and-time freeing tool? Could it entrench a crude checklist approach to observations? www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news...

NEW survey released today by Coalition member @paceychildcare.bsky.social reveals 1 in 5 childminders are losing business due to funded wraparound childcare policies. Highlighting concerns about the exclusion of childminders in government-funded policies 1/2 tinyurl.com/2tnncf5p

With childminder numbers decreasing rapidly and the profession feeling neglected, we need a comprehensive early years workforce strategy that includes childminders 2/2

'By January, most children are able to come up with ideas they are happy with independently. Henry, in the case study below, knew he wanted to make a pirate ship.' Great work boosting independent thinking from Horsforth Newlaithes www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat... @horsforthnews.bsky.social

Today is International Wood Day! To celebrate, I'm giving away a free place on my online early childhood woodwork CPD course. irresistible-learning.co.uk/woodwork-cpd... I'll choose randomly from those that comment or repost. Bang on!

We're too quick to say we don't like the way a child is playing with a piece of equipment if they aren't using it in the way we expect - but look at the learning opportunities here says #Stellalouis @literacy-trust.bsky.social #EWM2025

"Everything children do is for a reason. It's our role to work out what that reason is" #StellaLouis on the importance of #schemas and understanding the here and now @literacy-trust.bsky.social #EWM2025

@jandubiel.bsky.social I don't think children have time for fun, they are too busy trying to make sense of the world (through play). What we do is serious @literacy-trust.bsky.social #EWM2025

@literacy-trust.bsky.social #GregBottrill Unlock language and joy by rebranding your continuous provision as an adventure map. Invite children to the carpet kingdom, land of far away, and the magic shop, instead of carpet, home corner, and maths area. "Soon the unicorns and biscuit zombies arrive"

@literacy-trust.bsky.social @danwuori.bsky.social: "We are treating literacy like an Emergency Room, with a triage model of intervention too late - failing to recognise 6/7 year olds have spent 60% of their life before that not in kindergarten building the foundations of literacy" #earlywordsmatter

@literacy-trust.bsky.social Great stuff from @danwuori.bsky.social about how we do early childhood 'wrong' in both UK and US - by the time children start school much critical brain wiring has taken place. 'Choosing daycare is choosing adults who will co- construct your child's brain'

More evidence coming out about the important role of parenting support in supporting children/ family outcomes, yet we have relatively few parent-infant relationships services in UK. My piece here www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news... @centreformh.bsky.social @foundationsww.bsky.social

It is British science week! So I'm flagging Julie Mountain/Felicity Robinson's STEAM outdoors (2024) and Maths outdoors (2025) series, brimming with CoEL opportunities, language, resources www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat... #NurseryWorld #PlayLearningLife (search NW site outdoors:stem for more)

It is British science week! so I'm flagging Julie Mountain's STEAM outdoors (2024) and Maths outdoors (ongoing, 2025) series: clear activity ideas brimming with CoEL opportunities, language and resources #NurseryWorld #Play www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

I'm looking for #nurseries that are doing strong work building staff teams. Could be setting aims and objectives, communication, individual strengths and weaknesses and incorporating #research. For a piece in #NurseryWorld Please get in touch [email protected]

The joy of craft! I know these things don't have to be complicated, but baulking at suggestion of my 3 year old's nursery - spending £20 on an Amazon onesie - I decided to invest some time and make something (my son will do a stitch too) @worldbookdayuk.bsky.social #gruffalo #worldbookday

The PATHS programme from #SELworldwide and @barnardos.org.uk helps children develop #selfregulation skills by giving them language to develop emotional competence #turtletechnique my piece in this month's #CYPNow: www.cypnow.co.uk/content/prac...

We don't often cross paths with James Bond at @NurseryWorld but (rather thrillingly) ianflemingfoundation.org pointed us to an unofficial #007 story in our archives from 3 September 1959. If anyone happens to have a paper copy of that issue they are looking for it! #nwarchive

With no equivalent to School Food Standards in the #EYFS and pressure on nursery finances making sourcing healthy food harder www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve..., how do we know that ready meals aren't being served today? www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

Latest in #nurseryworld outdoor maths series is on #comparisons - could be quantities of fruit at snack time, chalking lines around/measuring different sized puddles and rolling tyres down slopes www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...