Are Babies Too Young for Policy-Driven Childcare?
The Margaret Horn Debate is our annual opportunity to stop, think, and ask what, in the name of children’s education and care, are we really doing? I love this event…
LEYF News and CEO Blog
Read the latest news and updates from our CEO and the wider LEYF team.
Why Nature Must Matter for Children and Early Years Education
Take a look around– concrete high-rises dominate our skylines, and even the courtyards of upscale developments are often little more than hard brick and stone. Where, then, are children expected…
Good News: Apprenticeships are Back in the Spotlight
All three main parties used their conferences this year to talk about apprenticeships, which is good news for businesses like LEYF where apprentices are the rightful pipeline of future Early…
Talking Early Years: In converation with Catherine Lippe
Why Nursery Chefs Are Our Unsung Food Champions We talk endlessly about phonics, play, and pedagogy in Early Years — but how often do we talk about peas, pulses,…
Baby Talk
While I was at the Labour Party conference last week, I listened to Maya Ellis MP talk about why it was important to establish an APPG for Babies (Pregnancy to…
Talking Early Years: In conversation with Peter Moss
The Early Years as a Political Space Early childhood education is not a neutral or technical service—it is a deeply political space and this is the focus of…
All Change at Ofsted: Come and Hear from the London Team
Ofsted has responded to the Big Listen with changes to how future inspections are conducted. The report findings state that there was: A clear desire for more granular assessments of…
Who Owns the Copyright for Work Created by AI?
As more people turn to AI programmes and all the various free platforms to write summaries, design letters, shape reports, tidy up a set of minutes etc, we have to…
Childcare Expansion: Promise or Mirage?
Yesterday, amid much fanfare, the government announced the start of the expansion of funded childcare hours. It may sound like a win for parents but the reality is far less…
Why We Need More Men in Childcare
A Reflection and Call to Action I’ve long been an advocate for getting more men into childcare (MiC). It simply seems absurd to write off half the human population as…
Stephen Morgan MP visits LEYF Soho Nursery and Pre-School
Minister for Early Education, Stephen Morgan, visits LEYF Soho Nursery and Pre-School to meet the men working in childcare as the government ramps up efforts to grow and diversify the early years workforce.
Talking Early Years: In Conversation with Ellen Sandseter
Risky Play or Not Risky Play – That is the Question! Ellen Sandseter is a well-known professor at Queen Maud University College for Early Childhood Education in Trondheim, Norway…
Building a Childcare System Rooted in Justice, Equity and Sustainability
According to organisational psychologist Adam Grant, the hallmark of a productive debate isn’t persuasion, but insight. In a good argument, you’re as motivated to learn as to convince. That spirit…
D is for Disadvantaged: What Does that Mean?
“Disadvantage” is one of those terms we bandy about in policy papers and conference keynotes, but what do we mean by it? Do we understand the lived reality behind the…