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…
LEYF News and CEO Blog
Read the latest news and updates from our CEO and the wider LEYF team.
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…
International Women’s Day; Champagne, Sex Toys and Birmingham ….
I am a girl from the late 70s. Feminism was a bit of a cult. Indicators of membership included buying the Spare Rib magazine and books from Virago. Meetings were…
What has love got to do with it?
Valentine’s Day is another marketing dream. A flurry of hearts and fluffiness is thrust upon us. The UK spends over a billion pounds on the stuff. Foolish…
Attention to retention – Ministers leading by example?
Welcome Nadhim Zahawi, the latest in a long line of Childcare Ministers. So let’s imagine we are going to have the perfect interview with the newest Minister. The sector…
Forget New Year Resolutions. Read This for *** Sake!
Every year, there is one present that exceeds all expectation and this year one lovely friend surpassed herself. She provided me with the antidote to the annual setting of New…
The Highs and Lows of the 12 Days of Christmas
Happy Christmas lovely people who bravely entered the Big Blogland House during 2017. Thank you all for bothering to read my blogs throughout 2017. I hope they brought…
Not So Sure that they are Bold Beginnings
Armed with some tea and a KitKat, I sat down to read the new Ofsted Report Bold Beginnings. As a child, I often…
Tolerance Needn’t Be A Drag
The common perception about those of us working with children is that we are nice but dim and we spend our time just playing. Nothing could be further from the…
Men in childcare
”What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation.” Cicero Five years ago, in August 2012, I wrote my…
The free childcare debate – an open letter
Dear Mr Goodwill Last week, as I watched the debate on thirty hours “free childcare” initiated by Ruth George MP sitting on…
A Pedagogical Postcard from Italy
On the 29 August three LEYF managers and I boarded a luxury Easyjet to attend the EECERA Conference in Bologna. Any of you who are kind enough to read my…
Celebrate Because We Are Worth It!
I do not subscribe to the L’Oreal line ”because you are worth it”. I reckon you have to earn that accolade. But at last weekend’s…
Encouraging Sixth Formers To Become the Next Entrepreneurs
I enjoy Desert Island Discs especially if I have been up long enough to have started doing something useful like baking. This week, I caught the words…