A fine Scottish trinity: Islands, Carnochan and Mr Gove
It was a brave move when Isabel Dunn, recently retired chair of the Scottish Preschool Playgroup Association (SPPA) asked me if I would give this year’s keynote…
LEYF Early Years News & CEO Blog by June O’Sullivan OBE
Read the latest news and updates from our CEO and the wider LEYF team.
Conference talk: more courage and less cliché for two-year-old childcare please
The Conference season is upon us, and so the launch of ideas for manifestos rain down upon our ears. Clichés and soundbites abound as the Party Leaders…
Who was Margaret Horn? Yep, just another modest woman quietly getting on with it…
Every year on 15 November, we hold our Margaret Horn Lecture to celebrate Social Enterprise Day. This year I want to focus on the issues facing women…
Don’t look at me, look at my hands.
Job descriptions for leaders and managers always stipulate a need to communicate. And as a CEO, I am expected to be able to talk to many different…
Get off the diet kicks and learn to eat, serve and advise on nutritionally sound food.
Admit it, you’re either going on a diet, thinking about a diet or have just given up a diet and busy trying to accept your muffin top or your beer…
A LEYF approach to Men in Childcare: not quite as quick as saying Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Not so long ago, David Stevens, Manager of the Angel Nursery, which for a while had 4 male staff out of a team of five,…
Olympic legacy should begin with the Early Years and leave politics on the side-lines
I must admit that I was slightly worried about the Olympics. Not quite a naysayer but wary all…
Parent engagement: research tells us to avoid being a shrinking violet.
At the recent summer NDNA conference,…
The Angels’ Share: a film that turns whiskey into a political metaphor. Drink Up!
When the weather is raining and grey, I often like to go to see a film in the afternoon. It beats drinking tea in front of the box, watching the…
The price of leadership: sharing a couch with Robert de Niro
Getting comfy in Noah’s Ark The other morning, I watched The Record , a programme on BBC Parliament which gives a daily run-through of key…
Diamond in the rough: a tale of banks, culture and high performance
Well the bankers are in trouble again. Is it a case of money corrupts? Poor Bob Diamond (former CEO of Barclays Bank). Last year he proudly announced…
LEYF report: NDNA Conference makes trip to ‘Brum’ worthwhile
This was a busy week for Early Years with the announcement of the Government’s Childcare Commission, the publication of the final report from the Nutbrown…