Change is in the Ofsted air
The London OBC is coming on the 8th April 2025 We will be hosting it at Bain where we can take up to 100 people in person. This time…
LEYF News and CEO Blog
Read the latest news and updates from our CEO and the wider LEYF team.
AI in Early Years: A Helping Hand or Hype?
This blog is No.3 in the AI suite This week, I want to examine how, or indeed, if AI can help with daily office tasks. I am coming at this…
The Government’s ‘Fish Wish’: parenting made simple
Chatting to my sister in the car the other evening, we were whished into silence by an indignant five year old in the back seat who, demanding our attention, said…
Fairytales and true romance: reading treasure for children
I read with a sinking feeling, an article in the Telegraph March 2011 entitled “Parents who shun fairytales miss chance to teach children morality“. In essence, they…
The new vision for Early Years
The Department for Education and the Department of Health have published the Government’s vision for the foundation years. In their own words… It is…
Everything is going to be alright, as long as we lead the way
Earlier this week I found myself listening to a debate about the best way to care for our elderly citizens – and was immediately struck by the similarities between good…
How do you measure SROI at a social enterprise garden party?
On Friday, 1st July, over 200 LEYF staff – now spread across Barking & Dagenham, Camden, Tower Hamlets and Westminster – came together in the beautiful garden…
Childhood futures in Dublin’s fair city
This week I went to visit Dara Hogan at Fledglings Nurseries, part of An Cosán, a community organisation and charity in…
Getting down to business: survival tactics for any good social enterprise
It’s always interesting to meet television journalists up close and personal – and that’s exactly what I did on Wednesday, when LEYF Chair of Trustees, Tim Willis…
Early Years inspiration amidst the gathering of the clans in Leeds
I have just come back from a two day NDNA conference in Leeds, accompanied by two of our nursery officers – Audrey Grant from Lisson Green and…
Science, culture and the great outdoors: the rights of every child
We have it in our power to build the world anew.” Thomas Paine 1737 -1809 To celebrate 25 years of wedded bliss (well, most of the time), my…
Early Years, Dragons and Dolly Parton… or how bankers became our new best friends
The last few weeks have been a bit of an intellectual whirlwind, which always gets me really excited. So for those people who think working with children is all about…
So we are all Social Enterprises Now? LOL!
I read in this week’s Third Sector magazine that Kevin Carey chair of the RNIB told the Charity Finance Directors Group that the charity…
Child poverty: will this new strategy finally make progress stick?
This weekend, I spent some time helping my sister (also in Early Years!) go through her old teaching resources in readiness to move them into a new space. Amongst the…