LEYF News and CEO Blog

About a year ago, the Government suggested that it might need to refresh the EYFS and the Early Learning Goals. This elicited limited support from the sector. We were worried…

I rarely say no to an invitation to speak about Early Years in Ireland, and this weekend was no exception. I therefore found myself in Athlone, a small town…

There is no poverty in the UK I hear you cry. Really?  Let’s start by looking at what we mean by poverty and the statistics. There is currently no formal…

It was the longest and largest consultation Ofsted has ever undertaken (four months with 100 focus groups and 250 pilots across the sector) and consequently 15,000 people replied.  Lesson to…

To be honest, cultural capital is not the usual conversation piece. But it is both a conscious and unconscious part of our everyday lives. Now that Ofsted has introduced the…

I arrived on Friday evening (15 March) in a wet Bath for the Firm Foundations Conference. A wet bath was also just perfect metaphor for my life at the…

Everything starts somewhere, and as the notices for International Women’s Day (IWD) started to proliferate, I wondered about its origins and its purpose. IWD can be traced back to…

Ofsted has a strategic objective to be a force for improvement through intelligent, responsible and focused inspection and regulation. To do this we must ensure we understand what we mean…

I am not always great at taking my own advice, which in this case is to take a few days away from the office to “think”. I have just had…

The Report by the Education Policy Institute (EPI), raises the self-same issues which have been of concern to the Early Years sector for the past five years. The Government’s…

Yesterday was Kindness Day, and today we are halfway into Trustee Week, a good reason to thank all  trustees and to attract new ones*. Being a trustee is…

The meeting was hosted by Bain & Company: 40 Strand WC2N 5RW on Thursday 11 October 2018. The room can accommodate 50 so that’s is how many people were there…