Supporting ECEC for Infants Under Two
What We Learned from the Nursery World Webinar The Governments policy to expand “childcare” for children from 9 months by funding 30 hours ECEC is driving demand and anxiety in…
LEYF News and CEO Blog
Read the latest news and updates from our CEO and the wider LEYF team.
Leading A Greener and Award-Winning Future for Children
We are delighted to receive the King’s Award for Enterprise – Sustainable Development because it recognises our commitment to sustainability and social justice in Early Years. The award celebrates…
Listen to Pedagogy Coaches Chat about Pedagogy!
I have been using the word, ‘pedagogy’ for many years and am now beyond delighted that I can employ Pedagogy Coaches to support the nurseries understand how to embed…
How to adjust ratios and maintain quality
There is little doubt that the Recruitment and Retention issues facing the sector continue to cause concern and are impacting on the ability of more and more providers to meet…
Why Every Chef in the Early Years Needs to be Trained
A new Prime Minister, a new Secretary of State for Education and a new Minister of State inevitably means a new set of promises. However, if last…
Make Our Practice Part of the Praxis Triangle
Every year I try and get LEYF staff to attend and present at the annual EECERA conference. I have been doing this since 2004 , although we have not…
Wake Up, Rethink the Funding
Last week I was contacted by national radio and TV to do an interview about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and how this will affect both parents and…
An Invitation to Debate a Change to the Ratio of Staff Qualifications with Ofsted
The recruitment and retention issue continues to drag us down and there is no immediate end in sight. Worse still, I doubt if Liz Truss, the darling of the Tories,…
Engage in the Consultation and Stop Changes to Children to Staff Ratios
Do you want the best for our children? I have been campaigning to protect the ratios since 2013 as our then Minister, Elizabeth Truss decided to pursue a plan to…
Talking Early Years with June O’Sullivan: in Conversation with Mona Sakr
From a conversation to a book “Without doubt, social leadership makes a fundamental difference to the quality of early childhood education and society a fairer place.” The first strand of…
Let’s Hear it for the Early Years Teacher!
I am always happy to support Early Years Alliance and NDNA campaigns but, right now, I think they are both missing a trick. They want to raise the…
50 Fantastic Ideas to Encourage Diversity and Inclusion
When we started to think about writing a book on diversity, Nausheen and I agreed that inclusion begins from the premise that if you build an inclusive approach you will…
Zoom Zoom to the OBC
Thank you to everyone who attended the Zoom OBC on Monday 6 June. It was a great turnout given so many of you were still recovering from eating a…
Refugee Day – Giving Everyone the Right to Safety and an Education
When the war in Ukraine started, many LEYF staff were really upset about the children. In fact, one conversation which stuck in my mind was: “June, they could be at…