Leading lights from the early years sector have been out in force at a succession of events this week – most planned on the assumption that, surely, the Government would have released its responses to the Childcare Commission and the Nutbrown Review by now.
The euphoria occasioned by the golden performances of the Team GB Olympic athletes is starting to subside a little, hastened by news that the Government is making it easier for schools to sell off playing fields.
I approached watching the first episode of ‘Daddy Daycare’ on Channel 4 last week with some trepidation.
Television’s portrayal of nurseries is rarely positive, usually concentrating on ‘nightmare’ settings viewed through an undercover reporter’s camera.
It was disappointing and somewhat surprising to hear Tottenham MP David Lammy saying in so many words that last summer’s riots could have been prevented if parents were allowed to smack their children without fear of prosecution.
There are several reasons why it might be better to avoid London’s world-famous toy store Hamleys near Christmas- time, but it seems that its sexist approach to the store layout is no longer one of them.
The proverbial cat seems to have been well and truly put among the pigeons with the launch of the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s tendering process for the delivery of Early Years Professional Status for 2012-14 (see our story).
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Like any football referee, Ofsted is bound to come in for severe criticism, and over the years it certainly has done. The damning report from the Education select committee, The Role and Performance of Ofsted, is likely to lead to significant structural and operational changes. Read more »
‘There is much to be proud of …’, says Dame Clare Tickell in her eagerly-awaited review of the Early Years Foundation Stage, reflecting the views of the majority of the early years sector about the current framework.
The first signs are that there is also much to be proud of in the work of Dame Clare and her review team in coming up with recommendations that can build on the successes of the EYFS so far. There are some suggestions for amendments that would be significant, without causing huge upheaval and disruption for a workforce that has faced much change and challenge in the past few years.
Further pressure is being piled on the coalition Government in advance of the review of the free entitlement code of practice, with the release of a survey by the feisty Save Our Nurseries campaign.
This suggests that more than 1,900 childcare places could be lost from the free entitlement scheme by September, just from those PVI nurseries who responded to the survey, if the rules of the code are not amended to deal with funding shortfalls.
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There was great disappointment among many private and voluntary sector nurseries when the new Government decided to press ahead with the Code of Practice on the free entitlement rather than suspend it as the Conservatives had promised pre-election.
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