Classroom Carrots is a ‘unique’ new app that enables teachers to ‘easily’ and ‘immediately’ reward pupils with matching virtual and physical stickers. Each student is assigned their own avatar, a computer-generated, virtual identity, and when rewards are given out teachers simply drag and drop a virtual sticker on to the relevant avatar. Immediately the pupil’s name and reward flash up on the classroom whiteboard or computer. Pupils are then given the matching physical sticker, and if requested, an email can be automatically sent to parents to keep them informed. Read More »

Hello! Beans Bunny here again to report on my very exciting week as part of the Nursery World team. I managed to get past security and the bag check to attend the Women’s Gymnastics All-Round final with NW Editor Liz.

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The perfect cure for a stressed out toddler- massages, foot baths and walking barefoot on grass, says a kindergarten in Germany where they have introduced a programme of ‘anti-stress exercises’ for pre-school children.

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Organising fundraisers can be hard work for early years settings. First there’s the decision of what to do, sponsored walk, dressing up day, tea party? Then there’s the issue of approaching parents for money, when everyone is feeling the pinch.

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‘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.

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Looking through nine decades of back-issues of Nursery World magazine in preparation for our 85th anniversary next month is a real eye-opener.

There’s tonnes of fun and quirky material that we’ll be sharing in a special birthday supplement (check it out on 2 December) but there’s also much frustration. Read More »

Free schools are increasingly looking like a policy idea dreamt up by ministers who are making it up as they go along and that pretty much anything goes.

Including it seems employing people to teach children who may or may not be teachers. It seems that for free schools, employing qualified teachers could actually be an optional requirement. Where do we go from here?
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Opinions about the best way to teach young children and support their learning seem to be increasingly polarised – something that really matters in the context of the current EYFS review.

In one corner, we have Tom Burkard and Oli de Botton, fighting for direct instruction and phonics as the means to raise attainment; in the other, the defenders of playful learning such as Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek and Janet Moyles.

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