New recommendations suggest children should be given lessons on how to brush their teeth properly in early years settings, due to poor oral hygiene. In some deprived areas in the UK, poor dental health is rife. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) suggest introducing a new scheme that helps young children learn the … [Read more...] about Children to learn how to brush their teeth by Early Years practitioners.
Practitioners role in assessing children’s development
Assessing children’s development is an important part in the practitioner’s professional role. There are several ways of assessing children's development in the setting; Tracking sheets and progress summaries are similar tools and both reflect the Development Matters. These types of assessments are broken down into the 7 areas of development, then … [Read more...] about Practitioners role in assessing children’s development
New integrated reviews to help parents understand their child’s progress.
Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter and Childcare and Education Minister Sam Gyimah announced on November 21st 2014 that integrated health and early years reviews for 2 to 2-and-a-half-year-olds will be set in stone from September 2015. At present, Health and early years reviews of young children are carried out separately. However, the government … [Read more...] about New integrated reviews to help parents understand their child’s progress.
How to help a child overcome stammering in the early stages.
Many parents tend to believe that it is their fault their child has speech difficulties, but The British Stammering Association is quick to reassure parents otherwise. In order to help your child overcome speech difficulties it is recommended to refer them to a speech therapist as soon as possible, for more help on this contact your health visitor … [Read more...] about How to help a child overcome stammering in the early stages.
A call for better training in Mathematics
According to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Mathematics and Numeracy, many early years practitioners are not qualified in this area of teaching, they do not have the confidence to deliver quality practice.. ‘Too many early years settings fail to provide young children with a good start to their maths education,’ it says, while … [Read more...] about A call for better training in Mathematics
Latest Ofsted figures show rise in ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ nurseries.
There is evidence to show that 74% of early years providers were graded good or outstanding by Ofsted, that is a 6% rise from last quarter. These figures are for inspections between 1 April 2014 and 30 June 2014 in nurseries, pre-schools and childminders. The proportion of outstanding settings has not changed but the settings graded good has risen … [Read more...] about Latest Ofsted figures show rise in ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ nurseries.
Tackle biting through communication, not actions
All children go through a phase of biting, however, not with the intention of purposely hurting someone. Many children start biting when teething to try and ease the pain. Jo Baranek, an early year's lead advisor at the National Day Nurseries Association, believes ‘biting is a natural part of a child’s development,' after having experienced … [Read more...] about Tackle biting through communication, not actions
How early Intervention can help stuttering
Most speech and language disorders are spotted right from the start. It is usually noticed when speech development begins and as they start making sounds. However, stuttering typically begins around the age of two and three when they start putting words together into short sentences. The first signs of stuttering are typically the repeating of … [Read more...] about How early Intervention can help stuttering
The Impact of having an EYITT
Why is having EYITT in my setting beneficial? A case study by Melissa Byrne from Twinkle Tots Nursery I have ran the Pre School within my day nursery setting for the past four years and felt that the EYITT course was best suited to me for a number of reasons such as location, funding and most importantly the fact it was based around Early … [Read more...] about The Impact of having an EYITT
Power of social media for nurseries
Why social media is so powerful for nurseries Twitter and Facebook are two of the most powerful and popular social media platforms used for businesses. Together they have over 1.5 billion users who share pictures, stories and news with each other. Approximately 500 million tweets are sent a day and over 1.35 billion people are active Facebook … [Read more...] about Power of social media for nurseries