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Posted by
Kathy Brodie on October 2, 2015.
You will probably know the name ‘Marmot’ from the Marmot Review (see Review Roundup here) published in 2010 and from a previous blog post of mine entitled ‘Leading scientist affirms importance of Early Years’.
Sir Michael Marmot has been publishing again, and this is an incredibly powerful book with a deceptively simple message, summed up in the first and last sentences:
Why treat people and send them back to the conditions that made them sick?
Do something, Do more, Do it better
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Posted byKathy Brodie on September 28, 2015.
I am very proud and pleased to present the first of a series of guest blog posts, written by Mrs M, who writes ‘A Slice of Autism‘.
This will be a series of articles about being the mum of a child with autism. They are ‘warts and all’ accounts, often very personal and always very moving. They will make you laugh and make you cry.
I hope you will find it both interesting and supportive:
Tonight my son walked through the door from school and immediately I knew. He didn’t have to say or do anything….I just knew!
Call it mothers intuition, or call it years and years of practice, but I knew something was wrong. It was the delayed effect. My son has had a tricky day at school. He has held it together for nearly 7 hours. He walks through the front door…..And bam!!
He’s somewhere safe, familiar and he can’t contain the pressure anymore.
It creeps out of every fibre of his being. His face is tense and he has red cheeks. His body is stiff and awkward. His words are fast and loud, and he’s agitated. He’s hungry, he’s not hungry. He wants a snack but not what’s in the cupboard.
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Posted byKathy Brodie on September 24, 2015.
I often get asked about children’s behaviour.
It is a massive topic, with many facets. However, I would always start from the perspective that all behaviour, good or unacceptable, is a form of communication. It is how we, as practitioners and adults, respond to that communication that makes all the difference.
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Posted byKathy Brodie on September 18, 2015.
In November 2008 I wrote about the purpose, and importance, of EYP Networks (you can find the original post here).
Since then we have seen many changes. The Government have changed, over 15,000 people with the Status this time last year (National College for Teaching and Leadership statistics) and the Status has been renamed Early Years Teacher Status, along with a brand new set of Standards.
However, I strongly believed that Early Years Teacher Networks are still vital for the vast majority of people with the Status. In order to test this belief, I asked all my subscribers two questions:
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Posted byKathy Brodie on August 28, 2015.
This week my subscriber list broke through the one thousand mark, which made me sit back and reflect for a moment.
That’s an awful lot of people!
When subscribers sign up, I send them an email, just asking for their most pressing issues and finding out a bit about their concerns and achievements. I will admit at this point that I was a bit dubious about this bit (my husband talked me round though).
What if I was deluged with comments? What if no-one at all replied? What about questions I couldn’t answer?
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Posted byKathy Brodie on July 27, 2015.
When my son was only four, almost five, we saw a shrub full of spiders webs.
It had been raining the night before and every tiny web glistened with bright drops of rain. He was fascinated with this and we stopped for a long time, amazed at the different shapes and patterns that the webs made. We were a little late for registration at school, but it really didn’t matter – he still remembers that day and occasionally he will comment on it if we walk up that stretch of road.
This morning I spotted a spiders web on the fence that reminded me of that encounter and I had to smile.
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Posted byKathy Brodie on July 23, 2015.
I had the great pleasure of chatting with Sid last week. He started his working life in a very different sector, as well as studying in a different country. Hear how he found his children have developed his practice and the experiences he has had as a male practitioner.
Sid has some great advice to men thinking of joining the Early Years sector:
“Follow your heart, and don’t give up. There may be hurdles, but you are not alone, there are plenty of us who have gone through it and are going through it. And remember that your contribution to the Early Years sector is no small thing.” Wise words indeed.
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Posted byKathy Brodie on July 10, 2015.
When Keith Savage and I were initially approached to write a book on Inclusion in the Early Years sector, the first thing we discussed was how to manage such an enormous topic. How could you possibly cover all facets of such a complex and emotive subject?
There were two things we agreed on immediately – firstly that it had to be relevant as well as practical and secondly that the content would need both breadth and depth.
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Posted byKathy Brodie on July 1, 2015.
I stumbled across the House of Lords TV feed totally by accident (via Twitter – the power of having social media!). It is a fascinating process to watch and listen to – and very, very encouraging.
The first debate I watched was on the 16th June, which was the second reading of the Childcare Bill (see link below). Lord Nash (the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education) opened up the debate with the Government’s party line, with nothing new or surprising. For example, how a ‘balance’ has to be struck when setting the hourly rate – between fair for providers and ‘value for money for the taxpayer’, how the increase in number of practitioners with NVQ3 will raise quality in settings and how the sector is ‘vibrant’ and growing.
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Posted byKathy Brodie on June 25, 2015.
I am incredibly delighted and excited to have as my guest blogger this week Rebecca McIntosh, from Brisbane, Australia. We started comparing notes about childcare in England and Australia some time ago – and found some fascinating differences as well as some similarities.
Here Rebecca gives us a history of Australian childcare. It is a surprising story I was totally unaware of and really shows how much childcare philosophy varies around the globe. It is well worth a read and a BIG thank you to Rebecca for sharing this history with us.
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Kathy Brodie on October 2, 2015.
