Stronger Practice Hub Blog

Understanding the significance of the physical development of 2-year-olds helps parents, caregivers, and educators provide the necessary support for healthy growth throughout childhood and later, adult life.

The term disadvantage is one that is well known amongst early years professionals. The children’s commissioner describes it as “a term used to describe children facing barriers to success” but also acknowledges that the definition comes with complexities due to the many ways it can manifest itself. Despite the complexity of the definition, there is no doubt that we have a vital role in tackling disadvantage in the early years. Here, our focus will be on those disadvantaged through poverty.

Dr Elizabeth Carruthers is a researcher and author. Her main research interests are leadership, teacher practitioner research and she has published extensively on early mathematics. Her work on Children’s Mathematical Graphics along with her co-author, Dr. Maulfry...

With over 25 years of experience in early education, Ali Carrington delves into the critical role of communication and language in fostering a lifelong love for learning through play. The blog post highlights the importance of creating engaging and supportive environments that cater to children’s developmental needs, emphasising evidence-based approaches like storytelling, sound-letter mapping, and interactive reading to unlock the ‘magic code’ of literacy. Ali’s insights offer educators valuable strategies to inspire and motivate young learners on their path to becoming proficient readers and writers.

Do you want to learn how to create a culture of inquiry in your early years setting? Do you want to explore the power of practitioner research and evidence-informed practice? Do you want to hear from an expert in the field of inclusive early childhood education? In this blog post, Jacqui Lewis shares her insights and experiences on these topics.

I wonder if you can remember your favourite story as a child? Even better, can you remember how it made you feel? Who was reading it with you? I loved stories. Reading them, writing them… they provided a creative outlet for my uncertain feelings and enormous imagination! Nowadays, I spend far less time reading stories than I’d like to. But I do notice that as adults, we never really stop telling ourselves stories…

Being a leader of an early years setting at the moment is not an easy job. Staff retention and recruitment is challenging not to mention making funding and fees stretch to cover costs. Add in ‘covid’ children, cuts in support services that may have supported us in the past and we are in the middle of a perfect storm.

Dr. Suzanne Zeedyk’s recent session for Bristol Early Years Teaching Hub was, at points, upsetting, unsettling and difficult to listen to, and it was some of the most important CPD I have attended.