Talking Early Years: In conversation with Frank Cottrell-Boyce
If you have been frog marched through books, why would you ever read for pleasure? The award-winning author and screenwriter Frank Cotterell-Boyce is the 13th Children’s Laureate of…
LEYF News and CEO Blog
Read the latest news and updates from our CEO and the wider LEYF team.
Lessons We Must Learn to Better Protect Our Children
In Memory of Genevieve Meehan Tonight, BBC One North West and Yorkshire will air an investigative programme titled How Safe Are Our Nurseries? It follows the heartbreaking story of Genevieve…
Ofsted is like Marmite, you either love it or hate it
Ofsted gets a mixed reaction from the sector. It can bring you out in a rash or a hot sweat, but it can also be a very helpful…
Using ‘Little Women’s Christmas’ to begin a post modern feminist debate on motherhood
On 6 January, Irish women – especially those in Cork – celebrate Little Women’s Christmas (Nollaig na mBan). It is the last day of Christmas and the…
RiRi, Bedouin Tents and the I Ching: Welcome to 2012
Happy New Year and welcome back to my blog. (Thank you in advance!) As I recover from cooking, eating, talking, reading and watching TV (little different there then, except this…
When Santa got stuck up the chimney… what did he actually say?
Half way up and unable to move, Santa shouted out that from now on he was prepared to eat his five a day, give up chocolate teacakes and large glasses…
Do we really need men in childcare?
There appears a general agreement that men in childcare are a good thing: the government has set a target to increase the number of men working in childcare; at LEYF…
Why quality is criticial to ensure the ‘twoness of twos’
This week the chancellor announced that the government will extend the free entitlement of 15 hours of nursery education to every disadvantaged two-year-old over the next four years.
Celebrating Social Enterprise and scaling up
There has been so much for me to write about this week, it has been hard to choose! But as all blog guides say stick to one or two points,…
The Duchess, the Detective and the Rollercoaster …
I love a sense of connection and see the role of nurseries as being critical in helping to connect communities across the generations. This week the history of connection came…
The next round of applause is on me…
I have not written a blog for a week because some of you said you could not keep up with my output. Others have since asked ‘where is the blog?’…
Collecting Ministers like ‘Top Trumps’
This week has been rather a fest of networking, the most noteworthy of which was one evening and one day attending the Conservative Party Conference. A Conference virgin, I was…
Much Ado About Nothing…or is it?
Last week I went to the Globe to see my favourite Shakespearean comedy; Much Ado About Nothing. It was a sterling performance and the wit…
Musing over a cocktail in the city
I have just come back from presenting to the judges of the National Business Awards on the 27th floor of the Gherkin. It was quite daunting, so…