I read an interview piece in the TES last week with Sarah Brown, the founder and chair of global education charity Theirworld, in it she talks about the importance of teachers. Ms Brown says, “I don’t think there’s a person who has success in their lives that doesn’t credit some of that back to a teacher.” Her particular focus is a charity concerned with the importance of the early years and the importance of great care in that setting.
The research from ‘Theirworld’ includes these observations:
- 90% of a child’s brain development takes place between birth and the age of five.
- This is why the five elements of nurturing care – health, nutrition, play, learning and protection – are so important for early childhood education and development.
- Early years education and development can help identify a child’s learning needs early on, improve their socialisation and set them on the road to reaching their full potential.
The EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) is called such for a reason – it lays the foundation of development for your children to enable them to thrive. The social and emotional aspect is the most important area of learning in very young children and creates the pathway for future learning and development. I am rightly very proud of our setting and was delighted to hear that they had been awarded to prestigious Millie’s Mark award for their exceptional childcare. The award is given as we have evidenced our commitment to going above and beyond the minimum requirements for keeping children safe and therefore providing a solid start for their educational journey. It shows that all staff working directly with children not only hold a paediatric first aid certificate but that they are also competent in how to apply this in practice. Achieving Millie’s Mark shows we have the correct procedures and documentation in place and I hope it gives parents that greater reassurance of our care. You’ll find more details here.
The Early Years setting was also a focus of a Little Dukes steering group (made up of headteachers and principals) who visited last week and gave some brilliant feedback to the team, with the thing that most struck all visitors was how confident, happy and engaged our children were and how settled and comfortable they were and how positive the relationships were with the staff. They all said that the staff could talk so well (and knowledgably) about the children already and it was lovely to see everyone facilitating at child level in every class.
Lovely feedback and well deserved.
Richard
Read the previous “A word from the Principal” here
