Category

Education

Heart Preschool

By | Education

Heart Preschool opened in June 2018 in Nottingham and has grown from having 4 children to now having 32 children. The setting is situated in the Church at Rise Park. When entering Heart Preschool a lot of people have commented on the warm and loving feeling they get when they walk in. The staff and I take pride in loving,…

Read More

An ARK for Mr Noah’s

By | Creativity, Education, Learning, Love, Outdoors, Play

Mr Noah’s nursery school has been on an exciting journey. Moving from their original home, A Rural Kindergarten (the ARK) is now fully outdoors. You can hear all about this story in Peter Michell’s webinar. Tickets and the link are available through Eventbrite  HERE. Listen to Heart Preschool share their experience of the recent Ofsted inspection. Complete with very useful…

Read More

Assessment in Early Years

By | Creativity, Education, Family, Joy, Learning, Love, Music, Outdoors, Play, Prayer, Spirituality

We know that each of the children in our care is uniquely created by our loving God and Father and that He has a plan and a purpose for each of their lives. We know that their needs and interests and learning styles will be different. Psalm 139 says: “For You shaped me, inside and out. I am Your unique creation…… Every detail of my life was already written in Your book.“ (The VOICE) Our…

Read More

More than tables and chairs

By | Creativity, Education, Family, Joy, Learning, Play, Prayer, Spirituality

Addressing  the Centre’s Emotional Climate  Adapted from Attentive & Attuned: Knowing  and Serving in the Early Edu­cation Program, pp. 37-49 (Baer, Maher, Leak) Attunement begins with me. I can be intentional about forging relationships with the individuals in my class. But to cultivate those attuned relation­ ships and to display the posture that draws chil­dren in, I must first prepare…

Read More

Planting a Garden

By | Education, Joy, Learning, Outdoors, Play, Spirituality

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in Eden, in the East; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Genesis 2:8 The importance of the learning environment is very widely acknowledged.  The influential ECERS pro­gramme is explicit: it is the Early Childhood Envi­ronmental Review which prompts our reflection on all that surrounds the young, from the…

Read More

The Kiwi Classroom

By | Creativity, Education, Family, Learning, Love, Outdoors, Play, Spirituality

A glimpse into the classroom of Elise Hopkins When early years educators speak of the field in a comprehensive context, it is impossible to ignore the trends and accomplishments of settings in the global south. New Zealand, a gem in Oceania, gently leads the way with their quiet insistence to connect, support and develop the family unit. New Zealand’s Ministry…

Read More

Assessment book review

By | Creativity, Education, Learning, Play

Observing Young Children The role of observation and assessment in early childhood settings S Smidt, (2015). Abingdon: Routledge. Smidt offers us in the short compass of 90 small pages an introduction to the subject which makes reference to almost everything. The important names are all there: Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner and so on. There is reference to sustained shared thinking, scaffolding…

Read More