EY smart

In times of such uncertainty and now many of us within the Early Years Sector find ourselves working from home due to the Government’s partial closures of schools and Early Years settings. Pre-Covid 19, high quality, accessible and affordable CPD was hard to come by – either too expensive, implications on your working day or…

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STEM projects

When we think of STEM projects, we often think of busy boys in Reception designing, constructing and problem-solving using hands-on malleable materials, but what about STEM projects within our Early Years? Do these types of activities and projects have a place with our younger children? Are these skills beneficial to children’s learning and development within…

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Accessible Resources & Enabling Environments

In a recent article we spent time reflecting on the benefits of children in home-based childcare growing up in mixed aged groups and the value of ‘family rooms’ in some nurseries where children are not grouped as a result of their age. Upon reflection, we began to dissect the concept further and began watching and…

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Mealtime Experiences in the Early Years

With both of us coming from nursery backgrounds and both having our own journeys personally and professionally with food, mealtimes and feeding experiences, positive attitudes towards food and creating unpressured, slow-paced, meal time environments was something of increased importance to us both when creating Pebbles Childcare. In a larger nursery type of environment, mealtimes can…

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Early Learning Goals Consultation – Expressive Arts and Design

Upon reading the ELG consultation, as professionals we are incredibly concerned by the reform, over the series of our next few blogs we will be dissecting the proposed changes for each area of learning; this week we will be looking at Expressive Arts and Design and the proposed changes to this area of learning. Our…

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Early Learning Goals Consultation – Maths

Upon reading the ELG consultation, as professionals we are incredibly concerned by the reform, over the series of our next few blogs we will be dissecting the proposed changes for each area of learning; this week we will be looking at the area which has caused us the most concern thus far; Mathematics. Although there…

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Get Inspired Childminder Event – Brighton and Hove

Last Saturday 19th October we were incredibly honoured to be invited to attend and to present at the first ever Get Inspired Childminder event for childminders in the Brighton and Hove area. The event was organised by Zoe Cox and Annette Barnard of Brighton and Hove County Council and it was a brilliant day packed…

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-Practitioner Mental Health and Well-being – EY Wellbeing Week

As ‘EY WellBeing Week’ draws to a close, we thought we’d share the article Chloe wrote for Kate Moxley’s ‘Wellbeing Weekly’ as practitioner and mental health and wellbeing is something we feel incredibly strongly about. Practitioner mental health and wellbeing is often overlooked and not treated with the care, concern and respect it deserves. As…

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Strike 4 Climate

As you may have seen via various social media channels, on Friday 20th September, our children joined our local #Strike4Climate, and whilst we felt this was an incredibly beneficial experience for the children and one they thoroughly enjoyed, some may questions whether it was ‘appropriate’ or ‘responsible’ to take young children to this type of…

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Home-Based Childcare Decisions: The Pros and Cons of Co-Minding

For many home-based childcare providers, the role can quickly become incredibly lonely and isolating, an environmental hazard that perhaps many don’t consider before embarking upon a home-based childcare career. As a result, many childminders struggle to cope with the isolation that lone-working can create and some look for alternative options, or in more drastic cases,…

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EIF – Childminder Perspective

Our sector is full of uncertainty and confusion at the moment; the main reason being the introduction to the Ofsted EIF in September.  There is currently so much speculation surrounding the new framework and many practitioners, particularly those in the home-based childcare sector feel overwhelmed and unsure what this means for their practice.  Ofsted have…

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Pebbles On Tour!

We have recently embarked upon the biggest adventure of our Pebbles lifetime (and careers!) to date!  We aren’t advocates of celebrating the children leaving to go to school via ‘Graduation Ceremonies’ or end of preschool performances, instead we try and incorporate all of the interests of all of the children into an outing, and this…

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