Lauren Colvin

Children are drawn to the outdoors, they have a sense of wonder surrounding them that nature helps to cultivate as they experience things for the first time. Humans brains are also hardwired for play, throughout life not just in childhood. There is much research showing the vast array of benefits produced by spending time in nature and playing. The fact t...

Children are constantly forming beliefs about themselves and the world around them from the very early years of life. These beliefs and ideas develop from the experiences and relationships children are exposed to throughout their childhood. The messages being absorbed and the stories children tell themselves occurs outside of conscious awareness. The beli...

There has been an explosion of interest into the subject of ‘mindfulness’ in recent years, and dozens of studies have been conducted into its effectiveness demonstrating a wide range of benefits, such as reduction of stress and anxiety, improved behavioural regulation and increased positive emotion. But what is ‘mindfulness’ and how can we as parents intr...

Conversations between parents and teachers about children’s progress represents a fantastic opportunity to celebrate each child’s uniqueness, interests and achievements, along with being a crucial opportunity to build relationships between parents and teachers.

Giving parent’s feedback on their children’s progress is one of the greatest and most valuable i...

The Montessori methodology was developed by Maria Montessori over 100 years ago. It is an approach that values the human spirit and the development of the whole child across all areas, physical, social, emotional and cognitive. All children are unique, with different interests and abilities. The Montessori approach towards learning supports this individua...

All families and teachers can benefit from forming a mutual partnership and most importantly it helps to provide the best support for the child. Through working together, parents and teachers can offer consistency in their approaches. This helps to prevent conflicting messages being given to the child and instead provide similar boundaries and expectation...

Book Review by Lauren Colvin

AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE

By Liz Williams

This book is a concise and easy to follow guide. I read the whole book within an hour. As an experienced Early Years specialist, who is passionate about supporting and nurturing positive behaviour within children, I was able to relate closely to the subject matter. I feel both experienced practi...

As with all areas of learning, the key to supporting a child towards acquiring the ability to read is to recognise and cater for their uniqueness in order to successfully entice them in the process. Providing an environment that helps children to develop a deep enjoyment of reading can be done in numerous ways.

One of the most important components towards...

At the heart of every good educational setting should be the focus on the unique child, and working towards understanding and catering for this as effectively as possible. The early years is a child’s introduction to education, it should be an enjoyable experience and nurture a love of learning that they take with them throughout life. The experiences and...

Math’s like any other area of a child’s learning needs to be catered towards the individual child’s interests and ability. Remembering that every child is different and learns at a different rate is crucial in order to support them effectively. The focus for children in this age group is to manipulate and play with objects so that they can develop clear l...