Early Years Digest

4 March 2025

PRESS & MEDIA 

 Parents should not face ‘mandatory’ extra charges to access funded childcare - The Independent

Children playing outside far less amid ‘no ball games’ culture, study shows - The Telegraph [subscription required]

DfE names 750 breakfast club ‘early adopter’ schools - Schools Week Magazine

Call to ‘reset’ SEND funding so schools can meet local needs - TES Magazine

Parents of under-fives may be exempted from UK’s two-child benefit limit - The Guardian

Children enjoy audiobooks more than reading for first time - The Telegraph [subscription required]

 

FEATURE STORIES

Children are starting school unable to sit up or hold a pencil – and I know the culprit - The Guardian

How useful is it to compare education systems around the world? - TES Magazine

I'm a parenting expert - children aren't learning to talk properly because of one worrying adult habit - The Daily Mirror

Inside the London reception class where kids are taught to talk to help them stay out of gangs - The Guardian

 

BLOGS, PODCASTS & MORE

BLOG: Building strong readers: why oral language is the foundation of the reading house - Education Endowment Fund

PODCAST: The Learning Collective - Maritime Academy Trust

 

RESEARCH & POLICY DEVELOPMENT

 The New Ecology of Early Childhood: Revisiting Bronfenbrenner’s Theory in the Context of Contemporary Challenges and Opportunities - Stanford Centre on Early Childhood
 
 

EVENTS & COURSES

Learning from the Mobilise Programme Seminar
Foundations: 17 March, 12:00-13:00 (online, free)

What we get wrong about early care and education with Dan Wuori
Nesta: 20 March, 12:30-13:30 (online, free)

Bringing generations together in our Early Years settings and communities
Ealy Education, Aberdeen Branch: 26 March, 19:00-20:30 (Aberdeen, £10)

 

JOBS

 

Chief Executive Officer - Learning through Landscapes (Hampshire)

Delivery Manager - The Royal Foundation Centre for Early childhood (London Hybrid)

Family Hub Connector – Parental Mental Health Team (London)

 

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