Stop the EYs bandwagon...I want to get off!

Sometimes I am absolutely shocked at the nonsense thrown at us in the world of EYs.

Today I have come across Ofsted publications being sold online, role play masks of current political leaders you can download for a price, t shirts practitioners can wear covered in phonics and numbers, the entire EYFS printed on minuscule cards to be carried around and cards telling us what to say to children...

On top of this we are sold schemes and fads galore promising to get our children doing this, that or the other better and quicker if we just buy this or that or follow this or that approach. Our children don't need any of this nonsense and neither do we! We are skilled, knowledgeable experts...who don't always have the faith in ourselves we should have.

If our practice is based on what we KNOW matters...If our practice is based on what RESEARCH and EVIDENCE tells us matters....In short if our practice is built on what we HEAR  from those leading early years pioneers such eg Froebel, Montessori, Isaacs, Vygotsky, the MacMillians (to name a few) and their contemporaries such as Tina Bruce, Julie Fisher, Ferre Laevers, Anna Ephgrave, (again  amongst others)...then we are not just promoting hoop jumping, short term outcomes but learning (and good mental health) for life.

I have been criticised in the past for using the term fancy pants...but to me it describes some of the absolute flash-in-the-pan, style over substance, unfounded gimmicks I hear about and read about each and every day.

Children don't need specifically planned fine motor sessions, they don't need to swing play dough around their heads or thread cereals on a piece of spaghetti against a timer...if the provision is right.

Children MUST NOT be sat for 45 minutes a day having phonics poured into their heads, when they should be reading, writing and TALKING in an enabling environment.

Children do not need a maths mastery scheme to follow and a maths book to record in when they are counting, measuring, comparing, exploring, using pattern,  problem solving and PROBLEM FINDING in a mathematically rich emotional and physical environment.

I guess what I'm saying in these days of print and go, the days when anyone can be an expert and write a blog saying anything they like with no evidence (I hope you can see I do have evidence).  In these days when social media can make you feel a total failure for not having a pristine mud kitchen made from palettes with working sink and perhaps your cable reels don't look like they deserve a place in the Tate gallery...it's OK! It is OK just to do what is right: plain, simple, back to basics. It is OK not to be all singing and dancing.

We need to just take a breath. Less is more. Our children don't need sparkles and twinkles to learn. They need REAL environments and adults who understand and tune into them. They need space and time.  They need all the things children have always needed...long before these days of the commercialisation of education. They need educators who know WHY they do WHAT they do instead of those who follow blindly and chase to climb aboard the latest bandwagon in a desperate bid to reach outcomes, be outstanding (thanks go out to OFSTED for their constant mythbusting), or even just to feel accepted.  

If I have offended, I apologise but we just need to get back to what matters here...children and their development.  If you are chasing that bandwagon, stop running, turn around and run the other way.  If you are on the bandwagon, politely ask it to stop and climb off. It it won't stop, then jump off! Be brave. Take the risk...take the leap.  It will be bumpy and it won't be easy, but in the long term it will be the best thing you ever did and the adults of tomorrow will thank you! 


Trust me. I know. I jumped...and I have never looked back.

Come and join the Early Years Facebook revolution!

It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new blog for me....and I'm feeling good! (So watch out world!)

Just last night I posted some thoughts on the Facebook page Keeping Early Year Unique...a group of 30,000 Early year voices standing up for what REALLY matters in the Early Years of education. 

Within 2 hours over 500 of our members had liked and loved it. The comments were flooding in of people who realised they were not alone in what they believed.  It is the next morning now and over 700 stand with me, commenting, nodding their heads in agreement and yelling a resounding "YES" from their keyboard!

Now the problem with a Facebook post is that it can very quickly get lost in the world of posts, questions, debates, memes, surveys and photos...all of which are very important! So when someone asked me if I have a blog, I realised I have been missing a very simple point here.  I DO have a blog.  IT IS HERE!!! 

I have been viewing this blog as something extra and different, something I need to find time to do. It ISN'T'!  From this day on this blog is going to be a place where I will start sharing my most talked about posts..so that they can be accessed and shared more widely.

Is this a risk? Yes.  I am stepping out of the comfort zone of a 30k strong community who are on my page (quite literally) and bringing my straight from the heart musings to the world outside.  Some of whom will agree, and some of whom will not.  But for all those who may not agree, I hope there will be those people new to Keeping Early Years Unique who will find the reassurance, confidence and affirmation that so many of us have on that one little Facebook page! So get involved and watch this space! And to these people I say...WELCOME HOME!

Come and join the revolution!

Our children need you! Join the revolution.

Hello everyone.
Let me start with the usual "Sorry I haven't posted a blog for ages...", but I do have a genuine reason! I simply have not stopped.  The Keeping Early Years Unique FB page goes from strength to strength, we have more national events planned for the year and I am still writing books.  But aside from this perhaps my biggest adventure has been my move to Year One. As I cleared out my reception class cupboard to move next door, I packed my EYFS principles and the pedagogy into a box for the move to Year One...because I know they don't just need to exist in our Reception and Nursery classrooms! 

In an ideal world, I would tell you I've opened the box, unpacked them and its been a breeze. In some ways it has. We have very happy settled children who love school, we have families who are thrilled with how their  children are thriving, a happy team of staff and a very supportive leadership team who are putting their faith in us. But..to be honest it is pretty exhausting.  I am swimming against the tide.  Giving children freedom, independence, the chance to play (and yes I do say play...not get busy, learning time, doing jobs or any masks that attempt to cover this now expletive word) and spend time learning inside and out when, how and where they choose, isn't exactly in keeping with the largely irrelevant, dry national curriculum enforced up on me.  Some days are fantastic and I come away knowing some magic has happened, memories have been made...but other days as I drive home I contemplate how much easier my life would be if I would just play ball, if I would just do as Mr Gibb et al want me to, pour knowledge into the children's heads, tell them what to think...or even apply for the store manager job at Aldi that I walk past at every shopping trip.  But those of you who know me well will know that this thought only lasts a fraction of a second before I realise that I could not ever do this...these children just like the hundreds I have taught before, deserve the best and I will give them that no matter how hard it is for me. They will always see Mrs Bennett, laughing, playing, listening, learning, discovering with them..they will never see the frustrated, tired, stressed person this Government is making me into.

So.. over the past 24 hours it is fair to say I have found myself on an emotional rollercoaster going from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again. 

On Thursday evening I shared a real story of how I had observed some magic happening in my classroom, through following a child's interests. This child and I together had created a memory that neither of us will ever forget.  The response on KEYU was phenomenal. People were inspired, people felt emotional, people thanked me for giving children these basic experiences, some even shed a tear.  I went to bed feeling like I was a part of something amazing...

But then I awoke to read Mr  Gibbs speech catchily entitled "The Evidence in Favour of Teacher Led Instruction".  This report referred to the type of practice that we are all so passionate about, the type of practice that we know makes the difference, the type of practice that we know secures good mental health as "fashionable, experimental theory". This phrase alone shows the utter disregard Mr Gibb holds for our children and their development.  Those of us who have worked with children and studied hard will know that our practice is based in years and years of work led by our founding Early Years mothers and fathers...Froebel, Isaacs, McMillian, Montessori et al not to mention their contemporaries: Bruce, Laevers, Moylett, Fisher et al. So to call child centred learning "fashionable and experimental" is either extremely ignorant, highly offensive or most likely both. 

So it was fair to say that I went off to train in London yesterday feeling rather frustrated and wondering exactly where our mission is to go next.  As I ended my training session yesterday I thought I would share our petition to extend EYFS principles to age 7 with the teachers I was working with.  It was at this moment that I almost shed a tear.  A petition that has taken 11 months to reach 7.5k supporters had almost doubled to 13k in under 7 days. I was visibly taken aback, and thought perhaps I had clicked on someone else's petition by mistake.  And then I realised. It hit me like a trike in the leg when I'm in the garden:  I most definitely am not alone.  I am standing shoulder to shoulder with families, educators, leaders, researchers, academics, psychologists, in fact I am standing with experts...real experts who work with children, or who pick up the pieces when they come home stressed and frustrated.  We will not tolerate this assault on our children's well being any more.  They deserve better and we will fight with every bit of us to give it to them.

There are many ways you can get involved! So please do. There is so much unrest out there, and our education system is really under attack, and we need to take action. 

Sign and share our petition

Support these fantastic groups/campaigns:
Save Childhood Movement
Let Our Kids Be Kids (Parents support teachers)
More than a score (Parents, teachers, organisations together)
Keeping Early Years Unique

Sign this petition to save our nursery schools

Find out how the funding cuts will affect your children's schools here



If you are teach in Reception, or have experience of teaching in reception, please sign up and get involved in Early Excellence's Hundred review. Make your voice heard, lets tell everyone what good Reception practice is all about. Get involved here!

Please get involved..it is only by standing together against those who look to reduce our children to scores with no regard for their holistic development and mental health, that we can make a difference. Enough is enough. Our children deserve better than this archaic system they find themselves in. The Government would have you believe it is a world class model. It is not. It is prehistoric. And if we continue down this path the only tables we will be topping in the global community will be those for poorest child mental health and number of teachers leaving a profession through ill health.

Please join me.

Many thanks for all you do, to keep the fires burning. Your support makes me stronger and gives me the will to keep going.  If you think you can help the cause in anyway get in touch...

We will speak soon I promise..and I won't leave it nearly so long!

Warmest wishes as always
Elaine 

Together we are stronger. It's time to stand up for Early Years!

Hello everyone,

Well I'm back! Sorry it's been so long but life here has been crazy.  Next year I am moving to Year One, and as EYFS/Year One lead I am definitely on a mission to extend the amazing work we have developed in our EYFS classes (which has seen us named finalists at the Nursery World Awards as EYFS School Team of the Year) beyond the reception door and into the KS1 Classroom...but hey ho that's another journey and another blog.


Today's blog is all about the growing sea of Early Years power that's about to hit a shore very near you! Any of you who use social media (so I'm guessing all of you as you are reading this) will know that every day sees your FB or Twitter feed full of even more research, even more news stories, even more groups calling for action, concerned about the state of Early Years education and the effects that a pressured approach is having not just on the children themselves (and the adults they grow into) but their families and also the practitioners working in schools and settings.  

Many stories seem to be coming out of the US about parents opting out of testing, or from Australia about the changes to school age, Scotland has the Upstart Kindergarten to age 7 campaign growing from strength to strength, and in my own little part of the world my campaign #ExtendEYFSto7 has around 28k supporters now across two petitions (see below for links).  

It is fair to say there are many of us out there battling against the tide. So this got me thinking.  We may have different Governments, and have different curriculum's to follow, but we are all fighting against the same thing...the decline of play, the increase of developmentally inappropriate practice. In fact such an increase, that this type of "too-much-too-soon", formal, top down approach, is fast becoming the norm, whilst those of us who follow the tried and tested, research and theory based, developmentally appropriate paths set out by our EYs founding mothers and fathers eg Isaacs, Montessori, Steiner, Piaget, Froebel et al...are actually seen as revolutionary and different???!!! What a sad state of affairs when we have to defend and explain why PLAY is the WAY (and it IS the only way in my opinion) and when those of us who actually "let" young children play are seen as rebels and mavericks! I have even been asked how we get away with it....


So any how all of this got me thinking....What about if we all joined forces from around the globe, standing together to say: Enough is enough! Give back play! Give back good mental health! Give back childhood!  Give back the joy of teaching and learning! 

So late the other evening, I did something that would never have been possible in the days of those founding early years mothers and fathers.  I came across a post featuring Australian and American leading advocates side by side, talking about a global campaign.... and I reached out from the comfort of my home across the globe to these folk and others who are standing with us in our battle...and supported this simple idea. Let's all work together to lead something global!  

Well we are speaking and all I can say is watch this space!

"Individually we are one drop...together we are an ocean...!" Ryunosuke Satoro 
(One of my favourite quotes)   Well guess what the waves are growing, so I'm just wondering if your surfboard is ready, cos its time to ride!

Useful FB pages to join and follow:


Importance of play (Australia)
Defending Early Years (USA)
Dance with me in the heart (NZ): 
Protecting Childhood (Australia)
Upstart Scotland
Save Childhood Network (UK)
Tasmanians say NO to a lower school starting age (Australia)

And of course don't forget my very own little EYs haven : Keeping Early Years Unique 

So come on, join the movement!  Join hands around the world and show the power of play to those who doubt us and who are damaging our precious children, our future with their relentless focus on results through dangerous and developmentally inappropriate practice!  

Keep on talking..this matters! 
Change.org internationally accessible petition #ExtendEYFSto7
UK Parliament and Government site petition #ExtendEYFSto7


Got an idea of where to go next? Get in touch!

Help! I've caught the bug and it's catching!

Yes it's true. I have well and truly caught the bug.  It's been in the air for quite a while now and I've felt it coming on slowly...but now it's well and truly taken hold!  I'm highly contagious so watch out.

No...I am not talking about the awful Norovirus that leaves a cruise ship full of passengers seeing more of a toilet pan than the spectacular view they paid for from their cabin porthole....

This bug is dramatically on the increase and can be found in many schools and settings around the world..and increasingly in many homes too.  Parents, grandparents, practitioners and anyone who cares about childhood is well and truly infected...the symptoms? These include overwhelming feelings of passion, commitment and drive to fight for what every single child deserves in their lives. Another symptom is equally overwhelming feelings of sadness, anger, despair, disbelief and shock  in response to the farcical state of our education system and in particular, testing, children's poor mental health, forced academisation and the narrower-than-ever totally inappropriate "world leading" national curriculum.

How do I know I am well and truly infected?  Well on Saturday the bug took me to a new level.  This teacher, who once shook like a leaf at the prospect of talking to 10 parents at a math workshop, made the decision to ring into LBC, national radio, as a headteacher talked about the stress children are now facing...I literally couldnt stop my fingers dialling. The presenter Tom Swarbrick was a true gentleman, reassured me as a first time caller, listened to my concerns and then said the fatal words.... "Great call, please call in again..."

Oh dear. Twenty four hours later and LBC again, a call in on Stig Abell's show who was supportive of testing as a parent of a 4 and 7 year old was joined on the show by journalist Toby Young. Mr Young co founded a flagship free school which has now expanded to three other schools and a sixth form, and who recently stepped down from his CEO role.http://schoolsweek.co.uk/toby-young-free-school-chief-executive/


I rang in again as I couldn't believe some of what I am hearing.  I won't talk you through the whole conversation.   Listen hear to me on LBC with Toby Young. As I talked to Tory Toby (as he is sometimes called) who was  pleasant and polite despite having very differing opinions to me...it dawned on me more than ever.  There are people out there, giving interviews, writing articles, speaking out loud as those who know, who, without meaning to sound rude, quite simply do not understand teaching OR CHILDREN, but are giving the impressions to the masses that they do...and that they know best...and when in a position of power or status, PEOPLE DO LISTEN!

When I talked about #ExtendEYFSto7, my campaign to do do just this, he replied that children in the EYFS (which he stated was reception and YEAR ONE) spend 50% of their time playing.  We know that this is simply not true.  THE EYFS (AND ITS PLAY BASED, HOLISTIC APPROACH ENDS FOR MOST CHILDREN AT THE END OF RECEPTION...and for far too many before in the race to be KS1 ready. And if EYFS are playing 50% of the time (many sadly do not) what are they doing the other 50% of the time?

Oh dear oh dear oh dear..we have so far to go....luckily my infection is terminal! My medication is the thousands who stand with me, shoulder to shoulder, to fight for what is right and what is necessary!

Please get behind #ExtendEYFSto7, by signing and share both petitions.  Share the bug!

Sign the Government petition here #ExtendEYFSto7

Sign the Change.org petition here #ExtendEYFSto7

Come on, come on, it's not hard to learn. Come on, come on, it's called the U turn!

OK so in my last blog I quoted a lyric from Tracey Chapman...Don't you know, they're talking about a revolution! Well what a week it's been for education. There most definitely was something in the air, and on 3rd May I, along eith thousands of other parents, made the decision to take my son out of school. He spent the day with his grandparents and I spent the day at school making fairy cakes and icing them with some amazing 4 and 5 yr old mathematicians who weighed their ingredients accurately,  followed a simple recipe, counted out cake cases, estimated how much mixture to put in each one and set a timer! This was the recipe from Anna Ephgraves amazing Nursery Year in Action book...and it was brilliant. Just watch how these nursery children from her school make their cakes independently! This is what maths means when you are 3,4 or 5 years old!  SEE LINK BELOW

I'd like to publicly thank the 3rd may organisers and all of the families who got on board. The fact Ms Morgan referred to this "damaging" action in her NAHT performance shows the message was received! Funny how the school closures for polling day weren't damaging? Anyhow I digress...so this blog continues the musical theme and this time with a lyric from RnB God Mr Usher Raymond. Come on, come on its not hard to learn, come on come on its called a u turn. And yes this week saw yet another u turn from Ms Morgan. Let's look at recent events. Baseline scrapped.  KS1 spag somehow leaked and then scrapped and yesterday the announcement of the forced academisation u turn. Well I must confess, I had been driving home from a training session at the simply amazing Tanglewood Maintained Nursery School in Chelmsford (these places are national treasures and so important. ..how can they be under threat?  But that's another blog for another day),  when I heard the headline, that forced academisation plans had been dropped. I have to admit I thought I'd imagined it, and as it sank in I did a fist in the air before remembering I was on the A130. Then I smiled... how convenient to announce this on the same day as election results and the mayoral result in London.

I posted it on Facebook on the Early Years haven that is Keeping Early Years Unique and there were some whoops and celebrations before someone put a link to the Dfe information about academies and the poster commented how the devil was in the detail.  In our excitement over the headlines we had of course been so overcome that for a moment we had lost our senses. Of course this u turn was not all it appeared and was merely forced academisation dressed up in a new coat. Underneath it all....it's still there and will still happen to far too many who do not want it.

This reminded me of the media circus when baseline was scrapped, where key opponents tweeted they were performing dances and singing...all I could think was that this joy may be rather short lived as we all knew there wpuld be a catch. We now know a government school readiness test is on the way for 2017.  Based on current NC expectations for 7 and 11 year olds I think we should afraid...very afraid! I envisage narrow indicators such as ability to hold a pencil,  add and subtract,  write names and read words appearing very soon.  I suspect then that many will soon be wishing for the return of the holistic baseline assessment which most of the country chose. The only model that  prioritised well being, involvement and effective learning characteristics and did the best it could under gov requirements. No it was not perfect and I personally have not found the data particularly useful. But if I have to do a baseline I want something that is at least based in EYS principles and doesn't require sitting in a cupboard with a terrified child staring at a computer screen or making judgements about a child which label their individual stages of development as failures. "Your son Johnny will never amount to anything Mrs Smith as he isn't able to hold a pencil correctly yet...yes I know he's only 49 months old but he is a failure I'm afraid"

Today I bit the bullet and called into LBC to join a debate about the national curriculum.  The presenter asked me about Ms Morgans comments about a listening government. My reply? They are not listening at all. .. they are ignoring every bit of research and theory that shows that their educational policies are damaging and dangerous. Switching off and stressing out young brains and filling them with pointless information. So they can do all the u turns they want...because quite simply they will always be brought back to the same place.... the place that says that they are wrong, and their approach is fatally flawed.  But they don't want to hear it so will just keep u turning again and again all the while our children, our future are merely guinea pigs, pawns in a game that we can never win.

My campaign #ExtendEYFSto7 is 600 away from 20k. We need 100k by August. Please share this and get on board. Our children deserve something far better than this farcical mess that this privately educated government are enforcing on them. They deserve more than an education being prepared for tests. They deserve an education for life. After all life is the greatest test there is.....


Change.org petition #ExtendEYFSto7. Sign here. Powerful comments from around the world.

Government petition site #ExtendEYFSto7 They responded at 10k...now we need 100k to get a debate!

Don't you know...They're talkin' bout a revolution!

There may be some of you, of a certain age who may recall the lyric in the title of this blog. It was from a Tracey Chapman song, an album of my youth.  An album I'd lay on my bed and listen to on my Sony Walkman as a teenager dreaming of how I would change the world.  

Well many years later and approaching a certain special birthday...and no it's not 21 or 30, and this song is buzzing around in my head on an almost daily basis, although my walkman is long gone, and I can't find the cassette!

There is a revolution coming, I can feel it and I am proud to be a part of it.  It seems that almost daily there are educational stories in the news.  The teaching crisis, the assessment fiasco, the mental health issues our children are facing...and perhaps most excitingly of all, the fact that practitioners, parents, grandparents, unions, researchers, household names and anyone who cares about children, are ALL standing together to tell Mr Cameron, Ms Morgan et al that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! We are sick and tired of our precious children, our future being used as guinea pigs for whatever unfounded ideas pops into the heads of those who believe they have the power to do as they please.   

This week will see thousands of parents taking their children out of school in protest at the governments attack on childhood and education, but in full support of teachers and schools. This is unprecedented, and Ms Morgans claim that this 1 day out is damaging is laughable when the ridiculous testing regime and narrow curriculum children face is causing more mental health issues than ever for many children. These children are feeling the pressure many of us may have only felt at secondary or FE level.

I continue to fight passionately for the right of each and every child to the very best education which recognises and celebrates their individual development and the power of play!  My Facebook group Keeping Early Years Unique goes from strength to strength with over 11k members not focusing on discussing activity ideas, but the fundamentals of early years education, the pedagogy, principles and beliefs that provide every child with an education that respects, inspires, nurtures and challenges them.

My campaign to extend Early Years to age 7 is also gaining momentum.  I am proposing the extension of those fundamental prime areas,  the importance of embedded, meaningful literacy and maths, and taking those all important statutory  Characteristics  of Effective Learning beyond the reception classroom door and into KS1 and beyond.  The powerful EYFS curriculum must not end for children when we tearfully wave them goodbye in July.  Our curriculum works! In many schools during OFSTED it is the EYFS is a strength...it's where the magic happens, where learners thrive and brains grow. So why end it when children are 5...some are still 4! It works.  It's based in research, the very best pedagogy, the legacies of our founding EYs mothers and fathers: Froebel, Montessori, the McMillan's, Isaacs, Steiner, Vygotsky, Piaget, Reggio Emilia, Bruce et al. Ms Morgans world leading curriculum isn't! There's no research to support her beloved curriculum..so its time for it to go to Time Out...permanently!  Look around the world Ms Morgan. Look at the countries whose children you say leave ours behind! They start formal schooling at 7, they play, their teachers are respected and have high levels of well being..they leave us behind.Until we reform our system our children will always be like the hare in Aesop's fable, rushing quicker and earlier but left behind by a tortoise whose journey is slower and more carefully planned.

Today my meme to spread word of #ExtendEYFSto7 was shared....over 400 likes and 200 shares later word is spreading. My maths meme about the power of play has received 7000 likes and 1 million+ views around the world.  I am not alone here.....Our children deserve the best, so join the revolution! Stand with me, wherever you are to send a message loud and clear. Our children matter! Their mental health matters! Their education matters!

"I'm signing this petition because I believe children are put under too much pressure far too early in their lives. Childhood should be for playing, enjoying, exploring, investigating, developing socially and emotionally. It should not be about learning how to pass tests or about failure." Supporter comment


Sign, share and tell the world about this battle! Together we are stronger.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/121681
https://www.change.org/p/sam-gyimah-mp-extend-the-early-years-foundation-stage-from-birth-to-5-to-birth-to-7