January 2021

Issue 74 

JANUARY 2021 

FREE 

Industry 

Experts 

Removing the 

stigma of poverty 

Music and the 

brain: how music 

helps us learn 

Mouthing - 

at all ages 

+ lots more 

Write for us 

for a chance to win 

£50 

page 8 

How to raise a kind child 

Kindness is not just a feeling. It is a skill that takes children years to develop. 

The strong expectation for children to be kind can override the vital support we 

should be giving children in order to build their capacity for kindness. 

BURNS NIGHT • BIG ENERGY SAVING WEEK ... MONTH ... WINTER • STORY MASSAGE

hello 

welcome to our family 

Hello and welcome to the January edition of the Parenta magazine! 

The year 2021 is upon us and for many, 2020 has not been an easy year. However, we shall begin 2021 with 

optimism and hope! 

Even in the best of times, January is often a difficult month financially, but with so many people struggling with 

reduced incomes due to the pandemic restrictions and lockdowns, it is more important than ever to raise awareness 

and support those in need. 

With this in mind, this month we look at ways in which you can save energy in your home and setting for Energy Saving Week running 

from 18th to 24th January. We also tackle the subject of poverty and how we can help to take steps to remove the stigma attached to 

such a sensitive topic. 

Educating the children in our care to grow up with kindness and without prejudice is fundamental to early years childcare. We are 

delighted to welcome back guest author Helen Garnett who gives her expert advice and guidance on how to do just that. Turn to page 18 

to learn how to “build kind children” – a skill that takes the little ones years to develop. 

Following the same vein, Tamsin Grimmer’s article on page 12 “I’m not prejudiced, am I?” gives us an insight to our ‘unconscious bias’ 

and how this has a significant impact on people’s lives - and our work with children - without us really knowing, which in turn can lead to 

prejudice. 

We really hope you enjoy our New Year’s magazine, full of so much advice from our wonderful industry experts. All the articles have been 

written to help you with the efficient running of your setting and to promote the health, happiness and wellbeing of the children in your 

care. 

Please feel free to share with friends, parents and colleagues – they can sign up to receive their own copy here! 

Please stay safe everyone and we wish you a Happy New Year. 

A New Year ... 12 

A chance to 

reflect upon 

unconscious bias 

I’m not prejudiced, am I? 

Unpicking unconscious bias. 

Veganuary 

14 

January is often a time 

when people make New 

Year resolutions, often to 

get fitter and healthier. 

Veganuary fits well into 

this personal drive and 

we have tips to help. 

Burns Night 22 

Burns Night suppers have become 

a traditional January celebration in 

Scotland, continuing the legacy of 

poet, Robert Burns. Read more to 

find out how you could celebrate. 

JUNE JANUARY 20202021 ISSUE ISSUE 67 74 

IN THIS EDITION 

Regulars 

8 Write Child-friendly for us for smoothie the chance to 

15 win Write £50! 

for us for a chance to win £50 

8 15 Guest author winner announced 

10 39 Congratulations starf ish craf t to our learners 

36 Best ever biscuits 

37 Burns Night thistle 

News 

4 Childcare news and views 

6 A round up of some news stories 

Advice that have caught our eye over the 

month 

6 Father’s Day at home 

Advice 

10 Children’s Art Week 

12 World Oceans Day 

14 20 Veganuary 

Child Safety Week 

16 26 EYFS Bike Week series: 2020 Development Matters 

34 and Growing changes for wellbeing to assessment Week and 

36 moderation 

National Writing Day 

22 38 Burns Diabetes Night 

Week 

28 Removing the stigma of poverty 

32 Big Energy Saving Week … Month … 

Industry Winter! 

Experts 

Industry Experts 

16 Talking about difference: behavioural 

difficulties 

12 A New Year ... A chance to reflect 

18 Storytelling in music: using royalty and 

upon unconscious bias 

magic 

18 How to raise a kind child 

22 Furlough: The new ‘f’ word 

24 Mouthing - at all ages 

28 

26 Three ways to reduce meltdowns 

Helping children of different 

30 Promoting positive behaviour in pre-school 

ethnicities to feel a sense of 

belonging 

children 

30 Music and the brain: how music 

helps us learn 

34 Do you teach phonics in nursery? 

38 Story massage 

Mouthing - at all ages 24 

Helping children of different ethnicities to feel a 

sense of belonging 

26 

Music and the brain: how music helps us learn 30 

Do you teach phonics in nursery? 34

Childcare 

news & views 

November Spending Review: 

Further Education - government 

apprenticeship incentive 

scheme extended 

Bigger fall in nursery attendance 

prompts call for ‘pre-pandemic’ 

funding until spring 

Nurseries, led by the Early Years Alliance, 

are urging the government to continue 

basing funding for ‘free childcare’ places 

on pre-pandemic attendance levels until 

the end of the spring term, after the 

Department for Education (DfE) revealed a 

bigger fall in childcare attendance than it 

had previously estimated. 

In the DfE’s latest figures published in its 

‘Attendance in education and early years 

settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) 

outbreak’, the DfE admitted it had to ‘adjust’ 

its estimate for pre-pandemic childcare 

attendance levels because of an error. 

A £375 million skills package was 

announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak 

in November’s spending review - which 

includes £138 million of funding to 

deliver the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, £127 

million to continue the Plan for Jobs skills 

measures and more great news for 

employers as Mr Sunak confirmed that 

the Kickstart scheme will be extended 

to the end of March. 

Announcing the package in the House of 

Commons, he said: “We’re also committed 

to boosting skills, with £291 million to 

pay for more young people to go into 

further education, £1.5 billion to rebuild 

colleges, £375 million to deliver the prime 

minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee and 

extend traineeships, sector-based work 

academies, and the National Career 

Service, as well as improving the way 

the apprenticeship system works for 

businesses.” 

Mr Sunak also promised £2.9 billion over 

three years for a new Restart scheme, 

which the Treasury says will help more 

than a million unemployed people find 

jobs. As part of the scheme, people who 

have been out of work for more than 

a year will be provided with “regular 

intensive support” tailored to their 

circumstances. There will also be £1.4 

billion of funding to increase the capacity 

of Job Centre Plus. 

Read the full story on the Parenta website 

here. 

November Spending Review: 

Early Years Funding - Treasury 

announces £44 million 

additional funds 

The Treasury announced that it will be 

spending an additional £44 million on 

funding to “increase the hourly rate paid to 

childcare providers” for the government’s 

funded childcare offers. 

The announcement came as part of the 

Treasury’s Spending Review which outlined 

the government’s spending plans for the 

next year. 

The Spending Review also confirmed 

that the National Living Wage (NLW) will 

increase to £8.91 an hour and will be 

extended to all employees aged 23 and 

over – currently only employees aged 25 

and over are entitled to NLW. 

The National Minimum Wage for younger 

workers and apprentices will also be 

increasing as follows: 

• 21-22 year olds - up 2% from £8.20 

an hour to £8.36 an hour 

• 18-20 year olds – up 1.7% from £6.45 


• 16-17 year olds – up 1.5% from £4.55 


• apprentices – up 3.6% from £4.15 an 

hour to £4.30 an hour 


here. 

Ofsted announces phased 

return of early years inspections 

Ofsted has announced a phased return to 

early years inspections in 2021, as a result 

of the continuing challenges facing the 

industry, caused by COVID-19. 

The phased return means that no graded 

inspections will be carried out before the 

summer term. 

Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman, 

said: “The usual level of scrutiny within 

the education and care system has been 

absent since last March, so it’s important 

that it returns next year as we all hope 

for a greater level of normality. But we 

understand the pressure that everyone in 

education and social care is working under 

and we want to return to our usual work in a 

measured, sensitive and practical way. 

“We will not re-introduce graded inspections 

to schools and colleges before April. During 

the spring term, we will use supportive 

monitoring inspections to help those 

that most need it, focused on how well 

pupils and students are learning. Routine 

inspections in early years and social care 

are also planned for the summer term, but 

regulatory work will continue in the interim. 


here. 

National Apprenticeship Week 

2021: ‘Build the Future’ 

The theme for the 14th annual National 

Apprenticeship Week (NAW2021) has 

been revealed by the Education and Skills 

Funding Agency (ESFA). 

‘Build the Future’ – running from 8th 

to 14th February, will focus on how 

employers train, retain and achieve 

with apprenticeships and is aimed at 

encouraging everyone to consider how 

apprenticeships help individuals to build 

the skills and knowledge required for a 

rewarding career. 

The annual week-long celebration of 

apprenticeships, taking place across 

England, will showcase the impact 

apprenticeships can have on communities, 

local businesses and regional economies 

and how they all benefit from the impact of 

apprenticeships. 

As a result of the pandemic and many 

individuals relying on technology and 

virtual meetings more than ever, National 

Apprenticeship Week 2021 will be different, 

but just as exciting. 


here. 

The DfE admitted the mistake, stating: 

‘From December 2020 we no longer make 

an adjustment to the survey data to take 

into account expected usual sickness 

absence’. 


here. 

Duchess of Cambridge 

reveals findings of her early 

years survey 

The Duchess of Cambridge has unveiled 

findings from the biggest UK survey on the 

early years, revealing that many people do 

not recognise the critical importance of the 

first five years in a child’s life. 

The Duchess has made the early years one 

of her key priorities in recent years, looking 

at how difficult experiences in childhood are 

often the root of social challenges. 

In January, she asked the general public 

for their views on the early years. The ‘5 

Big Questions on the Under Fives’ survey, 

commissioned by the The Royal Foundation 

of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and 

conducted by Ipsos Mori, received over half 

a million responses. 


here. 

4 January 2021 | parenta.com 

parenta.com | January 2021 5

A round up of some news 

stories that have caught 

our eye over the month 

Story source and image credits to: 

Hartlepool mail, Grampian online, Glamour, 

Banbury Guardian, Grantham Journal, CYPN, 

Nursery World, inews, Henley Standard, In 

Your Area and Worthing Herald 

Woodstock Day Nursery supports 

local families at Worthing Food 

Foundation by donating groceries 

After a tough year, the nursery decided 

to directly support the local community 

rather than fundraise for Children in Need. 

They asked parents to kindly donate items 

of food and had a great response. 

Brabyns Preparatory School raise 

over £1500 for Millie’s Trust 

The charity has worked with the school 

to ensure full first aid training. Due to this, 

it only felt right for the preparatory school 

to give back by fundraising, helping the 

trust to provide more training for people 

in basic lifesaving skills. 

St Mary’s Nursery, Henley, 

encourages play to support 

learning for a happy start to life 

The award winning nursery gets the 

children involved in whole school 

activities, allowing them to feel supported 

and inspired by older pupils for a smooth 

transition to school. 

Local authorities join government 

programme to support children 

with developmental gaps 

The early years local government 

programme, evaluated at £8.5m, has 

supported local services to better support 

for families, leading to improved speech 

and language outcomes. 

Arts and crafts & YouTube 

videos are top rated for keeping 

children busy during lockdown 

After most of this year being spent in 

lockdown, arts and crafts, along with 

YouTube videos have been voted ‘the 

most engaging resources’ by nurseries in 

a national parents survey. 

Grantham nursery make 

charitable donation to help 

the local disadvantaged and 

homeless 

Albion House Nursery children and 

families group together with bumper 

donation to support local people in need 

of help this Christmas. 

Click here to send in 

your stories to 

hello@parenta.com 

Tragic nursery fire results in 

Banbury mother organising 

online fundraising 

After finding out Smart Tots Day 

nursery and preschool had a fire, Kirsty 

Cothier started a group to support her 

daughter’s nursery with donations of 

clothes, books and toys. 

Clear advice on what COVID 

rules mean for childcare and 

explaining support bubbles in 

tier 2 and 3 

Many have found the constantly 

changing rules confusing with the new 

tier system. But are there exemptions to 

these rules for childcare support? 

Parents share top tips about the 

childcare lessons they learnt in 

lockdown 

Parenting hasn’t been easy this 

year, with many experiencing school 

closures/childcare difficulties, shielding 

grandparents and isolated pregnancies. 

But there has been a lot learnt too. 

North-east nurseries benefitting 

from 100% non-domestic rates 

The extended scheme was initially meant 

to end 31st March 2021. But after the 

hard impacts of COVID, the extension has 

provided a relief of financial pressures 

many nurseries have been facing. 

Brave little Noah Griffiths met 

nursery friends for the first time 

since his brain tumour fight began 

Noah, from Hartlepool, played with his 

friends again and was also gifted the 

£1030 fundraising from Little Stars Day 

Nursery, to help get him to Disneyland. 



Write for us! 

We’re always on the lookout 

for new authors to contribute 

insightful articles for our 

monthly magazine. 

If you’ve got a topic you’d like to write 

about, why not send an article to us and 

be in with a chance of winning? Each 

month, we’ll be giving away Amazon 

vouchers to our “Guest Author of the 

Month”. You can find all the details here: 

https://www.parenta.com/sponsoredcontent/ 

Congratulations 

to our guest author competition winner, Frances Turnbull! 

Congratulations to Frances Turnbull, our guest 

author of the month! Her article “Celebrating 

Remembrance Day in nurseries” encouraged 

us to show our respect and teach children the 

importance of the music and poems written in 

those tough times. Well done Frances! 

A massive thank you to all of our guest authors 

for writing for us. You can find all of the past 

articles from our guest authors on our website: 

www.parenta.com/parentablog/guest-authors 



Congratulations to all 

our Parenta learners! 

Congratulations to all these Parenta learners who completed their 

apprenticeship in November and have now gained their qualifications. 

These range from Childcare Level 2, Childcare Level 3 and Team Leading 

to Level 3 and Level 5 Management – that’s a huge achievement in the 

current climate. 

All that hard work has paid off – well done from all of us here at 

Parenta Training! 

Did you know ... Parenta has trained over 20,000 apprentices 

within the early years sector! 

Our Level 3 success rate overall is almost 10% higher than the national 

average. That’s down to great work from you, our lovely Parenta learners! 

November’s wall of fame! 

WAGES? ? 

WOULD YOU LIKE 

£3000* TO HELP PAY 

YOUR STAFF 

This scheme has now been 

extended to 31st March - 

hire an apprentice today! 

HAVE YOU HEARD THE GREAT NEWS? 

The government is giving money to employers 

who hire new staff. Start recruiting and earn 

up to £3000* per apprenticeship! 

Let Parenta Training take the strain and help you 

find your perfect apprentices - completely free 

of charge. We have hundreds of candidates, 

just waiting to start their childcare course. 

A. Armstrong 

S. Ashton 

E. Bagnall 

A. Clark 

A. Cooper 

A. Cresswell 

A. Curtis 

A. Dady 

A. Daly 

C. Desai 

A. Donnelly 

A. Driver 

A. Egan 

A. Endersby 

A. Grunwell 

L. Ling 

P. McHale 

A. Montironi 

S. O’Neill 

A. Parton 

A. Redman 

A. Richardson 

A. Ross 

A. Shenton 

A. Stevenson 

A. Stobbs 

L. Swarbrick 

E. Tracey 

A. Tudor 

A. Turner 

A. Vickers 

A. Wilkes 

C. Williams 

A. Wright 

COMPLETE THIS FORM AND 

LET US DO THE REST. 

Before you know it, you will have a new 

team member and up to £3000* to help 

pay your staff wages! 

DO YOU HAVE NEW STAFF STARTING? 

We can help you get up to £3000 for each member who undertakes a 

training course, even if they are fully qualified in childcare. 


*£2000 for each apprentice aged 16-24; £1500 for apprentices aged over 25. 

This is in addition to the existing £1000 payment the government already 

provides for new 16-18-year-old apprentices, and those aged under 25 with an 

Education, Health and Care Plan – where that applies. 

0800 002 9242 

hello@parenta.com 


A New Year ... 

3. Review all aspects of our practice 

(including policies and procedures) and 

try to identify any hidden biases 

A chance to ref lect 

4. In our direct work with the children, 

focus on the unique child and their 

individual strengths and abilities 

upon unconscious 

5. Continue to develop empathy and 

perspective-taking skills 

bias 

6. Deliberately counter unconscious 

bias by sharing stories that challenge 

stereotypes 

I’m not prejudiced, am I? Unpicking 

unconscious bias 

The year 2020 has not been easy for 

many but as humans, we are very resilient 

and are beginning 2021 with optimism 

and hope. The coronavirus pandemic 

highlighted for me that phrase, “We’re all 

in the same storm but not all in the same 

boat.” Some of us are implicitly more 

privileged than others just because of 

when or where we were born, our home 

circumstances and the colour of our skin. 

Some of us have a head start in life. I 

was reflecting about this and relating it 

to unconscious bias and how this has a 

significant impact on people’s lives and 

our work with children without us really 

knowing, which can lead to prejudice. 

Let me explain. Everyday our brains are 

adding to our picture of the world by our 

experiences and knowledge that we 

acquire and, in order to make sense of 

this information, we unconsciously create 

mental structures which help to order our 

thinking. These are generalisations about 

the world and what it is like. These pictures 

tend to be very flexible as new learning 

often requires us to adjust our thinking to 

account for new information. 

When we are little, we use these 

frameworks to recognise and organise 

our thinking, for example, we may learn 

the ‘dog-ness of dogs’: dogs have 4 legs, 

a waggy tail and bark. This is a bit like 

a stereotype of a dog which helps us in 

our youngest years differentiate dogs 

from cats… These frameworks are very 

helpful and our brains continue to do 

this throughout our lives, however, they 

can be problematic when they become 

rigid and we are unable to stray from this 

thinking. This is when we can become 

prejudiced and discrimination can occur. 

For example, we might have a stereotype 

that helps us to recognise boys and girls. 

Our brains may sort out children we meet 

into the binary ‘boy/girl’ categories and 

then one day we meet a child who doesn’t 

easily fit into either. Our thinking needs to 

be flexible enough to cope with this and 

to accept that this child may not easily fit 

into our original thinking. If we then make 

assumptions based on our thinking or act 

less favourably toward this child, we are 

discriminating against them. This negative 

stereotype has become unhelpful and full 

of prejudice. 

How does this fit with unconscious bias? 

Imagine you are on the train and you 

need to pop to the toilet. You’ve really 

made yourself at home, unpacked your 

laptop and put your water bottle on the 

table. You think you have time to quickly 

pop to the washroom and be back before 

the train stops at the next station. So you 

look around the carriage at your fellow 

passengers so that you can ask someone 

to keep an eye on your things while you 

vacate your seat. Who do you choose? 

This is where your unconscious bias takes 

over. You are more likely to ask someone 

who you perceive to be trustworthy or ‘like’ 

you. Our unconscious bias in this case 

would use mainly visual characteristics, for 

example, colour of skin, gender, clothing, 

and other cues, like accent, name or 

snippets of an overheard conversation 

to help us decide who to ask. Who is the 

safest person and the most likely to help? 

Unconscious, or implicit bias as it is 

sometimes called, is our automatic 

awareness or thinking that we do not 

have conscious control over. Research 

shows us that white people are more 

likely to trust white people, and we 

would be more likely to choose the 

clean-shaven businessman in a suit over 

the tattooed youth in a hoodie to mind 

our belongings. Our brains are making 

snap judgements about these people 

using the information it has available, 

which is mostly obvious characteristics 

like age, gender, race and cultural cues. 

Everyone is subject to unconscious bias 

and this is not discriminatory in itself, 

however, our unconscious bias can lead 

to discriminatory behaviour as there 

is potential for prejudice. For example, 

when reading CVs for a job we may be 

unconsciously influenced when reading 

a candidate’s name, age, sex, religion or 

other cultural reference before we have 

even met the candidates. 

So we have unconsciously organised our 

thinking in ways that help us to function 

on a daily basis and this can contribute 

to unconscious bias. It is this thinking that 

helps us to decide who to ask to mind our 

laptop. We probably have a mental picture 

of a ‘thief’ and we are choosing someone 

who is least like this picture. It would 

be impossible to remove this from our 

thinking and our unconscious bias can be 

very helpful, for example, when we see a 

red light, we know to stop without thinking 

about it. However, there are things that we 

can do which will reduce the potential for 

prejudice and keep our unconscious a little 

more in check. For example, if I know that, 

as a white person, research shows I might 

be biased towards black people, I need 

to consciously reflect upon my thoughts, 

words and actions in relation to race to help 

ensure that my unconscious bias doesn’t 

discriminate. 

Some theorists claim that talking about 

unconscious bias can, in reality, fuel racism 

rather than address it. “Unconscious 

bias is the acceptable face of racism, the 

phrase that a majority white sector feels 

comfortable with using and discussing to 

describe itself” (Tate & Page, 2018:142). 

This is because when we talk about the 

unconscious, we are moving beyond our 

responsibility, it is as if we are saying, ‘I 

have no control over this and cannot be 

held responsible for it’. However, this is not 

true. There are things that we can actively 

do to help to address this bias. 

Here are some ideas of how we 

can address unconscious bias: 

1. Allow time to reflect upon ourselves, 

become aware of our biases and 

identify them 

2. Be determined and motivated to 

address our bias and challenge the 

system 

7. Actively promote diversity, equality and 

inclusive practice 

8. Educate yourself and others in relation 

to unconscious and implicit bias 

It is worth bearing in mind that attending 

a short training session on unconscious 

bias will not adequately address this issue 

and could even be described as tokenistic 

or a box-ticking exercise. True change 

needs to come about through a thorough 

reflective review and impact on the whole 

culture of our setting. However, a training 

course might be a good place to start 

because I believe that education is key to 

understanding ourselves, our biases and 

acknowledging our difficulties in this area. 

We also need to avoid shaming or blaming 

ourselves or others for unconscious bias 

- this is unhelpful and will not address the 

cause. Instead, follow the above steps and 

open a dialogue about this issue, then we 

can help to break down barriers and make 

our settings more inclusive places. 

The year 2020 may have gone down in 

history as the year the world changed, but 

let’s make 2021 a revolutionary year where 

we truly tackle racism, sexism, ableism, 

homophobia and other discriminatory 

attitudes within early childhood. And 

it starts with each of us, reflecting on 

ourselves and actively addressing our 

biases. 

References and additional 

reading 

• Dee, T., & Gershenson, S. (2017). 

Unconscious Bias in the Classroom: 

Evidence and Opportunities. Mountain 

View, CA: Google Inc. 

• Tate, S. A., & Page, D. (2018). 

Whiteliness and institutional racism: 

hiding behind (un)conscious bias. 

Ethics & Education, 13(1), 141–155. 

Tamsin 

Grimmer 

Tamsin Grimmer is an experienced 

early years consultant and trainer and 

parent who is passionate about young 

children’s learning and development. 

She believes that all children deserve 

practitioners who are inspiring, 

dynamic, reflective and committed 

to improving on their current best. 

Tamsin particularly enjoys planning 

and delivering training and supporting 

early years practitioners and teachers 

to improve outcomes for young 

children. 

Tamsin has written three books – 

“Observing and Developing Schematic 

Behaviour in Young Children” , “School 

Readiness and the Characteristics 

of Effective Learning” and “Calling 

all Superheroes: Supporting and 

Developing Superhero Play in the 

Early Years” and is working on a 

fourth looking at “Developing a Loving 

Pedagogy in the Early Years”. 

You can contact Tamsin via Twitter @ 

tamsingrimmer, her Facebook page, 

website or email info@tamsingrimmer. 

co.uk 



Veganuary 

What do Paul McCartney, Joaquin Phoenix and Chris Packham have in common? 

No, they are not doing a musical wildlife documentary remake of “Gladiator”, but they are all 

ambassadors for this month’s Veganuary campaign which aims to help people make the switch 

into veganism by starting off with a vegan month - January. 

After the excesses that many of us indulge 

in at Christmas, (and let’s face it, 2020 

was a difficult year and we deserved a 

few treats), January is often a time when 

people take stock of their lives and make 

New Year resolutions, often beginning 

with a drive to get fitter and healthier. 

Veganuary fits well into this personal drive 

for change, and increasingly, it is being 

understood that changes to people’s 

personal diets, can have a wider impact 

on the health of our planet too. 

What is Veganuary? 

The organisation also organises 

awareness-raising events throughout the 

year and is instrumental in increasing 

the amount of vegan options on the 

supermarket shelves and restaurant 

menus. 

Who is it for? 

Veganuary is for anyone and everyone! 

It’s for individuals, workplaces, businesses 

and restaurants alike. Many vegan brands 

are launched during the month, and last 

year, more than 1200 new vegan products 

were launched by over 600 brands, 

supermarkets and restaurants alone. 

There are four main aims: 

1. Increase participation 

2. Corporate outreach 

3. Raising awareness of animal suffering 

in farming and slaughter chains 

4. Growing the global movement 

The benefits of a vegan diet 

There are many anecdotal reports in the 

press, on health blogs and in bookshops 

of the improvements in health that can 

be achieved through a plant-based diet 

and people often say they feel better and 

healthier if they switch to a vegetarian 

or vegan diet. There is also a lot of 

research too. Healthline.com summarises 

16 randomised, controlled trials which 

looked at the impact and benefits of a 

vegan diet on a variety of factors, and 

whilst each trial should be viewed in detail 

for the participants and their starting 

characteristics before extrapolating any 

information, these studies reported a 

whole host of benefits including: 

• Reduced risk of heart disease 

• Weight reduction including for women 

with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) 

• Improved blood sugar and cholesterol 

levels 

• Increased antioxidant activity 

• Improved symptoms in people with 

osteoarthritis 

• Decreased symptoms of rheumatoid 

arthritis 

The benefits to the planet 

Some years ago, the mainstream media 

might have been accused of side-lining 

or not taking seriously, some of the 

arguments that people made about 

the benefits of plant-based diets for the 

planet. But as climate change hits the 

headlines more and more frequently, we 

are now seeing an increase in campaigns 

and adverts which link climate change 

and global warming directly to intensive 

farming practices, deforestation and meat 

production. 

Veganuary is making a difference though, 

and Dr Helen Harwatt from Harvard 

University’s Animal Law and Policy 

program has conducted research into 

the impact that Veganuary has had since 

2014. The figures are impressive, including: 

• 103,840 tonnes of CO2eq saved, 

equivalent to driving around the world 

almost 15,000 times 

• 405 tonnes of PO43-eq 

(eutrophication) saved, the same 

as 1,645 tonnes of sewage. 

Eutrophication is the process where 

a body of water such as a lake 

or coastal waters become overly 

enriched with minerals and nutrients, 

usually from the overuse of land 

fertilisers that pollute the water 

system. It causes algae blooms and 

affects fish and wildlife 

• 6.2 million litres of water saved, the 

same as flushing the toilet almost half 

a million times 

• Additionally, more than 3.4 million 

animals were saved according to 

the Vegan Society’s Veganalyser 

calculations 

Whether you want to go vegan for yourself, 

your family, your setting or the planet, 

the Veganuary website is full of useful 

information and advice. You can sign up 

to their 31-day pledge as an individual or 

a workplace, and they are aiming to beat 

last year’s record and get half a million 

people to sign up in 2021. There are 

vegan recipes from all over the world and 

interestingly, there’s an emphasis on what 

you can eat as a vegan, rather than what 

you can’t. For example, the site points out 

that many of our most basic go-to foods 

are all naturally vegan anyway: such as 

most bread, pulses, fruits and vegetables, 

jams and marmalades, baked beans, 

dried pasta, rice, oven chips, breakfast 

cereals, porridge, pickles, jacket potatoes, 

tea, coffee and fruit juices to name but a 

few. When you look at it like this, there are 

a myriad of foods to choose from. And 

if you look at the recipes on the website, 

things such as smoky mac ‘n’ cheese, 

(yes, made without cheese), coronation 

chickpea sandwich, plantain flatbread 

and tarka dal, it won’t be long before your 

mouth starts to water. 

3. Have some fall-back favourites to rely 

on – jacket potatoes and beans, pasta 

and vegetables, for example 

4. Ease yourself in gently by using vegan 

alternatives to foods you like – there 

are vegan nuggets, sausages, pies, 

pasties, spreads and bacon! So you 

can still enjoy a vegan fry-up knowing 

you’re helping yourself and the planet 

5. Keep some vegan snacks to hand to 

satisfy those ‘wobble-moments’ 

6. Download the HappyCow app which 

shows the nearest restaurant café or 

shop selling vegan food 

We’d love to know how you get on, so 

send us your pictures and stories to 

hello@parenta.com. 

Veganuary is a not-for-profit organisation 

which encourages people to be vegan 

for January, and hopefully, longer. They 

promote a move to “a plant-based diet 

as a way of protecting the environment, 

preventing animal suffering, and improving 

the health of millions of people.” In 2020, 

there were over 400,000 pledges from 

people keen to try a vegan diet, and since 

2014, more than one million people, in 192 

countries have supported the cause. 

Below are some tips to go vegan 

this Veganuary but check out 

the website for more 

1. Plan well – make sure you give plenty 

of thought to your shopping list and 

meal plans 

2. Veganise your favourite dishes 



EYFS series: Development 

Matters and changes to 

assessment and moderation 

In the second part of our new series, we take a closer look at the changes coming in the new EYFS and 

some of the key changes to the Development Matters guidance. 

What is the Development 

Matters guidance? 

Sitting alongside the EYFS, is the 

non-statutory guidance document, 

“Development Matters”, first published 

in 2012. This document supports 

early education practitioners in their 

practice, giving guidance on observing 

and assessing children, and can help 

practitioners to make summative 

assessments of individual children, to 

see if they are on the right track with their 

development in the key areas. 

Professional practitioners will always be 

assessing and checking up on the children 

in their care, feeding back to parents and 

keeping a close eye on how children are 

progressing, and this is often known as 

formative assessment or assessments 

that are made in everyday exchanges on 

an ongoing basis. In education settings 

for older children such as primary or 

secondary school, teachers are often 

involved in formative assessments such as 

checking the student’s understanding of 

the lesson, or giving them some exercises 

to do to show they can use and spell the 

words (e.g. English vocabulary) or can do 

the calculations (maths). These types of 

assessment allow teachers to see what 

is being retained (or not), and tailor their 

lesson accordingly. 

Similarly in the early years, practitioners 

will be looking out for whether children are 

interacting with them, how they socialise, 

their ability to mark-make etc, on a daily 

basis and may record this on IT or a daily 

log sheet. 

Summative assessments are those 

which essentially ‘sum up’ what children 

have learned at the end of a designated 

period. In the example of a secondary 

school pupil, it could be an end of term 

test, or ultimately a GCSE. In the case of 

the early years, the Development Matters 

document outlines some key assessment 

points that can be used to see how well 

children are doing, compared to expected 

developments. 

This guidance. however, was not intended 

to be a ‘tick-box’ exercise or ‘checklist’ 

since the emphasis in early years is that all 

children are different and learn and develop 

at different rates, but in some settings, 

it has been used in this way, and some 

settings have been measuring their success 

on whether children reach the ‘milestones’ 

along the way. The danger of this is that 

you can miss more holistic markers and 

developments as you focus in on ‘ticking off’ 

things in the list. 

As part of recent changes therefore, 

the Development Matters document 

has also been revised (although still 

called “Development Matters”), and was 

published in September 2020, but similar 

to the new EYFS, the revision is not being 

rolled out nationally until September 

2021. Indeed, one of the main aims of 

updating the document was to address 

the data-driven workload that was 

becoming unmanageable in many settings, 

with a constant need to record data on 

development almost to the detriment of 

other areas. Other reasons for updates 

include a desire to improve children’s 

communication, especially their spoken 

language and the need to ‘close the gap’ 

where children are at risk of falling behind 

their peers. 

It is recommended that practitioners 

understand the 7 key features of effective 

practice in depth as a priority. 

These are outlined as: 

1. The best for every child 

2. High-quality care 

3. The curriculum: what we want children 

to learn 

4. Pedagogy: helping children to learn 

5. Assessment: checking what children 

have learnt 

6. Self-regulation and executive function 

7. Partnership with parents 

It also recommends that practitioners 

are familiar with the 3 characteristics of 

effective teaching and learning: 

• Playing and exploring 

• Active learning 

• Creating and thinking critically 

The observation checkpoints under each 

heading say that children in each age 

group “will be learning to “ as opposed 

to saying “will have achieved” so that the 

emphasis is on individual development 

rather than getting all children to meet a 

particular benchmark at a certain age. 

Settings must develop their curriculums 

with these things in mind, and then, 

depending on the ages of the children 

in the setting, the document can then be 

read in age-stages, focusing on the needs 

of different age groups at different times. 

In the previous version, the demarcation 

of children’s development included 

overlapping age bands such as birth to 

11 months and 8 – 20 months, 16 – 26 

months for example. The new guidance is 

split into 3 main groups with subdivided 

“observation checkpoints” at various stages 

along the way. However, the age ranges 

are now less-specific with fewer defined 

periods in the ‘birth to 3’ age range. This 

is to reflect the research suggesting that 

children’s development is not linear, but 

‘more like a spider’s web with many 

strands’. 

The age ranges are now: 

• Birth to three - babies, toddlers and 

young children 

• 3-4-year-olds 

• Children in reception 

The observation checkpoints are to help 

staff notice whether a child is at risk of 

falling behind in their development, and 

not just data collection points for data 

collection’s sake. The document instead 

emphasises the value of ‘professional 

judgement’ which highlights the need to 

develop professional, reflective practitioners 

across the board. 

The Early Learning Goals (ELGs) are the 

goals or targets for children to achieve at 

the end of their reception year. However, 

children will be working towards these 

goals throughout their time in early years 

and therefore curriculums should be 

thought-through accordingly. There are 

currently 17 specific ELGs which span all 7 

areas of learning, including: 

• Communication and Language 

• Personal, Social and Emotional 

Development 

• Physical Development 

• Literacy 

• Mathematics 

• Understanding the world 

• Expressive art and design 

Some of the proposed changes to the EYFS 

affect these Early Learning Goals such as 

the deletion of the specific need to teach 

“Shape, Space and Measures” under the 

Mathematics section, although aspects of 

this would still need to be taught under the 

provision of a “well-rounded curriculum”, 

so there are still grey areas about what 

the impact of the changes will be for 

practitioners and how it will change what 

they do. 

It is also important to understand the 

difference between the ELGs and the 

provision of a full curriculum when 

designing educational material for early 

years, so that it is holistic and 

wide-ranging and does not just focus on 

the ELG assessment that is done at the end 

of the reception year. That would be akin to 

saying that a secondary school education 

should focus only on the information 

needed to pass GCSE exams, which would 

clearly be very limiting. 

There has also been criticism of the new 

Development Matters guidance from early 

years organisations and practitioners who 

feel that far from promoting a more holistic 

and varied curriculum, it instead creates a 

narrow and limited view of how children 

learn and develop which will not serve the 

children it is designed to help. 

What about assessment? 

With the emphasis on professional 

judgement, there is a clear attempt to make 

sure that assessment of children does not 

become just ‘something that needs to be 

done’ and therefore ineffective in promoting 

progress, or identifying children at risk of 

falling behind. Children would be served 

better if practitioners were able to use 

their professional judgement about which 

children need assessing, and in which 

areas, which may result in less assessment 

for some children and a greater amount 

of more effective, intervention-driven 

assessments for those who need it 

most. Only time will tell if this is a realistic 

expectation without greater funding, 

training or practical advice. 

For more information and 

industry comment, see: 

• https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/ 

updating-development-matters-2020 

• https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/ 

news/2020/09/government-publishesnew-development-matters-guidance 

• https://premieradvisory. 

co.uk/2020/09/11/dfe-guidance-forearly-years-change-and-continuity/ 

Look out for part 3 next month. 



How to raise a 

kind child 

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; 

and the third is to be kind.” - Henry James 

Kindness is not just a feeling. It is a skill 

that takes children years to develop. 

All too often we talk about ‘sharing is 

caring’ with children, pressuring them 

into sharing or taking turns. This strong 

expectation for children to be kind can 

override the vital support we should 

be giving children in order to build 

their capacity for kindness. Sharing is 

only caring when a child understands 

kindness! Otherwise they are simply 

learning a social behaviour without the 

important heart and mind connection. 

Children can develop meaningful 

kindness when they are able to: 

• Understand their own feelings 

– 3-4 years 

• Understand other people’s feelings 

– 3-4 years 

• Understand other people’s 

perspectives – 4-5 years 

Until these skills are acquired, children 

will say and do kind things, but they will 

have learned to do these as a social 

behaviour rather than fully understanding 

what kindness really means. 

The science behind kindness 

There is motivation enough for kindness! 

Science demonstrates that being kind: 

• Boosts both serotonin and 

dopamine, neurotransmitters in 

the brain that give us a good sense 

of wellbeing or satisfaction. The 

‘reward centres’ in the brain literally 

light up when we are kind 

• Increases self-esteem 

• Improves mood 

• Decreases our blood pressure and 

cortisol, the stress hormone directly 

responsible for our stress levels 

We need to know calm to be 

kind 

Kindness is a skill that grows best in an 

environment of tolerance and compassion. 

At the same time, kindness occurs more 

frequently when we are in a calm state. 

When a child is overwhelmed by and 

unable to regulate feelings, kindness 

simply cannot develop as effectively. There 

is the story of a child who was unable 

to regulate his feelings effectively in his 

pre-school, and as a result, was lashing 

out to both children and teachers. After 

many months of careful co-regulation, 

the boy’s teacher was amazed to see him 

comforting another child. “This could not 

have happened while his feelings were 

so powerful,” said his teacher. “We had 

to support him through co-regulation, 

helping him regulate all overwhelming 

feelings he had. Only then could he reach 

out to others to help them.” 

Learning to cope with both our own 

feelings and the perspectives of others 

may not always be a pleasant process. 

With the help of loving adults, children 

learn - slowly, slowly - to manage 

unpleasant feelings and understand other 

perspectives. Co-regulation is the key word 

here, where children are helped through 

stormy, unpleasant feelings back to calm 

again, with loving strategies, over and over 

again. 

When does kindness begin to 

grow? 

Kindness can grow from birth! The 

presence of loving and responsive 

caregivers creates the groundwork 

for developing kindness. Warm and 

responsive interactions in a child’s early 

years are key in placing the foundations 

for every emotional skill we possess as a 

child and beyond. 

Steps in building kindness 

Step 1 - Be responsive and loving! When 

a child looks sad, respond lovingly, “You 

look sad, would you like a cuddle?” 

Step 2 - Acknowledge feelings; label 

them and then talk about them. “You 

look happy!” “You look cross. Tell me 

what happened.” “You love it here! Shall 

we come to the park again tomorrow?” 

Remember that by 3-4 years, most 

children are beginning to understand 

their own feelings more and more and to 

understand other people’s feelings. 

Step 3 - Acknowledge perspectives with 

your 4-5-year-old child, and label/talk 

about them. 

“Poor Tom, he’s not wearing a coat. He 

must feel so cold. Shall we find his coat for 

him?” 

“Mary has fallen over. Her knee must hurt. 

Let’s go and help her up.” 

Remember that by the age of 4-5, 

most children are able to see different 

perspectives of others in familiar 

situations, i.e. know that a sibling is cold 

because they are not wearing a coat. 

Step 4 - Read stories. Stories are a 

powerful vehicle for building kindness 

and empathy because children can 

clearly see and understand other people’s 

perspectives in an engrossing context that 

they enjoy. Such enjoyment gives them 

confidence to voice anything they’d like 

to share about the story. Talking about 

feelings and perspectives in this way is 

one of the most powerful ways to learn 

about how other people feel and think. 

Call to action 

Building a generation of kind children 

takes time, energy and emotional maturity. 

In short, we: 

• Support children in co-regulation 

• Notice kindness 

• Model kindness 

• Acknowledge kindness 

• Appreciate kindness 

Helen 

Garnett 

Helen is a mother of 4 and a 

committed and experienced early 

years consultant. She is Education 

Director at Arc Pathway, a sensitive 

profiling and next steps early years 

platform for teachers and parents. 

She has a wealth of experience in 

teaching, both in the primary sector 

and early years, co-founding and 

running her own pre-school in 2005. 

Helen has written books for the early 

years sector, including “Developing 

Empathy in the Early Years” (winner 

of the Nursery World Awards 

Professional Book Category 2018) and 

“Building a Resilient Workforce in the 

Early Years” (Early Years Alliance 2019). 

She regularly writes for early years 

publications such as Nursery World. 

Helen can be contacted via LinkedIn 

Children are more likely to be kind when 

they see kindness around them and when 

they are in a place of calm regulation. 

Genuine and repeated acts of kindness 

produce kindness. But like anything that 

grows, kindness needs to be seeded, 

cultivated and encouraged. 

This happens best in an environment 

where co-regulation is the norm, and 

where such kindness is seen, practised, 

talked about and most importantly, 

enjoyed. 



The cheapest all-in-one, 

easy-to-use, cloud-based 

early years software 

package you can buy! 

No Setup fee – Save a massive £2395! | NO hidden costs! 

All Inclusive | Limited Time Offer | Unlimited Support 

For only £99 

per month 

(paid annually) 

with a MASSIVE 

saving of £2395 

(No set-up fee) 

Book a Demo Today! 

PARENT 

PORTAL 

Parent Portal is a FREE APP that works 

hand-in-hand with Parenta’s other software 

solutions and it gives parents: 

A newsfeed of their child’s day 

including photos and videos 

Their account balance and invoice 

breakdown 

The ability to download invoice and 

payment receipts 

A calendar view of past, present and 

future sessions booked 

View and request changes for 

information about their child including 

allergies, illnesses and medication 

+ lots more! 

FREE 

What’s included? 

• Cloud-based Nursery Management 

Software for easy and quick invoicing, 

reporting & ratios 

• User-friendly EYFS development 

tracking software 

• Daily Diary to record activities, naps, 

meals and nappies 

• Parent engagement app – 

maintaining social distancing 

guidelines 

Monthly direct debit option available on request 

• Go paperless and limit the spread 

of germs 

• Accurately record baseline 

observations 

• Photo Editing, Tagging & Blurring 

Technology (GDPR compliant) 

• Easy Ofsted reporting 

• Unlimited phone & email support 

plus videos and help files 

We’ve worked with thousands of settings, so we 

know exactly what tools you need to make your 

business successful. We believe that delivering 

great childcare means working closely alongside 

parents; and with Parent Portal, they can stay 

involved in their child’s day. 

Interested? Speak to our team to find 

out more on 0800 002 9242 or email us 

at hello@parenta.com. 

0800 002 9242 hello@parenta.com

Burns Night 

How well do you know our UK poets? 

Many English people will hotly debate 

that the world’s best poet and playwright 

is indisputably “The Bard of Avon”, aka 

William Shakespeare; and yet in Ireland, 

that honour may well be bestowed upon 

James Joyce, author of “Ulysses” and “A 

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”. 

The Welsh may hail Dylan Thomas as 

perhaps their most celebrated writer, 

extolling the virtues of “Under Milk Wood” 

and “Deaths and Entrances” as holding 

their own against anything that Joyce or 

Shakespeare could proffer. However, if you 

ask a Scot for the name of the greatest 

poet of all time, then you could bet your 

bottom Scottish ‘punnd’ that the name 

Robbie or “Rabbie” Burns would be at the 

top! For despite this most famous son of 

Scotland’s short-lived career, (he died at 

the age of only 37), he has become one of 

the most celebrated poets of all time and 

is remembered with revelry and tradition 

each year on 25 January, now known as 

Burns Night! 

Robert Burns and his legacy 

Burns died of rheumatic fever in 1796, on 

the same day his son, Maxwell, was born, 

and his remains lie in a mausoleum in St 

Michael’s Church in Dumfries. In 2009, 

Burns was dubbed “the greatest Scot of all 

time” by STV which is not a bad legacy for 

the son of a 18th century tenant farmer! 

Many people may know the songs or 

poems of Burns but be unaware that they 

are by the Scottish bard, so we’ve listed 10 

of his most famous ones here. 

1. Auld Lang Syne 

2. A Red, Red Rose 

3. Tam o’ Shanter 

4. A Man’s a Man for A’ That 

5. Address to a Haggis 

6. My Heart’s in the Highlands 

7. To a Louse 

8. To a Mouse 

9. Selkirk Grace 

10. Address to the Deil (devil) 

A Red, Red Rose 

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose, 

That’s newly sprung in June; 

O my Luve’s like the melodie 

That’s sweetly play’d in tune. 

As fair are thou, my bonie lass, 

So deep in luve am I; 

And I will luve thee still, my Dear, 

Till a’ the seas gang dry. 

(a savoury pudding with ‘sheep’s pluck’ 

minced with onion, oatmeal, suet and 

spices, encased in a sheep’s gut). Neeps 

are mashed swede (or carrot) and turnip, 

and tatties are mashed potatoes! There is 

a tradition of reading some of Burns’ work 

including saying the ”Selkirk Grace”, having 

a toastmaster read the “Address to a 

Haggis” and some light-hearted fun when 

the men make fun of the girls in the ‘Toast 

to the Lassies’, whilst the girls get their own 

back in the ‘Reply from the Lassies’. No 

Burns Supper would be complete without 

a rendition of that homage to friends 

everywhere, “Auld Lang Syne”. 

Celebrate Burns Night in your 

setting 

Why not celebrate Burns Night and Scottish 

poetry in your setting this January? Here 

are a few ideas to try: 

1. Read some of Burns’ poetry 

2. Make your own tartan designs, 

drawing, painting or paper-weaving 

3. Learn the meaning of some Scottish 

words such as ‘neeps’ and ‘tatties’ 

4. Create a display about Scotland 

5. Make some traditional Burns Night 

food 

6. Paint or draw some Scottish flags and 

decorate your setting with them 

7. Teach the children, the famous song 

“Auld Lang Syne” (or the chorus at 

least!) 

8. Try some Scottish dancing and run a 

ceilidh 

9. Print some Scottish-themed colouring 

such as a unicorn, a cartoon haggis 

character or some bagpipes 

10. Have a go at writing your own poetry – 

Burns style! 

The internet is full of resources to use for a 

Burns Night theme (see below). And if you 

want to read more of Burns’ work, head 

over to the Scottish Poetry Library or http:// 

www.robertburns.org/. Whatever you do, 

have fun. 

For internet resources with a 

Burns Night theme, see: 

• DLTK-kids.com – free resources 

• ichild.co.uk – free resources but 

registration required 

• activityvillage.co.uk – lot so of 

resources available on different topics 

for a small membership fee 

• Twinkl.co.uk – more resources for every 

age group – subscription needed 

Robert Burns was born the son of a 

farmer in Ayrshire, Scotland in 1759, at a 

time when the country was undergoing 

great political and social change. In his 

short life, he wrote more than 550 poems 

and songs, many of which focused on 

the themes of love and nature and were 

written in the Scottish Ayrshire dialect, 

which was not particularly popular in 

Scottish literary circles at the time. Despite 

this, through his humour and ability to 

use small subjects to highlight big ideas, 

he was able to speak to the common 

man in ways they could understand and 

appreciate, and his work became popular 

across the country in all social spheres. 

He understood hardship and wrote of 

his Scottish life and times, becoming an 

everlasting inspiration to the founders of 

liberalism and socialism which followed. 

The journalist, Ruth Wishart said of him, 

“ it is in his celebration of international 

brotherhood, of social equality, of honest 

toil and just reward that his global 

adherents still rejoice more than two 

centuries after his death.” 

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my Dear, 

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun: 

I will luve thee still, my dear, 

While the sands o’ life shall run. 

And fare thee weel, my only Luve! 

And fare thee weel, a while! 

And I will come again, my Luve, 

Tho’ it were ten thousand mile! 

A traditional Burns Night 

celebration 

While the first Burns Supper was held only a 

few years after his death back in 1801, and 

modern times have brought new ideas, 

the basic celebration remains unchanged 

and revolves around paying tribute to Burns 

in whatever way feels most fitting. Burns 

Night suppers have become a traditional 

January celebration, not just in Scotland, 

but around the world. Bagpipes play as the 

diners enter and they enjoy a traditional 

Scottish meal which usually consists 

of some Cock-a-Leekie (chicken and 

vegetable) soup; haggis neeps and tatties 



Mouthing 

– at all ages 

I currently have a new little assistant to 

work with at The Sensory Projects, this 

week he has been reminding me of a 

skill I talk about often on my training 

days: mouthing. Mouthing is currently 

more interesting to him than anything 

else. My sensory wonders, his toys, even 

the flashing singing plastic kind do not, 

currently, hold a candle to mouthing for 

him. The things he wants to mouth above 

all others is his own hands. 

Joanna 

Grace 

Joanna Grace is an international 

Sensory Engagement and Inclusion 

Specialist, trainer, author, TEDx speaker 

and founder of The Sensory Projects. 

He is actually doing a very sensible thing. 

He has far more nerve endings in his 

mouth than he has on his fingertips, so 

when he puts things into his mouth he 

gets a lot of tactile information about what 

they feel like. He can build up this bank of 

knowledge about how things feel and then 

translate that detailed understanding onto 

the less detailed knowledge his fingertips 

give him as he explores. 

Children, and indeed adults, of any age 

who want to find out more about how the 

world feels can be drawn to mouthing. 

We can support them by finding a range 

of objects that are safe for them to mouth. 

For children in the early years, this is a part 

of their development, and telling them 

to stop putting things in their mouth can 

mean it takes them longer to acquire the 

information they are looking for. 

Other people mouth because conditions 

such as epilepsy act on their brain and 

wipe out the knowledge they acquired 

so they look to find it again. Sometimes if 

access to experience is limited, people can 

stay mouthing beyond the point where it is 

developmentally relevant for them, simply 

because it is an interesting and engaging 

activity. 

If you think someone is mouthing, not 

because they are developing their tactile 

knowledge, but rather because it is easier 

for them to gain stimulation in this manner 

than in other ways, you can try two things: 

• Create an environment where it is 

easy for them to independently access 

other stimulation. A simple way to 

do this is to create an activity rail. 

For my little assistant, I often lie him 

(supervised) under the clothes airer 

and dangle things from it. For a bigger 

child or an adult I use a clothes rail 

and dangle things from that. 

• Share activities that offer stimulation 

to other parts of the body, for example 

foot massage or exploring textures 

with bare feet. 

Mouthing is explorative. You may also 

have children who seem to need to bite 

things, sometimes other children, but often 

themselves or objects. The urge to bite 

down firmly can come from being in a state 

of heightened anxiety. A long time ago 

we were living in caves and our survival 

depended on the outcome of the hunt. If 

we had food we were safe, if we did not, 

our lives were under threat. The sensation 

of biting hard, and chewing, (the actions 

which historically would have signalled our 

safety) are reassuring to us. 

If you are supporting children who are 

feeling anxious, tackling the biting is a 

bit like sticking plasters over spots to 

tackle chicken pox i.e. you are treating the 

symptom not the problem. In my next article 

I will share some sensory support strategies 

for people who feel anxious. 

Consistently rated as “outstanding” by 

Ofsted, Joanna has taught in 

mainstream and special school settings, 

connecting with pupils of all ages and 

abilities. To inform her work, Joanna 

draws on her own experience from her 

private and professional life as well as 

taking in all the information she can 

from the research archives. Joanna’s 

private life includes family members 

with disabilities and neurodiverse 

conditions and time spent as a 

registered foster carer for children with 

profound disabilities. 

Joanna has published four practitioner 

books: “Multiple Multisensory Rooms: 

Myth Busting the Magic”, “Sensory 

Stories for Children and Teens”, 

“Sensory-Being for Sensory Beings” 

and “Sharing Sensory Stories and 

Conversations with People with 

Dementia”. and two inclusive sensory 

story children’s books: “Voyage to 

Arghan” and “Ernest and I”. There is 

new book coming out soon called ‘”The 

Subtle Spectrum” and her son has 

recently become the UK’s youngest 

published author with his book, “My 

Mummy is Autistic”. 

Joanna is a big fan of social media and 

is always happy to connect with people 

via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. 

Website: 

thesensoryprojects.co.uk 



Helping children of 

different ethnicities to 

feel a sense of belonging 

Through social media and my business, 

Early Years Story Box, I had the pleasure 

of speaking to an early years professional 

who really gave me food for thought and 

made me question if we could possibly be 

doing more to support children who speak 

English as an additional language. 

As you may or may not know, I have 

created a range of storybooks called the 

Memory Box Collection. These books are 

given to children by nurseries, childminders 

and primary schools as welcome/ 

leavers’ gifts and on special occasions like 

birthdays, Christmas and Easter. There 

are also books in the collection that teach 

children about cultural festivals such as 

Chinese New Year and it is was these 

storybooks that caught the attention of 

Kuen-Wah Cheung. He commented on 

one of my Facebook posts and questioned 

whether settings could do more to teach 

children about different cultures throughout 

the year, rather than just solely focusing 

on these festivals. His comment intrigued 

me and after commenting back and 

forth a few times, I asked if he would be 

interested in chatting about this in more 

detail and to my delight he said yes. 

Kuen-Wah is of Chinese heritage and 

grew up in Brighton in the 80s. His parents 

spoke very little English so when 

Kuen-Wah went to school, he too 

struggled with the language and had 

many times when he felt very alone and 

isolated. Each year, Chinese New Year 

would be highlighted and celebrated in 

his setting, but to Kuen-Wah this triggered 

ambivalent emotions because he felt that 

the only time people showed interest 

in him was once a year when he was 

‘relevant’. He did, however, say that it was 

better to be acknowledged once a year 

than not at all! 

I’m a big believer that when we know 

better, we do better, so when Kuen-Wah 

brought this to my attention, I wanted to 

find out more. He said that growing up 

he really struggled to have a sense of 

belonging. 

His family were Chinese, didn’t speak 

much English and very much lived by 

the Chinese culture. However, he lived 

in Brighton, surrounded by a majority of 

people who looked and acted nothing 

like anything familiar to him. He didn’t 

belong in China, because Britain was his 

home. However, he didn’t feel like he fit in 

where he lived because almost everything 

around him was nothing he could relate 

to. The food he ate at home was different 

to school. He looked different to almost 

everyone else he knew. His family followed 

different customs that didn’t translate to 

British life and on a whole, he struggled to 

find his place and to feel settled. 

There were also times throughout his life 

when Kuen-Wah experienced racism and 

negative comments about how he looked. 

Teachers generally tried to deal with this by 

instilling the message that we are all the 

same. However, this in itself was a conflict 

because in reality, Kuen-Wah was very 

different to almost everyone around him. 

He later realised that by not acknowledging 

his differences, this actually perpetuated his 

lack of confidence. It also made him want to 

be like everyone else so that he could fit in, 

and rather than embracing and celebrating 

his uniqueness, he shied away from it and 

felt even less in touch with who he was. 

As the conversation went on, I really tried 

to put myself in the shoes of Kuen-Wah 

as a child and could see how lonely and 

confusing it would have been. As teachers 

and practitioners, we always come from 

a place of love and care. However, it is 

hard to fully comprehend a situation like 

this when it is so far removed from our 

own life and reality. As much as we all 

make a conscious effort to be inclusive, 

our conversation did make me wonder if 

there was more that we could do to help 

children of different cultures and ethnicities 

to feel more of a sense of belonging and 

acceptance. 

Kuen-Wah spoke fondly about a lady in his 

school who took the time to learn a few 

key words and phrases in Cantonese. He 

said that this simple gesture made him feel 

really special and had a huge impact on 

him because it broke the language barrier 

down a fraction. It didn’t matter that she 

couldn’t always respond to Kuen-Wah once 

he had replied. Just the fact that she had 

said something in his native tongue was 

enough for him to feel more of a connection 

to her and his environment. 

Now, I’m not saying that we should learn 

a different language for every child in our 

setting. However, how amazing would it 

be if each practitioner had a laminated 

sheet for each language spoken with key 

words and phrases?! These words would 

be written phonetically so that they were 

easy to read/say and then throughout the 

day they could be used to create a deeper 

connection and to bridge the gap between 

the two cultures. 

Here’s a list of some phrases that could be 

included: 

• Hello/Goodbye 

• How are you? 

• Do you need the toilet? 

• Are you ok? 

• Are you happy/sad/angry? 

• Can I help you? 

• Are you hungry? 

• Mummy/Daddy is coming back soon 

• What do you want to play with? 

• Do you want a hug? 

• Show me 

This could also be good for parental 

involvement and links to home because you 

could ask children’s families for help with 

how to say certain phrases. You could also 

ask them about their culture and then think 

of ways to incorporate this into your daily 

topics. For example, if you are focusing on 

healthy eating, maybe include foods that 

these children eat at home too, rather than 

just British food. 

I do believe that teaching children about 

cultural festivals is important, which is why 

I added an Eid, Diwali and Chinese New 

Year book to my collection (and plan on 

adding more). However, my conversation 

with Kuen-Wah has really made me think 

about other things that we can do on a 

daily basis to not only include different 

cultures and customs in our teachings, but 

to also help children to feel more of a sense 

of belonging. 

If we can try our best to look at the 

world through these children’s eyes and 

limitations, we will see ways that we can 

support them to feel more included and 

accepted. One of my favourite quotes is 

‘Be the person you needed as a child’. If 

you were a child who was in completely 

unfamiliar territory surrounded by people 

who spoke and acted in a way that you 

didn’t truly understand, what would help 

you to feel safe and secure? If we answer 

this question, I think we will be able to think 

of lots of little ways to make a big difference 

in these children’s lives. 

Kuen-Wah has now been an Early Years 

Practitioner for 12 years and has used his 

own childhood experiences as a catalyst 

to make a difference to the children in his 

care. Knowing the impact that it had on 

his own life, he has taken the time to learn 

some basics in other languages such as 

Russian, Hungarian and KPK Pashto and 

has gone above and beyond to connect 

with every individual child he encounters. 

Life is full of lessons. Some stem from our 

own experiences and some stem from 

the experiences of others. Kuen-Wah is a 

shining example of someone who has used 

his pain and turned it into a positive. It may 

not have been the easiest road for him, but 

it has made him the practitioner that he is 

today and that truly is a positive outcome. 

Stacey 

Kelly 

Stacey Kelly is a former teacher, a 

parent to 2 beautiful babies and the 

founder of Early Years Story Box, which 

is a subscription website providing 

children’s storybooks and early years 

resources. She is passionate about 

building children’s imagination, 

creativity and self-belief and about 

creating awareness of the impact 

that the early years have on a child’s 

future. Stacey loves her role as a 

writer, illustrator and public speaker 

and believes in the power of personal 

development. She is also on a mission 

to empower children to live a life full 

of happiness and fulfilment, which is 

why she launched the #ThankYouOaky 

Gratitude Movement. 

Sign up to Stacey’s Premium 

Membership here and use the code 

PARENTA20 to get 20% off or contact 

Stacey for an online demo. 

Email: stacey@earlyyearsstorybox.com 

or Telephone: 07765785595 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ 

earlyyearsstorybox 

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ 

eystorybox 

Instagram: https://www.instagram. 

com/earlyyearsstorybox 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ 

stacey-kelly-a84534b2/ 



Removing the stigma 

of poverty 

In Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by two charitable 

gentlemen who ask him to donate to help the poor at Christmas. The passage reads: 

“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more 

than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, 

who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; 

hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.” 

Scrooge’s reply is less than charitable, asking “Are there no prisons? Are there no union 

workhouses?” He goes on to say that he “can’t afford to make idle people merry!” 

“Put aside all the noise, the digs, the party 

politics and let’s focus on the reality; a 

significant number of children are going 

to bed tonight hungry… We must stop 

stigmatising, judging and pointing fingers. 

We talk about the devastating impact of 

COVID-19 but, if projections are anything to 

go by, child food poverty has the potential 

to become the greatest pandemic the 

country has ever faced.” 

Marcus Rashford 

• Destitution levels are highest in the 

North East, London and the North 

West 

• Young adults (aged 34 and under) are 

most likely to be identified as living in 

destitution 

In addition, 14% of UK families with 

children have experienced food insecurity 

in the past 6 months which has led to a 

rise in food bank use. Between 1 April 2019 

and 31 March 2020, the number of threeday 

emergency food supplies given to 

people in crisis by Trussell Trust food banks 

in the financial year 2019-2020 was 1.9 

million. In the last five years, food bank use 

in the Trussell Trust distribution network 

increased by 74% from 1,112,395 in 2015 to 

1,900,122 in 2019. 

Food insecurity means that “access to 

adequate food for active, healthy living 

is limited by lack of money and other 

resources.” In cases of very low food 

security, at least one member of the 

household changes their eating habits, 

reducing their own intake, in order to make 

more food available for others. 

Over last summer and into the winter, 

Marcus Rashford, a footballer from 

Manchester, has been spearheading 

a movement to try to ensure that 

underprivileged schoolchildren have 

access to free food over the holidays, 

forcing a U-turn from the Government 

in the summer. What’s clear is that 

something needs to be done. 

The stigma 

One of the biggest problems is the stigma 

associated with poverty and food bank 

use, which, can stop people getting the 

help they need. A survey carried out by the 

East End Women’s project found that many 

people felt too ‘embarrassed’ or ‘ashamed’ 

to visit a food bank because of the stigma 

associated with it, yet research also 

suggests that many people in the poverty 

trap have adults in the house who work; 

the problem is that their income is just not 

sufficient for their basic needs. According to 

the Trussell Trust, the top three reasons for 

referral to a food bank were low income, 

benefit delays and benefit changes 

which can result in cashflow problems. 

Sometimes people simple don’t know 

how to access food banks or where to get 

help. 

What can be done? 

Obviously, the pandemic has put a 

massive strain on the entire country and 

has exacerbated the problem as people 

have faced lockdowns, restricted work 

opportunities, reduced incomes and 

unemployment. Government borrowing is 

at a record high, and the level of support 

offered to help retain jobs and support 

incomes has been unprecedented. Yet 

children are still going hungry each day in 

the UK. 

You may know families in your setting 

who are facing destitution or on the 

edges of poverty and you may want to 

do everything you can to support them. 

We’ve listed some ways that you can raise 

awareness in your setting and try to tackle 

the stigma head on. 

1. Talk about the problems openly, but 

sensitively, and put-up posters raising 

awareness of child poverty using 

the latest statistics or the pandemic 

as a background to an awareness 

campaign 

2. Find out about your local food bank 

and how people can access it – 

usually people need a referral from 

an organisation such as the Citizens 

Advice, or a GP 

3. Ensure that families are aware of the 

free school meals which are available 

for all children in infant schools and 

for pupils who meet the eligibility 

criteria 

Now “A Christmas Carol” was first 

published in 1843, over 175 years ago, and 

yet some of the scenes he describes could 

well be describing places in the UK today, 

where many “suffer greatly” and lack 

“common necessaries” whilst “hundreds 

of thousands are in want of common 

comforts.” 

But is our response as individuals, 

communities, and a nation any better than 

that of the misguided Scrooge? Have we 

learned the lessons he did and helped 

our fellow humans back to the path of 

dignity and self-respect, or are we at risk 

of the same narrow-minded judgments, 

prejudices and stigmas that frequent the 

pages of Dickens’ many novels? 

The problem – poverty and 

destitution 

Even the word ‘destitution’ sounds like 

something from a Dickens novel, and yet 

the problem is a very real and modern 

one. A report published last month by the 

Joseph Rowntree Foundation, identified 

some alarming statistics. It measured 

destitution in two ways: 1) through lack 

of access to essentials (shelter, food, 

heating, lighting, clothing/footwear, and 

basic toiletries); and 2) extremely low or no 

income. It stated: 

• Destitution in the UK is rising and has 

been exacerbated by the pandemic 

• More than a million UK households 

experienced destitution at some point 

in 2019 – representing 2.4 million 

people, including 550,000 children 

4. Read the government guidance here 

which shows some of the extra help 

that the Government is supplying due 

to the pandemic 

5. Run a related anti-bullying 

programme 

6. Set up a food parcel service 

7. Donate to a food bank 

8. Volunteer to help at a food bank or to 

collect/deliver parcels 

Whatever you do, approach the situation 

with kindness and compassion and let’s 

confine poverty to the history books, where 

it belongs. 

For information on the impact of food 

insecurity, see here. 

For information on how to access food 

banks, see here. 



Music and the brain: 

how music helps us learn 

Why has music survived as long 

as it has? 

For the longest time, science has asked 

this question – why is music still a part 

of our lives today? Since the beginning 

of time, people have recorded their 

everyday activities: from the Egyptian 

hieroglyphics to writings on parchments 

and scrolls. There is evidence that people 

hunted, cooked, ate, procreated, clothed 

themselves, travelled, lived in dwellings, 

and interacted socially. Science has 

argued that all of these activities were 

essential because they supported our 

most basic need, as a species, to stay 

alive. But one other activity that we have 

in common with our ancestors is creating 

music. Up to now, scientists have not 

found an explanation for it. 

In the past, the only way to find out what 

was going on inside someone was by 

literally cutting them open – which either 

killed them or meant that they had died. 

But in the last century, new technologies 

have allowed us to see what has 

happened to bones through x-rays. 

Now we can see what is happening 

inside the brain through magnetic, 

electrical and computerised scans, e.g. 

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), 

PET (Positron Emission Tomography), CT 

(Computerised Tomography) and EEG 

(Electroencephalogram). While these 

scans cannot read our minds, they can 

identify illnesses to doctors. One scan 

that measures blood flow in the brain 

has been linked to specific activity. For a 

while, we have known that when people 

play music, every part of the brain has 

been shown to “light up” or increase 

blood flow – now we are beginning to 

explore what that means. 

For the past 20 years, more and more 

researchers have been looking into 

the academic benefits of music – can 

music improve our ability to learn? So 

far, scientists can confirm that the same 

areas of the brain are used in both music 

and language (Sammler & Elmer, 2020). 

The reason that we still use language is 

quite clear: it helps us to work 

co-operatively, ensuring that we continue 

our species. Since language and music 

use similar brain areas, like musical 

expression and speech expression, it 

seems as though these skills may have 

developed at the same time. Scientists 

are now using this similarity as a starting 

point to try to understand why people 

of all cultures, races, ages and genders 

continue to perform and listen to music. 

As of 2020, there are two big questions 

that scientists are asking about music and 

the brain: 

1. How do we know that there is a 

rhythm/beat: why do some people 

automatically match the beat while 

others cannot? 

2. How does sound make us move: 

what is it that makes babies start 

moving when they hear a rhythmic 

beat? 

How do we know there is a 

beat? 

The first question has interesting 

educational implications. There is evidence 

that people that can match a beat can also 

hear the rhythm or beat in speech. People 

who can hear this rhythm have been 

found to have higher level language skills. 

People that struggle to match a beat with 

music are often also unable to keep a beat 

in silence (Lagrois et al., 2019), and there 

have been suggestions of this being linked 

to dyslexia (Boll-Avetisyan et al., 2020). If 

this is so, then developmental language 

disorders may be due to not recognising 

the differences in prosody (intonation, 

tone, stress, rhythm) and syntax (rules of 

word order) in rhythmic children’s stories 

(Myers et al., 2019). 

What does this mean for 

education? 

The strongest way to train the brain to 

match rhythm was found to be using 

phonemes, syllables and phrases in 

songs and poems – crucial for normal 

language development. And to improve 

these, researchers recommend increasing 

the time allocated, and strengthening 

rhythmic abilities. Rhymes and poems that 

are helpful include “Engine Engine Number 

Nine”, “Apples Peaches Pears Plums”, “To 

Market To Market* – in fact, most children’s 

songs can be used as rhymes first and 

songs later. Chanting rhymes together can 

even create a united feeling, like being in 

a choir; building and strengthening social 

bonds. It has been found that six months 

of music training significantly improved 

the subconscious awareness of speech 

rhythms in nursery children with dyslexia, 

as opposed to six months of painting (Frey 

et al., 2019). 

How does sound make us move? 

The second question relates to 

strengthening rhythmic abilities. 

Researchers looked for links between 

perception and production (Daikoku, 2018), 

finding that the listening environment 

(whether listening to a song or speech) 

influenced the way listeners anticipated 

breaks in phrases. Another study explored 

how we learn to anticipate the beat, finding 

that repetition of actions led to anticipation 

and expectation (Mathias et al., 2019). The 

reason for mis-matching was explained 

as competing attentional resources (Lee et 

al., 2019) and reduced working memory 

(Christiner & Reiterer, 2018). 

What does this mean for 

education? 

In order to strengthen rhythmic abilities, 

repetition is key – we learn to anticipate 

what will happen by repeating experience. 

In music teaching, this means singing 

songs and chanting rhymes where we 

tap our partners knees or feet while they 

tap ours, helping them to feel the beat 

and learn to match the beat. In order 

to strengthen attention, we can create 

opportunities and time to focus on personal 

interests. Musical activities in strengthening 

working memory include songs that are 

cumulative (“Green Grass”, “Over In The 

Meadow”) or sequential (“Alice the Camel”, 

“Ants Go Marching”, “Ten Green Bottles*), 

using visual cues (pictures) as well as 

actions or movement. These are all key to 

strengthening rhythmic abilities. 

With young children, music is often used as 

a distraction, behaviour management tool, 

supporting activity transitions and meeting 

curricula requirements. Gradually evidence 

is being found to confirm that activities like 

chants and rhymes, poems and songs, can 

all work to improve not only general soft 

skills, but also academic skills like language 

development, and specifically, language 

developmental delay. Although early days, 

this is encouraging news for those caring 

and supporting children in the early years. 

* Songs and chants mentioned can be 

found online or the YouTube Musicaliti 

channel. 

References: 

• Boll-Avetisyan, N., Bhatara, A., & 

Höhle, B. (2020). Processing of Rhythm 

in Speech and Music in Adult Dyslexia. 

Brain Sciences, 10(5), 261. https://doi. 

org/10.3390/brainsci10050261 

• Christiner, M., & Reiterer, S. M. (2018). 

Early Influence of Musical Abilities 

and Working Memory on Speech 

Imitation Abilities: Study with Pre- 

School Children. Brain Sciences, 

8(9), 169. https://doi.org/10.3390/ 

brainsci8090169 

• Daikoku, T. (2018). Neurophysiological 

Markers of Statistical Learning in Music 

and Language: Hierarchy, Entropy 

and Uncertainty. Brain Sciences, 

8(6), 114. https://doi.org/10.3390/ 


• Frey, A., François, C., Chobert, J., Velay, 

J.-L., Habib, M., & Besson, M. (2019). 

Music Training Positively Influences 

the Preattentive Perception of Voice 

Onset Time in Children with Dyslexia: 

A Longitudinal Study. Brain Sciences, 

9(4), 91. https://doi.org/10.3390/ 


• Lagrois, M.-É., Palmer, C., & Peretz, 

I. (2019). Poor Synchronization to 

Musical Beat Generalizes to Speech. 


org/10.3390/brainsci9070157 

• Lee, D. J., Jung, H., & Loui, P. 

(2019). Attention Modulates 

Electrophysiological Responses to 

Simultaneous Music and Language 

Syntax Processing. Brain Sciences, 

9(11), 305. https://doi.org/10.3390/ 


• Mathias, B., Gehring, W. J., & Palmer, 

C. (2019). Electrical Brain Responses 

Reveal Sequential Constraints on 

Planning during Music Performance. 


org/10.3390/brainsci9020025 

• Myers, B. R., Lense, M. D., & Gordon, 

R. L. (2019). Pushing the Envelope: 

Developments in Neural Entrainment 

to Speech and the Biological 

Underpinnings of Prosody Perception. 


org/10.3390/brainsci9030070 

• Sammler, D., & Elmer, S. (2020). 

Advances in the Neurocognition of 

Music and Language. Brain Sciences, 

10(8), 509. https://doi.org/10.3390/ 


Frances 

Turnbull 

Musician, researcher and author, 

Frances Turnbull, is a self-taught 

guitarist who has played contemporary 

and community music from the age 

of 12. She delivers music sessions to 

the early years and KS1. Trained in the 

music education techniques of Kodály 

(specialist singing), Dalcroze 

(specialist movement) and Orff 

(specialist percussion instruments), she 

has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology 

(Open University) and a Master’s degree 

in Education (University of Cambridge). 

She runs a local community choir, the 

Bolton Warblers, and delivers the Sound 

Sense initiative “A choir in every care 

home” within local care and residential 

homes, supporting health and wellbeing 

through her community interest 

company. 

She has represented the early years 

music community at the House of 

Commons, advocating for recognition 

for early years music educators, and 

her table of progressive music skills 

for under 7s features in her curriculum 

books. 

Frances is the author of “Learning with 

Music: Games and activities for the 

early years“, published by Routledge, 

August 2017. 

www.musicaliti.co.uk 



Big Energy Saving Week … 

Month … Winter! 

Big Energy Saving Week runs from the 18th to 24th January 2021 and is a national campaign 

run to help people cut their fuel bills and get advice on their energy usage, as well as helping 

them to get any financial support they are entitled to. It is run as a partnership between the 

Energy Saving Trust, Citizens Advice and the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial 

Strategy, but is also supported by many NGOs, charities and companies. In fact, Citizen’s 

Advice have been running a campaign through the winter as well, called Energy Saving 

Winter, which culminates at the end of January and other partners run the campaign for a 

month instead of a week. 

January is usually a difficult month 

financially for a lot of people, coming after 

the expense of Christmas and the cold 

weather pushing up heating bills, but after 

the year just gone, when many people 

may be struggling with reduced incomes 

due to lockdowns and COVID-19, it is more 

important than ever to raise awareness 

and support those in need. Helping people 

with energy advice not only saves money 

but also has a positive impact on our 

carbon footprint and the wider world. In 

2018-19, the Citizens Advice Bureau and 

the Extra Help Unit delivered £1.3 million in 

savings to people, with an average saving 

of £232 per case, so reviewing energy 

usage can reap tangible rewards. 

Energy saving advice 

There is a lot of advice available if you 

look for it, both online, through the energy 

providers and other organisations such 

as the Citizens Advice Bureau or Citizens 

Advice Scotland. Some of this advice is 

general advice on saving energy, cutting 

your bills etc., and we have included 

some top tips below to help you save 

some money and reduce your energy 

consumption. The Energy Saving Trust has 

lots of information about energy efficiency 

in the home, as does the Governmentfunded 

Simple Energy Advice Website. 

If you don’t have access to the internet, 

you can call 0800 444 2020 and talk to 

someone in person. 

In Scotland, the Home Energy Scotland 

network of advice centres is useful or 

people can call 0808 808 2282; and for 

Wales, information is available on 0808 

808 2244 or via the Nest/Nyth website 

too. And for Northern Ireland, the Bryson 

Energy Advice Line on 0800 142 2865 can 

help. 

Whilst general advice is important, there 

is also a great diversity across the UK 

in everything to do with energy – some 

people live in modern houses designed 

with energy efficiency in mind; others live 

in rambling older houses which can be 

hard to heat and have little insulation; 

and others still live in rural communities 

where oil-fired heating is all that is on offer. 

The upshot of this is that energy advice 

often needs to be individualised to the 

household. Think about the people your 

own situation – is your house left empty 

all day, or do you need to maintain an 

ambient temperature 24/7 to support 

elderly or vulnerable people who are at 

home all day? 

Some organisations for example, 

specialise in focusing on different or 

specific needs, such as those who: 

• struggle to pay their bills 

• switch off the heat to save money 

• have electric only heating 

• have a pre-payment meter 

• are in debt to their fuel suppliers 

• live in a house which is difficult to heat 

• are unable to access online-only 

deals for whatever reason 

With the impact of COVID-19 starting to 

pinch people’s pay packets, employment 

opportunities and household incomes, 

more and more people need help with 

energy bills this year. 

Benefits and financial help 

Depending on where you live and 

the policies of the main or devolved 

government in that area, financial help 

may be available for energy-related 

issues. These include things like: 

• Winter fuel payments – Between 

£100 and £300 for people born 

before 5/10/54 

• Warm Home Discount Scheme – up 

to £140 one-off payment for eligible 

people 

• Cold weather payments – £25 

payment made to people on certain 

benefits if the weather is zero 

Celsius or less on 7 consecutive days 

between 1/11/20 and 31/3/21 

There are other benefits for people with 

disabilities, chronic illnesses or visual 

or hearing impairment and others may 

also be able to get help from their energy 

company themselves so it’s important 

to ask. It’s important also to check that 

people are claiming all the benefits that 

they are entitled to and charities like 

Turn2us can help with going through 

individual circumstances to check they 

are. 

Top tips for saving energy in 

your home or work setting 

1. Switch supplier to a cheaper one or 

ask your existing supplier if you are 

on the cheapest or most suitable 

tariff 

2. Organise a dual fuel discount by 

getting your gas and electricity from 

one supplier 

3. Check if you are eligible for any 

grants to make your home more 

energy efficient (e.g. by fitting a new 

boiler/heating or insulation) 

4. Change to direct debit which often 

offers a small discount over other 

payment methods 

5. Switch to energy-saving, or LED light 

bulbs 

6. Switch off items that you usually leave 

on standby like TVs or computers 

7. Use a smart meter to see when and 

where you are using most energy 

8. Switch off lights in rooms you are not 

using 

9. Fit a water efficient shower head and 

spend 1 minute less in the shower 

each time 

10. Reduce your washing by one load a 

week 

11. Switch off the radiators in rooms you 

don’t use 

12. Only fill the kettle with the amount of 

water you need to boil 

13. Turn the heating down by 1 or 2 

degrees 

14. Close doors to reduce draughts or use 

curtains and draught-excluders 

15. Compare oil prices on the 

oilsave.org website if you use oil to 

heat your home 

Remember that being energy efficient 

is not just about saving money, but if 

we all reduced our energy consumption 

even just a little, this might add up to a 

big impact on our planet too. Teaching 

your little ones is also part and parcel 

of the process to help them grow into 

responsible adults, so starting in the 

early years is crucial. 



Do you teach 

phonics in 

nursery? 

Should phonics be taught in Nursery? It is 

an interesting question. 

Some may say: 

• children of this age are far too young 

to learn phonics, let them play! 

• children have too much to do already 

without learning to read before they 

are 4 

• children do phonics at school not 

nursery 

• I have not been trained on how to 

teach phonics 

• children have more important things 

to learn 

The Rose Review (2006) found that early 

years educators are concerned about the 

important issue of when to start phonics. 

All are valid reasons which I will address 

in this article but firstly, we should take 

a closer look at what Phase 1 phonics 

actually is because there appears to be 

a misconception around phonics and the 

various phases. 

What is Phase 1 phonics? 

Phase 1 phonics concentrates on 

developing children’s speaking and 

listening skills and lays the foundations 

for the phonic work which starts in Phase 

2. Phase 1 is about getting children 

attuned to sounds around them ready to 

begin developing oral blending (putting 

sounds together to make a word) and 

segmenting (separating sounds to help 

read a word) skills. Therefore Phase 1 

phonics is Communication and Language, 

one of the prime areas of the EYFS. The 

prime areas are the most important to 

be taught in nursery. The aspects relating 

to Communication and Language are: 

responding to sounds, play with sounds, 

songs and rhymes, listening to others, 

understanding questions, developing 

a concept of things, understanding 

prepositions such as on top, under etc. 

What are the benefits of 

teaching this? 

After looking into what Phase 1 is, we can 

see that it is also actually extremely useful 

in teaching children the prime areas of 

the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) 

Physical Development, Communication 

and Language and Personal Social and 

Emotional Development. These areas 

are the basis of the EYFS. The statutory 

framework for the Early Years Foundation 

Stage (2017) states that the prime areas of 

learning are ‘particularly crucial for igniting 

children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for 

learning, and for building their capacity to 

learn, form relationships and thrive ‘. 

The EPPE research cited in the Rose Review 

(2006) found that attendance at 

high-quality, pre-school provision reduced 

the proportion of children entering 

school with low cognitive and language 

skills which put them at risk of a poor 

start to learning. With Phase 1 being 

the foundation for phonics and Phase 

2 predominantly being taught when 

children start school, it is crucial for this 

to be taught in nursery. Children are 

usually ready to learn Phase 1 phonics but 

ultimately, it is down to the professional 

judgement of the early years educator 

to decide if the child is ready to develop 

their communication and language skills 

or if they would benefit from developing 

other skills first. However, without a solid 

understanding of Phase 1 phonics, some 

children will ultimately struggle later in 

their education so it is vital not to miss this 

stage. This is where reception teachers 

need to focus on Phase 1 in reception if it 

has not been developed in nursery. Phase 

1 is not teaching letters, and letters should 

not be taught before Phase 1. As exciting 

as this may seem, children tend to plateau 

and need to go back to Phase 1, delaying 

their learning. Many teachers report that 

children in reception, year 1 and even year 

2 lack the Phase 1 skills that have been 

missed. Teachers also report a huge leap 

in progress when children have a solid 

understanding of Phase 1 when entering 

reception. 

How do we teach it? 

Singing every day will develop language 

and emotional wellbeing. Reading picture 

books with children, identifying objects 

and sounds and singing. A ‘singing apron’ 

or ‘singing bag’ is really good fun where 

an object can be pulled out by a child for 

example a bobbin for the song; “Wind the 

bobbin up”, or a bus for the song; “The 

wheels on the bus”. To enhance learning 

opportunities of gross and fine motor 

skills, each song can have actions that you 

create with the children, you can do these 

standing up to help develop children’s 

balance, co-ordination, body awareness 

and rhyme. 

The key is to make it fun and exciting, 

which is why the early years staffroom 

have created the Phase 1 Phonics 

Program (also available to download for 

all members on the website) for all early 

years educators. It is a simple guide to 

teaching phonics Phase 1 through playing 

games such as mystery object, giant 

battleships and pirates’ loot. Many have 

reported that this has given them a greater 

understanding of Phase 1 phonics. 

Conclusion 

Peckham (2017) states that if not 

‘preparation for school’ what is the purpose 

of early years provision? I prefer to rephrase 

this to the purpose of early years education 

is to prepare children for further education. 

Phase 1 phonics is just one small; part of 

the EYFS, it is teaching essential speaking 

and listening skills that are an essential 

part of education. It is certainly possible 

to start early phonic work while still giving 

children access to the full range of learning 

and development opportunities in the EYFS. 

A short fun game outside geared to teach 

children these skills is not going to have 

a negative impact on the long periods of 

essential play that children need to acquire 

the characteristics to be effective learners 

in the future, for example, their creativity, 

imagination and problem-solving skills. If 

children can have it all, which they should 

be able to, they will have a solid start to 

their future learning. 

References 

• Department for Education and Skills 

(2006). Independent Review of the Early 

Teaching of Reading, Jim Rose. 

• Department for Education (2017) 

Statutory Framework for the Early Years 

Foundation Stage. Available at: https:// 

www.gov.uk/government/publications/ 

early-years-foundation-stageframework--2. 

• Peckham, K., 2017. Developing School 

Readiness. [Place of publication not 

identified]: Sage Publications. 

• Early Years Staffroom, 2002. Phase 

1 Phonics Program, Early Years 

Staffroom. 

If you would like to become a member of 

the Early Years Staffroom please join here. 

Katherine 

Houghton 

Katherine is a passionate and 

experienced Early Years Specialist with a 

business background. After eight years 

of working in the corporate world as a 

Project Manager, she had her first child 

which, as the cliché goes; changed 

her life. She began researching 

parenting techniques which led her 

to the amazing book “Unconditional 

Parenting” by Alfie Kohn. Following this 

she realised she wanted to make a 

difference in the world of early years. 

Katherine gained a Diploma in Childcare 

and went onto to do her Early Years 

PGCE. She now has over 10 years’ 

experience in early years, teaching 

within schools with highlights including; 

writing a phonics program for Phase 

1 which is now published on Amazon 

and used in many nurseries around the 

country, setting up a nursery within a 

school and writing award winning blogs 

and articles about early years in her 

website www.earlyyearsstaffroom.com. 

Katherine currently runs Little Outdoor 

Explorers, writes books and is training 

to be a Forest School Leader as well 

as completing her Masters in Early 

Childhood at the University of Sheffield. 

Katherine is dedicated to making a 

difference and evolving the early years 

curriculum by researching about her 

passion; the most important years in 

education....the early years. 



BEST EVER BISCUITS 

Burns Night thistle 

We are delighted to welcome 

Early Years Staffroom to 

the Parenta family! Author 

Katherine Houghton will be 

teasing our taste buds each 

month with a scrumptious 

recipe from her “Early Years 

Recipes for Children” book, 

available to purchase here. 

This book would make a 

fantastic gift for anyone 

who works in early years 

or for any parent who loves 

cooking with their children 

- or even for children who 

love cooking without their 

parents! 

What do you need? 

• Plain flour 

• Caster sugar 

• Eggs 

• Vanilla essence 

• Unsalted butter 

This month we celebrate Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns. And we couldn’t think 

of a better way to do it than to create a popsicle stick thistle! You can find out more about 

Burns in our article on page 20. 

You will need: 

• Green craft paper 

• Popsicle sticks 

• Purple tissue paper 

• Glue 

• Scissors 

• Pencil 

Instructions 

What’s more...we have 

a copy to give away! 

Simply send an email to 

marketing@parenta.com 

with the subject line of 

“Cook Book Giveaway” by 

Wednesday 20th January 

2021. Please include your 

name and your setting 

name and a winner will 

be drawn at random 

and announced in next 

month’s magazine. 

Good luck! 

1. Weigh 350 grams of plain 

flour and add to your 

bowl. 

2. Weigh 175 grams of butter 

and add to your bowl. 

3. Mix the butter and the 

flour with your hands. 

4. Weigh 200 grams of sugar 

and add to the bowl. 

5. Add a few drops of Vanilla 

Essence. 

6. Crack an egg in. 

7. Mix up with your hands 

until it is a nice dough. 

8. Sprinkle some flour onto 

the table and roll out with 

a rolling pin. 

9. Cut out the biscuits in a 

shape of your choice. 

10. Place on a baking tray. 

11. Pop into the oven on 180 

degrees, for 10 minutes. 

12. Let the biscuits cool, and 

sprinkle with sugar. Enjoy! 

Instructions: 

1. Draw the outline of your thistle leaves and 

head on the green paper and carefully cut 

it out. 

2. Take a strip of the purple tissue paper and 

cut a long rectangular strip. Fold the long 

part of the strip in half and then cut the top 

of the paper halfway through to create a 

petal look – see the image. 

3. Glue the tissue paper along the edge which 

hasn’t been cut and carefully wrap this 

around the top of the stick. 

4. Put some glue on the thistle head paper 

and glue it to the top of the stick, just 

underneath the petal, then put glue on the 

leaves-shaped paper and glue it about 

halfway down the stick. 

5. Your Scottish thistle is done! We hope the 

children will enjoy it and it makes a perfect 

little gift to send all the January blues 

away! 



Story massage 

Adding positive touch to 

stories and rhymes 

The enjoyment of stories and rhymes is as 

natural and intuitive as sharing the benefits 

of nurturing touch. The Story Massage 

Programme is a fun way of bringing 

storytelling and positive touch together 

with simple massage strokes (given 

through clothes) that are used to ‘illustrate’ 

the words of the story. This powerful 

combination can encourage relaxation 

and wellbeing, emotional regulation and 

building positive relationships. 

The Story Massage Programme is a set of 

ten easy-to-follow massage strokes, each 

with a child-friendly name such as The 

Wave or The Sprinkle, and a symbol. These 

strokes are used to represent a range of 

actions, objects and emotions to really 

bring the words of a story or rhyme to life. 

Tracing a large circle on a child’s back, for 

example, can depict a sun while raking the 

fingers can illustrate lions’ claws. It is a fun 

and fully inclusive activity which is enjoyed 

in a range of settings with children and 

adults of all ages and abilities – from 0 to 

100 years. 


The programme is wonderfully flexible 

and can be adapted to suit the particular 

needs of individuals, groups and 

occasions. No oil is used, and children do 

not need to remove any clothes. Massage 

stories can be shared as adult to child or 

peer massage – as a personalised session 

or a group activity. Children can sit (or 

stand), one-to-one, in a line or in a circle. 

Strokes can be given on any part of the 

body that is accessible and appropriate. 

You can choose favourite or 

curriculum-based stories, rhymes and 

books to adapt as massage stories, or 

write new ones as a fun and creative 

activity to reflect interests, activities or 

events. 

Integral to the programme is asking 

permission to touch, and respect is shown 

for the right to decline to take part. At the 

end of the session, the person giving the 

massage story should thank the recipient 

for the chance to share the activity. This is 

proving to be a very helpful and effective 

way of starting to discuss the important 

issues of consent for touch. 

Here are some of the key benefits 

of introducing the Story Massage 

Programme: 

Building respect and positive 

relationships 

The shared connection of massage stories 

can help children see the benefits of being 

kind and respectful to others. Children 

are nurturing and caring in a safe and 

positive way that some may not have been 

able to access or express before. They 

become more sensitive to how their own 

actions and emotions can influence those 

of others. Over time, it can encourage 

discussion of concerns or anxieties in a 

safe and nurturing context, helping to 

foster positive, trusting bonds. 

One-to-one sessions with an adult can 

enhance a child’s awareness of being 

valued and brings a sense of self-worth. 

Stories can be chosen on topics such as 

making friends or having a new baby in 

the family. 

Regulating difficult emotions 

Sharing a massage story can help to calm 

a child at stressful times such as leaving 

a parent at the start of the day or after 

an argument with a friend. This simple 

interaction can help soothe and focus 

children, so they are able to move on to 

the next activity in a more positive frame of 

mind. Children also start to recognise that 

sharing a massage story can be used to 

help others when they are feeling sad or 

need some time to relax. 

Learning co-operation skills 

The shared experience of writing and 

giving/receiving massage stories can help 

children to support each other. They will 

often work together to become more 

self-aware and develop self-esteem. 

Examples could be writing a personalised 

massage story for a child’s birthday, 

preparing for an outing or learning the 

‘rules’ of the group. Celebrating different 

cultural events though massage stories 

provides opportunities for respectful 

reflection on the ways in which people 

from different cultures mark special 

occasions on their calendar. 

Relaxation of mind and body 

Story Massage sessions can offer a 

dedicated ‘calming time’ helping children 

to learn the essential life skill of conscious 

relaxation through first-hand experience. 

Children learn to ‘switch-off’ and enjoy the 

benefits of recharging and refreshing mind 

and body. The shared activity of a Story 

Massage session promotes ‘feel-good’ 

hormones including oxytocin which helps to 

boost general wellbeing. 

Promoting literacy and 

creativity 

The storytelling element of the activity 

helps encourage children’s imagination 

and desire to read and write simple stories. 

It offers a chance for children to explore 

topics from a new angle and develop a 

wider vocabulary. 

Hickory Dickory Dock 

This rhyme, adapted for a Story Massage 

activity, uses three of the ten massage 

strokes. It is taken from the book: “Once 

Upon a Touch… Story Massage for 

Children” by Mary Atkinson and Sandra 

Hooper. The instructions are given for 

massaging a child’s back but do remember 

that you can massage wherever is most 

suitable for the recipient. 

Action 

You can follow along with this favourite 

nursery rhyme on the Story Massage 

Programme You Tube Channel: https:// 

youtu.be/dDhmliTTCds 

The three strokes that are 

used are: 

The Bounce – With both hands working 

at the same time, place the pads of the 

fingers and thumbs on your partner’s back. 

Gently squeeze the fingers and thumb 

of each hand together and lift off quickly. 

Repeat this ‘bouncing’ move all over the 

back. 

The Sprinkle – With both hands working 

at the same time, lightly tap the pads of 

your fingers in a random fashion up the 

back as if playing the piano. This is a light 

and gentle movement. 

The Circle – Rest one hand on your 

partner’s shoulder. With the flat of one 

hand, make a large, circular movement on 

the back. This can be in a clockwise or 

anti-clockwise direction. 

Rhyme line 

First: ask for permission to touch 

Hickory dickory dock, 

The mouse ran up the clock, 

The clock struck one, 

The mouse ran down, 

Hickory dickory dock, 

Say ‘thank you’ to the recipient. 

Mary 

Atkinson 

Mary Atkinson (left) and Sandra Hooper 

(right) are co-founders of the Story 

Massage Programme, launched in 2013 

and now an international success. 

Mary is a complementary therapist, 

tutor and author of four books on 

massage including “Healing Touch for 

Children”. She regularly writes articles 

for national magazines on the power of 

positive touch. 

Sandra is an experienced primary 

school teacher and massage therapist. 

She has worked with national parenting 

programmes whose main goal is to 

increase the knowledge and confidence 

of parents. They share a passion 

for enabling others to deliver safe, 

nurturing touch to enrich the lives of 

children of all ages and abilities. In 

November 2020, Mary was presented 

with the FHT Complementary Therapist 

of the Year Award for her work with 

live Story Massage sessions during 

lockdown (accompanied by her welldressed 

Teddy, Emmanuel) on social 

media, bringing comfort and connection 

to thousands of people in pre-schools, 

homes and schools. 

You can find details of all her resources 

including “Once upon a touch...story 

massage for children” here and her 

flexible online training courses open to 

all can be found here. 

You can contact Mary through her 

website: www.storymassage.co.uk 


Need more cash? 

Go Green and Save Your 

School or Nursery Money 

Want to save your school or nursery thousands of pounds 

without paying a penny? 

Install solar panels and electric vehicle chargers at no cost 

to you with Cawoods. There’s really no catch. We offer full 

funding to help you reduce your carbon footprint and 

significantly lower your energy bill. 

Benefits of solar panels 

Solar panels capture the sun’s radiation and convert the 

energy into electricity. This means your school or 

nursery won’t need as much electricity from its 

electricity supplier, significantly lowering your bills. 

Save up to hundreds of pounds off your annual 

energy bill. 

Sell excess energy produced back to the grid, 

earning you money. 

Benefits of electric vehicle chargers 

Electric vehicle charging points in your school or 

nursery’s car park is a quick and effortless way to 

passively make money. With the growth in electric 

vehicle purchases and so few charging points currently, 

your school or nursery can earn a significant profit from 

staff, parents and even locals with electric vehicles. 

Make hundreds of pounds a year with charge fees 

from a single charger. 

Capitalise on the government’s plan to end new 

diesel and petrol car sales by 2030. 

Full funding provided 

At Cawoods, we can install solar 

panels, electric vehicle charge 

points or LED solutions at your 

school or nursery with minimum 

disruption. With full funding 

available, there’s no reason to 

miss out! 

Think smart and save your school or nursery money. 

Visit to request a free call back

January 2021

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?