July 2023 Parenta magazine

Issue 104
JULY 2023
FREE
Industry
Experts
COVER
Why engage your
senses for learning?
Innovative ideas for
early mark-making
Where are the men in
the early years?
+ lots more
EYFS activities
inside!
This month…
Mathematics
Equality, Diversity
and Inclusion
Reading the raindbow: how to make the most of LGBTQ+ picture books!
SUPPORTING SMES • AWARENESS OF GROUP B STREP • TAUGHT BEHAVIOURS

30
10
20
18
Hello
Welcome to our family
Regulars
8 Write for us
34 EYFS Activities: Mathematics
26
Industry Experts
10 Why engage your senses for learning?
12 Building a skeleton!
36
Welcome to the July issue of Parenta magazine!
With most of the country experiencing a period of warm weather, it gives us a great opportunity to get outside with the
children to do many of the activities that usually are done indoors. Regardless of the size of your outside space, you can still
use it to its best advantage. Turn to page 18 for some innovative mark-making ideas from Chloe Webster and for the more
energetic, Frances Turnbull discusses how we can ‘free dance’ (either indoors or outdoors!)
News
4 Childcare News
6 Small Stories
18 How well do we promote positive behaviour in
our settings?
20 Innovative ideas for early mark-making
24 “You can dance, you can jive”: artistic expression in
the early years
Our focus this month is on equality, diversity, and inclusion – as we discuss how, across the sector, we have a responsibility
to put in place effective strategies for greater inclusivity in the workplace. Turn to page 22 for some surprising statistics and
plenty of excellent advice on how we can strive to be more inclusive.
To support settings, our monthly webinar will be on Tuesday 11th July at 10am, when we will be joined by three esteemed
industry experts as they take us through the various elements of equality, diversity and inclusion. Click here to register in
advance, places will fill fast!
This July issue is, as usual, packed with articles from industry experts including Louise Mercieca, Jo Grace, Kathryn Peckham,
Kayla Halls, Gina Bale, and Harriet Crouch.
39 Congratulations to our Parenta Learners
Advice
14 Supporting SMEs
22 Equality, diversity and inclusion - EDI
26 The impact of ‘taught’ behaviours
30 Awareness of Group B Strep
28 Nurturing lifelong learning with toddlers
32 Reading the rainbow: how to make the most of
LGBTQ+ picture books
36 Where are the men in the early years?
Please feel free to share the magazine with friends, parents and colleagues – they can sign up to receive their copy at
www.parenta.com/magazine.
Allan
2 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 3

DfE launches new consultation on
EYFS changes
Childcare news
The Department for Education has
launched a new consultation on
changes to the Early Years Foundation
Stage (EYFS) Framework.
While some of the proposed changes
simply seek to clarify existing
guidance, the consultation also
includes several other significant
changes which form part of what the
government describes as its efforts to
“offer providers increased flexibility and
alleviate known burdens”.
These changes include:
Removing the requirement for level
3 educators to hold a level 2 (GCSE
or equivalent) maths qualification,
and instead applying this
requirement to managers, who
would “be responsible for ensuring
their staff have the right level of
maths knowledge to deliver highquality
early years provision”.
Introducing an ‘experiencebased
route’ for educators to
gain approved status to work
within staff: child ratios, so that
“otherwise suitable educators
who don’t hold an approved level
3 qualification have a path to
gaining ‘approved status’ without
having to do a new qualification”.
This would allow educators to
count within the level 3 ratio but
would not give them a formal
qualification.
and views
Where applicable, reducing the
percentage of level 2 qualified staff
required per ratio for children of all
ages from ‘at least half’ to either
30% or 40%.
Changing the qualification
requirements for ratios so that
they would not apply outside of
peak working hours (for example,
9am-5pm). This would mean that
staff would not need to hold an
approved qualification outside of
peak hours, though staff: child
ratios, DBS, paediatric first aid and
safety requirements would remain
in place at these times.
Other proposed changes include:
Changing the requirement around
how providers support children
with English as an Additional
Language to develop their home
language from “must” to “should”
or “may”.
Reviewing the requirement for
childminders to undertake preregistration
training in the EYFS
(though understanding of the EYFS
would continue to be assessed
to the same level by Ofsted or
a childminder agency prior to
registration).
Allowing childminders’ assistant(s)
to act as the key person.
These proposed changes are in
addition to the previously announced
changes to two-year-old ratios and the
rules around supervision while eating
in early years settings, which will come
into force in September 2023, subject
to parliamentary procedure.
The new consultation will run until
Wednesday 26 July 2023, with any
changes expected to come into force
in early 2024.
The consultation document, which
includes the full proposals, is available
here.
The full press release, as reported by
Early Years Alliance can be read here.
Every deaf child to receive early
support: National Deaf Children’s
Society
A new strategy to ensure deaf children
receive the support they need as early
as possible, so they don’t fall behind
their peers, has been launched.
‘Every Moment Counts’ is the National
Deaf Children’s Society’s new five-year
strategy to help deaf children get the
support they need early on. It is in
response to figures suggesting that
two-thirds of deaf children in England
are already behind their peers in their
first year of school.
The aim of this strategy is to close the
attainment gap by making sure deaf
children get the help they need in their
early years – a ‘crucial time’ when
deafness has the greatest impact on
children’s language, development and
social skills.
The strategy has 5 objectives, they are:
Delivering outstanding support in
the early years
Providing life-changing information
and advice
Building communities that unite
families
Being the leading global authority
on childhood deafness
The NDCS states that a “deaf
child without good language and
communication development in the
early years, may struggle to listen and
follow instructions in the classroom or
miss conversations with their peers,
leading to feelings of isolation and a
sense of missing out.”
The charity is worried that many
parents are not only unaware of their
deaf child’s needs but also of what
support they are entitled to and how to
access it. Previous research by NDCS
revealed that 40% of parents across
the UK are uncertain about finding their
way around healthcare, education and
support services to ensure their child
receives the support they need.
The full story, as reported by Nursery
World can be found here.
Ofsted makes changes to its school
inspections
Ofsted has announced changes
to improve aspects of its work with
schools and has released a press
release on its official website – a
summary can be found below and you
can read the full press release here.
“… Changes to inspection processes,
a revised complaints procedure and
new well-being investment from the
government, are part of a package of
measures being announced following a
wide-ranging debate about the impact
of school inspections.
Revisions to school inspections will
see inspectors return more quickly to
schools graded inadequate where this
is only due to ineffective safeguarding,
and proposed changes to Ofsted’s
complaints process will increase
transparency and make it easier for
schools to raise concerns.
The Department for Education (DfE)
already funds the charity Education
Support, to provide well-being help for
school leaders, and that programme
will now be doubled in size to support
an additional 500 heads by March
2024. In the longer term, the DfE
commits to further expand its mental
health and well-being offer beyond
March 2024.
In April, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector
Amanda Spielman made a statement
broadly setting out some changes
Ofsted was considering making to
inspections. Since then, we have been
in regular discussions with union
leaders, other sector representatives
and the DfE about a package of
measures to improve aspects of our
work with schools.
Today we are able to announce more
about these changes, many of which
will take effect immediately, with the
rest introduced from September this
year:”
Inspecting safeguarding
Inspectors will now return more quickly
to schools graded inadequate overall
due to ineffective safeguarding, but
where all other judgements were
good or better. We will return within
3 months of an inspection report
being published, and parents will be
informed of this intention in the report.
If the school has been able to resolve
the safeguarding concerns it is likely to
see its overall grade improve.
Complaints
We are today launching a formal
consultation on significant changes
to the complaints system, aimed at
resolving complaints more quickly
through improved dialogue between
Ofsted and providers, reducing the
administrative burden on those
making a complaint, and increasing
transparency in the process.
Information for schools
We are giving schools more information
about the broad timing of their next
inspection. Schools will still get one
day’s notice of an inspection, but the
blog gives more clarity about the year
they are likely to be inspected.
From September, when discussing
areas of weakness, inspection reports
will refer to ‘the school’ by default,
rather than individuals. The contextual
information at the end of reports will
also be amended to list all those with
responsibility for the school.
The full press release can be found on
the official government website here.
4 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 5

A round-up of some news stories that
have caught our eye over the month
Source and image credits to:
Nursery World, Early Years Alliance,
Day Nurseries
UK’s top nurseries in 2023
revealed
daynurseries.co.uk, the UK’s leading
nursery reviews site, has announced the
top nurseries in the country for 2023.
Early years staff under stress
due to unmanageable workload -
survey
Early years educators are struggling with
their workload, with over a fifth reporting
that they ‘frequently’ have ‘too much’ on.
UK’s first intergenerational
nursery launches accredited
intergenerational qualifications
Apples & Honey Nightingale, the UK’s
first intergenerational nursery, has
launched a new set of CACHE-accredited
qualifications.
MP proposes changes to Healthy
Start sign-up process
A Labour MP is calling for new
powers on Government departments
& agencies to ensure that families
eligible for the Healthy Start scheme are
automatically registered for it.
Nursery owners recognised in the
King’s first Birthday Honours
The director of Kidzrus Nursery Group,
& the owner of The Children’s House
Nursery, have been recognised in the
King’s first Birthday Honours for their
services to early years education.
Ofsted’s former deputy director
of early education Gill Jones joins
Busy Bees
Ofsted’s former deputy director for
schools and early education, Gill Jones,
is now working for the UK’s largest
nursery group, Busy Bees.
Click here to send in
your stories to
marketing@parenta.com
Government urged to extend
paternity leave to help close
gender pay gap
Increasing paid paternity leave to 6
weeks could reduce the gender pay
gap and help equalise men & women’s
participation in the labour market.
Campaign calls on dads to read
with their children
BookTrust has launched a campaign to
get the nation reading, after research
reveals that only one in three children are
read a story every day by their dads.
Children’s minister promises to
‘look closely’ at top-slicing of
early years funding
‘Top-slicing’ of early years funding was
one of the issues facing the sector raised
by children’s minister Claire Coutinho in
her speech to delegates.
parenta.com | July 2023 7

We’re always on the lookout
for new authors to contribute
insightful articles for our
monthly magazine.
Write for us!
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/sponsored-content/
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Congratulations
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Congratulations to Joanna Grace, our guest author
of the month! Her article, ‘Top tips for the terrific
twos – Tip nine: No!’ explores how sometimes the
earky year’s “no” can actually mean “yes”.
Well done, Joanna!
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
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8 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 9

Why engage your
senses for learning?
I’m Jo Grace: a Sensory Engagement and Inclusion Specialist and Founder of The Sensory Projects. In this series of 10 articles, I am going
to share some of my passion for understanding the sensory world with you.
You are creating an engaging learning
environment, you have a theme, you
have keywords or sounds laminated and
displayed around the place, there is the
opportunity to mark-make provided, and
toys are dotted about to support your
topic, why think sensory?
Of course, you already have so much that
could be considered sensory. I should
be clear from the start that I need two
sensors: sensory – as in the everyday
world that we can see and touch and
smell and so on, and SENSORY – that
extra special, something extra, and a bit
wonderful sensory, which is what I am
talking about in this article. I will not keep
shouting at you with capital letters, so
please presume that from now on it is that
second SENSORY that I am discussing.
One of the most fascinating things about
our engagement with the sensory world
is how it builds the foundations of our
cognition. Having sensory experiences in
early development is not simply a nice bit
of fun, it is how the brain gets wired. When
we have a sensory experience, a little
electronic pulse fires through our neurons,
synapses meet and connect and a trace is
left in the brain. If we have more of those
experiences, that trace gets reinforced until
it is an established neural pathway. I often
like to imagine this by considering the early
brain as a densely overgrown forest, when
we have a sensory experience that sends
someone walking through the forest. If we
only have that experience, once, the forest
is unchanged, perhaps a few bent-over
blades of grass, nothing more. But if we
have that experience again, and another
like it and so on, that path will be trodden
multiple times and will gradually turn from
overgrown forest to muddy track, to road,
to superhighway. It will, in other words,
become an established neural pathway.
Research tells desperately sad stories of
the profound cognitive impairments that
can result from a childhood deprived of
stimulation, and the loss of capacity that
can be the result of an under-stimulating
environment. Considering this in the
other direction, we can recognise that if
a dearth of stimulation leads to a decline
in cognitive capacity, an abundance of
stimulation can lead to cognitive growth.
But we must get it right, you do not want
to swamp or overwhelm people. You are
not acting in an environment where there
is no stimulation. You’re acting to make
the most out of the sensory stimulation
you offer so that you can use it more
powerfully.
Firstly, we must recognise that providing
sensory experiences is providing people
with the opportunity to build neural
pathways in their minds, underpinning
their cognitive abilities. These pathways
are with us on a use-it-or-lose-it basis
so we are also providing people with the
opportunity to maintain their cognitive
faculties. Make sure to get involved
yourself, get messy, give it a sniff, look at
it and look, and immerse yourself in the
sensory world, it will keep you cognitively
fit.
We can all picture the learning
environments of the past, children asked
to sit still, not talk, look this way and copy
from the board. We are so much better
now at letting children find something out
for themselves, giving them hands-on
experiences. We know that we learn better
when we are involved in our learning,
rather than attempting to be the passive
recipients of it. The reason for this is those
more active ways of learning engage
more sensory systems and fire-up more of
the brain, so when you are laying out your
next rich learning environment maybe do
a little sensory audit: it looks fabulous –
absolutely, but what sounds are in there,
what does it feel like, could there be a
smell or a taste in there?
Give yourself a focus to try and weave in
some of the sensations you do not use
so often. Most of us are great at offering
people things to look at, and touch is also
a very commonly addressed sense, but
how well do we use sound? There are
free-to-access sound archives online, the
BBC have one for example, where you can
find the sound of pretty much anything.
If the puppy in the story knocks over a
glass of water, or the monster stomps in a
muddy puddle, you can probably pull up
a sound effect to give people an auditory
experience that will enrich the narrative. (If
you are curious about telling stories in a
sensory way do check out sensory stories!)
What about taste? There are lots of times
in a year when we might be thinking about
a particular cultural event in the calendar,
and many of these have very specific food
items that accompany the celebrations.
Having the chance to have the taste
experience of an event is a wonderful way
to invite people to get more involved with
an experience.
The smell is probably the sense you have
least often considered in terms of your
offer, as anyone who has tried to choose
perfume in a shop knows: smell can
be hard to focus on. If you are thinking
of offering smell experiences, make
sure you are not already one yourself!
I do not mean poor personal hygiene, I
am assuming you are nice and fresh, I
mean if you wear a heavy perfume or
wash your hair in a particularly pungent
shampoo, you could well eclipse subtler
smell experiences you might offer.
Likewise, avoid flooding the environment
with synthetic odours, like plug-in air
fresheners, instead have the windows
open and when you invite exploration,
invite it with the nose as well as with the
eyes and hands.
In my next article I will be talking about
how doing this can also benefit your
mental health, so do look it up if you
can. Meanwhile, feel free to connect
with me on social media to watch my
current sensory adventures unfurl, all
the connection links can be found on my
website www.TheSensoryProjects.co.uk
Joanna Grace
Joanna Grace is an international Sensory
Engagement and Inclusion Specialist,
trainer, author, TEDx speaker and founder
of The Sensory Projects.
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”, “Sharing Sensory
Stories and Conversations with People with
Dementia” and “The Subtle Spectrum”.
Plus three inclusive sensory story children’s
books: “Spike and Mole”, “Voyage to
Arghan” and “Ernest and I” which all sell
globally and her son has recently become
the UK’s youngest published author with
his book, “My Mummy is Autistic” which
was foreworded by Chris Packham.
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
10 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 11

Building a skeleton!
There’s a lot more information on this
including animations on ‘Calcium and
its friends’ in my course on building a
skeleton.
Lifestyle considerations
“We could see the first generation of
children to be expected to have shorter life
spans than their parents if current trends
on obesity, nutrition and lifestyle continue.”
The Lancet Volume 371, issue 9607.
Early childhood is a time which I refer to
as a ‘window of opportunity’ for many
elements of our future health. This is
the time when we can lay down strong
foundations to support us throughout the
rest of our lives. One of those elements is
the foundations for a strong skeleton.
There are two crucial factors involved to
build a healthy skeleton; during the early
years we must invest in early childhood
movement and nutrition. Consider
childhood as a time to invest in skeletal
health rather like a bone-bank – this
investment lays strong foundations to help
a child to reach their peak bone mass
potential.
We understand that formative nutrition
shapes our future health and habits in
many ways including health conditions
that can feel are ‘set far in the future’
but these are actually influenced by
decisions in childhood. Building healthy
bones during childhood helps to prevent
osteoporosis and fractures in later life –
this is because bone mass developed in
childhood is an important factor in lifelong
skeletal health.
Bone bank
Consider childhood to be a window
of opportunity to invest in bone health
before our skeleton has reached its
peak of bone mass, after that it’s a
case of maintenance! We can invest in
bone health by ensuring two factors are
introduced and habitual;
1. Healthy food choices
2. Physical activity
Calcium for building
bones
When it comes to bone health and
nutrition, we always think of milk. Whilst it’s
true that a lot of our bone formation and
strength is supported by calcium, milk isn’t
the only source of calcium and calcium
can’t work alone! For calcium to work
effectively in the body it needs a supply
of other vitamins and minerals too; these
are just some of the nutrients which are
needed alongside calcium to support our
bone density and skeletal development.
Nutrients for bone health

Starting and growing a business takes
courage, commitment and a certain
amount of luck. There seems to be so
much to think about and organise that
things can sometimes get a little daunting
for owners of small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs). An SME is any
organisation that has fewer than 250
employees and a turnover of less than €50
million or a balance sheet total less than
€43 million (see below). In Europe, SMEs
make up 99% of the business community.
There were just over 750,000 start-ups in
2021-22. Some businesses fail in their first
year, mostly due to cashflow problems. So
how can you ensure that your business
is not one of these, and what help is out
there to help you grow your fledgling
dream?
Get help
The good news for SMEs is that there is a
lot of help available on a variety of general
and specific business topics and we’ve
listed some ways to help you below. A
good business plan is a must so never
skip this step. See the British Library site for
more advice.
FINANCIAL HELP
Funding business is crucial for start-ups
and growing businesses and there is help
out there. A good starting point is the
“Government Funding for Small Business”
webpage at: www.ukstartups.org/ukgovernment-funding-for-small-business.
This page will help you navigate the
minefield of information on funding. There
are different types of funding available
such as:

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How well do we promote
positive behaviour in
our settings?
development in the early years, and the
importance of co-regulation and teaches
our team about intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation.
I believe the teaching and mentoring
of your team has to start from their first
day in the setting and goes back to my
suggestion of ‘time’. Give every new staff
member your ‘time’, to ensure that your
ethos and expectations are shared. And
continue that during their employment
with quality, one-to-one supervision to
reflect on and expand their knowledge
and practice.
What are your partnerships with parents
like and why are they so vital?
When we know what a child or family is
going through at home, we are better
equipped to support their behaviour within
our settings. We are able to ‘tune in’ and
support.
The pandemic saw us closing our doors
to parents, too many germs to be allowed
into the setting, much safer handing the
child over at the door.
Many settings have opted to keep things
that way, reviewing the positive impact
on the children’s well-being and ability to
settle quickly into nursery life.
I’ve taken a mixed approach within my
settings; parents drop off at the door to
allow for a smooth and effective handover
but collect from inside the nursery, entering
their child’s classroom and being able to
engage at length with key persons and
watch their child at play.
What led me to this decision was the need
for better communication between the
home and nursery. Post-pandemic, I could
feel the rift between us and no doubt the
children would too. I noticed how much
less we knew about each child’s home life
and surely, that would eventually impact
our teaching.
Improving outcomes for children requires
more than time spent up-skilling our
workforce to truly understand children’s
behaviour and emotional responses. It
requires time to build on our partnerships
with parents too.
Harriet Crouch
Harriet Crouch is the Operations Manager
for the nursery group, Bluebell Children’s
Nurseries, operating in East Sussex.
Harriet began her career in early years
as a 17-year-old, bright-eyed and bushytailed
apprentice, finding her true vocation
within leadership roles where she has
been able to share her skills, passion and
knowledge to upskill and develop early
years teams.
Harriet’s passion for improving outcomes
for all children drives everything she does
in her work.
Have you noticed a change in children’s
behaviour post COVID?
Is your team’s knowledge of behaviour
and child development up-to-date?
How effective are your behaviour policies
and how often are they reviewed?
Do parents understand children’s
behaviour and are they confident in
managing it?
The EYFS states that we must have
effective ‘behaviour management’
strategies in place. We all have policies in
place explaining how we support children,
explaining that “naughty” isn’t on our list of
vocabulary and we never shout at children
but how effective are those policies, really?
How many fresh-faced, unqualified
recruits do you take on that genuinely take
the time, or even have the time in a busy
setting, to read through the five pages of
policy you’ve so passionately put together?
And how often is their practice observed
and monitored to ensure the ethos of the
policy is delivered, day in, day out?
I am incredibly passionate about upskilling
our workforce and that includes
educating myself and my own team. Postpandemic,
our sector was faced with the
worst recruitment crisis we’ve ever seen.
This makes it almost impossible to find
qualified and passionate educators willing
to work the 40 hours plus expected of
them, therefore, it’s crucial that we spend
time inducting and training our newest
staff.
How can we up-skill
our workforce?
Make time. Effectively and positively
managing behaviour is a really important
aspect of our work as early educators and
we have to get it right.
Spend time reviewing your policies relating
to behaviour, observe your team and
reflect on your own practice. Are your
policies out of date and setting too high
expectations of children? Do your team
understand brain development and the
importance of co-regulation? And as
a leader, are you role modelling and
inspiring your team to be better?
In my quest for improving practice and
ensuring better outcomes for all children, I
have created a ‘Behaviour Lead’ role within
each of my settings. We have become a
small team of like-minded, passionate,
and enthusiastic educators on a mission
to educate our newest recruits. We have
created an in-depth, bespoke ‘behaviour
induction’ which details our policies and
why they are in place. It gives our newest
recruits so much more than reading any
policy can. We go into detail about brain
18 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 19

Innovative
ideas for early
mark-making
Our role as practitioners is:
To critically reflect upon our own
practice, provision, and pedagogy in
order to extend, develop and support
children’s learning and development
opportunities across the curriculum,
and;
To ensure they have access to a
diverse range of opportunities and
experiences that spark curiosity,
promote engagement, and
enhance learning and development
opportunities.
It is just as important for us to notice
what the children aren’t doing just
as it is for us to observe what they
are doing, and to understand how
and why their individual learning
styles, interests, age and stage of
development impact how and why
they access the provision in the way
that they do.
One aspect of the curriculum that is often
highlighted as difficult to engage certain
children in consistently, is mark-making.
When you sit back and reflect upon why
some children appear to be reluctant
mark-makers, it can simply be because
the way in which mark-making is offered,
displayed or encouraged within the
provision, does not appeal to the learning
styles and interests of particular children,
and it is our job as educators to think of
creative and innovative ways to change
this and make mark-making and literacy
accessible and exciting for all of our
children.
Instead of simply offering books, paper,
whiteboards, and other writing tools at a
table, indoors, why not take it large scale?
Turn a display board into a blank canvas
by covering it in blank paper and offering
different writing tools alongside it. Add
furniture and chairs nearby if the display
board is slightly out of reach to add a
sense of risk, challenge, and excitement,
so children can use their gross motor skills
to climb up onto a surface before they
engage their fine motor skills to make
marks.
If we change the parameters in which
children can access mark-making
opportunities and experiences and offer
them in a more relaxed, child-centred way,
we may spark the interest and curiosity of
even the most reluctant of mark-makers.
A very simple concept, in essence, could
totally revolutionise mark-making for
children who are otherwise disinterested
in this aspect of their learning and
development.
If there is an area of your provision that
children are consistently not accessing
or seem to be avoiding or showing little
interest in, then critically reflect on why
that could be and flip it on its head in
order to fully hand over that area to
its most important users; the children.
Critical reflection and using your initiative
by taking play and provision back to
basics, truly are the characteristics of
confident, knowledgeable and proactive
practitioners; and it’s truly monumental to
give children the freedom and ownership
to access and use an area of the provision
they normally shy away from, in their own
way, their own time and within their own
space and the learning and development
opportunities that arise from doing so are
invaluable.
The ‘writing’ aspect of this area of learning
and development does not just refer to
holding and using a pencil to write letters/
names/words. Writing starts very early on
in a child’s life. In the EYFS, ‘writing’ covers
a broad range of skills that children begin
to develop to gain the necessary skills they
will need; the concept of early and simple
mark-making should not be overlooked
for its value to early writing and letter
formation in later childhood.
For many, there is a belief that reading
and writing are only vital around preschool
age to promote school readiness
- this is not the case. Once exposed to
varying forms of literacy and writing
experiences, children will notice signs
in their environment and develop an
understanding of not only what these
signs mean and that information can be
relayed through both imagery and print,
but also begin to introduce letters and
sounds and early letter formation.
Similarly, there is some debate in regard
to writing in terms of ‘school readiness’;
as many primary school teachers tell us
as early years providers that we should
not insist/encourage that children write
their names independently in order to be
considered ‘school ready’ as the reception
curriculum has its own method of teaching
children to write their names. But again,
these teachers all stress the importance
of early mark-making skills over formal
writing and letter formation skills.
This is not to say that if a child does show
an interest in letters and letter formation,
we should discourage or not extend
these opportunities, but our primary focus
should not be for children to be writing/
copying letters before they start reception,
their early marks and ability to hold and
use mark-making tools competently are far
more valuable.
There are several stimulating and
engaging activities and experiences you
could offer within the indoor and outdoor
provision in order to promote early
mark-making for children of all ages. For
example:
Providing each child with their own
‘writing book’ - a book with the child’s
photo on that is theirs to mark-make
in as they see fit (writing tools should
be always accessible in each area of
the setting)
Water painting in the outdoor play
area. Not only simple and no mess,
but the children love watching the
marks they have made evaporate
Using paintbrushes to make marks
in sand or flour - the child gets to
practice their marks, but it’s easily
removed/re-done so the child doesn’t
feel any pressure to ‘get it right’
A tray of rice accompanied by an
alphabet mat - the child gets to
practice making marks, but it’s easily
shaken/covered to start again, so the
child doesn’t feel any pressure to ‘get
it right’
For children who have an interest in
writing their name or copying letters,
you could use a highlighter pen to
write the child’s name for them to
go over/copy – this promotes fluid
movements as the child follows the
shape of the letter rather than the
staggered process of connecting the
dots that have been used in the past
Outdoor and indoor mark-making
opportunities using a range of
resources; chalking, paintbrushes and
water, play dough and pencils
Activities using tweezers to pick up
and transport objects - the fine motor
skills needed to complete these
types of activities are conducive to
developing the pincer grip and tripod
hold necessary for holding and using
writing tools effectively
Chloe Webster
Chloe Webster is an early years educator
with over 12 years of experience in the
Early Years Sector.
She is a published author and advocate of
the sector. In addition to this, she also has
vast experience in social media marketing
and communication support for Early Years
businesses/settings. Chloe currently has
capacity to support settings, practitioners,
and leaders in an advisory/consultancy
role or to provide support on efficiently
marketing and promoting your setting/
business.
She can be reached by email at
chloelouisewebster@hotmail.com
20 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 21

Equality, diversity and
inclusion - EDI
The UK in the 2020s is diverse,
multicultural and constantly changing.
Although most British people still fall into
the category of “white British” at 74.4%
(2021 census), this percentage has gone
down since 2011, from 80.5% to 74.4%.
The Government website reports the
Asian group as 9.3% of the population
followed by black (4.0%), mixed (2.9%) and
other (2.1%) ethnic groups. Within these
classifications, however, there are many
sub-groups such as Travellers, Africans
and Irish, to name a few. In fact, there are
19 standardised ethnic classifications on
the census form.
The census revealed other changes
too – for the first time in England and
Wales, only 46.2% (less than half) of the
population described themselves as
“Christian”, down by 13.1%. Over one third
of the population sited “No religion”.
What about sexual orientation? In the
census, 92.5% of respondents aged 16+
answered questions on this topic, with
approximately 90% of those identifying as
straight or heterosexual. 1.5 million people
identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or
another sexual orientation (LGB+). Others
identified as pansexual, asexual and
queer.
But why do we collect these statistics
and what relevance do they have to early
years? The answer lies in understanding
whether this diversity is accurately
reflected in our everyday media and
culture, and the opportunities we all have
access to. Do we see an inclusive example
of diversity represented on TV, in our law
enforcement agencies, or in our schools
and hospitals? Are the top jobs really
available to different groups of people,
regardless of their ethnicity, gender, sexual
orientation or religious beliefs? If the
answer to THAT question is ‘no’, then we
still have a lot of work to do to ensure that
there are equal opportunities for everyone,
and people can see themselves reflected
in every area of society.
The rise of diversity, equality
and inclusion (EDI) issues
It’s not that long ago that schools were
directing young male students into
traditional ‘male’ activities such as
woodwork and metalwork, whilst filtering
off the girls to do typing and home
economics. Thankfully those times have
changed, and whilst there are more
women in science for example, or more
males in early years work, there is still a lot
more that can be done.
For many companies nowadays, having
effective policies related to diversity,
equality and inclusion is vital as it allows
them to set up, measure and judge their
efforts, identifying areas of success and
also areas for improvement. Another
reason is that research shows that
organisations that are strong on diversity,
produce benefits in their bottom-line
profits.
Understanding the difference between the
three closely-related topics is key, although
there are still philosophical and legal
debates about them.
Diversity – this relates to the differences
between people, such as ethnicity, age,
gender, socioeconomic class, sexual
orientation, or married status. It’s about
recognising what makes us all unique.
Equality – this means recognising and
responding in a fair way to everyone
regardless of diversity. One website says:
“First used in the early 15th century,
equality is ‘the state of being equal’. In
modern usage in the UK, equality is about
ensuring equality of access, treatment,
outcomes and impact in both employment
and service delivery. It is rooted in ideas of
justice and fairness and enshrined in the
United Kingdom Equality Act 2010 (EA10)
which highlights that every individual must
have an equal opportunity to make the
most of their lives and talents. It is also
the belief that no one should have poorer
life chances because of their background,
personal identity or experience.”
Equality also relates to how we handle
discrimination and prejudice related to
diversity which then affects:
Inclusion – this is “the practice or policy
of providing equal access to opportunities
and resources for people who might
otherwise be excluded or marginalised,
such as those who have physical or
intellectual disabilities and members of
other minority groups.”
When these issues are not pro-actively
and positively addressed, then there
is potential for prejudice, racism,
homophobia and all manner of negative
outcomes for some sections of society.
A report by the Equality Human Rights
Commission in 2018 found that:
⭐ 54% of people from ethnic minorities
reported they had been a victim of
ethnic or racial prejudice
⭐ 46% of lesbian, gay or bisexual
people said they had experienced
prejudice based on their sexual
orientation
⭐ 44% of respondents stated they were
openly negative about Gypsy, Roma
and Travellers
⭐ 29% of respondents stated that they
felt strong discomfort with the idea of
a connection to a family member with
a mental health condition
⭐ 25% of disabled people with a
physical impairment reported they
experienced prejudice because of
their impairment
So, best practice with EDI aims to redress
some of the imbalances and prejudices in
our society and make sure that everyone
has an equal chance of thriving.
What does this mean for
early years practitioners and
settings?
Children form opinions early on, many
of which are based on observing adults
around them. If an adult fears wasps, then
the chances are that the child may ‘learn’
to fear wasps too. This is also true of
attitudes and behaviours, so it is important
that early years children are exposed to
positive role models and positive attitudes
about diversity, equality and inclusion
issues.
Things that settings can do:
⭐ Ensure you write a policy for EDI
issues that sets out how your setting
will address EDI issues including
how you will pro-actively promote a
positive approach to these issues,
and how you will tackle prejudice and
inequality
⭐ Conduct an audit into how EDI issues
are being addressed (or not) in
your setting – there are some free
resources on the internet (See https://
www.theequalgroup.com/educationhub-home
for more information)
⭐ Train all staff in EDI issues and
regularly revisit this and tackle any
discretions so that the message is
consistent
⭐ Engage parents in things surrounding
EDI. You could get involved in
awareness days or invite people in to
talk about different cultures
⭐ Pro-actively encourage participation
in different activities for all genders in
all subjects to counteract some of the
gender stereotyping that still exists in
society
⭐ Challenge stereotypes and
assumptions - read the children
stories about different cultures,
inspiring people who have
achieved great things from different
backgrounds such as people with SEN
focusing on their achievements
⭐ Normalise and celebrate difference
so that it becomes embedded in your
culture
⭐ Tackle any bullying issues with a
strong and robust protocol
⭐ Record and measure your efforts so
that you can revise and improve them
and provide evidence of your setting’s
actions
References and more
information
⭐ https://www.affirmity.com/diversityequity-inclusion/
⭐ https://www.equalityhumanrights.
com/
⭐ https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/
⭐ https://raceequalityfoundation.org.uk/
⭐ Lifting Limit’s pilot report on
challenging gender stereotypes and
promoting gender equality
⭐ Gender Eye report and resources
⭐ Alliance blog: Equality in the early
years
⭐ https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.
service.gov.uk/uk-population-byethnicity/national-and-regionalpopulations/population-of-englandand-wales/latest
⭐ https://www.ons.gov.uk/
peoplepopulationandcommunity/
culturalidentity/religion/bulletins/
religionenglandandwales/census2021
⭐ https://commonslibrary.parliament.
uk/2021-census-what-do-we-knowabout-the-lgbt-population
⭐ Equality, diversity and inclusion in the
Workplace | Factsheets | CIPD
22 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 23

“You can dance, you can
jive”: artistic expression
in the early years
Most people recognise the value of
creative childcare ideas, and often early
childhood is seen as the best “training
ground”. Most developments in society can
be traced back to creative approaches that
were taken, seen in medicine, technology
and even business. Psychologists believe
that we naturally respond to things that
are new and innovative, and this is used
in advertising and even capitalism – the
newer, the better.
Choosing what early years activities
to ‘teach’ in early childhood is another
challenge: what early childhood life
experiences caused different inventors
and innovators to make a change that
impacted society? Current thinking is to
create opportunities in a wide range of
areas.
The creative part of the early childhood
curriculum echoes this and includes:
architecture, circus, dance, handcrafts,
media art, music, theatre, visual arts, word
arts, 2D/3D arts/visual media, painting,
drawing, building, crafting, modelling,
creating statues, installations, animations,
advertisements, taking pictures and
videos.
A Finnish study, (Lehikoinen, 2023)
considered 6 different ways to explore
creativity with a particular focus on 1- and
2-year-olds, with a focus on successful
engagement. This age is known to be
tricky, with limited pedagogical content for
under 3s in the arts. Like many countries,
visual and musical arts in Finland were not
usually accessed daily, with most settings
bringing in specialists once a month
or less. So, 6 activities were devised,
specifically for this age group:

Children are remarkable – they are always
learning. Even before birth, children can
recognise things from the world outside.
Babies, only a few hours old, are able
to differentiate the sounds of their native
language from those of a foreign one,
proving that babies are ‘listening’ to their
mother’s speech patterns whilst still in the
womb.
So, if children are learning things in the
womb, and we know that when they are
born, their capacity to learn is almost
exponential, it begs the question – if they
are always learning something, shouldn’t
we be a little more aware of WHAT that is?
A few years ago, there was an impactful
TV advert that showed young children
copying things their parents were doing.
One parent was washing up, and we saw
their child playing at a play sink. Another
was exercising, alongside their young
child who was copying their moves. The
final image was a person smoking, and
then we saw their young child copying
their moves and ‘acting out’ the action
of smoking. The advert had a powerful
message and showed visually what
science has shown over decades – that
young children copy what they observe
from adults. But what does this mean for
early years practitioners, and how can we
ensure that the ‘learned’ behaviours that
children are picking up from us are the
ones we’d want them to have?
The data
The impact
of ‘taught’
behaviours
In the 1960s, a series of groundbreaking
studies called the “Bobo doll
experiments” by psychologist, Albert
Bandura, researched the impact of social
behaviour on the behaviour of young
children. The aim was to see if children
would imitate aggressive behaviour
having previously witnessed aggressive
behaviour by an adult. A group of children
were split into two groups, matched for
previously identified levels of aggressive
behaviour. One group was exposed to an
adult behaving aggressively towards an
inflatable, child-sized doll (the Bobo doll).
The study found that the group who had
witnessed the aggressive adult behaviour
were more likely to act aggressively
towards the doll when it was placed in the
room with them.
Another more recent study tested 120
toddlers aged 14 - 24 months. Some
watched a video of a stranger playing with
a toy and then pulling it apart 3 times.
Others saw the same stranger playing
with the toy and not taking it apart, and
the third group were not shown a video
at all. The results showed that 90% of the
children who had watched the first video
took the toy apart themselves, compared
to only 20% of those who watched the
second video. So, toddlers as young as 14
months will copy the actions of a person
they see on TV, even if it is a stranger.
And how long do they need to watch
something to copy it? Research suggests
only 14 seconds. Just think what they
can learn by watching hours of TV, social
media or game culture.
In 2019, data from the Early Head Start
Family and Child Experience Study showed
there were links between parental stress/
family conflict, and children’s behaviour
aged 1 and 3. It concluded that early
prevention programmes should focus on
reducing family conflict and increasing
parental supportiveness to break the
negative cycle.
This means young children are continually
picking up behaviours and attitudes from
people they see, the programs they watch
and the general world around them. It
reminds us how important it is to think
carefully about what we do in front of
children including:

Nurturing lifelong learning
As children reach their toddler years,
their abilities and needs will, in many
ways, become quite different to what
they have experienced before. Their
mobility, vocabulary and cognitive abilities
are all increasing. But as these are not
necessarily occurring at the same rate,
the enormous accomplishments being
made can also be experienced with some
monumental frustrations. The result of
which can be all too familiar during the
unfortunately labelled “terrible twos”!
But if we are mindful of their specific
needs, abilities and encourage these
through new and interesting experiences,
we can nurture our children’s learning
through the toddler years. With
their greater mobility and depths of
understanding, we can recognise their
individual motivations and success as
we embrace this extraordinary period of
learning.
But to do this, a toddler’s individual
attempts at learning need recognising
and encouragement, much as it was
when they were a baby. Provided you
can understand these motivations and
view them with realistic expectations, this
year can be full of experiences that both
challenge and stimulate as their abilities
flourish.
In this article, we will then look at nurturing
toddlers as they navigate a minefield
with toddlers
of demands and expectations. And all
at a time when they may be facing big
changes in their life, such as their first
transition away from a primary caregiver,
their first room change or big changes in
the home.
So, what does it mean to support
children’s development during this
formative period of growth? And how can
you nurture secure, confident development
throughout the features of lifelong
learning?
By the toddler years, a child has come on
in leaps and bounds from the newborn
they were such a short time ago. Every
experience is helping them become more
familiar with this complex and fascinating
world, while navigating their place within
it. And with their development at 22
months old showing a strong indication of
achievement profiles at school entry, this is
clearly an important time of development.
Born with a powerful motivation to grasp
at any opportunity for learning, your active,
independent thinker is discovering how
their world works. Through trial and error,
they are seeing which efforts are worth
their time, and what they can get away
with. Through personal choices and social
contacts, they learn about relationships
and the other minds around them.
Through their emotions, they learn to feel
and experiment with their behaviours. All
of which is enhancing their knowledge of
themselves, the world and its people in
highly personal ways.
To make the most of this time, children will
grasp every opportunity that is afforded
them. So, take care not to undervalue or
overlook these formative and irreplaceable
years. But to make the most of them,
children need to be full of self-esteem.
They need to feel secure, confident and
willing to have a go, even when this
means making mistakes. And all of these
require positive experiences, free of overly
predictive expectations as they learn all
they need to know.
As they reach their toddler years, a child
will have formed around 80% of their
basic brain architecture, which is now
packed with twice as many connections
as your adult brain. But now, as processes
of pruning begin in earnest, many of the
brain connections that have not been
well used are considered less important
and are essentially stripped away. Whilst
at the same time, the connections that
they make repeated use of are locked
into place. A process that is continuously
informed through the experiences the child
is having.
These processes used to happen
automatically through everyday routines.
Walks to the shops, playing with older
siblings and family friends and intimate
times of cuddles and play, are all full of
rich, sensory experiences unconcerned
with learning goals or downward
pressures to succeed. But for many
children, growing up in today’s busy,
technology-driven world they can be
expected to manage so many mature
demands, yet not slow down enough to
have the time to learn how.
Taking risks is a part of this process
and removing obstacles physically and
mentally is grossly misguided. Children
want and need suitably risky challenges
to learn how to manage them and
themselves, developing confidence, new
learning paths and the ability to keep
themselves safe. When this is permitted
children experience the satisfaction of
success, persisting through setbacks so
that future challenges can be embraced.
Children also need social interactions.
Opportunities to engage with their peers,
exploring their thinking as they voice their
opinion and learn to hear that of others,
becoming aware of thinking as a process
done by others too. Misunderstandings
and conflict are all a big part of building
relationships and children need the
freedom to explore them. This needs
time and space without well-meaning
interference as they practice developing
and retaining friendships even when ideas
differ.
When you offer activities that develop their
self-confidence, their independence and
their ability to cooperate with others, your
children are learning to retain control. And
with well-placed support, they can learn
to manage these situations, developing
an understanding of what it takes to
keep the play going despite the inevitable
disagreements.
The confident language abilities of a
competent speaker will help with a lot of
this. When children are supported to enrich
their speech and vocabulary through the
activities you offer, they will develop a
multitude of lifelong skills. Supporting their
confidence, their thinking and reflection, as
well as their social skills.
With knowledge and understanding,
you can recognise the interplay of these
demands as you help your children grow
and develop with confidence. Preparing
them for a lifetime of learning, secure
in the knowledge that the experiences
you are giving them now are having a
profound effect on their development that
they will benefit from for life.
I hope you enjoyed this focus on nurturing
lifelong learning with toddlers. Next
month we will continue our focus on
learning up into pre-school. If you would
like to know more, check out the courses
and accreditation available at www.
nurturingchildhoods.co.uk and coming
soon, is the Nurturing Childhoods
Academy, where you can take courses,
join the community groups and bring
your professional development to life as
together we really begin developing the
potential of all children in their early years.
Kathryn Peckham
As Founder of Nurturing Childhoods,
Dr Kathryn Peckham is a passionate
advocate for children’s access to rich and
meaningful experiences throughout their
foundational early years. Delivering online
courses, training and seminars she works
with families and settings to identify and
celebrate the impact of effective childhood
experiences as preparation for all of life’s
learning.
An active campaigner for children, she
consults on projects, conducts research
for government bodies and contributes to
papers launched in parliament. Through
her consultancy and research, she guides
local councils, practitioners, teachers and
parents all over the world in enhancing
children’s experiences through the
experiences they offer. A highly acclaimed
author and member of parliamentary
groups, Kathryn also teaches a Masters at
the Centre for Research in Early Years.
For more information and practical
guidance on developing the features of
lifelong learning, Kathryn has published
a book: “Developing School Readiness,
Creating Lifelong Learners”.
Get in contact at www.kathrynpeckham.
co.uk or email info@kathrynpeckham.
co.uk.
28 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 29

Fact

Reading the
rainbow : how to make
the most of LGBTQ+
picture books
The recent surge in the publication of
LGBTQ+ picture books is incredibly exciting
for the early years (EY) sector. Books are
a key resource in the sector’s mission to
champion diversity, equity and inclusion
because they provide a way for children
to see themselves in the world and a
window into other identities. During
my MA dissertation at the University of
Roehampton, I observed and interviewed
two EY educators in a 3–4-year-old
classroom in London to learn more about
how they use LGBTQ+ picture books. This
article thinks about how EY educators can
make the most of LGBTQ+ picture books in
the classroom by:
✨ Using child-centred approaches
✨ Going beyond gender and family
structures
✨ Reflecting on unconscious bias
Using child-centred
approaches
When using LGBTQ+ picture books,
educators should think about what they
want the children in their particular setting
to walk away with. For example, you may
want to help your children foster a better
understanding of their identity and place
in the world. When chatting with Joanna
Brown, a 3–4-year-old practitioner, she
shared that she wants her children “to
know that it is okay to be yourself. Be you.”
Alternatively, educators may want their
children to develop compassion for others.
In conversation with Margot Smith, a
3–4-year-old room leader, she shared
that she wants her children “to know that
they are going to meet people that are
completely different from them. That it’s
okay if they have questions, but to be
respectful, accepting, and love everyone
for who they are.”
To reach these goals, children must
connect their lives to the characters and
scenarios in the story. When children
can relate to what is happening in
the book, educators can help LGBTQ+
children understand their identity and
support children who are not part of
the community to develop compassion
for people who are different from them.
So how can we centre our children in
readings of LGBTQ+ picture books? Try the
following:
✨ Ask your children what they think
about the book. This will reveal their
fascinations, curiosities and biases,
creating rich spaces for you to have
conversations that directly relate to
their ideas
✨ Encourage your children to share
their thoughts and experiences by
asking questions such as “Have you
ever felt like this character?” or “Do
you like doing some of the things this
character does?” This empowers them
to make real-life connections to the
characters in the stories
Going beyond gender and
family structures
LGBTQ+ picture books can be used
beyond discussions of gender and family
structures. In conversation with Joanna,
she shared that, “We use them at least
once a day because we are trying to add
it into everyday life. We want children to
know that it’s normal.” By using these
stories in other areas of the classroom, you
teach young children that LGBTQ+ people
are integral to our world. For example,
Margot used “Julian is a Mermaid” by
Jessica Love to start a conversation about
‘Carnival’, a Caribbean festival that takes
place in her community as well as around
the globe.
Here are some more suggestions to get
you started:
✨ “Introducing Teddy: A Story About
Being Yourself” by Jessica Walton
taps into the social-emotional
domain, providing opportunities to
explore topics such as kindness and
acceptance
✨ “I’m A Girl!” by Yasmeen Ismail can
be used to support literacy skills
such as predictive reading and word
recognition
✨ And “Tango Makes Three” by Justin
Richardson, Peter Parnell and Henry
Cole, can be used to engage with
science concepts, specifically when
thinking about penguins or the zoo
Reflecting on unconscious
bias
Unconscious bias, or the assumptions
we make about a group of people that
we may not be aware of, will impact how
we use LGBTQ+ picture books with young
children. In conversation with Joanna,
she noted that “Everyone has an opinion.
There’s always going to be a sense of
someone else’s morals and what they
believe to be true.” As EY educators, we
need to be aware of how our unconscious
bias affects the way we teach our
children. For example, do you reference
heterosexual families as ‘normal families’
compared to LGBTQ+ families during
read-aloud? Do you feel uncomfortable
discussing different gender identities when
they come up in books?
I encourage you to reflect on how your
biases may impact how you use LGBTQ+
picture books and to seek information that
can undo some of those biases. Here are
some reflection prompts to get you started:
✨ What do you know about the LGBTQ+
community?
✨ How has your upbringing impacted
the way you view the world and the
people in it?
✨ How often do you currently use
LGBTQ+ picture books in your
classroom?
✨ What conversations are you nervous
to have within your classroom and
why? What can you do to challenge
that discomfort?
✨ What support do you need to
champion LGBTQ+ inclusion in your
classroom? What steps can you take
to make that happen?
Kayla Halls
Kayla Halls, MA, is a Research Fellow at
Middlesex University. She has six years of
teaching experience with children aged
birth to six years old and four years of
research experience.
Kayla is currently working on a
Nuffield-funded project focused on
advancing digitally mediated leadership
development in the UK EY sector. Her
research interests include leadership,
pedagogy and social justice.
Email: k.halls@mdx.ac.uk
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kaylahalls-512080173
32 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 33

EYFS activities:
Mathematics
Mathematics plays a crucial role in early years, allowing children to build a foundation for later learning and
develop strong number sense, spatial awareness, and logical thinking skills, which are essential for academic
achievement in later years.
It helps children develop a strong foundation in numeracy, critical thinking, problem-solving, and logical reasoning
and not only equips them with essential skills but prepares them to navigate the increasingly mathematical world
we live in.
Number Chain
The children absolutely love this one!
You will need:
• 10 toilet paper tubes
• A variety of craft paints and paintbrushes
• Marker pen
• A hole punch
• Plastic straws
Instructions:
1. Paint the toilet paper tubes in rainbow
shades and let them completely dry.
2. Write the numbers 1-10 on the sides of the
tubes, encouraging the children to help you
identify the next number as you write.
5. Spread out the tubes randomly on the floor,
starting with number 1. Encourage the
children to search for the next number in
the chain.
6. As they find the correct numbers, hook
it in the correct order with the straws (or
pipe cleaners). Continue until the chain is
complete.
For additional fun, call out numbers at random
and have the children point to the correct
number in the chain!
More on this activity and others can be found
here.
Mystery Numbers
You will need:
• Cardboard
• Liquid school glue
• Crayons
Instructions:
1. Cut the cardboard into 9 small rectangles
and write the numbers 1-9 on the
rectangles so there is one number on each
piece.
Once they have identified the number, ask
them to pick the corresponding glue dot card
to match. Encourage the children to then
place the glue dot card under the paper and
complete a crayon rubbing in order to make a
match.
More on this activity and others can be found
here.
3. Cut a handful of straws, leaving some
sections with the bendable part intact.
Alternatively, you can use pipe cleaners to
thread the tubes together.
4. Use the hole punch to make a few holes in
each toilet paper tube. Now it’s time to link
the chain!
Falling Leaves
To play this exciting game, you need a pen,
coloured cardstock paper, scissors, large easel
paper and markers.
More on this activity and others can be found
here.
2. Trace the written number in glue.
3. Using another set of cardboard rectangles,
make cards with large dots of glue, one
for each card numeral. This means you
should have 18 cards altogether with
corresponding numbers and dots. Set the
cards aside to dry.
4. Gather all your dried number and dot
cards, along with some blank paper cut to
A5 size and some crayons.
5. Slip the number cards under the paper and
encourage the children to rub the edge of
the crayon over the number until they can
identify which number it is.
Start by cutting out several leaves from
coloured cardstock and then number each leaf
0-10. Next, draw a large tree on a piece of
easel paper, and write the numbers 0-10 where
the branches should be.
Now the game can begin!
Encourage the children to throw the leaves up
into the air and try to catch them as they fall,
shouting out the numbers they have caught.
Get the children to match their numbers onto
the paper tree and encourage them to find
another random number from the floor, saying
for example “Go find the 4!”. Once the number
leaves have been placed onto the tree, the
game can start again!
Alternatively, you can hide the number leaves
around the room, and allow the children to
hunt for them before completing the tree!
34 July 2023 | parenta.com

Where are the men in
the early years?
Who now would dare tell a young girl that
she could never be an astronaut or Prime
Minister? Yet in 2023, there can still be a
response of surprise and ribbing when a
man wants a career working with young
children. Has social stigma made these
roles inaccessible to men?
How do we break down the stereotypes
when we keep hearing that males
promote a more active environment and
females a nurturing and positive one?
If the statistics are correct, and up to date
then only 2 to 3% of the workforce is
male. This is a ‘Catch-22’ scenario. When
children only see females as the early
years workforce, they associate this with
their future career options.
Evidence shows that children’s career
aspirations are restricted by gender
stereotypes at a very young age. In 2018,
UCL released a study that showed “that
36% of children from as young as seven
years old, base their career aspirations on
people they know”.
Researching this topic further, I have
spoken with Phil from Oxford, and Toni
from Port Talbot, that are currently working
full-time along with Jamel C Campbell,
Early Years Educator, Consultant, and
children’s author, London, and Rob Fox,
Manager and Owner at Happy Bunnies
Nursery School in Shepreth, Herts and
asked the following questions.
Do you find there is
a stigma attached
to being a male and
working in early
years directly with the
children?
Phil: “In truth, I have met very little
difficulties from parents or practitioners
in the childcare environment, all the
settings I have either trained or worked
at have been very welcoming and seen
the addition of a male member of staff as
a positive for the children to have a male
role model. The only issue that has come
up once or twice in previous nurseries
I worked at, is if a parent’s culture and
beliefs ask that as a man, I not change
their daughter’s nappy or help them on
the toilet once potty trained. They asked
the headteacher to relay this to me first as
they were worried how I would react (I was
fine and completely understood where
they were coming from) and afterwards
when meeting me in person, told me
they are comfortable having a man look
after their child, it was just part of their
culture/beliefs that men outside of the
father do not change their daughter’s
nappies. I wouldn’t say it isn’t a negative
per se, but I also do often get asked what
made me want to get into childcare. I’ve
noticed when new members of staff who
are women join a setting, they are never
asked what made them want to work in
childcare. It just shows that it is indeed
sadly rare that men get involved in early
childcare education, as when one does,
people are curious about what made them
want to do so. It’s never (hopefully) asked
due to suspicion of ill intent but as I said,
new staff who are women never seem
to get asked this question as early years
childcare does have more women than
men in nurseries.”
Toni: “Within the childcare ‘world’ I
must say that everyone I have met has
been incredibly supportive and positive
when they see me. Sadly, where it once
felt strange, I now find it completely
normal to be the only man on training
courses and other childcare events. I
must say that I have not encountered
any negative comments at all, nor have
I felt a stigma associated with my work.
When I first changed my profession from
an accountant to a childcare provider, I
was expecting some leg-pulling from my
friends down the pub, but again, not one
negative comment. I must admit, however,
a slight fear remains that one day
something negative may be said because
of how men and children are perceived
within our society.”
What benefits do you
think there are to the
children having a male
in the environment?
Phil: “The biggest benefit is the children
having a male role model. And that
doesn’t mean ‘showing the boys how to
be a man’, it’s about setting an example
of how to play, make friends and learn
as a group in the nursery setting just as a
female role model would. There is this old
stigma that boys should be playing sports,
playing with cars, action figures etc., but
as practitioners, we should encourage
all children to take part in any activity or
play with any resource they wish to and
explore some they may not have before.
Every activity and resource is devised to
help the children develop an aspect of
their overall development, so having the
mindset that ___ is only for boys or only
girls means that children will miss out
on potentially developing or improving
a skill. For example, dressing up clothes
and role play; the children trying to put
them on themselves develops hand-eye
coordination and independence whilst
their imagination grows as they pretend to
be a doctor, a policeman, a ballerina etc.”
Toni: “Simply being a man within childcare
is the benefit. The children see me doing
all the things that a female person
within childcare does. They do not see
a difference, they do not believe that I
shouldn’t be there, whilst they all have
their favourites, they do not think it strange
that I am their childcare provider. They
will as readily come to me if they scrape
their knee or if they are upset as they
would a female. This is hugely important
in their development, and I believe, will
assist them in being less, or hopefully
completely, non-discriminatory as they get
older.”
Rob Fox: “When working as a SEN Manny,
the mum picked me - she needed a
positive male role model in a split home. I
was able to demonstrate that men can do
things and care at the same time.”
Jamel C Campbell: “I’ve been in the
industry since I was 16 years old and
can honestly say that not much has
changed in terms of the recruitment of
male early years practitioners/teachers.
The percentage of males working within
the sector was 4% but that figure has
fallen again. This could be due to the
sector having difficulty recruiting staff and
retaining staff in general. This doesn’t take
away from the fact that we need more
males in the field. We need to change
attitudes towards men working in the
field societally. We need to share great
practice and normalise males working
with children so young. Making more
people see through our actions, rather
than having to shout from rooftops like we
have been doing. The early years is not
woman’s work, men can do the job too, it’s
a sector for all.“
After hearing about male experiences with
the issue of intimate care, I spoke with Rob
Fox at length. I was shocked to hear that
even in his role as a director of his Nursery,
parents have asked him questions ranging
from how involved he is in the intimate
care of the children, to you won’t be, will
you? Would these parents say this to a
male nurse, care worker or doctor?
How do you respond
and support your staff
when a parent objects
to a member of your
team, carrying out
care, purely on their
gender?
These situations raise the question of
“When does discrimination become
gender bias?” Rob pointed out that he
and Jamel Carly Campbell (early years
educator, author, and consultant, based in
London) get called to talk about this issue
all the time and he asked me: “Why should
gender matter?”
It doesn’t and shouldn’t as surely,
recruitment is down to a person’s skill
and mindset. What would happen if
you employed the wrong person to fill a
quota? How do we get the right men and
women in our early years to look after the
most important people in our world? This
has opened a huge topic for me ranging
from salaries to the respect, status, and
regard that is not always given to those
working in this profession. I know this is
something close to your heart. Just as we
see the ‘unique child’, the adult early years
practitioner is unique no matter their age,
race, sexuality, religion, or gender.
In 2012, Jamel participated in the Orbit
Lens 360 Documentary “Would I leave my
child in a nursery staffed by only men?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld_
d1potRXY
Put your little ones first. It is all about caring
whilst educating and ALL genders can
care and educate. Sadly, sometimes we
need to educate the parents on the topic
of gender, and the ‘powers that be’ on the
importance of the early years practitioner
for our children’s future.
For further
information:
Men in Childcare: Does it matter to
children, what do they say? (Stage 2)
The MITEY Charter
Gina Bale
Gina’s background was originally
ballet, but she has spent the last 27
years teaching movement and dance
in mainstream, early years and SEND
settings as well as dance schools.
Whilst teaching, Gina found the time to
create the ‘Hi-5’ dance programme to
run alongside the Australian Children’s
TV series and the Angelina Ballerina
Dance Academy for Hit Entertainment.
Her proudest achievement to date is her
baby Littlemagictrain. She created this
specifically to help children learn through
make-believe, music and movement.
One of the highlights has been seeing
Littlemagictrain delivered by Butlin’s
famous Redcoats with the gorgeous
‘Bonnie Bear’ on the Skyline stage.
Gina has qualifications of teaching
movement and dance from the Royal
Ballet School, Trinity College and Royal
Academy of Dance.
Email: gina@littlemagictrain.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/
gina-bale/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Littlemagictrain
36 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 37

Testimonials
These are just some of the wonderful things our customers have said
about us this month!
Congratulations
to all our Parenta learners!
“Wonderful team at Parenta, Clare and Richard are amazing. Easy set up of apprenticeships, always
there to help.”
Sarah Quarry (June 2023)
“I have always received excellent support and help from the Parenta staff to sort out every problem I
encounter. Thank you very much for your continued assistance, it is much appreciated!”
Brishing Barn (June 2023)
Congratulations to all our Parenta learners who completed their apprenticeship
and have now gained their qualifications.
These range from Childcare Level 2, Childcare Level 3 and Team Leading
to Level 3 and Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner – that’s a huge achievement in
the current climate.
All your hard work has paid off – well done from all of us here at Parenta Training!
“Parenta staff are always so pleasant to chat with, and very helpful. It was very nice to speak to
Charlotte today.“
Victoria Jerome (June 2023)
“Brilliant quick response with exactly what I needed to know. Thank you!”
Helen Gration - Founder of Yorkshire Montessori Nurseries Ltd. (June 2023)
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!
If you have a learner with us who has recently completed their apprenticeship, please send in
a picture to hello@parenta.com to be included in the magazine.
“Charlotte phoned today to introduce herself as my new advisor, she was so lovely and explained
what other things we can do with Parenta too.”
Treehouse Nursery (June 2023)
38 July 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | July 2023 39

We understand the constraints the sector is facing with
recruiting Level 3 staff.
Let us do all the hard work and help you find your perfect new
team member - what's more, our recruitment service is
FREE!
Did you know...
Our apprentice recruitment service is specifically designed to help you recruit
the right apprentice for your team.
If you are non-levy, you only pay a 5% contribution to the cost of the apprenticeship - and 16-18-yearolds
are 100% free!
Don’t delay – get in touch today – we’ll start the search right away!
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