Quality matters to all children. But it matters especially for disadvantaged children. So, it’s important for every early years setting to have a plan to improve quality and to support any children who might be in danger of falling behind the majority. Since the revised Development Matters was published for early adopter schools in September 2020, there have been several video discussions (vlogs) and blogs about the new guidance. Hear from Julian Grenier with representatives from Ofsted and the Department for Education: If you're coming to Coles by car, why not take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at Sainsbury's Pioneer Square - just follow the signs for Pioneer Square as you drive into Bicester and park in the multi-storey car park above the supermarket. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. You don't need to shop in Sainsbury's to get the free parking! Where to Find Us Why should we start here? Well, because if we get assessment practice right then many of the other pieces of the effective practice jigsaw will fall into place. The Department for Education explainsthat ‘Children are defined as having reached a Good Level of Development (GLD) at the end of the EYFS if they have achieved the expected level for the ELGs in the prime areas of learning and the specific areas of mathematics and literacy. This helps teachers and parents to understand broadly what a child can do in relation to national expectations.’

This list is not exhaustive and could be added to by your staff team and used as a way of monitoring the quality of interactions in your setting. It is important to know the quality of these interactions as it is the quality that makes a difference to the progress children make. We know this from the EPPE research. Following interestsIt is important to note that we can’t compare the statistics for the Good Level of Development (GLD) in the summer of 2022, because the DFE revised the EYFS Statutory Framework in 2020. Passionate Headteacher | Early Years Specialist | Wellbeing and Mental Health Champion | Lead Facilitator for Anti-Racist School Culture Transformation | Primary and Secondary Experienced | Proud father Peter Fonagy, CEO of the Anna Freud Centre, comments on a systematic review on the impact of childhood verbal abuse by adults Only 49.1% of children eligible for free school meals achieved the GLD, compared to 68.8% of those not known to be eligible for free school meals. That’s a whopping 19.6 percentage point gap. In the early years, you are often in a position where you are feeding children. How do you cope when you have a fussy or anxious eater?

The revised EYFS (2021) has put a much greater emphasis on the curriculum, with its more detailed Educational Programmes outlining the sorts of experiences and activities which we should offer to children.I chose Chapter 2 by Professor Eunice Lumsden: A curriculum that promotes equality and challenges racism and sexism, for the education team here to discuss. The document also questions whether the EYFS encourages good practice. According to Pugh.G et al (2010:105) “we need to focus the curriculum on what is important for the children, the things that they need to be doing at this stage of their development”. By looking at the research and practice the most important things are Being Social, Being Positive, Being a Communicator, Being Creative and Being Healthy and Safe (ECM:2003). By introducing reading and writing at an early stage it could be argued that it can lead to complications later on and also delaying phonic work, therefore the EYFS recommends that practitioners use their professional judgement with introducing phonics. On the other hand the authors are claiming that children who come from a less stimulating disadvantaged environment ‘waste an entire year’ falling further behind their middle class peers in learning (e.g reading), whose parents generally know better than to delay reading instruction. This is not entirely true, Gaunte (2010) clarifies that “Parents with the support of the wider family, are children’s primary educators. What parents do at home with young children has the most impact on all aspects of their development – social, emotional, intellectual and physical”. The EPPE Project (Sylva et al, 2004: Chapter 4) identified the importance of a form of interaction between children and adults, that they call ‘sustained shared thinking’ in promoting children’s learning and development which is now as part of the EYFS. On the other hand working in partnership with parents is essential as it helps all children to achieve their full potential. As stated in The Times (2008), “The EYFS is about responding to the individuality of each child, in the context of loving and secure relationships and creating a stimulating and enabling environment that will promote age – appropriate experiences for learning and development”. Furthermore, Nurse A.D (2007:73) states that “Children can be said to prefer to learn through the enactive mode as their ability to represent images and use symbols is less well developed”. In this Bruner agreed with Piaget that active, first – hand experiences are an appropriate way to present new knowledge to young children. The EYFS recognises the importance of the wider environment both in working in partnership with parents and the ethos of the EYFS, providing equality of care and education for all. Research has shown that good quality early education and care has wide – ranging benefits for all children. Being provided across nurseries, reception classes, pre – schools, children’s centres and childminders, it enhances social and cognitive skills and is of particular benefit to disadvantaged children (N.A: 2010). However other curriculums have also the quality input that the EYFS has, for example the High Scope Curriculum, Montessori etc. It could be argued that children who have an intellectually and physically stimulating environment will maintain a more complex network of synapses in the brain (Bee: 1997). These biological changes in nature can have implications for practice, the EYFS however has a variety of suitable activities planned for those at different ages and stages of development. This is a prime example of how ‘nurture can influence nature.