April 25th 2019
Physical and cognitive development in the Early Years
I was exceptionally excited to introduce Professor Pat Preedy to a group of Nursery, Pre-School and Pre-Prep Heads last month. I have been lucky enough to hear her speak on several occasions. The last of which being at the beginning of the year at Blenheim Palace at the launch of her book Early Childhood Redefined. It was a magnificent venue which inspired high level thought and meaningful conversation about the Early Years curriculum.
Professor Preedy's passion for developing a high quality provision is inspirational. We all devoured the opportunity to listen about the importance of providing children with purposeful play, opportunities for movement and exercise and the necessity of giving children time to enjoy our full attention. Communication, partnerships and learning together were all themes that we discussed to support us in our quest for providing a strong foundation for learning for the children we have in our settings. We considered the impact of modern life; screen time, diet and sugar, how we transport our children and communicate, all of which are having an impact on our children’s physical development and in turn, the development of firm foundations within the Early Years.
We had 14 different Nurseries and Pre Schools attending from the surrounding area and feedback from the event has been excellent. We are looking forward to hosting a similar conference next year.
Nikki Hartley, Head of Pre-Prep
