This week saw the publishing of a report that has certainly attracted a lot of media debate, as it claims that children who are cared for at nursery do significantly better when it comes to social skills and making the transition into school, than those who are cared for by grandparents.  All very interesting…..perhaps it should be no surprise that co-existing with other children in a group setting should make it easier to move into formal schooling, or that nursery staff are part of an organised structure which mirrors the school environment to some extent.

However, it is important to note that children who are cared for by grandparents do tend to have better speech development, largely due to the amount of one-to-one attention they get and the fact that some grandparents will replace activity with conversation.  This is an area that we should be working harder at within nursery settings and it is encouraging that the new Early Years Foundation Stage places such emphasis on children having a Key Person, who forms a special relationship with them and is undoubtedly one of the main influences on language development.

However, I have to say, that as a working mum I was always delighted to rely on my parents to provide childcare and they were a great support, helping out when nursery was not available or when minor ailments prevented the children from going. Parents face so many choices these days, I do feel it is important not to judge whatever a family decides works for them. Whether grandparents are the solution, or nurseries, or a mixture of both, reports like these at least give us the opportunity to see how we can make the best of whichever option we choose.

For more information on this report see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/10/grandparents-childcare-pre-school?dm_i=2MN,L2D,5SBSA,14TS,1

I always think that a failsafe test of whether you are getting old or not is when you look out of the window and see the world covered in a blanket of snow. ‘Oh no, what a pain…..’ means you are definitely officially old. ‘Yippee, we can go and play in the snow!’ means that whatever your actual years, you are officially young at heart! This week has brought major inconvenience to many people and our staff have all done really well at battling into the nurseries and everywhere has continued to provide service as usual. The biggest problem has been the schools closing, which obviously has an impact on our staff team, many of whom have their own children. I certainly had a day of calls and e-mails lined up on Monday, when I got a call from school asking if I could pick my 2 up, as they were closing at 1pm.  Suffice it to say, most of that work got done much later the same evening, but I have to confess I did enjoy a good snowball fight with most of the children in the village during the afternoon. Perhaps I’m not quite over the hill yet……!

Our new EYFS curriculum within the nursery has really moved us away from ‘topic based planning’, towards being much more reflective and reacting to what the children want to do on a daily/hourly basis. This weather has been a fantastic resource for learning about weather, the cold, how ice and snow form, how heat melts the snow and so much more. We have loved getting our wellies on this week, getting outside and learning through some really vivid play.  I predict a rash of snowmen pictures, painted snowflakes and other seasonal art works over the next week - so much better than learning from a book or tv programme.  I hope you manage to snatch a few minutes to enjoy the snow with your little ones, in between worries about de-icing the car and what state the roads are in.