Yesterday there was a frenzy of discussion on the radio and television around the high cost of childcare, following publication of a report by Save the Children and the Day Care Truststating that the costs of childcare were leaving many families in debt.  I spoke to Phil Watts on Radio 5 Live, along with Neil Leitch, head of the Pre-School Learning Alliance and fended off the usual questions about how could childcare be so expensive and surely we were all making a fortune at the expense of hard-up parents. Both Neil and I were quick to point out that many nurseries either barely break even, or in the most disadvantaged areas where the PLA operate nurseries, many are subsidised by other fund raising activities.

We all recognise that childcare fees are a huge cost for parents, but in the UK, where the Government does not see Early Years care as a high priority, parents have to pay the majority of fees. As a nursery provider, we see about 70p in every pound paid by parents go directly out on salaries, so with the running costs of the buildings rising for us, as for every household, the scope to be financially viable is ever more challenging. Yes, in some areas nurseries can charge a premium and have waiting lists for places, but it is far more common for a lot of nurseries to be working hard to increase occupancy and reduce costs, whilst paying staff a fair wage.

There are many things that could be done to help reduce the cost of childcare, including a review of business rates for nursery buildings, which are currently charged in the same bracket as retail premises. Nursery businesses still pay VAT on new builds, whereas school premises don’t. Employer childcare vouchers have been reduced to only cover lower rate tax payers, leaving the ‘squeezed middle’ who may be paying a large percentage of salary on childcare fees wtihout any help. Tax credits have been reduced, which certainly hurts those on the lowest incomes.  All in all, it is a bleak picture out there, with many parents considering whether it is worth going back to work at all.

The report published yesterday calls for the Government to ensure a minimum of 80% childcare costs are covered under Universal Credit up to current weekly limits and that over time this be increased to 100%.  We all know that in the current economic climate there are limited funds to go round, but if we want to support parents in returning to work and keeping their heads above water financially until their children go to school, we will have to think hard as a society about how we can do this.

To read the full report, visit www.daycaretrust.org.uk

I am really delighted to have a guest blog from Julie Meighan, all about the importance (and fun) of drama in the early years sector:

Storytelling with Early Years

The following are some pointers you should use when story telling to young children the first thing that a teacher/educator should do is identify the children’s interest. Identify the children’s interest. Examples of topics that children maybe interest are animals, stories where children their age are heroes’ stories about things children like to do, getting dirty, playing with an adult around, trying something new for the first time, etc.

Another question that often comes to light especially with new teachers is “where do I find good and appropriate stories for young children?” The stories can be from your head that you have remembered from childhood or have  made up. The stories can be from picture books particularly useful if trying to encouraging reading.  Libraries have many collections of folktales often compiled in easy format books, or adaptable to your needs. Stories that deal with families are also often very effective.

There are some key elements that you must engage with to make story time successful. You must know and like your story, know and like your audience and make sure the story and audience match each other. Another important point is that you must be flexible.

The next important step is you must learn to tell  a story. First you must learn the bare bones plot (3 pigs left home and each built a house: one of sticks, one of straw, one of bricks. A wolf came and blew down the straw and stick houses. He tried to get into the brick house but got boiled when he went down the chimney into a pot of water. The End; a fox made a crow drop some cheese by flattering her into opening her mouth to sing. The End. Etc.)  Practice it and tell it to yourself while driving. You should tape it and listen to it and if you want look at yourself in the mirror while practising so you can see your facial expression and body language.

You must make the stories  exciting and fun. The following are the tools of the teller:

• Voice
• Body
• Face
• Imagination

Voice
A good voice exercise is to write some sentences on a blackboard, and have each person say them in different situations. For instance, say “I want a cup of coffee” as though you were tired, happy, angry, disgusted, humiliated, etc. Then change this to an entire situation: you are in your boss’s office and he has just fired you. Let them choose the emotion and the voice.

Body language
Have two people hold up a sheet, and two more stand behind it, the sheet covering their torsos and upper legs. Whisper an emotion into their ears, and then say “go.” Have the students point out what made them know which emotions they were imitating. This is called cultural knowledge. We know when people are angry, sad, excited, etc. We don’t always know why we know, but we do know. So do children in fact, they are sometimes quicker to pick this up because they need it for living by adult rules. So be careful with your face and body language; the children are reading it.

Imagination
There are many old theatre games that work well here. One I like is the Magic Box – an imaginary box that goes around the circle, each person pulling out and using an object until everyone has guessed what it is. This involves the next tool: cooperation. Someone will choose something complex , and no one will be able to guess. Then we have to cooperate with the audience, help them, give them clues. It is our responsibility, not theirs, to provide the communication needed to make the link to our thoughts.

Remember: you’re not just telling stories; you’re teaching them to be an audience

• Intersperse with rhymes, fingerplays, prop stories
• Sing
• Keep stories short

Some examples of good storytelling activities are as follows:

Game: Pop-up Story Book

 

• Age: 3 years +
• Minimum number of participants: 2
• Resources needed: Clear space, a story book.
• Other Benefits: This is an excellent listening game that can be played with any number of children. It helps them to engage in the storytelling process.
• Instructions: The teacher chooses a story to read that the children are familiar with. Each child is given a word. For example if the teacher was reading ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’, child A is given the word Goldilocks, child B, baby, child C, porridge, child D, bed and so on. When each child has been given a word the game can begin. All the children lie on the floor. When the child hears his/her word s/he must jump up. If they miss their turn they are out and can’t pop-up anymore.

Participation/movement stories

Game: The Hungry Tree

 

• Age: 5+
• Minimum number of participants: 3
• Resources needed: Clear space.
• Other Benefits: This is an excellent introduction to improvisation as the children are free to explore their imaginations. It also helps with their co-ordination skills.
• Instructions: The teacher tells the children the following story and they have to improvise the movements in the story. The teacher gets the children to imagine they are an adventurer who wants to go on an adventure. They have to pack up their bags. The teacher asks what they need in the bags. Children’s answers are usually for example water, sandwiches, sun cream, and sunglasses and so on. The children mime putting all these essentials into their bag and then mime all the actions in the adventure below. The teacher says imagine you are walking quickly because you are so happy to be on your adventure. You see a mountain and decide you should climb it. The sun is getting hotter and hotter and you are getting tired. You get very, very tired. You wipe your brow to show how tired you are. You begin to climb slower and slower. You are very thirsty. You take out your water and take a drink. You put it back in your bag and climb the rest of the way up  the mountain. Eventually you get to the top. You are exhausted, very hot and very hungry. You decide it is time for your picnic. You see a lovely tree and you go and sit under its shade. You eat your picnic and go for a nap. Then suddenly you wake up and see the tree moving towards you. The tree grabs you and you realise it is a very hungry tree and wants to eat you. You scream. You struggle. You fight the branches but you are getting weaker and weaker. Then suddenly the tree stops fighting for a moment. You get your chance to escape. You quickly grab your bag, and run back down the mountain. You get to the end and you don’t stop in case the hungry tree is running after you. You run all the way home, lock all the doors and hide under the table.

 

Some advice on how to keep the children focused while storytelling.

Magic Glue  This is a basic scenario: “Okay, now everybody is standing up, right? Here we go. Pick your right leg up with your hands. Now stick it to the floor with the magic (or imaginary) glue. Push it down hard. Wiggle it around. Is it stuck? Oops, that one’s not stuck; better try again. Everybody stuck? Good, now the left leg. Okay, can you move your feet off the floor? Try.” All sorts of contortions as you show them your feet are stuck. “Okay, now let’s run with our feet stuck to the floor!” If you do it, they will do it.

If you wish to read more ideas about the different dram games that can be used with young children in early years settings and primary school, please go to Drama Start  and enter the coupon JG87H and you will receive a copy of the book for  a special price of  €1-50. Alternatively you can buy the kindle version of the book form amazon.co.uk or amazon.com

Julie Meighan is a lecturer in Drama in Education at the Cork Institute of Technology. She has taught Drama to all age groups and levels. She is the author of “Drama Start”.

 

Last week’s NDNA conference included a fantastic line up of speakers, who provided some thought provoking sessions on a variety of issues. I particularly enjoyed hearing from Catherine Prisk of Play England, who’s session entitled ‘The benefits of risk in play opportunities in the Early Years’ might have struck a note of fear into many practitioners’ (and parents’) minds. Over recent decades we have gradually tried to eliminate risk from the lives of our children, thinking that we are doing the best for them. Of course, no one wants their child to have an accident and be seriously hurt, but surely we all remember a time when we were children when we were hurt. We recovered and we became more resosurceful.

Play England champions the right of children to learn to manage risk, rather than to have that taken from them, usually for an adult to tell them what they can and can’t do. As an organisation they also support parents and early years professionals, to help them to ensure that children can have opportunities to test themselves, feel fear, find solutions, to gain mastery.

I loved a quote from a child, who when asked what ‘play’ was, said,

‘Play is what I do when you stop telling me what to do’.  Out of the mouths of babes, and all that…..

So, I am not advocating that we let the little ones do whatever they want, but we will be working hard on developing our resources (often outside) to allow them to set themselves challenges and learn to master them. At our Faringdon nursery we have a climbing wall, which is hugely popular with the pre-school children, who start off tentatively edging along it, then build up confidence til they can pick their way along it with ease. At Filkins Nursery we have a fairly new firepit, which the out of school club love for toasting marshmallows over and generally poking with sticks. We will be looking at giving our younger children a taste of this, carefully overlaid with rules of fire, respect for flames and a sense of rightful danger.

The biggest challenge? Well, as always, us adults, not the children! We need to communicate what we are doing and why to our parents, to make sure they understand how we are managing the risks and how we are helping the children to learn to do that for themselves. Right, time to go and climb a tree………

www.playengland.org.uk

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