Ruth Lue-Quee is joined by Anna Speke for a final episode, to focus on how to overcome challenges when collaborating with others. The episode highlights common challenges faced when collaborating in the early years and how to navigate differences in professional opinions. Anna and Ruth round of the episode - and this series ā by highlighting the role of leadership in collaboration and managing disagreements among team members. Practitioners will learn tips that can help them communicate and coll...
Dec 26, 2024ā¢16 minā¢Season 6Ep. 16
In this episode, host Ruth Lue-Quee is joined by Anna Speke to discuss understanding and working with external agencies for SEN support. Ruth and Anna discuss the services available and what SEN children may require help with. The discussion can help practitioners navigate the referral process and establish best practice with external agencies, to foster collaboration. Anna also explains how nasen, the charity she works for, can support educators and children. š To shop for resources relevant t...
Dec 19, 2024ā¢17 minā¢Season 6Ep. 15
Ruth Lue-Quee is joined again by Anna Speke, to discuss building relationships with parents and carers to support SEN pupils. Anna introduces early years and inclusion, before explaining how to involve parents and carers, rather than just inform them. Anna and Ruth then discuss strategies for effective communication, including forging good relationships at the point of meeting of meeting a parent or carer ā an example is simply calling them by their preferred name in front of their child. Practi...
Dec 12, 2024ā¢17 minā¢Season 6Ep. 14
Ruth Lue-Quee is joined by Anna Speke, Early Years Education Officer at nasen, to discuss how to collaborate with different groups of people in order to support SEN pupils. In this first episode, Anna explains that everybody plays a role in supporting SEN children and she explains how to collaborate effectively for positive outcomes. Anna shares valuable insights for practitioners working with children with SEN, discussing effective communication and boundaries in teams. This episode ultimately ...
Dec 05, 2024ā¢16 minā¢Season 6Ep. 13
Ruth Lue-Quee is joined by Shardi Vaziri for a final episode, to focus on a clutter-free and visually calming environment. The episode highlights the importance a tidy environment can have on childrenās behaviour, helping them not to become distracted by a messy workspace, or being overwhelmed by not knowing where equipment is. Shardi shares insights into how to look at a classroom with fresh eyes and offering practitioners tips to making the small changes that could make a big difference to chi...
Nov 28, 2024ā¢17 minā¢Season 6Ep. 12
In this episode, host Ruth Lue-Quee is joined by Shardi Vaziri to discuss building strategies to create an inclusive outdoor environment. Shardi discusses the difference between indoor and outdoor learning, citing the need to consider the skills that need to be developed in each setting. Ruth and Shardi discuss the development of gross motor skills within an outdoor setting, as well as considering the area like a classroom with defined areas and equipment. The conversation touches on the change ...
Nov 21, 2024ā¢16 minā¢Season 6Ep. 11
Ruth Lue-Quee is joined again by Shardi Vaziri, to discuss building strategies to create an inclusive indoor environment. Shardi highlights how designing an accessible classroom helps with childrenās independence and supports their overall learning journey. The conversation highlights the need for practitioners to be mindful of how children approach and interact with as space, citing the need for clear labelling of classroom equipment, so the essentials are easy to find independent of an adult. ...
Nov 14, 2024ā¢19 minā¢Season 6Ep. 10
Ruth Lue-Quee is joined by Shardi Vaziri, an Early Years specialist, writer, and consultant, to discuss the importance of creating inclusive environments within the Early Years. Shardi explains the different types of Early Years settings and how to create inclusive spaces to support children in their learning and development, particularly those who may not yet be at age related expectations. Shardi shares valuable insights for practitioners working with children with SEN, discussing how importan...
Nov 07, 2024ā¢22 minā¢Season 6Ep. 9
Ruth Lue-Quee is joined by Helen Battelley for a final episode, to explore the concept of the "third teacher" and its impact on children's development. The episode highlights how the environment, often considered the "third teacher", plays an important role in fostering physical, emotional, and cognitive development in young children. Helen shares insights into how educators can create rich, inclusive, and play-based environments that allow children to develop confidence, physical skills, and cr...
Oct 31, 2024ā¢21 minā¢Season 6Ep. 8
In this episode, host Ruth Lue-Quee is joined by Helen Battelley to discuss the eight senses. Expanding beyond the traditional five senses - Helen introduces the vestibular, proprioceptive, and interoceptive systems, and their crucial roles in children's physical, social, and emotional development. Practitioners are encouraged to incorporate a variety of movement activities into their settings to hone the three additional senses, helping children to develop body awareness, spatial navigation, an...
Oct 24, 2024ā¢23 minā¢Season 6Ep. 7
Ruth Lue-Quee is joined again by Helen Battelley, to discuss the key role practitioners play in supporting children's movement and growth. Helen highlights how educatorsā behaviours and attitudes can directly influence children's development, as young children tend to mirror the adults around them. She emphasises the need for practitioners to be mindful of their actions and language, ensuring they create positive and encouraging environments for children to thrive physically and emotionally. Hel...
Oct 17, 2024ā¢19 minā¢Season 6Ep. 6
Ruth Lue-Quee is joined by Helen Battelley, expert in early childhood physical development, to discuss the critical role of reflexes and their impact on development. Helen explains the difference between primitive and postural reflexes, and how delays can affect childrenās physical and emotional development. They highlight how early years practitioners can identify these delays and support children through targeted activities like tactile play and gross motor exercises. Helen also shares valuabl...
Oct 10, 2024ā¢14 minā¢Season 6Ep. 5
In this episode, Ruth Lue-Quee and Andre Imich discuss whether the Early Years sector is adequately equipped to support children with SEN. They highlight that the volume of children needing attention often surpasses the available support, particularly in areas like speech and language therapy. While there is strong ambition to improve, the sector still faces challenges with providing the right level of support and ensuring consistency, especially with the increasing use of agency staff. Ruth and...
Oct 03, 2024ā¢23 minā¢Season 6Ep. 4
In this episode, Ruth Lue-Quee and Andre Imich delve into the complexities of supporting children with multiple types of SEN in the early years. They explain that most children with SEN have more than one need, such as a child with hearing impairment also facing speech and language challenges. Understanding these co-occurring needs is essential, as conditions like autism can involve a range of issues that require specific interventions. Ruth and Andre offer practical strategies for practitioners...
Sep 26, 2024ā¢14 minā¢Season 6Ep. 3
Host Ruth Lue-Quee is joined again by SEN expert Andre Imich as they discuss identifying SEN needs in Early Years. In this episode, they explore how to balance developmental expectations with a childās individual needs, and the benefits of adapting the curriculum to support them better. Ruth and Andre share practical tips for identifying SEN, such as paying attention to how children communicate non-verbally, how they play, and their behaviour. They stress the importance of working closely with p...
Sep 19, 2024ā¢23 minā¢Season 6Ep. 2
Ruth Lue-Quee kicks off this new series with expert guest AndrƩ Imich, as they dive into the complexities of Special Education Needs in the Early Years. With over a decade of experience as the SEN and Disability Professional Adviser for the DfE, Andre brings a wealth of knowledge on identifying and supporting children with SEN. Ruth and Andre discuss what SEN truly means in an Early Years context, address common misconceptions, and the challenges settings face with the rise in SEN needs over the...
Sep 12, 2024ā¢17 minā¢Season 6Ep. 1
In this episode, Alistair Bryce-Clegg is joined by Ruth Swailes, award-winning Early Years specialist, to discuss the transition from Early Years education. They emphasise the importance of maintaining familiarity for children, suggesting that Year 1 should retain elements of the foundation stage, such as having an art area for children who enjoyed art in foundation. Ruth and Alistair advocate for viewing transitions as a process rather than a one-time event, recognising that abrupt changes can ...
Aug 29, 2024ā¢25 minā¢Season 5Ep. 20
In this episode, Alistair Bryce-Clegg is joined again by Ruth Swailes, award-winning Early Years specialist, to discuss school readiness and its implications in Early Years education. They shift the focus from children being ready for school to schools being ready for children, emphasising the unique needs of each child. Ruth and Alistair challenge the conventional notion of readiness, which often ties it to compliance and discipline rather than effective learning, especially for neurodiverse ch...
Aug 22, 2024ā¢22 minā¢Season 5Ep. 19
In this episode, Alistair Bryce-Clegg is joined once again by Ruth Swailes, award-winning Early Years specialist, to discuss building skills in the Early Years curriculum. They emphasise that skill development stems from quality continuous provision and offer tips for crafting a curriculum tailored to specific school settings. Ruth and Alistair delve into the essential areas for practitioners to consider when building curriculum, from questions about your individual staff and children, to the im...
Aug 15, 2024ā¢23 minā¢Season 5Ep. 18
In this episode, Alistair Bryce-Clegg is joined by Ruth Swailes, award-winning Early Years specialist, to discuss the current landscape of the Early Years curriculum. They explore what an Early Years curriculum entails, a term that often intimidates practitioners. Ruth and Alistair address the pressures of top-down mandates and emphasise the importance of creating curriculums tailored to the individual needs of children. They highlight the flexibility required to adapt to various settings and ad...
Aug 08, 2024ā¢19 minā¢Season 5Ep. 17
In this episode, Alistair Bryce-Clegg and Ben Kingston-Hughes discuss the transformative power of play for vulnerable children. They highlight how play genuinely changes lives, and is essential for childrenās growth and development into resilient adults. They focus on strategies for engaging vulnerable children in play, suggesting providing half-built play materials to spark creativity and help children feel more comfortable and supported. The role of adults is emphasised in giving children the ...
Aug 01, 2024ā¢20 minā¢Season 5Ep. 16
In this episode, Alistair Bryce-Clegg and Ben Kingston-Hughes dive into the importance of humour in play and its vital social function. They discuss how humour requires a lot of imagination and creativity, making it a powerful tool for engaging children and enhancing learning. Alistair and Ben highlight how humour in play encourages pro-social behaviour, even if what children find funny seems silly to adults. With a more creative and relaxed environment created by humour, childrenās wellbeing an...
Jul 25, 2024ā¢21 minā¢Season 5Ep. 15
Alistair Bryce-Clegg is joined once again by Ben Kingston-Hughes to explore the essential role of physical play in childrenās development. Outdoor play is highlighted for its unique benefits, including fostering independence and allowing for safe risk-taking. Additionally, they discuss how physical play can actually benefit childrenās mental health into adulthood. Alistair and Ben delve further into the crucial skills children develop through physical play, such as spatial awareness and improved...
Jul 18, 2024ā¢21 minā¢Season 5Ep. 14
Alistair Bryce-Clegg is joined by Ben Kingston-Hughes, international keynote speaker, author and multi award-winning trainer. In this episode, they discuss the transformative power of imaginative play, and its role in building confidence, fostering creativity and shaping future problem-solvers. They highlight how encouraging children to use items unconventionally becomes a critical part of childrenās development. They also stress the role of adults in facilitating rather than directing play, all...
Jul 11, 2024ā¢22 minā¢Season 5Ep. 13
Alistair Bryce-Clegg, Julie Pearson & Richard Knight return for a final episode to summarise their discussion so far on transitions. This time they bring it all together with the topic of emotional intelligence. They emphasise the idea that parents also struggle with transitions, for example moving to a new school after building trust at another. Strategies for supporting parents through these transitions are discussed, such as a ādrip feedā approach, slowly building a relationship with pare...
Jul 04, 2024ā¢26 minā¢Season 5Ep. 12
In this episode of the TTS Talking Early Years podcast, Alistair Bryce-Clegg continues the conversation around transitions with Richard Knight and Julie Pearson. They delve into how to approach difficult transitions and bigger life events with children. Whether itās answering questions about death, or simply acknowledging the fact that itās okay to feel sad. They also explore the importance of letting educators and key people know when a big transition has happened, accounting for a childās chan...
Jun 27, 2024ā¢22 minā¢Season 5Ep. 11
Alistair Bryce-Clegg is joined once again by Julie Pearson and Richard Knight from the Early Years Alliance. In this episode, they cover some of the bigger changes children tend to experience, and what practitioners can do to support them through these. They emphasise the importance of making transitions exciting, whether thatās through using the right language, or making a new space as unthreatening and attractive as you can. They discuss using transitional objects to help too, such as a cuddly...
Jun 20, 2024ā¢20 minā¢Season 5Ep. 10
Alistair Bryce-Clegg is joined by Julie Pearson and Richard Knight from the Early Years Alliance. In this episode, they discuss the topic of supporting children through everyday changes. The conversation covers examples of smaller, horizontal transitions that happen throughout a childās day. Whether itās transitioning in and out of play, or something as simple as being picked up and carried somewhere different ā effective smaller transitions work as a blueprint for bigger transitions later on in...
Jun 13, 2024ā¢23 minā¢Season 5Ep. 9
Alistair Bryce-Clegg and Dr Steph Ainsworth return for a final episode covering their discussion so far on teacher resilience and work/life balance. Alistair and Steph look at the broader policy context of what we can do to help teacher resilience. They discuss the idea of a more flexible curriculum, where teachers have more autonomy within their role. Adopting a child-centered approach is also broached. They wrap up the topic by emphasising the importance of a culture of resilience, and reinfor...
May 16, 2024ā¢23 minā¢Season 5Ep. 8
In this episode of the TTS Talking Early Years podcast, Alistair Bryce-Clegg continues the conversation around teacher resilience in the Early Years with Dr Steph Ainsworth, an education researcher and teacher educator. Steph and Alistair delve into ways resilience can be boosted by working on solutions collaboratively as a team. Whether itās leadership giving recognition to staff, conducting regular staff check-in meetings, or honing emotional intelligence within a team ā working together is a ...
May 16, 2024ā¢25 minā¢Season 5Ep. 7
