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Dear <<First Name>>
 The Cinderella sector has been in the news this month. On 24-5-22, the Scotsman reported that the current state of the 1140 hours nursery expansion is ‘not without its challenges!’ This heralded a meeting next day of the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee, of which the Herald reported some highlights on 25-5-22 and STV on 29-6-22.
It’s well worth watching the video recording of the ECYP meeting because a COSLA representative admits that the potential for inequitable funding between LA and PVI settings was ‘factored in’ from the beginning. Let’s hope his admission finally leads to some action on what's become a scandalous situation. Over 1400 childminders have been lost over the last five years, the difference between wages in public and private settings can be as much as £10,000 a year, and several interviewees stressed that the sector as a whole is not sustainable unless the unequal funding situation is sorted out.
 Another important issue, so far not covered by the press, was pointed out by a representative of the government’s Improvement Service. Apparently, no data has been collected to prove whether the expansion is achieving its intention: ‘We don’t report on items related to the attainment gap,’ he said. This links to our latest Upstart blog – Rabbit, Data and the Attainment Gap – published on 27-5-22. There is apparently no relevant data collected on child development by the National Improvement Framework either, despite the fact that the attainment gap is a root a developmental gap. Upstart suggests a way forward.
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COVID NEWS ROUND-UP
On 17-5-22, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in England launched a report on COVID’s impact on children’s socioemotional wellbeing and attainment in the reception year. A summary of its contents later appeared in the TES. Cheeringly, the academics who prepared the report recommended that ‘a holistic approach to educational recovery is taken, and a package of measures is made available to schools to support children in all areas of development, including socioemotional wellbeing and physical development, to ensure they have the strongest foundation that will help them reach their full potential.’
 Covid was mentioned as a contributory factor in a report on concern among Scottish secondary teachers about children’s behaviour in the Herald. It reiterated a warning from EIS that there has been a notable rise in ‘incidents of aggression and stress’ in P1 and P2 classes. We hope any Scottish policy-makers responding to this report also spotted a new research study about COVID recovery by Professor Helen Dodd, who spoke at our Book Group 6 meeting. She prescribes adventurous play to promote mental health and long term resilience. For today’s under-sevens active, social, outdoor play has never been more important.
As the Harvard Centre for the Developing Child points out in a new research review, mental health begins in early childhood. For children who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (and these have increased considerably during the pandemic), a relationship-centred, play-based kindergarten stage (3-7) is the best possible supportive environment for long-term recovery.
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DONT FORGET THE AGM!
 Our AGM on 18-6-22 will be an opportunity to learn more about the impact of Covid - please join us. Unfortunately, Dr Debby Wason is unable to appear but we shall instead be welcoming Dr Megan Watson of Public Health Scotland who is responsible for the day to day management of the CEYRIS research (Covid-19 Early Years Resilience and Impact Survey).
PAPERS FOR THE BUSINESS SECTION OF THE AGM ARE NOW
AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE.
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The National Conversation Begins...
 It's been another exhausting term, not least because of constant staff absences and the rise in developmental problems for children who’ve lived most of their lives during a pandemic, but in spite of all the challenges at the moment, there's much to celebrate in Scottish early years. On 13-5-22, Upstart kicked off the UK Early Education Annual Conference with a round-up of our nation’s achievements.
There’s also the promise of a national conversation on ‘Putting Learners at the Centre’ by the Muir Report (see Newsletter 78). On 18-5-22 Aberdeen University  launched this with a half-day online conference and it seems the Scottish Learning Festival will be continuing the discussion in September. It’s great to see the Realising the Ambition badge featuring on the publicity. And compare that SLF poster with the sort of thing advertised in a forthcoming English conference: ‘Implementation of the EYFS - impact on early literacy and numeracy, ensuring children are reception-ready, supporting children with additional needs, and raising attainment levels’.
‘Reception-ready’ – ugh! It’s good to be in Scotland.
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Free online events
Recordings made available in the last few weeks
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More News, Views, Etc.
 There's a real-life event (in Glasgow) on 11-6-22 - a social gathering at the Children's Wood inviting discussion on Well-Being in an Age of Adversity'. It's organised by Postcards from Scotland and participants include Carol Craig and Sue Palmer.
Research summary on the effects of the pandemic on school leaders (which seem the same as the effects of EY leaders), covering:
Increased workload and dealing with unpredictable circumstances
Toll on leaders’ physical and mental health
Adapting leadership to new ways of working
Characteristics needed: resilience, calm, facilitating mutual support of stakeholders
Widening of attainment gap
Importance of family/community engagement
Changes in practice towards ‘distributed leadership'.
 There wasn't much press attention to the Scottish government's having to redraft plans for the incorporation of UNCRC due to queries from Westminster, but Grampian Online was an honourable exception.
Sue Palmer had a piece in the TES (Scotland) about the culturally-embedded top-down nature of educational policy.
We enjoyed this blog on co-regulation from Famly magazine.
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
This illustration and quote was posted on Facebook a couple of days ago by 'Dance With Me In the Heart', at a New Zealand web address. Like Scotland, New Zealand has been trapped by history and tradition into an early start on formal learning. (Incidentally, the phrase 'children at school' should really be 'formal learning' because the Netherlands also starts state education at five, but their first couple of years have a kindergarten ethos.)
Onwards and upwards!
The Upstart teamUpstart Scotland is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SC047775).
Its principal contact address is The Old Police Station, Isleornsay, Isle of Skye, IV43 8QR.
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7-6-22 1 p.m. Research from Queen Margaret University on 
