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Two reports from England about nursery education really resonated with Upstart this month:
This second piece casually mentions that – of £1.7 billion granted by the Westminster government for educational recovery – a mere 0.6% is available to early years!
If, as the Scottish government has repeatedly said, we want this country to be the best place in the world to grow up, it’s time to put clear blue water between our Parliament and Westminster on early years policy. On 31-5-21, the Herald reported a call to reform Scottish educational bodies. The emphasis is, of course, on the secondary school exams, but – with encouragement – MSPs could also train the spotlight on early years. For the youngest children, this would involve listening to specialists in public health, perinatal care and early child development. For three- to six-year olds it would require a review of CfE’s early level, led by specialists in early childhood education and care.
As our May blog by Alan Sinclair clearly points out, Scotland’s educational establishment doesn’t consider ‘pre-school’ experience relevant to educational outcomes. Education needs guidance from government.
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PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!
T hanks to everyone who helped us to celebrate Upstart’s fifth birthday, including Tam Baillie, who made us a cake and Bryony Date, who sent a beautiful card! But the best present anyone could give Upstart (and it's never too late!) would be to write to your MSPs requesting a review of the CfE early level, led by early years specialists.
If you haven't already done so, please find time... By now all MSPs (including the newly-elected ones) should have a copy of Play is the Way and we need as many as possible to take a look at it. You can find your MSPs’ addresses here, and a template letter can be downloaded from the website. PLEASE WRITE!
You may want to contact Scotland’s new Education Secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville, and our new Minister for Children and Young People, Clare Haughey, with the same urgent request. Unfortunately, neither seems to have had any experience of early years so they really need to read Play is the Way!
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THE POWER OF PLAY
‘Twenty-six more studies point to more play for young children’ says one headline this month. How many more studies and headlines will it take before people realise how we damage our children by under-estimating the power of this essential biological drive? Upstart has been highlighting research on the importance of early childhood play for five years now ... and we'll carry on doing it till Scottish culture changes!
The illustrations to this item are from our Book Group 6 - well worth a look. It's also worth checking out our current blog, Learning from five-year-olds in Sweden by Susan Axelsson. It's a brilliant evocation of the power of play in a Swedish kindergarten.
Among other evidence that came our way this month is an article from STV reminding parents of the beneficial effects of children’s outdoor play, and one in the Guardian showing how rainy weather can make it even more fun. The wonderful Puddle Patter series of webinars from Cameron Sprague of Stramash featured a fascinating interview with outdoor play expert Kathryn Solly (really worth seeing) and the Famly website published a good piece on fantasy and pretend play.
Yet still far too many under-sevens spend most of their leisure time cooped up staring at screens … Maybe the pandemic is helping to change attitudes a little, as this article about Edinburgh Steiner School suggests, but there's still a very long way to go...
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THE BATTLE FOR FUNDED DEFERRAL
The Give Them Time campaign has continued to catalogue the distress of parents battling for funded deferral of their four-year-old children's school entry in the handful of local authorities that still ignore such evidence-based pleas. Given the last government’s promise that, in 2023, all parental requests for funded deferral will be granted by law, it's been difficult to understand how these few councils can justify their bureaucratic stand (see, for instance this report from Aberdeenshire)..
However, in Edinburgh (which has a dreadful record on the deferral front), Councillor Mary Campbell of the Scottish Greens tabled a motion to end the iniquity of this postcode lottery. Give Them TIme organised an email campaign (thank you, everyone who joined in!) and on 27th May, the motion was passed. Hooray!
We hope this has sent out a message to local government officials in all remaining guilty councils that there is no justification for overriding parents’ wishes, especially in the light of growing evidence that a too-early start at school can undermine children’s lifelong well-being and learning. Until we achieve a genuine relationship-centred, play-based kindergarten stage, all deferral requests should be honoured, along with funding for an extra year in nursery.
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EARLY YEARS: DO THE MATHS!
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NEWS, VIEWS AND RESOURCES
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Thanks to Alison Hawkins for alerting us to this quotation from Margaret McMillan's book, 'The Nursery School', first published in 1919. All the great early years authorities of the past have recommended seven as the most appropriate age to start formal education. WHEN WILL EDUCATIONISTS AND POLITICIANS FINALLY START LISTENING TO EARLY YEARS SPECIALISTS?
Onwards and upwards!
The Upstart team
Upstart 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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