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All about …devising your own curriculum - Nursery World

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Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Sep 8

What is your curriculum? Could you define it to a friend, a colleague, @ofstednews.bsky.social inspector?
Going through this process doesn't have to be complicated, provides excellent CPD focused on a cohort and helps in inspections: @profveritycb.bsky.social www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

Where should a setting start when creating a unique curriculum? Hannah Crown speaks to some who have done it to ask why they took the step, and how they did it

Outdoor learning scheme helps disadvantaged pupils experience nature - CYP Now

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Aug 9

When did #nature become uncool? Scheme aiming to tackle #adolescent #mentalhealth, learning disengagement and #climate finds being seen to act environmentally is a challenge for teenagers. We must build this love from the #earlyyears
My piece for #CYPNow www.cypnow.co.uk/content/best...

Thanks to funding from the Ernest Cook Trust, disadvantaged groups of students are able to undertake a residential visit that helps them become more connected with the natural world.

Child criminal exploitation project makes an impact - CYP Now

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Jul 15

An eye opening project using #theatre to drive home messages on #CCE. from @peelxo.bsky.social and Challenge Academy for #CYPNow magazine. www.cypnow.co.uk/content/best...

Programme combines drama, workshops and team-building to help children identify the warning signs of grooming, knife crime and criminal exploitation.

All about… family hubs - Nursery World

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Jul 7

Govt's new and significant £500m investment in 'family hubs' means the remaining 65 or so councils which don't have them now will 'by April 2026', and 1000 total by 2028. (At its peak in 2010, Sure Start received £1.8 billion a year funding 3,600 centres.) www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

With Children’s Centres having declined by a third since their peak of 3,600,Hannah Crown asks to what extent the new family hubs build on the legacy of Sure Start

Face-to-face professional development Part 1: Starting a new 'Early Years Conversation' - Nursery World

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Jul 1

How to apply the findings of #research #toolkits such as those from the @theeef.bsky.social to #EY practice? @juliangrenier.bsky.social has written a short series for @nurseryworld.bsky.social based on experiences in Building Blocks nursery, Tottenham: lnkd.in/ebF8rzHV lnkd.in/ePPiNZyN

How one nursery used a research trial to help children's communication. By Julian Grenier, senior content and engagement manager, EEF

A fantastic event for young book fans and their families - Nursery World

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Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Jul 1

A good read from a great range of international experts

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Jun 25

My son and I had fab day of #storytelling @ Barneskidslitfest
using nursery rhyme rap from @MrMCGrammar
#clay from @aardman and sensory storytelling from Vanessa Woolf @ londondreamtime nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat... @nurseryworld.bsky.social

Hannah Crown reports back from a day spent at the 2025 Barnes Children’s Literature Festival with her four-year-old son and explains why she is now inspired to ‘tear up the story time rule book at hom...

nurseryworld.co.uk

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Jun 16

More #earlyyears settings are investing in personalised training - #learningjournals for staff - to overcome the difficulties of getting staff out of ratio for CPD. #fennies and #littlebarnowls tell @nurseryworld.bsky.social in detail how it works www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

Training Today: How to create and keep your leaders - Nursery World

Find out how two nursery groups are using mentors and innovative learning approaches to help develop individuals in their teams. By Hannah Crown

Training Today: Working with babies to provide close, secure relationships - Nursery World

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Jun 12

#babies #schoolreadiness - As @danwuori.bsky.social said at @literacy-trust.bsky.social conf: "We want children to come to kindergarten age five ready to learn, as if learning doesn't take place before. But learning begins in the womb." My piece for @nurseryworld.bsky.social shorturl.at/io9y2

How can settings equip staff with the skills they need to fulfil the essential and highly skilled role of being a baby room practitioner? By Hannah Crown

Reform councillors aged 19 and 22 in charge of children’s and adult services at local authority

Reposted by Hannah Crown

Thomas Penny @thomaswpenny.bsky.social · Jun 10

Good grief.
Adult Social Care in Leicestershire now being run by a 22-year-old who doesn't believe depression is real...
And a 19-year-old student is in charge of the £200M children's services budget.
new.basw.co.uk/about-social...

Social workers raise questions over clash of values and lack of experience of new lead members at Leicestershire County Council

new.basw.co.uk

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Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Jun 11

Delighted to win a @basw-uk.bsky.social award last night for my piece for #CYPNow on the barriers to diversity in #socialwork - why are there only 11 directors of children's services from #BAME backgrounds despite 26% of social workers being from these backgrounds? www.cypnow.co.uk/content/feat...

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Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Jun 10

#Earlyyears research doesn't have to be complicated - one #EY practitioner used a simple research #toolkit to develop a project to ask children how they played in their garden, and used their responses to redesign the space to make it more meaningful for them www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/prac...

Research: How a new toolkit can help practitioners develop their own small-scale projects - Nursery World

How can early years educators use their own research in their practice? Frances Giampapa has developed a ‘Researchful Practice Toolkit’

Training Today: Finding direction through new qualifications pathways - Nursery World

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Jun 10

Confused about how T levels, apprenticeships and college courses intersect? Myself and #NCFE #Cache have devised a Level 2 to 6 guide in the annual Training Today supplement with ratio and english/maths changes explained @nurseryworld.bsky.social shorturl.at/wTfFh

Hannah Crown and NCFE CACHE provide a guide to early years qualifications, outlining current qualifications levels and key recent changes

How predictability helps children make sense of the world - Nursery World

Reposted by Hannah Crown

Nursery World @nurseryworld.bsky.social · May 30

Why babies like playing peek-a-boo?
'This is where predictability comes into play; psychologists often refer to children's brains as ‘prediction machines’, which are constantly making predictions and testing whether they are correct.' Read more here...
www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat...

Latest research confirms that a secure and consistent foundation for healthy development sets the stage for growth and learning. By Lisa Ann Peters, Anna Gawthorpe, Dr Gemma Goldenberg and Professor ...

@nurseryworld.bsky.social

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Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · May 19

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · May 19

100 years of #NurseryWorld was depicted at the #nwbigdayout2025 last Friday through an exhibition of more than 80 covers - a fascinating glimpse into social change, the evolution of childcare and depictions of child and parenthood. Was a pleasure to curate this #NWarchivewoman

First-time mothers find support in baby boxes - CYP Now

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · May 19

My piece on a simple yet effective #Babybox project from the children's foundation up in the north east - shouldn't this be rolled out nationwide? @childrenscomm.bsky.social www.cypnow.co.uk/content/prac...

Essential resources help vulnerable first-time mothers give children the best start in life, while building parents’ confidence and saving them money

Michael Pettavel: Finding common ground - Nursery World

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · May 7

Labour's nurseries in schools policy "does not appreciate that schools are not experts in early years education and care; it could be argued that they do not prioritise it highly enough" www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news...

The maintained and PVI sectors need to come together to fight the negative policies being imposed on the whole of the early years

Trump takes aim at city and state climate laws in executive order

Reposted by Hannah Crown

Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · Apr 10

This is truly terrible.
If Trump’s destruction of the environment were given even a fraction of the media airtime that his destruction of the global economy is, the world might be a safer place for all of us

President orders justice department to stop enforcement of critical policies holding fossil fuel companies accountable

www.theguardian.com

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Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Apr 11

What will be the impact of the impact of the school-based nursery policy on PVI providers, including those with settings on school grounds? An understandably upset @eyalliance.bsky.social is FOIing the #DfE to find out www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news...

Investigation launched amid concerns PVI providers are being pushed out by school-based nurseries - Nursery World

The Early Years Alliance has filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Department for Education (DfE) to uncover the impact of the Government’s school-based nursery policy on PVI providers.

Government's school readiness pledge 'at risk' as half of councils cut family services - CYP Now

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Apr 9

We now spend less than a quarter of the £2.5bn that was spent annually on children’s centres in 2010, despite benefits for children's health, wellbeing and attainment. My piece for #CYPNow #SureStart www.cypnow.co.uk/content/news...

Half of councils have cut spending on family hubs in the last year, decimating services and risking the government’s ability to meet its pledges on school readiness and opportunity, a thinktank is war...

Spatial reasoning, part 4: Working out how things fit together - Nursery World

Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Apr 3

Part 4 draws our superb series on #spatialreasoning to a close. Find age and stage ideas on composition and decomposition - fitting shapes together and taking them apart www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/feat... #Nurseryworld thanks to @ekfarran.bsky.social and the team

Construction and jigsaw puzzles involve children in fitting shapes together, or into gaps. As they do this, they learn about shape properties, estimate size and develop rotation skills, say Dr. Cather...

Education secretary calls for more male teaching staff to promote positive role models - Nursery World

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Hannah Crown @hannah-crown.bsky.social · Apr 3

You aren't going to get more men in #childcare until you raise the pay, which means more Government funding. Early education is low paid and undervalued because has traditionally been women's work. www.nurseryworld.co.uk/content/news...

The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, will today call for more men to teach in early years settings and schools.