Anybody else finding it strange being at work today? It is usually a Bank Holiday here in England, a replacement for the Whit Monday which we used to celebrate many centuries ago. This year though, because of the Queens Platinum Jubilee, today has been cancelled. But it has been moved to Thursday, and then Friday we have any extra day to celebrate. A long weekend will be nice, but we guess we’re not the only ones trying to squeeze 5 days’ work into 3 days.
Today we thought we would have a round-up of events that have been happening in our sector recently:
- Ratios – We had a blog post here where we explained our concerns about the government considering changing ratios to cut the number of staff that are required under the EYFS to care for children in nurseries, as a way of saving parents money on childcare, amid the cost-of-living crisis. Apparently, the Minister for Children and Families has gone off on a fact-finding mission around Europe. I don’t think he will like what he finds! In that children spend longer in nurseries and go to school older than 4 and 1 day; that the ratios may be different, but nursery staff are looked at as vital to a child’s development. Everyone involved in early years will still have very fresh memories as to how they were expected to work during the pandemic to support key workers, and yet were not treated as key worked themselves.
- Awards – The Children & Young People Now Awards are open until 24th June. You can find out more here.
- An online platform has been launched to offer children and young people awaiting mental health support self-care strategies, to manage their wellbeing before their first session. However, this is only in the pilot stage, with 30 young people trialing it from the central north London area. Hopefully this will prove to be invaluable and will be cascaded throughout the country.
