Spring has truly arrived, bringing sunshine, wind and showers.
Our April issue covers all the learning opportunities, indoors and outdoors, that this exciting month presents. Check out our brand new ‘Early Years With Little Means’ series featuring ideas for upcycling and upcycling your own resources and don’t forget to dive into our regular outdoor calendar – filled with creative ideas for natural play. It includes a look at that perennial favorite, puddles!

Best practice features:

• The keys to the outdoors – making it easier for children to get in and out is one of the most important keys to maximizing outdoor learning. Jan White provides advice and ideas.
• All about… observing children’s progress. Di Chilvers suggests practical ways to approach this without resorting to checklists or excessive data.
• Inclusion – find out how Nursery World Award-winning Footprints for Learning deploys its staff and provides “detailed and accurate care planning” to ensure that every child thrives in their environment.
• Essential Resources – the connecting patterns by which children join, connect or thread objects are not only about fine motor skills, but also about forming relationships. Nicole Weinstein suggests resources to support this.
• Health and nutrition – With concerns growing over the long-term impact of successive lockdowns on children’s physical development, Meredith Jones Russell looks at what can be done to address this.
• Eat Well – The Partnership for Early Childhood Nutrition has tips for talking to children about food and their bodies in positive ways.
• Nurturing spaces – how children with additional needs are cared for in a South London setting in a dedicated education space, which includes a sensory classroom.
• Men in Early Childhood – Despite well-documented problems with attracting men into early childhood roles, barriers persist. Mark Moloney provides an update on why this is happening and what more can be done.

Activities
This month’s We Explored project provides a biology lesson for children when they have the opportunity to dissect fish. In Education for Sustainability, Diane Boyd takes a timely look at how we help children understand right from wrong and introduce themes of peace and justice. The SEND support describes activities to increase and decrease body alertness. It’s time to embrace the wild, wet and windy April by tapping into Julie Mountain’s creative ideas in her outdoor calendar. Plus a brand new “First Years With Little Means” series with a whole host of thrifty ideas for open resources.

Online seminar
Join Christie & Co with a panel of nursery owners and managers to discuss current market trends.

Special report
Ideas for outdoor gear and resources that can give kids the risk and challenge they’ve been missing out on for the past two years due to Covid.

Management

• Business Challenges – the new series kicks off by examining how to manage cash flow and financial planning in the face of uncertainty regarding staffing, occupancy and financing.
• Anti-Racist Leadership – Liz Pemberton concludes her series with practical advice on how to embed an anti-racist culture and ensure all staff and children feel like they belong. Plus management buyouts explained by the Childcare Counsel.
• Manager’s Issue Page – what to do when parental feedback and engagement isn’t up to snuff.

To analyse
The nursery sector reacted strongly to the conflict in Ukraine. Catherine Gaunt finds out what communities and individual groups are doing to support refugees, children and families still in the country – through fundraising, donations and even shelter. Meanwhile, expert Tamsin Grimmer describes appropriate ways to allay children’s fears and talk to them about war.

Attach

Start collecting our A2 series The People Who Help Us. April’s poster covers the people who help us in an emergency.