Talking Early Years: In conversation with Professor Sam Wass
We’ve Got It the Wrong Way Round I’ve just finished recording a podcast with Professor Sam Wass, and I’m still buzzing. He is Director of the Institute for the…
LEYF News and CEO Blog
Read the latest news and updates from our CEO and the wider LEYF team.
Why Social Enterprises Must Lead the Future of Childcare — And the Wider Social Care Economy
The Government’s Best Start strategy signals an intention to look again at Early Years business models and examine whether they can truly deliver for disadvantaged communities. It is a welcome…
Wearing a red coat to a blue Conference
I went to the Conservative Conference because I was invited to speak at a couple of Fringe events. Having done a day and a half at the…
A fine Scottish trinity: Islands, Carnochan and Mr Gove
It was a brave move when Isabel Dunn, recently retired chair of the Scottish Preschool Playgroup Association (SPPA) asked me if I would give this year’s keynote…
Conference talk: more courage and less cliché for two-year-old childcare please
The Conference season is upon us, and so the launch of ideas for manifestos rain down upon our ears. Clichés and soundbites abound as the Party Leaders…
Who was Margaret Horn? Yep, just another modest woman quietly getting on with it…
Every year on 15 November, we hold our Margaret Horn Lecture to celebrate Social Enterprise Day. This year I want to focus on the issues facing women…
Don’t look at me, look at my hands.
Job descriptions for leaders and managers always stipulate a need to communicate. And as a CEO, I am expected to be able to talk to many different…
Get off the diet kicks and learn to eat, serve and advise on nutritionally sound food.
Admit it, you’re either going on a diet, thinking about a diet or have just given up a diet and busy trying to accept your muffin top or your beer…
A LEYF approach to Men in Childcare: not quite as quick as saying Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Not so long ago, David Stevens, Manager of the Angel Nursery, which for a while had 4 male staff out of a team of five,…
Olympic legacy should begin with the Early Years and leave politics on the side-lines
I must admit that I was slightly worried about the Olympics. Not quite a naysayer but wary all…
Parent engagement: research tells us to avoid being a shrinking violet.
At the recent summer NDNA conference,…
Camp beds, James Bond and Pandemonium: the Olympics have arrived.
I was going to blog about babies and business which hit the headlines last week – namely how the newly appointed pregnant CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer will not take…
The Angels’ Share: a film that turns whiskey into a political metaphor. Drink Up!
When the weather is raining and grey, I often like to go to see a film in the afternoon. It beats drinking tea in front of the box, watching the…
Having a customer conversation with Tesco
The influence of the modern supermarket on our daily lives is remarkably powerful. We take the big five for granted, rarely questioning their hold on how we shop, eat and…