Posted by Dawn Heaps on Thursday, November 21, 2013,
I am absolutely seething at the comments made by Fiona Bruce (Conservative) at Tuesday’s Commons Debate on Child Care
- http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2013-11-19a.1120.0&s=speaker%3A24941+section%3Adebate#g1129.5 .
Why am I so angry, well here are just some of her comments and my thoughts about them:
‘The Government’s child minder agency initiative is an excellent step, not least because it will mean that families will have a local resource that they can access to find a...
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Posted by Dawn Heaps on Saturday, July 20, 2013,
Hi all,
Whilst we are all thankful that we seem to be getting a warm summer this year, the current high temperatures do mean we have to be extra careful and aware of safety in the sun.
At Little Rays we take the safety and well being of the children very seriously, as such we are implementing our summer safety policy with advice taken from
http://www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/EmergencyResponse/ExtremeWeatherEventsAndNaturalDisasters/Heatwaves/heatwaves_teachers/What this means for your child is:
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Posted by Dawn Heaps on Tuesday, July 9, 2013,
Oh what a day we have had today!! The sun was shining brightly but the smiles shone even brighter as we experienced the magic of being up close to the animals.
The lion enclosure was especially magical today as the pride had just been fed when we arrived so the children got to see them eating and playing together. The cubs were very playful, jumping on each other and their mothers. The children were thrilled when the pride moved and came alongside the car, enabling them to really see the lion...
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Posted by Dawn Heaps on Thursday, June 6, 2013,
After months of battling the current government's plans to increase ratios as a means of lowering costs, they have finally accepted that the proposed changes were not the solution to childcare costs and have dropped the planned changes. A huge congratulations to all professionals, parents and organisations that stood firm against the governments plans and forced them to reconsider.
Unfortunately the change of heart with the ratios does not address completely the governments ill considered plan...
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Posted by Dawn Heaps on Saturday, May 18, 2013,
Just wanted to share something that happened the other day when I sat back and did nothing.... the children I thought played separately from each other surprised me when they played co-operatively, creating a wonderful game that had them both laughing that belly laugh that makes you laugh along with them.
It wasn't a normal day as I had a horrible headache and the wonderful sunny weather I had planned for had once again disappeared. With the need to sit quietly yet still wanting the children t...
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Posted by Dawn Heaps on Saturday, April 6, 2013,
Just wanted to share with you all the wonderful experience I had on the Woodlands School Training run by the Active Living team at Haigh Hall. Doug and his team were fantastic and had structured a really interesting and informative training session.
We spent the whole day outside, including our lunch, making our own plates from willow and heating our own water for our drinks. From team building games to bug hunting, den making to clay modeling, the whole day gave inspiration and information th...
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Posted by Dawn Heaps on Thursday, February 21, 2013,
The current government recently released their proposals to improve childcare and reduce costs to parents in 'More Great Childcare'. Although the principals behind these proposals are honourable, the actual means by which the government plan to implement them are highly flawed and do not appear to be fit for purpose.
The plan to increase the ratios of childcare staff to children, by allowing more children to staff as long as they can demonstrate a certain level of qualification, does not provi...
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