Good quality early years care and education puts children ahead at school

Over 300 Herefordshire professionals who work with 0-5 year olds were the first to learn of new ground-breaking research on the effectiveness of pre-school and primary education at an early years conference in Hereford last week.

Organised by Herefordshire Council, childminders, nursery staff, teachers and pre-school workers, together with staff from health and children’s services packed the Courtyard Theatre’s auditorium to explore different ways of captivating children in exciting activities to stimulate learning and development.

The conference opened with Oxford University Professor, Kathy Sylva who announced new findings from an exciting research project which has been tracking 3,000 children across the country since they were three years old.  The Herefordshire audience was the first to hear of the research’s latest findings.

The project into effective pre-school and primary education (EPPE project), has already identified that children who receive a pre-school education perform better in their key stage one tests than those who don’t receive a pre-school education.  

The children being studied are now ten years old and new research findings have just revealed that the advantage gained from pre-school experience in the early years continues at the age of ten, but only if the pre-school is of high quality with experienced and well qualified staff.

Following on from this announcement, early years consultant, Ros Bayley illustrated the importance of good quality provision using puppets, pictures, toys and lots of humour, to show how creative storytelling can be used to stimulate a child’s development.

Sue Peasgood, Herefordshire Council’s Early Years Adviser, said: “We felt immensely privileged that Kathy Sylva chose Hereford to announce the latest finding in the national research project.  It confirms the need for the council to carry on helping to raise the quality of services, and justifies our commitment to continuing professional development.

Councillor Don Rule, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “Herefordshire early years has an excellent and growing reputation nationally and as a result, we have been able to attract national key note speakers. 

“I had a wonderful day and was impressed by the quality and calibre of both speakers.  Working with very young children is challenging but incredibly rewarding and I loved the way everyone rolled their sleeves up and entered into the spirit of learning.

“I was delighted to see so many of our early years workers having fun with puppets and story sacks.  It’s important to celebrate all the excellent work our childcare providers do with very young children, and important to learn about new ideas and trends in pre-school education.

“I would like to thank the early years team who worked so hard to put this excellent conference together.”