“Strive to make everyday the best day of your life, because there is no good reason not to.” Hal Elrod
As a result of the Hygge training undertaken, we have taken on board the basic principles of Hygge, despite having previously implemented small elements of the âHygeeâ idea and building our ethos upon the idea of creating a cosy, inviting and special environment for the children in our care, we felt as a result of the training and further investigation into the Hygge principles and how this can relate and be implemented into Early Years Settings, we made a conscious decision to plan and create our learning environment around these principles as we believe that creating these âspecial momentsâ and inviting, relaxing, cosy environments has incredible benefits on the children in our care in terms of their well-being, mood, behaviour and emotions.
As a setting, we have always tried to limit the amount of plastic on offer, but as a result of this training we decided to make even more of a conscious effort to do so; instead bringing in more loose parts, natural resources, soft furnishin...
Dottieâs Nursery and Dots and Tots areâ¨currently taking part in the Hygge in Earlyâ¨Years Accreditation to transform theirâ¨learning environments and practice. Look atâ¨this fabulous lunch time transformation!
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In Norway and Denmark mealtimes are seen as a time to comeâ¨together as a unit over some much-loved home-made food. Yet inâ¨England I often visit settings and schools where lunch time feelsâ¨rushed, noisy and a process rather than an event to celebrate in theâ¨day. Not only are young children often fussy eaters but they mightâ¨be worried about opening their yogurt, leaving the comfort of aâ¨familiar room or being with different staff who support lunch timeâ¨cover. When planning lunch times these factors need to beâ¨considered;â¨
Reading this from one of my Hygge in the Early Years Accredited students makes me feel so proud of their journey and all they've achieved.
Nurturing, supporting and allowing my students to flourish is what gives me a warm glow and makes me love my job even more!
"Starting my business back in December 2018 I was approached by a local authority officer who was supporting me with my ofsted registration. Sharon asked me âLaura Iâve never seen a provision like this before itâs wonderful what is your inspiration? What approach do you follow?â
I couldnât reply I didnât know myself, the only word I could give was âHyggeâ but back then I didnât truly understand the concept of hygge in the early years I just wanted to create an environment that brought the outdoors indoors, that was cosy and calming. A nature led approach that welcomed new children into my provision with a burst of light and opportunity.
It made me reflect and research, I wanted to be able to give my parents and OFSTED the...
Reflection is a huge part of Early Years practice â from
the beginning of our training journey we are encouraged
to evolve and develop our own professional identity, by
exploring practice, making mistakes, and learning how to
be more effective in our roles. This principle is something
that truly is at the heart of the Lullabies ethos, and we
have recently embarked on our own journey as a team.
Lullabies Nursery and Pre-School opened in 2016, in the
centre of Glenfield, Leicestershire. The old Georgian
building lends itself perfectly to a nursery environment and
we worked hard to keep some of the original features to
stay true to the character of the building. We have four
classrooms across two floors as well as 3 outdoor areas for
the children to access, including a forest school. As the
nursery enters its third year our nursery Proprietor, Emma
Platnauer and nursery Manager, Chelsie Shaw, were keen
to reflect on the nurseryâs journey so far, and our vision for
the fut...
Well hello there!
Many of you were be thinking about going back to work and how you can effectively support the transition into the school or setting for new children. So in this weeks blog I'm going to give you three ideas to try.
1. Create a Sense of Belonging
Here one of my fabulous members of the Hygge in Early Years Accreditation has reflected on ways she can create that sense of belonging during self registration. Look at these individual peg dolls that can be moved to show "I'm here!"
2. Why not recommend to parents reading this wonderful book 'A Kissing Hand for Chester Raccoon.' This is a beautiful story that's sure to help with separation anxiety. Can't wait to get your hands on the book? Head to this You Tube link (Turn the volume on mute) and read the book together.Â
3. Ask your children to bring in a family photo or drawing that you can display in a frame or on the wall.
4. Why not record a video of you and your team telling the children how excited you are to se...
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This week we have the fabulous Hollie (also known as Bags of Beans!) who will be giving us a wonderful insight into how she's created calm in her year 1 classroom. I'm sure you will see that there are many hygge elements to this as well!
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My obsession with classroom environments began when I first visited St Johnâs C of E Primary School. From the moment I walked in I was struck by the calm atmosphere and serenity it brought to their children. My colleague and I whispered to each other is disbelief âitâs just so calmâ. Upon walking back into my own classroom I was smacked in the face with bright colours and loud noises! Everything felt over stimulating and busy by comparison; as if there were balls of high energy bouncing around the walls! From then onwards I was hooked into finding ways of calming my classroom and moulding the environment to generate the same serene feeling Iâd experienced at St Johnâs.
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I began with the lights! First of all, I wanted to reduce the lighti...
I feel very fortunate to do the job that I do; work with a range of early educators and support them in their reflections to move practice forward. Itâs great to see the transformation a setting has had after working so hard on areas of their practice.
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Today I had the chance to visit one of the wonderful local nurseries Iâve been working with for the last year. This was a chance to hear and see the progress theyâve made in not only their ethos but how this has translated into their learning environment.
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Emma is an inspirational leader who also leads with a love-based leadership style. Making sure she invests time in getting to know each member of her team and giving them opportunities to lead in areas that are their strength. At the same time, she also understands the importance of supporting staff and has a clear system in place for professional development. Over the last year the team have worked hard on creating a shared and consistent ethos across the three rooms of th...
Developing Cultural Capital in the Early Years
We are incredibly lucky to have a guest blog this week from Chloe Grey (AKA Miss Grey and Play).
Chloe studied her early years PGCE in Leeds and has since taught in Reception, Year 1 and Nursery in a range of schools. She has also worked as a nanny and spent time in schools in Australia and New Zealand including Montessori Settings. Chloe is currently studying for my Masters in Education and teaching in a school Nursery.
What is cultural capital?
Cultural capital is a term coined by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. He discussed âfieldâ as being like the cultural environment and âhabitusâ as being the skills and attributes we possess relating to these cultural norms and values. This has been applied to education with the idea that some children would have had more culturally diverse experiences that may put them at an advantage. Ofsted have used the term in the new inspection framework e.g.âCultural capital is the essential knowled...