In this podcast with Prue Leith, we discover that Prue’s approach to life is summed up by her autobiography, “I'd Try Anything Once” and the more she talks the more you believe it! From posh white girl in South Africa to judge on Bake Off, food dominates Prue’s career. Her passion is undimmed as is her patience with the stupidity of politicians. She provides an entertaining but thoughtful summary of her efforts to put small children's health and access to food right at the centre of modern politics. We might even end up with a Masterchef for Nursery cuisine.

Listen to Prue’s stimulating take on what we should do!

“I see myself as the Benjamin Button of Education” In conversation with Dr Ger Graus.

The power of play is recognised within the Early Years sector as essential to children’s development. Playing is a child’s right and is our main teaching tool. As Friedrich Froebel said so eloquently back in 1837, “Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul.”

Yet today, we are limiting children’s opportunity for play more and more. I still hear people’s stories of how children as young as three are told to ‘Finish your work and then you can go and play’ or ‘you are behind with your work, so you miss playtime’.

My podcast guest is Dr Ger Graus OBE who was the first director of KidZania, which went on to be one the fastest growing global educational entertainment brands, with 28 locations around the world. I first met him in 2016 when I visited KidZania to see how we could adapt the experiences for children aged three and four. We were defeated by the safeguarding implications of letting children have the freedom to explore without adult supervision.

For Ger, Early Years is not a place to drop off a child for a few hours to get a reprieve for parental responsibility but a place of education and care, with staff doing their best to educate children. A child is everyone’s responsibility! He argues that our job is to create an education which helps children navigate the technological revolution. To do that, Ger is keen that we agree what 10 experiences every four-year-old should have.
What do you think?

According to Barnardos, it is estimated that there are up to 310,000 children every year with a parent in prison in England and Wales. And for those children, this can lead to poor physical and mental health and significant trauma, especially as some of them will have witnessed some of the criminal activity or even the arrest of their parent. It is not unheard that no one collects a child from school because they have been convicted at a court hearing earlier in the day. Can you imagine the impact on a child?

These conversations led to an introduction to Andy Keen-Downs, CEO of PACT. He described the125 year-old children’s charity within the prison service as a well-kept secret! In this podcast he tells us more about PACT and the National Prisoners Helpline 0808 808 2003 which provides lots of support and information for families and had 30,000 calls over the past 12 months: Prisoners' Families Helpline (prisonersfamilies.org). There is some support for older children and professionals: For children | Prison Advice and Care Trust and For professionals | Prison Advice and Care Trust but this podcast is all about what we can do in the Early Years to help. Here is a taster statistic that will make you think!

Six out of 10 boys with a father in prison will follow their father into prison, and they're more likely to go to prison than to go to university.

One of the LEYF managers recounted a story that sadly supported this statistic. She remembered one of the children aged 4 announcing that her Dad was in jail and when she grew up she would go to jail too. She said:

“I will be a burglar because I am very good at creeping around and climbing”

At LEYF we have now developed a pack for the Early Years sector in collaboration with PACT to help people respond when they know or suspect that a child’s parent may be in prison. It is such a sensitive situation requiring deep levels of compassion to navigate because people remain very ashamed of the situation. We know that when families are able to support the prisoner , reoffending drops by 39%, which is significant for the children living in those families. Our job is to remember that we must never write off children of prisoners and reject the expression of ‘the apple doesn't fall far from the tree’.

Every child has promise and if you believe this and you want system change then listen to the podcast!