Please share details of this fantastic family event:

We will be delivering a Maybo course aimed at those who may be working for the summer in an activity or holiday club.  Thursday 20th July – 9.30 to 4.30.  You can book here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/maybo-training-for-practitioners-in-summer-holiday-clubs-tickets-660999155267?aff=oddtdtcreator

Shining a Light of Creativity in the Early Years at The Link Gallery open to the general public until June 29th.

It was wonderful to see so many people from the Early Years community at the launch event for Shining a Light on Creativity on Tuesday 7th June at The Link Gallery.

With the sun out and light refreshments provided, it really was a special evening to celebrate the incredibly hard work of the teachers and practitioners from our dedicated sector. If you were there we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Shining a light on creativity is an opportunity to showcase and celebrate Expressive Arts and Design in Early Years.  The aim of the exhibition has been to capture and share the beauty of children’s creative and imaginative responses to the world around them, with a particular focus on Jersey – Our Beautiful Island.

Seeing Jersey through the lens of the child has encouraged us all to notice the small detail in our natural environment and the wildlife within it. We know children are naturally curious and will actively seek to understand the world around them. This exhibition shows the quality of what children can achieve within high quality early years provision. To accompany the exhibition a short film has been made by Little River Pictures this was previewed at the launch so many of you will have already seen it. For those of you who have not please see the link here

Julie McAllister Early Years Advisory Teachers says, ‘We are delighted with the response and commitment from our early years sector.  This exhibition highlights the importance of allowing children time to have first-hand experiences that help them to connect and enquire about the world in which they are growing up. Some of the exhibits include water colour painting, wax pastels, ink drawings, collage, clay and woodwork. The themes explore the history, heritage and natural beauty of our island.  We hope the many visitors to the exhibition will get as much enjoyment from it, as the children clearly have had in their experiences and work on display.

We would like to thank the many practitioners, teachers, friends and colleagues who have made this possible.  Also, a  huge thank you to Jersey Heritage who have provided The Link Gallery for the whole of June and our friends and colleagues at CEYS who have given their time generously to support the project.  Mostly we would like to thank the children for shining a spotlight on their creative interpretations of growing up in Jersey.

If you haven’t yet seen the exhibition please take a trip down to The Link Gallery and take your children with you. They will love it.

Children have the right to participate in arts and culture. Creative expression allows children to convey their thinking and communicate in a variety of ways, whether through music, movement, song or creating with media and materials. Creative thinking involves original responses, not just copying or imitating existing artworks.

Expressive arts and design in early years fosters imagination, critical thinking and experimentation and provides opportunities to improvise, collaborate and interact. The process of expressive arts and design in early years has also been captured in a short movie produced by Little River Pictures.  The movie will be screened in the gallery space providing further insight into the importance of allowing children time and space to explore their ideas through play and self-expression.

Rationale behind the exhibition was to raise awareness of the importance of creativity in the early years including being imaginative and expressive.

Recognising and providing children in their earliest years with the opportunities to sing, move, engage in imaginary play, and make and create, will support their cognitive, and communication and language development. In our everyday interactions with children, and planned activities, supportive adults can have a huge impact on early learning and development. Be that through engaging in pretend play, for example having a teddy tea party, singing nursery rhymes together, or using kitchen utensils; pots and pans to make music – these opportunities help children to make sense of the world around them.

Developing children’s resilience, perseverance and self-expression are key ingredients for active, lifelong learners.

‘Education for children’s futures requires  supporting children’s ability to learn and think for themselves

We cannot predict what challenges children will face in their unknown futures in a complex and rapidly changing world.  The best preparation we can give them in their early years is to encourage positive dispositions.  We do this by providing living experiences of making choices, innovating, taking responsibility, facing challenge, thinking flexibly and critically, and learning how to learn so that they will be able to respond to their unfolding futures.  Supporting children in the Characteristics of Effective Learning, a statutory element of the EYFS, is a central responsibility in early years provision.’ Birth to 5 Matters, non-statutory guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Linking the exhibition to the theme of Jersey has promoted early years settings to get out and about on trips and walks to further explore the beautiful environment and opportunities available in Jersey. Schools and settings have visited heritage sites, the zoo, beaches and woodlands as a stimulus for their art work. The creations at the exhibition celebrate not only children’s creativity but their skill in using sophisticated tools for the pieces they have created.

Baby Friendly Initiative Blog

Every parent wants to give their baby the best start in life and breastfeeding provides health benefits for infants that can last a lifetime as well as protecting the health of the breastfeeding mother.

The Government of Jersey is committed to improving the health of Islanders through public health policy and supports the implementation of the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) across both Health Visiting and Maternity services.

The Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) is an evidence-based programme developed by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation to enable public services to better support families with feeding, developing close, loving relationships and ensuring that all babies get the best possible start in life.

The Programme identifies clear requirements for the achievement of three separate stages with full BFI accreditation achieved at stage three; resulting in a sustainable breastfeeding service.

In Jersey, Health and Community Services (HCS) and Family Nursing and Home Care(FNHC) work collaboratively to provide specialist-feeding support to expectant and new mothers.

HCS are currently working towards stage 2 accreditation where focus is on staff training and enabling practitioners to support women with establishing early and effective feeding

Debbie McCoy, Specialist Infant Feeding Midwife facilitates this both in the community and hospital through regular training updates, staff audit and supporting parents with making an informed choice on feeding their baby and provides tools and tips to support feeding in the early days after their baby is born.

FNHC are currently working towards stage 3 of the accreditation, which measures performance from the perspective of service users through parental audit

Debra Hennessy, BFI Breastfeeding Specialist Health Visitor, leads the programme and providessupport to mothers and families until parents choose to end theirbreastfeeding journey.

If you would like to know more about breastfeeding, or access support, speak to your midwife or Health Visitor who will discuss feeding options with you during your antenatal contact and give you information that will enable you to get breastfeeding off to a good start.

Baby Steps is an perinatal parenting programme that includes all aspects of infant feeding to ensure you have the knowledge you need to make informed choices that meet the need of your individual circumstances.

After your baby is born, maternity staff in the hospital will be there to offer practical help and support from birth and until discharge into the care of the Health Visitors.

Your Health Visitor will then take over your care and provide support in the home or through Breastfeeding Buddies, which is, a Specialist Breastfeeding Clinic based at Pips Place in town.

Call the Duty Health Visitor 01534 449135 if you wish to access breastfeeding support or attend the Breastfeeding clinic.

Please find below some details of webinars we have booked with ERIC (Home – ERIC). There are four sessions of the initial ‘Healthy Bladder and Bowels’ course and one session of ‘Toileting for Young Children with Additional Needs’ – you will need to have undertaken the initial ‘Healthy Bladder and Bowels’ webinar before you undertake the additional needs one.

As they are webinars, if you find yourself unable to attend on the specific day and time, you will be sent a recording of the presentation to watch at a later time.  (Although you’ll miss out on the live question and answer sessions!).

All sessions are open to anyone working with young childrenin any kind of setting.  Please book your space via the Eventbrite link below and instructions for joining the webinar (via Zoom) will be sent to you directly from ERIC nearer the date.

ERIC – Young Children’s Healthy Bladder and Bowels  11thOctober at 13.00;   https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/629140154137

ERIC – Young Children’s Healthy Bladder and Bowels  1stNovember at 09.30; https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/629903246567

ERIC – Young Children’s Healthy Bladder and Bowels 22nd November at 17.00; https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/629905453167

ERIC – Young Children’s Healthy Bladder and Bowels 4thDecember at 09.30; https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/629906195387

ERIC – Toileting for Young Children with Additional Needs 6thDecember at 13.00; https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/629907388957