Jubilee event celebrating 60 years of caring for young children
Fri, 25 May 2012 13:37:00 BST
As part of the University’s Jubilee celebrations, the School of Education and Professional Development held an event to mark 60 years of early years practice. The event was held in July in the newly opened Early Years room in the Lockside building on the Queensgate campus.
As Samantha McMahon, Course Leader for the undergraduate Early Years Professional Status (EYPS) courses, explains, ‘We wanted to hold a special occasion for our students who have recently gained EYPS and to link that to the Jubilee. We are so proud of the students who offer holistic care and education in nurseries, pre-schools and the homes of child minders. We have arranged for some well-known speakers in early years, together with a display of practice now and 60 years ago in our specialist facilities here at the University. We are inviting our current and past students, mentors, partner early years settings and local authorities who have worked in partnership with us to build the excellent early years courses we now run at the University of Huddersfield, at Wakefield College and the University Campuses at Barnsley and Oldham.’
Speakers on the night included Joan Gough, who trained in 1952, who told everyone about the experiences she had as a nursery nurse in the 1950s, Julie Baker, Regional Development Co-ordinator with the Pre-school Learning Alliance and Anthony Lee, Training Manager, National Day Nurseries Association. The main speaker was Di Chilvers whose presentation was about the new Early Years Foundation Stage. Di was one of the National Strategies Regional Advisors for the Early Years Foundation Stage, which involved supporting local authorities in implementing the new stage and ensuring high quality provision and practice across the sectors and from birth to five. She made a strong case for a principled approach to the implementation of the revised Early Years Foundation Stage. Our strong tradition of pioneering practice down the years can be used to give current practice some firm foundations. She echoed Joan's key message from the 1950s that listening to children and observing their play is at the heart of effective practice and the revised Early Years Foundation Stage.
The event was held in the new early years room in the Lockside Building at the University, which was set up with specialist equipment for the early years foundation stage in September 2011. A series of photographs of the event, guests, speakers and new Early Years Professionals can be found on our Facebook page. The photos includes the displays our students brought of their work. These were provided by Lorna Millington (a Children's Centre practitioner from Calderdale), Gilly Milner (a Children's Centre practitioner from Barnsley), Rachael Stead and team (from a pre-school playgroup from Kirklees), Shaveta Sharma (a childminder based in Kirklees), Samantha Richmond (a private day nursery practitioner from Kirklees), Andrea Wyles (a pre-school playgroup practitioner from Calderdale) and Karen Senior (from a private day nursery, Kirklees).
