Talking Early Years with June O'Sullivan

Why is child poverty not on the agenda? It’s a horrible situation that doesn’t just affect the child but the wider society. In this podcast I am discussing the issue with Katherine Hill who is the Strategic Project Lead for the London Child Poverty Alliance.  

Whilst filming on-set with her newborn son, Charlotte Riley became very aware of how the lack of childcare was detrimental to the careers of so many women and men working in the film industry. She soon recognised that the kind efforts to support her bringing her baby on set could work for the lead actor but it was not an option for the hundreds of others who form the essential production team – without which no film or programme could ever be produced.Listen to June chat with Charlotte about how her mission to improve childcare provision for the UK film industry has been a catalyst for deeper conversations on breast-feeding, menopause and ageism .

Time to Put Empathy at the Heart of PedagogyJune got to know Helen Garnett when she met her at an Empathy Lab event and was enthralled by her description of the word ‘empathy’. It was a light-bulb moment.  June soon realised that both children and adults were not born with a given level of empathy. On the contrary. It is developed throughout each of our lives and is a vital skill. Furthermore. empathetic behaviour doesn’t just happen – it is caught within a loving and nurturing environment.Listen to their discussion,  see if you can answer the question what can we do to increase empathy?

It was when June was talking at a conference about community engagement where she met Professor Norma Raynes.  She is a lively, impassioned speaker who asked the question – why do we exclude the old from nurseries and school? Does their experience, knowledge and understanding count for nothing? She told of the organisation she founded to address this very pertinent issue. The organisation is, of course, FromGeneration2Generation. Enjoy and connect! 

 Leslee Udwin is a film maker and founder of the organisation Think Equal. She is on a mission to achieve a global system change In Early Childhood Education through social and emotional learning based on empathy, equality and inclusion. In this podcast Leslee talks passionately about her journey and her remarkable energy to persuade everyone to understand how social and emotional learning from the earliest age has a huge benefit on the long-term behaviour attitudes and values of young people across the world. 

We all agree that child obesity is a complex issue and addressing it can seem overwhelming. Therefore, partnering and learning from others is crucial. June's conversation with Sonia Pombo,  ranges from discussion on salt "the silent killer", salt in hot chocolate, subtle ways to reduce salt and the importance of an Early Years chef to be trained.  As a parent, nutritionist and working parent Sonia provides a very interesting overview as what we can do in nursery to support parents and challenge the food myths, fads, snacking, confusing packaging and the ethics of the food industry that can overwhelm us. https://leyf.org.uk/podcast-action-on-salt

 It was a chance conversation with Jim Blakemore that led to the beginning of what has now become a strong relationship between LEYF and Bikeworks and has encouraged two wider conversations between the two organsiations. Have a listen to June in conversation with the two founders of Bikeworks, Jim Blakemore and Zoe Portlock as they discuss the growth of Bikeworks, their response to COVID-19 and why access to bikes and cycling for children and families can help people build their inner confidence. https://leyf.org.uk/podcast-bikeworks

Gill and June became friends under the most usual circumstances. June was very fed up with Ofsted and the attitude they had towards the Early Years sector. Gill was appointed the Director of Early Years and she listened. She heard what the sector was saying and has been listening ever since.Have a listen to Gill talk about her fourteen years at Ofsted, her passion for music and how she thinks the Early Years will continue to thrive. https://leyf.org.uk/podcast-gill-jones/

Children's mental health: In conversation with Kate SilvertonMum to two young children, journalist and children's mental health advocate, Kate Silverton shares her ground-breaking new approach to parenting under-fives that helps to make family life so much easier with her best-selling book: There’s No Such Thing as ‘Naughty’. Listen to the podcast and enjoy a conversation which also asks if we know so much about supporting children to become emotionally literate, why are so many Government policies rejecting all this research? https://leyf.org.uk/podcast-kate-silverton/ 

The Importance of Storytelling : In Conversation with Trisha Lee from Make Believe ArtsTrisha is passionate about Gussin-Paley but she is even more passionate about the rationale for storytelling and why its so important. She rails against the schoolification which squeezes out storytelling in favour of learning the structure of writing so now children can tell you what an adverb is but are writing in a way that will never be listened to.  Listen to Trisha talk about storytelling as oral stories, poems, formal books and audio books. She reminds us that Gussin Paley read books like Charlotte’s Web to four-years-olds. She sees children able to understand much more complex ideas through stories. Because of COVID-19, she has recorded stories and poems with music to share with people on her website.