David Wright is the National Representative for England for the World Forum on Early Care and Education. He is the owner of Paint Pots nursery, Southampton, UK and has long been a vigorous advocate for Men in Early Childcare.

In this interview, we discuss how developing playful interactions with children is key to being a great practitioner, including the emotional connections between adults and children.

Dean Horridge and his team at Fit for Sport have been providing school, family and community programmes for over twenty-seven years

Deb Blakley is an accredited, practising Dietitian and mum, who is passionate about kids learning to love food from birth and beyond. Deb delights in supporting grown-ups (parents, carers and educators) to positively and joyfully connect or reconnect with food and eating.

In this video, Debbie Garvey talks specifically about the importance of listening to young children.

Debbie Garvey shares neuroscience insights to inform Early Years practice - learn how co-regulation builds self-regulation, Bronfenbrenner's model shows child development, and caring adults shape life-long development. Gain strategies to create brain-building environments.

In this interview we discuss the importance of reflective practice (and why it should be more than just something you studied at college) and the different types of reflective practice. Debbie has some great ideas and strategies for including reflective practice as part of your daily work, without distracting from the children, even if you're a childminder or home-based.

Deborah Carlisle Solomon shares how to go at the child's pace, talk through care routines, and focus on the relationship to connect with babies. Slow down, explain what you'll do before doing it, invite participation to reveal capabilities. Make care times about bonding through sensitivity and warmth.

Deborah McNelis shares insights on infant brain development in the first 60 days. Learn how responsive care impacts future wellbeing and get practical tips for supporting optimal growth.

Deborah Stewart is passionate about children learning through play and has been in the field of early childhood education for over 30 years. She owns her own small private preschool called The Children’s Studio for children ages three to five years old and writes the highly successful ‘Teach Preschool’ Blog.

Denise Burke is the co-founder of United for All Ages and runs her consultancy business from Norfolk in the UK.

In this interview we discuss why observations are so important for practitioners, for children and understanding what you are watching; child development; assessment of children's progress; the 'assessment tool kit' - the things you need to know and understand to do observations successfully; using Di's Development Map to demonstrate and visualise children's holistic development; the importance of our own self-development to help understand child development.

In this interview, Dorothy explains what the Pikler approach is, what we can learn from it and why it is so crucial in the first 18 months of a baby's life. She goes on to explain the links between natural motor development and later learning, such as speech. We finish with some ideas and strategies for practitioners and educators who would like to start the Pikler approach

In this interview, Dorothy explains how routines are important, but need to have some flexibility. Understanding the wake cycles and nap times will help to transition routines to those suitable for children aged 12 months. Obviously settling babies to sleep and self-soothing are huge areas of discussion at this age, so Dorothy explains how to show your baby how to go from large movements to small movements, how white noise should be used, dummies and how light levels affect sleep.

Dorothy refers to the two nutrients at this age – sleep and food. She demonstrates how feeding to sleep can be done successfully, including how to transfer from breast to bottle (it’s all in the angle the bottle is at), babies’ requirements and choosing the right formula for the right situation. We also cover the introduction of solid food to a baby’s diet (finger foods dipped in puree is a genius idea!), sleep disruption due to teething and safe bed sharing.

This is an hour long video packed full of advice, ideas and practical demonstrations.

In this interview, Dorothy explains that there are different types of parenting – all of which are equally valid and need to be celebrated and respected. She explains the range of equipment that is needed for the newborn baby – and it’s not as much as you might expect!

Dorothy discusses swaddling, self-soothing, “don’t do anything out of the cot that you can’t do IN the cot”. We discuss White Noise – the benefits and challenges – and how to settle a baby to sleep. She explains to ‘parenting to sleep’ and sleep patterns. Her very sensible approach includes “you didn’t train to get your job over night, you had to put the work in, and that’s the same with being a mum”

Dr Alistair Bryce-Clegg explains how to build continuous provision that truly supports children's learning, even when no adult is present.

Dr Amanda Gummer introduces the Children's Digital Wellbeing Framework — an open-source resource to help early years settings choose digital content wisely.

Dr Amanda Gummer shares her Christmas 2025 toy recommendations, the MESH accreditation system, and how to create a balanced play diet for children.

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In this interview, Dr Amanda Gummer discusses the role that toys and play have in gender socialization. She reflects on the ways that the toy industry has made progress in moving away from gendered toys and towards more gender-neutral play.

Dr Gummer also has lots of recommendations for tried and tested, gender-neutral toys for all children.