Talking Early Years with June O'Sullivan

“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 expre...

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 sc...

My first Podcast of 2024 is an interview with the very delightful Matt Arnerich, Director of Brand & Comms at Famly – an Early Childhood Platform that bridges the collaboration gap between the grown-ups who raise young children. It supports around 6,000 Early Years providers and families to communicate, share information, run their business and learn new things. Whilst we don’t subscribe to Fa...

Workout to Help with Salas… and Bring Kindness to the World   Life is very serendipitous and leads to meeting some very engaging people who want to do something helpful with their time on this earth. Salas Baldas is one of these people.  I heard about his work from a friend of mine who attended his workouts during Covid lockdown and then I discovered how he developed these workouts to support peop...

As an organisation, we have always been involved with issues of poverty and it was interesting to find that back in 1926 we were involved with the National Cookery School of Cookery which is a slightly different twist to what we are doing now. Our organisation then was known as the City of Westminster Society of Health and was helping parents to learn how to cook to support their children’s health...

My guest, Stuart Lewis , CEO of Rest Less, began to think about another response after conversations with his dad about the length of retirement.  He noted that his dad would have spent 25 years in retirement which is enough time to rethink a career. I totally understood that because my own Dad only stopped driving his taxi aged 75 and probably would have gone on longer but he had to care for my m...

For International Men’s Day on the 19th November 2012, I invited as many men as I could find who worked in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) to join us for a drink to discuss how we might build a London Men in Childcare Network. We wanted to create a place where we could learn from the men who worked in Early Years about how they were experiencing the sector.  The evening was sparked by a...

It is not every day you get to talk to the Mayor’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner, but this is exactly who I am talking to in this podcast.   Dr. Will Norman became London's first Walking and Cycling Commissioner in 2016 and now leads the Mayor’s work to make the capital’s streets safer for walking and cycling, enabling thousands more Londoners to choose greener, cleaner and healthier way...

Solitaire Townsend is a remarkable woman. She is one of the leading international voices on communicating sustainability. In 2001, she co-founded Futerra, one of the few UK communications consultancies to specialise solely in sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. She has worked with senior management on internal and external initiatives across the UK, Europe and North Americ...

Sarah Ronan , Director of the recently formed Early Education and Care Coalition (EECC) joined me to talk about the EECC. As a fellow Cork woman, she got a warm welcome! The Early Years sector is often criticised for not always speaking with one voice, a consequence of being part of a very fragmented sector. The Coalition has been developing over the past year and is the brainchild of Lucie Stephe...

The Year That is 2023 – This year, we are proud to celebrate 120 years of LEYF. It’s been fascinating to reflect back on what has changed over that time (both good and bad) and what essentially remains the same. I consider children to be the litmus test of society and my reflections support this.  Listen in to my interview reflecting on the LEYF history with two of our longest serving LEYF staff –...

I was introduced to coaching by Stephen Gribben many years ago.  It was an interesting experience, and one I was not too sure how to make the best use of his generous pro bono service. However, I soon warmed to the idea of coaching which has remained with me and today we now put as many staff as possible through the Level 3 Diploma in Coaching.  Since then, Stephen has written a very informative b...

What have Food Banks got to do with the Early Years?   This year, LEYF is celebrating 120 years of history. In doing so, we are reflecting on what was in order to look towards the future.   As an organisation, we have always been involved with issues of poverty and it was interesting to find that back in 1926 we were involved with the National Cookery School of Cookery which is a slightly differen...

June kicked off this year’s podcast chatting to the well-informed Krupesh Hirani , London Assembly Member for Brent and Chair of the London Assembly Health Committee and the Health Inequalities Committee. 

Listen as Teresa Heaney , CEO of Early Childhood Ireland, explains how the Irish government has agreed to a number of positive actions following the publication of their evidence-based strategy, called First Five .

June has been using the word, ‘ pedagogy ’ for many years and is now beyond delighted that LEYF can employ Pedagogy Coaches to support its nurseries understand how to embed pedagogy in their daily practice.  Listen to June chat with Siobhan, Konstantinos and Ricky, who explain the role of a Pedagogy Coach at LEYF and how it helps to builds  a quality practice!

Celebrating the publication of their new book: Social Leadership in Early Childhood Education and Care: An Introduction, June and Mona sit down for a frank discussion about social leadership. By narrating the leadership of those who already lead with a social purpose in Early Childhood Education and Care, we can encourage more conversations about social leadership. Pour a cup of tea, and enjoy. ht...

 Do you enjoy listening to an honest, funny, down to earth conversation?  That sums up June's chat with serial social entrepreneur Karen Lynch . June met Karen many years ago when Karen was invited to rescue Belu Water which was in debt and its future was looking unsustainable. She stayed, turned it round and left it last year in a good place able to meet her £1m donation to Water Aid . 

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 – wi...

Time to Put Empathy at the Heart of Pedagogy June 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. e...

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 c...

 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 t...

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 work...

 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 wh...