The Early Years Bottomless Brunch

Edward, Laura and Chris have somehow managed to be in the same place at the same time for a completely unplanned and unscripted episode this week. Listen along as Edward tries desperately to keep some kind of consistency and order in the Brunch while Laura and Chris are suffering some sort of hyper-exhaustion-caused delerium that actually results in quite a humorous get-together. Doctors recommend...

The team at Hopscotch Early Years Consultancy are back for their weekly look at the wide wide world of Early Years! This week, Laura, Chris and Edward tackle everything the DfE and Ofsted can throw at them, the Hopscotch team are fighting fires in every corner of the country and Chris has another tale of woe and misery from the archives. Luckily, Edward has something of a nice poser to finish off...

It's time for a rare Sobercast here at the Brunch, as the team convene with mugs of tea rather than gallons of prosecco. That doesn't dampen the mood, however, as the mood has already been completely soaked by the worst combination of train cancellations and tough days in the field for both Laura and Chris. Nevertheless, Edward is here as the host with the most to raise spirits and ensur...

It's a special week for the Brunch this episode, as not only do we go on tour for the first time, setting up camp in Chris's kitchen, but also welcome our first actual live guest onto the pod, in the form of educator and SEND expert Lyndsey. The guys grill her on all things SEND-related while Edward keeps the wine flowing. Also this week, we've got a story from deep inside Laura&apo...

Edward, Laura and Chris are back with another deep dive into the bottomless pool of the Early Years! This week, Laura has incredibly come prepared with three discussion pieces she found on Google, Chris relates a traumatic experience inspecting a nursery who preferred to cherry-pick which regulations that wanted to follow, and Edward tasks the two with another bizarre Would You Rather. The EYBB is...

We're back after an enforced break of a week (Chris and Laura were just too busy south of Finland but north of Spain) with a fun-packed show taking in not only precisely ZERO scanning but an absolute ton of opinions on some major changes to the inspection process as well as our first ever non-Early Years-related Would You Rather? There's also quite a lot about toilets. The Brunch is brou...

This week's pod starts with the best of intentions, but after we give the floor to Chris to give us an update on how his week's been, the entire format is turned on its head. Chris takes us on a harrowing - and yet hilarious - journey through a day in the life of a practitioner in 2024, which takes up approximately 80% of the episode, meaning Edward has to scramble to drop entire segment...

We're fully back in the swing of things as January rolls on - this week we try not to make Laura angry when talking about the status of Early Years inspections, the grand reveal of hardly any of the LA funding, and just general incompetence in the industry. Meanwhile, Chris tells a wonderful story from the archives that I still can't quite deal with mentally, and we set our experts possi...

Happy 2024 everybody! After a well-earned Christmas break (not because of the podcast, but because of the actual real work we do), Edward, Chris and Laura are back to continue the Early Years mirth into the New Year. This week the dynamic duo tell us all about their first joint-visit of the year, we discuss the latest news from the sector and there's an absolutely unmissable story from the ar...

It's our Christmas special episode before we go off for a couple of weeks to recharge the batteries and definitely stay sober through the festive period! This week, Chris tells a story that will undoubtedly get signed up to be made into a major Disney Pixar motion picture, Edward apologises for last week's sobercast, and Laura tries to make scanning sound exciting. Leave us a review and...

Edward, Chris and Laura are feeling 50% festive, 50% completely destroyed by the unique demands of December in the Early Years! This week, we discuss some VERY EXCITING NEWS from Hopscotch HQ, and it's Laura's turn to tell another story from the archives. So tune in, uncork a bottle of something Christmassy, and laugh along with us!

Edward, Laura and Chris are back in the studio for the latest slice of news, views and giggles from the Early Years! This week we discuss writing and delivering training, there's some strong advice and the start of a discussion that will run and run around 30 hours funding, and Chris gives us a Top Of The Pops-style rundown of the craziest day he's had in years! Email the podcast - eybb@...

Edward, Laura and Chris are back in the Brunch Bar for another episode! This week, Laura tells all about her grilling by Ofsted while Chris takes it back to basics as a room practitioner. The team discuss the latest news on Early Years funding and the minimum wage, before Laura tells us all a story from the archives with a spicy conclusion! Finally, the gang tackle another Would You Rather. Email...

Edward, Laura and Chris are back with more tales from the trenches in the Early Years, discussion on what's happening in the sector, sage advice on outstanding practice and hilarious stories that will make your jaw drop and your areas of learning tingle. This week we discuss navigating through WRNs, supporting a toddler room, the frankly ludicrous state of play regarding two-year funding, and...

Edward, Laura and Chris are around the EYBB brunch table to welcome you to the funniest, most informative and life-affirming slice of the Early Years going!  In this episode we tackle the dangers of a site visit to a new nursery, the challenges of recruiting staff without resorting to TikTok and when childminding goes BAD. We also discuss the latest changes to the EYFS and what's wrong with t...