Can I Go and Play Now?: Rethinking the Early Years

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School And The Magic of Children’ is an exploration of the very soul of childhood, leading us on an adventure into the world of Story via Drawing Club and then into a new lens to look through at play itself with the concept of Play Projects. Topics include early reading and the joy of reading; early writing development; boys′ writing; the nature of outdoor play and how to make this truly ‘outdoor’; the role of parents in child development; mathematics in play; when and how to do intervention work with children; how to get Headteachers and centre managers on board.

The passion for play shines through in the authors words, inspirational; and important when considering the best time to engage in play, when to step back and let it unfold and how to develop play in your setting through a quality enabling environment.Reading doesn’t belong in a book band book, maths doesn’t belong to a whole-school maths scheme, and parents don’t have to look for ‘performance’. This imaginative concept involves the "Shush Monster" residing beneath the "Carpet Kingdom" as an alternative to traditional circle or carpet time.

A very experienced Early Years teacher has gone back to the drawing board, questioned all of the status-quo ‘that’s how things have always been done’ and has built an alternative set of principles. Greg Bottrill's revolution to put play at the heart of Early Years is voiced with such eloquence and good humour in his book. Drawing Club is a true adventure and perfect for Reception and Year 1, though it can be adapted for Nursery and even as intervention in KS2.He shares his Early Years pedagogy through the '3Ms' and explains how to apply these in the classroom. I taught from the soul and now talk about the idea of ‘teaching to the edge of tears’ – teaching and co-playing because you have to, because it means something, not in the future but right at that very moment. Of course this requires change, both in our professional practice as well as in government written curriculum but Greg will guide you through how to work alongside the latter. Despite the ongoing situation with Covid-19 it is essential that we maintain the security of our systems. Plus he suggests essentially uplevelling the role label of TA to meet on the level of the teacher’s role label.