How to Boost Your Child's Creativity

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Creativity is believed to improve the brain’s cognitive abilities, hence why those from a musical background tend to perform better at school. It’s also found to have profound effects on both mood and anger management as drawing helps children to feel happier and calmer. We have teamed up with an independent school in Middlesex to share a few methods that you can use to boost your child’s creativity.

Ask “What If” Questions
To boost your child’s creativity, stretch their thinking by asking “what if” questions to encourage them to formulate their own answers and ideas. What if questions help children with forward thinking by helping them to improve on their planning and decision making.

Spend Time Outdoors
Time outdoors is great for mental health, and it can enhance creativity too as it can improve curiosity and flexible thinking.

Encourage Creative Play
Unstructured creative play allows children to explore their thoughts and ideas in a fun, engaging and non-restrictive way. At the same time, children are able to explore their passions and interests to learn more about themselves.

Read Together
Through books, your child can learn more about the world around them and as plots twist and turn your child will also be able to build on their problem-solving skills - skills that go hand in hand with creative thinking.

Look At the Brighter Side of Things
Failure can stifle and hinder growth while focusing on the positives can encourage your child to try again and explore their creativity. This can teach them how to take positive learnings from any situation in life and make their ideas bigger and better.

Exploring Creative Risks
In order to create innovative concepts and ideas, risk-taking is needed, and encouraging your child to take reasonable risks from a young age can help them to do this.

Helping Your Child Become More Resilient

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When we’re stressed our body changes to allow us to think faster, be more alert and to be capable of handling what comes our way. If it’s not controlled properly, or if we are in a state of stress for a long time, it can cause us to become annoyed, angry and upset. These are the basics of understanding resilience, and even as adults there are times where we can fail to stand up for ourselves.

It doesn’t mean it’s not impossible, though, and through practice and developing thought processes we can continue to be resilient through many struggles. These are things that should also be taught to your children, and to do that we’ve put together a guide with this girls prep school to show you where to begin.

Show who already supports them
They’ll have a lot of family members around them who want to see them do well, so it’ll be a great way for them to know about what support they already have around them. A lot of a child’s development is reliant on their self-esteem, positivity and motivation around others, which is often influenced by who helps them around the home and who they know they can turn to.

Show them that it’s okay to ask for help A huge part of understanding resilience means that it’s knowing who to call on if you’re in trouble. As children we want to know that our parents can help us when we need them, and showing that it’s okay to ask for that help when they need it will give them a huge boost in confidence.

Encourage free playtime
Time for a child to have fun alone or with friends will give them the chance to manage their behaviour, cognitive functions and independence skills. Activities like playing in a sand pit, going to the park with friends, playing with their own toys or using memory games as practice will keep your child stimulated as they learn.

Do you have any tips you would like to share?


8 Tips for Preparing Nursery Staff for Ofsted Inspections

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The Office for Education, Children's Services, and Skills (Ofsted) play an important role within younger classroom settings. As nurseries will obtain a rating from this governing body, it is important to appreciate some steps to take which can ensure that your school receives the credit that it deserves. Let us examine eight sure-fire suggestions so that you can be prepared for what is in store.

Employee Documentation
Staff members should be able to present the necessary documents to an Ofsted official when asked. Here are some important forms to possess:

· A full list of their qualifications.

· Evidence of anyone who has completed a first-aid course.

· A list of all children, their names and their birthdays.

· Fire safety arrangements and any plans for similar emergencies.

Educational History
Ofsted officials are obviously concerned about the welfare of your children from an educational point of view. Therefore, be certain that additional records are accurate and up to date. This information can include achievements, shortcomings, any type of disciplinary actions, attendance reports, and children who may be actively enrolled within a social care plan. Educator EYFS tracking software can be used to generate accurate reports so that a clear picture is presented from the beginning.

Physical Classroom Settings
Ofsted personnel will carefully scrutinise the conditions of a classroom, so spend some time making certain that everything is neat and tidy. Staff members should also inspect other areas such as the lighting within stairwells and the functionality of emergency exits.

Communicate the Upcoming Inspection with Staff Members
Employees should always be made aware of an upcoming inspection so that they have adequate time to prepare. As this article notes, most nurseries are only provided with 24 hours notice. This is why communication is critical.

Speak with Those Who Have Undergone Past Inspections
One or more staff members may have experienced Ofsted inspections in the past. Discuss their experiences and ask for any advice. This type of insight can help to guarantee a positive rating.

Ensure that Staff Members are Calm and Collected
Ofsted inspections can sometimes be slightly stressful. This partially arises from the fact that the careers of your staff members may be affected by the subsequent rating. Make it a point to provide additional support the day before the visit. This is also an excellent time to answer any questions that they may have.

Encourage Employees to Collaborate with Ofsted Personnel
The chances are high that staff members will be asked questions by Ofsted inspectors. They should be prepared for this scenario so that they can provide detailed answers upon request. This also shows that they are keen to adopt a more proactive approach within modern nursery settings.

Positive Ofsted ratings are some of the best ways to illustrate that a nursery school is keeping the best interests of its children in mind. Following these preparatory steps will help to guarantee a smooth and pleasant experience.