This study explored caregivers' experiences of virtual Godly Play in the United States, South Korea, and the UK during COVID-19 lockdowns. Thematic analysis of thirty-three caregiver surveys and six semi-structured interviews revealed four themes: support/community, intergenerational Godly Play, spiritual maintenance and growth for the family, and…

Poor physical development in young children has been shown to impact readiness for school, behaviour, social development and academic achievement. This research sought to explore whether a physical intervention programme (Movement for Learning) can improve children's physical development. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (2nd edition,…

This article reviews the process and achievements of leadership of an improvement and development programme for children's centres in the context of public value and Ofsted inspection. It analyses how the capacity has been developed of children's centre managers to work more strategically and collectively. Distributed leadership theory is applied…

There are a growing number of school-based interventions designed to promote children's social and emotional learning. One such intervention, PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies), was evaluated in a randomised controlled trial involving 5074 pupils aged 4-6 years at baseline in 56 primary schools across a large city in the UK. The…

Previous research has demonstrated that the way adults interact with children with autism can have a great impact on their spontaneous communication. However, to date, few studies have focused on modifying adults' behaviour and even fewer have been conducted in school settings which actively involve teaching staff in designing the intervention.…

The years from 3 to 6 are a time when children develop fundamental movement skills that are the building blocks for the functional movements they use throughout their lives. By 6 years of age, a typically developing child will have in place a full range of movement skills, including, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, climbing, throwing,…

Despite a robust body of evidence of effectiveness of social programs, few evidence-based programs have been scaled for population-level improvement in social problems. Since 2010 the federal government has invested in evidence-based social policy by supporting a number of new evidence-based programs and grant initiatives. These initiatives…

This paper describes an exploratory evaluation of the Peers Early Education Partnership "Room to Play", an innovative and experimental "drop-in" service seeking to attract and engage "hard-to-reach" families in one of the most deprived areas of a Midlands city. Located in a shop unit of a busy community shopping…

This article uses the history of debates over the US Head Start programme (1965), Early Head Start (1994) and the UK Sure Start initiative (1998), as a window on to policy transfer. In all the three, the aim was that early intervention could offer a means of boosting children's educational attainment and of countering the wider effects of poverty…

This paper reviews different perspectives of the changing nature of childhood, comparing these to state responses that seek to improve children's well-being. Unlike previous generations of children, children today spend much of their time under cover and under the watchful eyes of adults. It is likely that this change has had a negative impact on…

The National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL) is a programme that supports children's centre leaders to develop their own leadership capability. This research highlights the effect the particular constructivist teaching and learning methodology has had on individual tutors' and mentors' professional development.…

Leadership mentoring is a central component of the National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL), which is designed to develop robust, creative and courageous children's centre leaders. Mentoring provides a safe, supportive and confidential space in which leaders can discuss the challenges of leading their centres.…

Background: An area-based initiative, Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs), was established by the UK government to reduce social exclusion through improving the well-being of children aged 0-3 years and their families in disadvantaged communities; a true community intervention in that all children under four and their families in specified areas…

This article draws on results of an evaluation of Sure Start activities in an area of South Wales in 2004, focusing in particular on measurements of improvements to child development and measurements of benefits to parents. The article reports on the methods that were used to collect relevant data and examines the problems associated with linking…

"Let's Think!" is a cognitive acceleration programme aimed at developing thinking in children aged between 5 and 6. "Let's Think!" was described in "PSR" 69 (Robertson, 2001) using the acronym CASE @ KS1, as it was known before publication by NFER-Nelson. Since then, "Let's Think!" has spread beyond the…