An EYPS update - now summer is here!

This is a short update on a very wet July day to wish you all a good summer and hope you get to have a break that you enjoy. Hopefully the weather will improve and we will all be able to get outside and enjoy ourselves. In the meantime, this is a quick update about EYPs and EYPS, together with a few requests and opportunities for you.

EYP event at the ICC in Birmingham on 14 July

We were delighted to see Best Practice Network EYPs out in force, enjoying the day. If you were there, we hope you enjoyed your seminars and the plenaries. Professor Tanya Byron talked to us about how many children are kept "in captivity", not allowed to go outside their homes because it is unsafe, but facing many risks from e-environments, many of which their parents aren't aware of. Perhaps we should write to her with an update on what you are now doing to ensure the outdoor environment is a fantastic learning opportunity - and influencing families to provide those opportunities too. If you would like to send us an account about how you are supporting children to play outside, please let us know.

Thank you for coming to see us on our stand or for attending our workshop, Being an Inspiration as an EYP. We used the acronym REACH to structure the workshop, i.e. how EYPs inspire by being:

REACH - inspiring EYPs

EYPs Raju Surelia, Menna Godfrey, Nicky Oram and Sandra Matthews shared some of their experiences structured round these themes and we managed to get everyone frantically sharing their ideas on post its they stuck onto our life-sized cardboard cut out people. The slides and outcomes from the workshop can be seen on our website at www.bestpracticenet.co.uk/eyps_reach.html. If you have any stories about how you use REACH to inspire others, please let us know.

It was good to see that two of the EYPs from the September Denmark visit were leading a workshop at the conference too.

EYE magazine

BPN EYE magazine wrapper You may have noticed that Best Practice Network is sponsoring the EYPS pages of EYE each month and we have had a special "wrap" cover on the latest issue.

Special request: could you share your story in EYE? If so, please email Maureen with a few paragraphs about:

something you have been proud of - an achievement you have led as an EYP
your story - your journey to EYPS
your thoughts on an aspect of practice, a theorist, an approach to effective practice

Don't worry about it being perfect or very long as we will edit it and combine several stories to become a polished article! Accompanying photos of you or of you in your setting would be great. If you include any children in the photo, please confirm you have the parents' permission for us to use it.

Best Practice Network November conference

We will be holding our annual EYP conference in Birmingham on Friday, 13 November.

We are delighted that Marion Dowling, our programme adviser, will be with us to lead the day. As in the past, the delegate fee for BPN EYPs will be subsidised by Best Practice Network - your contribution will be to cover the venue and catering costs only. We hope to see you there.

If you would like to attend, please register online at www.bestpracticenet.co.uk/booking/EYP-network-conference

Items for the next newsletter

We would be really pleased to hear from you with a contribution to our newsletter. Please send it to joannapoole@bestpracticenet.co.uk. It only needs to be a short item, for example:

recommending a resource, book or piece of equipment
a report on an inspiring visit you have made yourself with or without the children
an invitation to your setting - if you would like to do that, set a date and time to suit you - perhaps others will be able to come and see your setting in action
advice on EYFS in its first year of implementation
websites you have found useful

Job opportunity

Please find attached a job opportunity for an early years workforce officer in Dorset. Applications are requested by 29 July. The local authority has asked us specifically to circulate the job specification to EYPs and EYPS candidates.

Thank you

Thank you to all of you who have sent us your case study. The template is on our website if you haven't yet managed to do that. Thank you too for offers of mentoring and placements. New candidates are registering now and we will soon have a picture of where we need both mentors and placements.