Working Together for Childhood
The Alliance for Childhood serves as a network that facilitates reflection and action by people with concerns about the care and education of children. It is not a conventional organisation, but an expression of a willingness to work together for the betterment of the experience of childhood. It exists in the shared work and spirit of cooperation whereby all partners can find mutual support. It is a collaborative approach that is created by commitment and by the activity itself.
UK Children’s Commissioners’ Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
The four Childrens Commissioners from around the UK have published their final report on the state of UK's children. They will present it to the UN Commission for the Rights of the Child. It makes for some grim reading.
Assessing the Impact of the Commercial World on Children's Wellbeing - A Call for Evidence
The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and the Culture Secretary have asked Professor David Buckingham to carry out an assessment of the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing. Academics, industry, NGOs and other stakeholders are invited to provide evidence to Professor David Buckingham. Have your say on the DfES website.
Notice of next UK Alliance meeting!
Theme: Movement, Play and Emotional Relationships as a Foundation for Learning
18 November 2008 10.00 am to 3.30 pm, University of East London (Docklands Campus)
Contributors include: Joan Almon Alliance for Childhood US; Sally Blythe INPP; Christopher Clouder Alliance for Childhood UK: Jenny Drake Primary Maths Consultant; Jan White Education Consultant for Outdoor Provision in the Early Years; Penny Wilson Play Association Tower Hamlets
The Alliance for Childhood is joining with the University of East London to host a day conference looking at the role that movement, play and emotional relationships have in establishing the capacities that children need as a sound basis for learning.
Modern childhood places restrictions on opportunities for movement and creates problems. Increasingly the value of learning through outdoor play is appreciated and and teachers realise that it is relationships within education which are an important factor in the quality of learning. These themes will be elaborated by contributers, speaking out of a wealth of experience and understanding, allowing time for discussion.
Click here for a full programme and registration form or contact info@allianceforchildhood.org.uk
Improving educational outcomes for children with dyslexia
"Today I am launching a website which asks teachers, parents, children, young people and others with an interest in dyslexia to let me have their views and experiences, to help me develop recommendations to Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families, on the identification and teaching of children with dyslexia. I am also asking for details of relevant research evidence to be sent to me, to add to the growing body of research evidence already being identified by expert advisers." Jim Rose (July 08)
Playday
Playday 2008 is on Wednesday 6 August.
Playday is the annual celebration of children’s right to play - a national campaign, which this year culminates on Wednesday 6 August.
On Playday and throughout the summer of 2008, thousands of children, young people and communities will get out and play at hundreds of locally organised events across the UK.
This year's Playday theme is about risk and play.
New publication
What Babies and Children Really Need: How Mothers and Fathers Can Nurture Children's Growth for Health and Wellbeing (Early Years)
This book represents a milestone in our understanding of child development and what parents can do to provide their children with the best start in life. What Babies and Children Really Need examines the crucial early years from a child’s perspective - and concludes that changes in society over the past 50 years have unleashed a crisis in childhood.
Author Sally Goddard Blythe draws on the latest scientific research and clinical practice to demonstrate how a baby’s relationship with its mother has a lasting and fundamental impact. She argues that trends such as delayed motherhood, limited uptake of breastfeeding, and early return to work - driven by economic, social and political pressures - are undermining the key developmental milestones essential to success and wellbeing in later life. ‘We need a state,’ says Goddard Blythe, ‘that gives children their parents, and most of all, gives babies their mothers back.’
What Babies and Children Really Need concludes with a rallying cry for a new Charter for Childhood founded on the four main pillars of child development: nutrition - the biochemical basis for life; affection, nurture and engagement; stimulating sensory experience and motor skills through physical play; and discipline in its true sense meaning ‘instruction, correction, training in action and control’.
Available from Amazon
News from the Children's Food Campaign
Latest!
Children's food campaigners have written to Burger King’s Head of Marketing, attacking the chain’s decision to market junk food to children using the new Indiana Jones film. The promotion comes just months after the high street giant signed a pledge to cease all advertising to children on TV, in print or through the internet. More information
Quote of the month
"Children and young people have told the Commissioners that the absence of appropriate, adequate and affordable play and leisure facilities has a negative impact on their lives. It can lead them to gather in public spaces, but often such gatherings are seen as anti-social and can cause tension between the young people and others. In one survey in England, two-thirds of children said they liked to play outside daily, mostly to meet friends. However, 80% have been told off for playing outdoors, 50% say they have been shouted at for playing outside and 25% of 11 to 16-year-olds were threatened with violence by adults."
Excerpt from the Children's commissioners' report
