Research settings
Guildford Nursery School and Family Centre, England
Guildford Nursery school (GNS) is a maintained nursery school on two sites: one a large ex-primary school with a huge garden sited on Bellfields housing estate, the other is a Victorian building with a walled garden in the town centre.
GNS is a large nursery school with anything from 140-200 children on roll depending on the time of year. Typically, 25% children receive additional support for their special educational needs and about a quarter to a third of those children are in receipt of an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). 42% of children are multi-lingual learners and 48% of children have heritages other than White-British. There is a much higher level of disadvantage than the national average of 23%.
Guildford Nursery School is the lead provider for Early Help services, including family centres, in the borough of Guildford. Family Support Workers typically support 90+ families with multiple needs.
Staff at GNS have completed all six elements of the Froebel Trust short courses led by Froebel Trust | Short Courses.
The principles and pedagogy at GNS are inspired and guided by the work of Friedrich Froebel. Further information about their principles and pedagogy can be found in their brochure: Guildford-Nursery-School-brochure-Feb-2023.pdf (guildfordnscc.surrey.sch.uk)
Seven Stars Kindergarten
Seven Stars Kindergarten was opened in May 2020 and is situated in the grounds of Massey High School.
Massey is a large suburb in West Auckland, NZ. It is an area with low household incomes and high levels of unemployment and features as a less prosperous area within the Auckland Prosperity Index.
Seven Stars Kindergarten is licensed for 50 children over the age of 2 years. Approximately a quarter of children enrolled are of Māori heritage. High numbers of Pacific children (approximately 30%) are enrolled at the kindergarten. The Ministry of Education’s learning support team provides early intervention services to on average 5% of children.
Seven Stars Kindergarten has been established based on a strong belief in Froebelian principles and practice. Alongside the values of Kaitiakitanga and Whanaungatanga their Froebelian principles form the foundations of curriculum decision making and a guide for every aspect of pedagogy and practice.
Research support and guidance provided by the
Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC)
CREC is an internationally recognised early years research, evaluation and development organisation. It specialises in mixed-method research to gather multi-perspectives on early childhood with the aim of informing evidence-based policy and practice. It is also deeply committed to supporting practitioner research, capturing children’s voice and ethical participation. In recent years CREC has completed research projects supporting the early years work of such organisations as: The Scouts, The Football Association, The National Literacy Trust, Youth Sport Trust and National Children’s Bureau. As well as undertaking research and evaluative studies, CREC runs advanced development courses, including Masters and PhD and Initial Teacher Training to raise the qualification levels of the diverse early years workforce.
Although CREC is an independent organisation it has formal links to several UK universities and is also home to EECERA (the European Early Childhood Education Research Association), which runs a successful annual early childhood research conference attracting around 1000 international delegates each year, and publishes EECERJ (European Early Childhood Education Research Journal) – the SSCI rated early childhood academic journal – 6 times per year to a global audience.
