The recipe for early years success

I have been an advocate for nursery chefs for a very long time. A good chef is part of the team. They know the children and get great pleasure from providing the children with tasty meals as well as other activities. That's why we wrote the Level 2 Professional Cooking, a programme that is accredited by Cache and is ready for delivery.

It's true that it would be far more attractive if it was approved on the National Apprentice Framework. However, if getting a sensible action from idea to policy implementation was easy we would have certainly delivered a very cost effective and child focused National Early Years strategy by now! How many of us are still reeling from the whole A to C debacle?! In fact if we were to bake an Early Years cake, what ingredients would you add? Here is my starter and lets create the great British Early Years bake Off!

• 150 grams of multi purpose flour as we need to do many things at once
• 150 grams of healthy fat-free margarine so it fits with our reducing child obesity strategy
• 3 free range eggs so our ideas can roam widely! Chef note, avoid ostrich eggs as they result in poor results from  burying our heads in the sand!
• Pinch of common salt  sense
• Mix together well as collaboration gets great results
• Grate the zest of a lemon to sharpen your practice
• Add a sprinkle of cinnamon for a little spice
• Cook in a medium oven and enjoy over a good pedagogical conversation.

Jun O'Sullivan is director of London Early Years Foundation. This blog first appeared on the LEYF website