Back Page: My Week - Any excuse to bring out the good china

I hope their experience will enhance their ambition and confidence and we can nurture the next generation of competent and caring early years staff.

Tuesday: It seems to be the season for significant reports. I've just read the Action for Children and New Economics Foundation study Backing the Future, which detailed how the UK would save £486bn over 20 years if it invested in services that prevent social problems. I immediately invite both organisations to speak at our annual social enterprise lecture.

Finally write our response to the Cambridge Primary Review. This caused government ire by saying the unsayable. Of particular significance was the reference to us becoming a disenfranchised sector increasingly micro-managed by unelected groups. And that, despite all the evidence, we still have not properly examined why and how children under six should remain within a nursery environment accessing a rich early years curriculum. Around 250 years ago Froebel said early years was not a preparation time for school but a distinct phase to be celebrated and enjoyed. It seems we are still not truly heeding those wise words.