Nursery World’s October issue has landed!

From Julie Mountain’s outdoor artworks, to Penny Tassoni’s guide to mark making, we have a wealth of best practice ideas that will get your October off to a lively and creative start.

Best practice features:

• Curriculum Find out how to make Geography a key aspect of your curriculum, working within the new EYFS framework. Phil Armstrong provides a thoughtful guide to supporting children’s sense of place in their immediate environment and beyond it, helping them to gain confidence and independence as they begin to understand the world.
  
  
• All about mark making
  Early years expert Penny Tassoni provides an in-depth guide to supporting children to mark make as an important step towards writing. Penny identifies the importance of speech and language in this process and places it in the context of the Literacy Education programme in the new EYFS.
  
  
• Health and Nutrition
  With growing awareness that air pollution can trigger children’s asthma, and impact their neurodevelopment and cognitive ability, Meredith Jones Russell takes a look at what can be done to create a cleaner atmosphere. Plus a delicious recipe from Russia!
  
  
• Schools special

Find out how academies are strengthening their early years ethos, looking to Froebel for inspiration and prioritising their outdoor space.

• Essential resources

As children settle into the new terms and become increasingly independent, Nicole Weinstein looks at resources to support self-care.

In our activity section:

• In this month’s project discover how one little boy’s knowledge about bee keeping provided a fantastic learning journey for all the children in his setting.
• While the arrival of October brings lots of maintenance tasks outdoors, it also provides materials to create colourful artworks, explains Julie Mountain in our Outdoor Calendar.
• Turning the page to our sustainability series, Diane Boyd looks at practical ways to combat racism.
• And in our A to Z of learning, S is for stories.
  
• Plus, a new series written by Georgina Durrant, focusing on activities to support key skills for all children including those with special educational needs and disabilities.

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Poster:

• The second in our series of A2 colour activity posters on Construction features Bridges.

Management:

• Franchising
  
  We take an in-depth look at how this business model has developed and changed and what it currently offers the sector.
  
  
• Staff health and wellbeing

In part 6 of this series Charlotte Goddard looks at the importance of staff achieving a healthy diet and lifestyle in the context of the obesity crisis.

• Regulars

Plus Nicola Read explains why Facebook groups and other online platforms can be useful for building a strong nursery profile, and Hannah Belton, director of Morgan La Roche, looks at providing and obtaining employment references.

Training:

• We take stock of what Level 4 courses are on offer, what their value is and how they offer specialisms.
  
  
• Outdoor CPD
  Why networking and sharing experience with others can really bring your training to life.

News, analysis and opinion includes:

Analysis:

• Catherine Gaunt weighs the impact of Reception Baseline testing and provides the lowdown on the recent cabinet reshuffle, flagging new ministers and their responsibilities.

Opinion:

• Meet Sarah Mackenzie, chief strategy officer at N’ Family Club and our new regular columnist, who says that change should be embraced and built upon. Meanwhile Victoria Benson, chief executive at Gingerbread, highlights the increasingly precarious financial situation of single-parent families.
  
  Interview:
  
• Nasen’s new chief executive Annamarie Hassall makes a powerful argument for greater investment in additional needs.