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Staff - Good to talk

Mental health in the early years has been pushed up the agenda. One nursery group is now paying for regular counselling for its staff. Meredith Jones Russell reports

One in four people in the UK is experiencing some form of mental health problem each year. The same proportion of the early years workforce is considering leaving the sector due to stress and anxiety, according to the Early Years Alliance. The body, which represents 14,000 settings in England, has teamed up with the DfE and Ofsted to tackle workload pressures on staff following its Minds Mattersurvey last year. Other groups are making attempts to tackle the problem – Portico Nursery Group has created a well-being policy, for example, while other settings have created an annual practitioner day to celebrate staff.

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