After reading the letter from Marian Thomas about graduation parties forchildren leaving nursery to go on to school (6-19 September) I felt Ihad to write to give the other side of the coin.
We have been holding graduation parties in our nursery for the last fouryears. We make a really big thing about this, as it is a huge stepleaving nursery and we feel this needs to be acknowledged in a grandway.
We send out personal invitations to the parents/carers of the childrenwho are 'graduating'. On the day, we set up the room with graduationdecorations, lay on a party tea, have graduation tableware and make agraduation cake. We keep the children out of sight of their parentsuntil they are all seated and ready - then, when everyone is ready, webring them in, in their cap and gown to the tune of 'Simply the Best'.Let me tell you that at this point, there is never a dry eye in thehouse!
Each child is then called up individually (if they want to) to receivetheir scroll, a poem and a present, and have their photo taken. The roomsenior gives a little speech (very emotional), then we all go into thegarden for photo opportunities and the obligatory throwing of the caps.Then it's back indoors for tea, cake cutting, and more photos.
It is a lovely way for the children to end their time at nursery, as isMarian Thomas's family picnic. I often wonder how many of our'graduates' will graduate in from university in years to come, and iftheir parents will display both graduation photos side by side!
Jan Thorp, nursery manager, The Co-operative Childcare, Oxford
Our star letter wins 30 worth of books
ARE NANNIES TOO OLD TO WIN?
I returned from the nanny conference at Chiltern College and wonderedhow they work out who wins the Professional Nanny of the Year award. Thereason I ask this is because, as an older nanny myself, I was thrilledto see several older nannies in the final five.
On their short video clip they had over 80 years' experience betweenthem and obviously had good references, or they wouldn't have beenthere. They had made a career out of nannying.
However, who won? The young blonde nanny with five years' experience.How can they possibly place her above much more experienced nannies?
I wonder if this is a bit of ageism in the nanny profession? Severalpeople, not just me, were shocked by this decision, and the talk aroundme was, how can these be compared?
A disgruntled older nanny
Chris Lawrence, principal of the Chiltern College, responds on behalf ofthe judging panel for the Professional Nanny of the Year award:
I think the question of whether the judging panel respects experience,or not, answers itself in that the five finalists have a wealth ofexperience between them. However, the panel were looking for more thanexperience alone - also for a totally professional, committed nanny whowas passionate about their chosen career path and who would be anexcellent ambassador for the profession.
The panel were absolutely unanimous in their choice of Cheryl Brown asthe nanny to do this. So congratulations to her and to the other fourfinalists.
WHAT THIS STUDY REALLY SAYS
I would like to make a comment in response to 'Don't ignore allscientific studies on child development' by David Whitebread (online 20September).
His comment - 'The High/Scope studies from the US and EPPE study in theUK have both shown that good-quality nursery education, for example, isassociated with various measures of academic and social/emotionaldevelopment (including levels of criminality, home ownership, employmentoutcomes etc, as well as academic progress)' - is highlyquestionable.
The EPPE study is a longitudinal study looking at children up to six toseven years of age. It ended at the end of Key Stage 1. How it couldhave found such long-term effects of early intervention is hard tofathom.
Indeed, the final report of EPPE stated, 'Pre-school quality wassignificantly related to children's scores on standardised tests ofreading and mathematics at age six. At age seven the relationshipbetween quality and academic attainment was somewhat weaker but stillevident, and the effect of quality on social behavioural development wasno longer significant'.
So, children who attended pre-school did better at reading at the end ofYear 2. They didn't do much better at mathematics. We don't know whetherthe benefit of pre-school on reading continued into future years. Nolong-term effect was found on social and emotional development.
Dr Helene Guldberg, author of Reclaiming Childhood
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