Family Matters

Flying Start Catches Up With Debbie Hepplewhite, Her Expertise and Impressive Phonics International

April 9, 2013 By sonia Leave a Comment

A constant problem for both primary and secondary school staff has been the number of pupils unable to reach a satisfactory standard in reading before leaving junior school for the start of their secondary education.

The knock on effect means that a significant number of students, leaving to take up placement in the workforce, transfer this low standard and are unable to work effectively. A study carried out by the Programme for International Student Assessment in 2009 showed that after seven years of primary education, one in six 11 year olds still struggles to read. The 2011 tests for children leaving primary school also reveal that one in 10 boys aged 11 read no better than a seven year old.

In recent years evidence has suggested that teaching reading by use of phonics has been much more successful in allowing pupils to reach the level of reading demanded for their key stage year. To this effect the government has promised a funding match for primary schools buying materials for the teaching of phonics to the value of £3000.

Phonics aims to teach the letter sounds and then builds up to blending these sounds together to achieve full pronunciation of whole words. Convinced that the synthetic phonics system of teaching children to read is the way in which greater numbers could attain higher standards, Debbie Hepplewhite put her broad primary teaching and teacher-training experience to very good use when designing the Phonics International programme.

Debbie told Flying Start that Phonics International (PI) is a highly-organised, systematic and yet flexible synthetic phonics programme (program) especially designed for all ages and needs and suitable for anyone who wants to learn to read and spell – perfect for schools, tutoring and homeschooling and that teachers, teaching assistants, tutors, learners and learners’ parents will all find the resources very supportive and effective. Student-teachers and teacher-trainers will also find great benefit from using the Phonics International programme for training purposes.

Phonics International is not just for primary school staff and pupils however. There appears to have been a belief that secondary school teachers would not be required to teach reading per se as this was the primary school’s responsibility. In recent times this myth has been dispelled and secondary education plays a large part in remedial work in many subjects. However, relatively few secondary schools may be using systematic synthetic phonics teaching as part of their teaching of reading.

This is borne out by the 2011 Ofsted Report Removing Barriers to Literacy which states,

‘Inspectors saw few instances of systematic phonics teaching in the secondary schools, colleges and other providers of adult education and training, despite the fact that for learners without a grasp of the link between sounds and letters, this knowledge is necessary to develop their literacy’

Debbie has designed Phonics International to be just as easy to use in secondary education and has had glowing feedback on it’s success (http://www.phonicsinternational.com/Secondary_Phonics_write_up.pdf ). With the backing for the phonics system in primary schools, more and more secondary schools will be encouraged to take up the system in their remedial work and Debbie’s passion will be acknowledged to an even higher level than it has been so far. Debbie’s expertise and her impressive Phonics International body of work has seen her invited to be the phonics consultant for the ‘Oxford Reading Tree Floppy’s Phonics Sounds and Letters programme’ (Oxford University Press). Both phonics programmes and the training provision have been recognised by the British government as fulfilling the official ‘Core Criteria’ for ‘Systematic Synthetic Phonics’. They are therefore listed in the national ESPO catalogue (government match funding for schools in England only).

In 2012, Debbie was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for services to education.

Debbie has recently launched a new course for the teaching of handwriting which can be seen online at http://www.debbiehepplewhitehandwriting.com/

You can contact Debbie at

Phonics International Limited                          By phone on 01635 800033
Walnut House
Floreat Gardens                                   By email on debbie@phonicsinternational.com
Newbury
Berkshire                                            Skype – debbiehepp
RG14 6AW
United Kingdom

Or through the Phonics International web site click here

Parenting Magazine Flying Start
USA online@flyingstartmagazine.co.uk

Filed Under: Education, Family Matters, Featured, Learning & Development, Parenting

Who would not want to know how to reduce accidents and know what to do in an emergency?

March 19, 2013 By sonia Leave a Comment

When a child, work colleague, parent, friend or stranger is taken ill suddenly or is injured in an accident, you need to know what to do. It is simple and fun to learn and gives you the confidence to act promptly and appropriately in a crisis – a very good feeling compared to being a helpless bystander. AETP will take pleasure in providing you with relevant First Aid training.

Andrea Woolley, AETP’s Director, is a parent, a qualified nurse, with many years experience in A&E, and holds a degree in occupational health and safety. She trains all age groups and clients ranging from large organisations to schools, parents and students, GPs and dentists. Andrea brings a quiet authority and a high degree of professionalism to the advice, education and training given.

First Aid

AETP is a HSE Approved First Aid at Work training organisation and a HABC Approved Health and Safety Training Centre, member of the First Aid Industry Body (FAIB), FOFATO, IOSH, BSACI, Anaphylaxis Campaign & Resuscitation Council, PSLA, NCMA, CAPT.

AETP has many years experience in training child carers in Paediatric first aid, satisfying both Ofsted and Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) requirements; and Anaphylaxis Management in children.

AETP has a long track record in providing training including:

* Paediatric First Aid
* First Aid at Work, First Aid at Work requalification, Emergency First Aid
* Anaphylaxis Management
* Child Accident Prevention and Risk Management
* Short courses including CPR, Anaphylaxis Management and Automated External Defibrillation
* Occupational Health and Safety and Manual Handling
* Parent / grandparent / carer / nursery staff / childminder Emergency First Aid short courses at
home, nursery and school, tailored to specific requirements and needs
* Home safety / prevention of accidents in the home especially to children
* Risk assessment and management.

As a small organisation AETP is able to respond to your very specific needs, ensuring that training provided is up-to-date, relevant, practical, inclusive, highly professional, engaging and interactive in order to best satisfy your requirements and ensure positive learner outcomes.

Child Injury and Accident Prevention

Being able to make rapid risk assessments and judgements about how to do things safely is essential both to the running of your nursery and the safety of the day to day activities in which the children are engaged. The same applies to the environment, buildings, and conduct of all activities by staff. AETP addresses Risk Management training as standalone sessions on (Child) Accident Prevention and Risk Management for staff or carers and with imaginative and engaging activities for young children. We can combine sessions on home safety and first aid tailored for groups of carers, parents or nursery staff.

Adult and Child Illnesses – First Aid

Many children suffer severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis), asthma, epilepsy and diabetes. Those around them, adults or friends, including children, need to have sufficient first aid knowledge and skills to ensure they are able to take confident, prompt, appropriate action to help in a crisis. There can be no worse feeling than being a helpless bystander in an emergency, especially if it affects a child, work colleague, friend or relative.

Information & contact details

Sessions/courses available are very flexible in content, duration, and timing and will be tailored to specific requirements. Most training takes place at your venue, in-house. Open courses are also available. A certificate is awarded for all courses.

For more information, access AETP’s comprehensive web site at www.aetp.org.uk and to find out more email Andrea on andrea@aetp.org.uk or andrea.woolley@live.co.uk or you can call using either 01727 750 892 or 07939 127 081

If you need to check with AETP’s long list of customers, Andrea will be more than willing to put you in touch with them so that you can access first hand testimonials to their service.

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News

Flying Start Catches Up With Fast Response First Aid Training

March 15, 2013 By sonia Leave a Comment

With a range of qualifications that include Certificate of Education, City and Guilds 7306, Trainers Assessors Award, Community First Responder, Manual Handling and Fire Marshall Training, Health and Safety Levels One and Two, Training for Royal Life Saving and Defibrillator Training and accreditation from, FOFATO (Federation of First Aid Training Organisations) and a member of the First Aid Industry Body, Fast Response First Aid Training have all the right credentials to provide the necessary courses and training for you.

Fast Response First Aid Training have been fulfilling first aid requirements for nurseries, childminders, primary and secondary schools and businesses, large and small, since 2005 and offer training of all types from First Aid at Work, Emergency First Aid at Work, Paediatric First Aid, Sports First Aid, Health and Safety and Fire Training.

We specialise in onsite training and although based in Yorkshire we are able to travel to suit your needs for e.g. recent courses have been in Nottingham, Liverpool, Northumberland and Birmingham.

Fast Response offers courses to suit everyone. They believe that although first aid is a serious subject, learning the theory and practical techniques should be fun. They use interactive DVDs for their courses to make them interesting and involving and have no written or oral exams as part of their assessments.

When it comes to Paediatric First Aid Fast Response First Aid Training employ female trainers who all have children and have experienced emergencies with their own children and in assisting others. The course consists of twelve hours contact time includes dealing with all childhood emergencies including choking, burns and scalds, head injuries, bleeding, shock, dealing with an unconscious child and CPR. Each student is supplied with a bandage pack and a first aid manual specifically for children’s first aid. Certificate lasts for three years.

Fast Response First Aid Training is an approved training provider for Leeds Early Years Service and follows the OFSTED guidelines. They use interactive training with lots of DVD clips to make learning interesting while being fun and helping students think like first aiders, treating injuries quickly and efficiently with lots of tender loving care which all casualty’s need. They believe in lots of hands on practise so that students feel confident enough to take on any situation that may come across either at work or at home.

Another area of major importance is the effective use of the defibrillator and this is included in all their courses, with more specialised training on their Automatic External Defibrillator Course which features how to use a defibrillator, combined with excellent CPR skills to enable you to use the machine you have on your premises. Alongside a standard First Aid at Work or/and Emergency First Aid at Work course and any participant would be trained to be a first aider in the workplace.

If you would like to find out more about how Fast Response First Aid Training can help you with your first aid requirements, you can access their web site at www.fastresponsefirstaidtraining.co.uk where you can contact them via the online enquiry form. If you wish to email direct, you can use gina@fastresponsefirstaidtraining.co.uk or you can call on either of the following numbers:

0113 2552712 - 07711 036617 - 07711 718642

Fast Response First Aid Training is located at 20 Summerville Road, Farsley, LS28 6EL

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News

Prevention is better than a cure. JJG Training tells Flying Start about the importance of safeguarding our children in Nurseries

March 12, 2013 By sonia Leave a Comment

“Prevention is better than a cure”. We all know the old adage and would hazard a guess that nobody would disagree with it. In nurseries, there are many areas to which this saying might apply and it pays to have staff trained to the best possible standards to make sure children are protected from harm.

JJG Training are an excellent example of a company offering those high levels, making nursery and pre-school staff aware of the possible pitfalls and how to deal with those events when they can’t be prevented.

Specialising in Paediatric First Aid as well as Health & Safety, Fire Safety, First Aid and Food Safety, JJG Training offer experience and professionalism in delivering courses that allow participants to be aware of potential problems, take action to prevent them happening and gain the knowledge to react quickly with the correct course of action if a problem does occur.

Having Affiliation and Membership to ten different training and health bodies, JJG Training have a wealth of experience having been founded in 2004 by directors Vic & Jo Gregory. Vic has over twenty years experience in H&S Management, having graduated from Warwickshire University with the Diploma in Health & Safety Law and Management and from Nottingham Trent University with the Post Graduate Diploma in Health and Safety Risk Management. He was a former H&S Manager for a national blue chip company and then a Fire Officer with a Metropolitan Fire Authority. He also worked for the NHS as a health, safety and fire risk advisor. Jo Gregory brings 25 years experience of management and administration to provide a friendly and reassuring customer service.

The tragic death of Millie Thompson in October of 2012, served to highlight the need for all nurseries, pre-schools and child-minders to be fully capable of dealing with incidents when children in their care, have accidents and will potentially come to some harm unless prompt and correct action is taken. All registered child care facilities and nurseries must have Health and Safety policies in place before being granted a licence and these are rigorously checked by Ofsted.

When we think of any form of training in the workplace, First Aid is usually the one that springs to mind and JJG Training have an excellent pedigree in this area. Covering First Aid at Work, Emergency First Aid at Work, refresher courses and Paediatric First Aid, they offer an extensive training syllabus that covers Accidents and illness, Using a first aid kit, Simple record keeping, Treatment of an unconscious casualty, heart attacks and resuscitation for the beginner all the way to dealing with choking and breathing difficulties.

All the courses that JJG Training run are developed to comply with all present statutory training requirements in the UK and are continually revised in line with current legislation. All JJG trainers hold teaching qualifications and are specialised in their subject areas, giving a friendly, professional and personalised service.

First Aid is not the only area of training that nurseries need to be compliant with, however, as many supply children with their lunches and snacks and so must be aware of food safety and nutrition. Meeting the statutory regulations is only the first step in providing safety for children and JJG are equally adept at ensuring best practice is recognised and developed in Food Safety.

A level 2 course offers a syllabus that includes modules on food safety, bacteriology, storage & temperature control, legislation, HACCP, personal hygiene, food contamination, prevention of contamination, pest control, food premises design and cleaning processes. All fundamentals in providing meals for children that are as safe as possible whilst providing healthy products. These courses are augmented by diet and nutrition courses that can be tailor made to suit the pre-school environment looking at nutrients, vitamins and minerals, proteins, fats and carbohydrates, preparation and presentation of food as well as best practice guidance.

Fire Safety is a pre-requisite throughout any establishment. A variety of training modules are available to enhance protection from fire and smoke, from the training required by fire marshals to evacuation procedures, fire prevention to the correct use of extinguishers and their safe usage. Comprehensive training that gives the best possible chance of avoiding casualties in the event of a fire.

For more information about how JJG Training Ltd can provide the courses you need to ensure your staff are trained to the very highest level, access their web site at www.jjgtraining.co.uk or you can contact them using mail@jjgtraining.co.uk or telephone 01246 221867.

JJG Training Ltd is located at

4 Rosedale Avenue, Off Derby Road, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S40 2UY

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News, Parenting

BGB Medical Training – Giving You the Power to Respond in a Heartbeat

March 6, 2013 By sonia Leave a Comment

BGB consists of husband and wife team, Billie and Gary Brown, who offer a number of courses in First Aid at work. Having unbeatable training from the UK forces, both Billie and Gary are highly qualified and experienced in the medical field.

Billie spent 16 years as a dental nurse and has been running First Aid courses for 6 years while Gary, BGB Medical Training’s senior instructor, is a regular member of the NGO Emergency Response Team, Search and Rescue (ERT-SAR) flying out to disasters around the world.

BGB Medical Training is focused on providing high-quality service and customer satisfaction. The company is based on the belief that their customers’ needs are of the utmost importance. Their entire team is committed to meeting those needs. As a result, a high percentage of our business is from repeat customers and referrals.

BGB currently specialise in three areas – FAW (First Aid at Work), Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) and Paediatric First Aid.

The First Aid at Work (FAW) courses are designed to run over 3 days and will teach all participants how to recognise and treat a large number of medical issues from diabetes, shock, resuscitation, burns etc. This course has an exam and is valid for 3 years. FAW Refresher courses can also be offered. Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) is also offered and the certification from this course is also valid for 3 years.

Especially suited to nurseries and parents are the 2 day Paediatric First Aid courses that both Gary and Billie run which are essential where staff are working with a number of children and need to respond quickly to any form of accident that can take place. These are 2 day courses are Health and Safety Executive approved and offer a QCF (Qualifications Credit Framework) level 2 qualification.

BGB Medical Training have been assessed and approved by the association of First Aiders to provide first aid training of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) courses and AoFA approved courses.

This means you can book courses with BGB with complete assurance that they will provide a first class course for you and your staff and lead by a fully qualified instructor.

For further details about BGB Medical Training you can access their web site at www.bgbmedicaltraining.co.uk or contact them by completing the contact form on the web site or calling 07402028079

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News, Learning & Development

Eating Out with the Kids

February 13, 2013 By sonia Leave a Comment

Remember the days when romantic dinners for two were a regular occurrence, looking into each other’s eyes over the top of a wine glass after sampling the finest food on the menu? Just a distant memory? Looking forward to taking the family to McDonalds at the weekend? Then join the thousands of parents who have changed their dining out habits after the kids came along. Flying Start wanted to find out if it has to be that way and if restaurants have made any major changes in the way that they treat families with younger children.

In the UK we appear to have a completely different attitude to family dining. In many European countries, taking children to restaurants is the norm from a very early age and not just accepted but actively encouraged. Admittedly the climate in France, Italy and Spain may be more conducive to outdoor dining that lasts until the late evening but then again, they don’t appear to want their children in bed by 7pm.

To understand and deal with dining out, children need to experience it and that is where the continental culture differs to that of the UK where it seems that some people still want our children to be seen but not heard, an opinion that prefers families to dine at McDonalds but not the slightly more upmarket options that abound.

Apart from the cultural differences of the clientele, there are also differences in the way foreign restaurants approach the “family dining” scenario. Many of them try to openly participate with waiters and staff assuming pseudo family status by dealing directly with the children and even telling them off if required, something that would be frowned upon in Britain, to say the least.

A modern standard in the UK seems to be based upon new parents taking their first born out with them for the first time to find that throughout the experience, their child decides to decorate the carpet, seating and décor with a fine selection of food from all courses. They then wail to the rest of the restaurant to let them know that he/she would have preferred eggy soldiers and who do they think they’re looking at and tutting disapproval to. At which point parents beat retreat and never venture out again, unless the fast food outlet is close enough, for another few years. It needn’t be the case though.

You can you look for in a restaurant that will offer a greater amount of success for a meal with the kids and here are a few tips on how to do it.

There are a few obvious places to start. Asking around your circle of friends and family is bound to bring out a few suggestions.

Maybe you need to think about choosing places that are bound to be a hive of activity so that if your children do want to complain loudly about the uncomfortable high chair, they will just add to the existing noise and not court the wrath of fellow diners. Of course the opposite could be true as well, as empty establishments don’t have other people to upset.

Dining in booths can be a bonus. It can cut down the noise and also the distance that your children might be able to fling the mashed potato and offers some protection to other diners. Combine this with somewhere that offers very little delay in service and it should keep the kids more focussed on their food and less on playing cops and robbers in and around the tables.

Look online before you book anywhere and see if a restaurant has reviews – www.childfriendly.co.uk is a good place to start as restaurants are listed by your area. If you need to make a booking, ask while you are on the phone if the waiters are trained to deal with children, if children receive any special treatment such as activity packs or colouring in books and what facilities are available in terms of children’s menus and baby changing wash rooms amongst other things.

The Independent listed it’s top five that are found all over the country. Wagamama, Pizza Express, Belgo, Carluccio’s and Nando’s appear to get the backing of many families for half decent food, pricing that remains in the family budget, distractions for the kids and if all else fails, a good mop and bucket!

Filed Under: Family Matters, Fashion & Lifestyle

McDonald’s Launches Long-Term Campaign To Inspire Millions Of Happy Readers

January 11, 2013 By sonia Leave a Comment

McDonald’s UK today launches a long-term campaign to put millions of popular books into the hands of families and help make reading fun.

By the end of 2014, McDonald’s will have handed out at least 15 million fiction and non-fiction books to families across the UK. It will partner with publishers, retailers and other literacy organisations including the National Literacy Trust and WH Smith to achieve this goal.

Created in response to a successful pilot in 2012, following which nine out of 10 parents said they would like to see more book promotions from McDonald’s, the Happy Readers campaign will launch with a five-week nationwide promotion. During those five weeks, Happy Meal customers will be able to enjoy a series of non-fiction books from award-winning publisher DK’s ‘Amazing World’series. The books, one of which will be included with every Happy Meal, will come with puzzles and stickers that bring to life topics including Stars and Planets, Big Cats and Oceans.

A key aim of the long-term Happy Readers campaign is also to encourage families to have fun reading together. With research from the National Literacy Trust showing that only half of children really enjoy reading¹, McDonald’s will lend its family-friendly restaurant environment and its focus on family fun to encouraging parents and children to enjoy books together. In addition to the books included in Happy Meals as part of nationwide promotions, new ‘Happy Readers’ book offers will be displayed prominently, 365 days a year, on its iconic Happy Meal boxes, for redemption at leading High Street retailer WH Smith².

Alistair Macrow, Vice President of Marketing, McDonald’s UK, said:

“With 1,200 UK restaurants and eight out of ten families visiting us each year, we’re excited toleverage our scale, our partnerships and our presence in communities across the country to help millions of mums, dads and children find the fun in reading. Our restaurants are designed to be colourful, exciting places that children and their parents come to for a treat and we’re looking forward to books becoming a part of that family experience.”

John Duhigg, DK CEO, commented: “By offering families the chance to enjoy the Amazing World books as part of the McDonald’s Happy Readers campaign, we hope that more and more kids will realise the exciting world of knowledge and discovery waiting for them in books like these. Non-fiction books can be just as fun and inspiring as novels, and children can immediately dip into them, learning lots of fascinating things in a really accessible way. We hope that giving parents and children a taster of the type of titles available will inspire them to explore the genre further and realise how much fun reading can be.”

Jonathan Douglas, Director, National Literacy Trust,added:

“We are delighted that McDonald’s is extending its commitment to giving families access to quality, affordable books. Our research tells us that there is a very clear link between book ownership and children’s future success in life so it is very concerning that one in three children in the UK don’t own a book and half of kids don’t really enjoy reading. Initiatives like McDonald’s Happy Readers campaign play an important role in getting more books into the hands of children and inspiring families to read together as a fun and interactive pastime. With its scale and ability to reach people all across the UK, McDonald’s commitment to books has the potential to make a real difference.”

The McDonald’s DK book promotion will run from 9 January- 12 February 2013. It will include six titles from the DK Amazing World series: Oceans; Earth; Stars and Planets; Big Cats; Arctic and Antarctic; and Rainforest. Books will also be available to purchase in McDonald’s restaurants without the need to buy a Happy Meal.

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News, Parenting

Divorce – Ease the Pain with Mediation

December 19, 2012 By sonia Leave a Comment

Incredible as it may seem, there were almost 120,000 divorces in England and Wales in 2010, a 5% increase on 2009. That equates to 11 divorces per 1000 marriages with 68% of cases being brought by women, 4% by men and 28% jointly. There are many reasons why couples feel that divorce is the only way forward for them ranging from affairs to unreasonable behavior mid life crisis to growing apart. Whatever the reason, divorce is a stressful and often acrimonious process for both parties.

Mediation can be one option that reduces some of the tension and allows both sides to maintain or regain a level of contact with each other to ensure that the least amount of pain is suffered, not only by the adults but also any children involved in the break up. Divorce is also an extremely expensive process with both solicitor and court costs involved, so it makes financial sense to use a process that not only offers a structured way to deal with family issues but also keeps a lid on the expenses.

The family mediation process involves the couple working together with the mediator. There are usually three separate parts to the mediation procedure that involve an initial meeting for the mediator to assess the case and make an opinion as to whether it is suitable for mediation as well as offer the chance to both parties to ask questions. The second stage will be to actually hold meetings for the issues to be discussed. These are normally inclusive of property, family finances and access to the children.

The final stage will be for both parties to receive documentary confirmation of any agreements that have been made as a result of the process. These would then need to be made legal by taking the document to a solicitor.

There are many questions that couples need to ask in relation to mediation but one of the most important is “How will our children be affected?”

Family mediation holds the best interests of children at the heart of its principles. Because both parents will need to be involved with the care and upbringing of their children for a long time in the future, good channels of communication are vital and mediation is one method of creating such channels. Children need to maintain and develop their relationships with both parents and mediation gives the opportunity for misunderstandings to be ironed out before they can build into much bigger issues that damage parent/child bonding.

Mediation should always give children who are old enough, the chance to voice their concerns and opinions. This should be done in a private and safe environment and the mediator should always have CRB accreditation. Other responsible adults can be present if all parties agree. All of the children’s opinions should then be fed back to the parents to be taken into account as the process continues.

The potential benefits of mediation are such that this process is an option that must be considered. It can avoid the use of legal representation to argue out each point, which means less stress and less expense. Where parents recognise the need to maintain as much stability as possible for their children, mediation can create channels for communication and future planning and reduce the down side of divorce for the kids as well as for the adults.

Below are a number of web links to organisations that can provide support and information.

Childline Families Need Fathers Family Onwards Sue Atkins

Helping Children Through Divorce Dads House My Life After Divorce Lone Parents

Hidden Hurt Grandparents’ Association

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News, Uncategorized

Budding young Authors asked to put Pen to Paper in major story-writing competition

May 16, 2012 By sonia Leave a Comment

Aspiring young authors are being given the chance to see their work produced as part of a prestigious story-writing competition.

Aspiring young authors are being given the chance to see their work produced as part of a prestigious story-writing competition.

Back by popular demand, the Silentnight Book At Bedtime initiative is now in its sixth year and launches at 2pm, Thursday 17^th May 2012.

Designed to celebrate shared bed-time reading and imaginative writing, it is open to children aged between six and eleven across the UK. They’re being asked to submit an original story featuring the company’s much-loved Hippo and Duck characters and be in with a chance of bagging a highly original prize.

Ten finalists will see their work broadcast to the nation, narrated by award-winning author, Jeremy Strong and the public will be able to listen to the stories and vote for their favourite. The bedtime story with the most votes will be made into a unique, illustrated printed book for them to keep, and made available as an exclusive, downloadable e-book too.

The winner and their family will also enjoy a stay at the Pyjama Suite at The Alton Towers Hotel and all ten finalists will also receive a Silentnight Healthy Growth bed.

As Jeremy Strong explains: “I know from previous years that this is a fantastic opportunity to showcase some of our amazing, young creative talents – and the entries are always of a very high standard. Last year we received more than 1,400 stories so we’re hoping to see even more this time.

“As well as highlighting how much young people enjoy imaginative writing, the competition is a great chance to talk about the importance of bed-time reading and sharing that very special time with your children. I can’t wait to start reading them all!”

Entries can be submitted at www.silentnight.co.uk/bookatbedtime or by post and must be received by 2pm, 5^th July 2012. Voting for the ten selected finalists will begin on the 26^th July 2012 and will close midnight 24^th August 2012.

For full entry information please visit: www.silentnight.co.uk/bookatbedtime

Filed Under: Competitions, Family Matters, Featured, Flying Start News, Learning & Development

The Role Of The Modern Grandparent

March 29, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

In this feature, Flying Start showcases ‘The Role of The Modern Grandparent’ as seen on www.iamtypecast.com.
The Typecast blog is written by Nickie O’Hara- wife to one, Mum to three and Nana to two. She works full time for an educational charity, is studying for a Social Science degree with the Open University and writes, cross-stitches and tap dances to “relax” (although not at the same time). You can read more about Nickie here.

The Role Of The Modern Grandparent

I know I’m not quite the norm when it comes to being a grandparent (stop sniggering at the back, you know what I mean) but when I read research highlighted by The Telegraph it appears that children cared for by their grandparents whilst the parents go out to work are better developed both in social and emotional aspects.

To me, this is only representative of traditional families where, maybe, the grandparents are old enough to have retired and are in fairly good health. It doesn’t take into consideration that there are many families at the extreme of this research, i.e. living longer gives us more reason to start our families later. But also very much not when your family includes a non-traditional ‘Granny at 36′.

I never wanted history to repeat itself with my daughter also becoming a teenage parent, for both selfish and unselfish reasons. I wanted a gap where my husband and I could have a break from little people running around and revel in the fact that we didn’t have to organise enough equipment for an expedition to the South Pole when we were actually only going out for the day in the car. But also, I wanted my daughter to have A Life; one where she could have a few wild years, find a career that she loved and go and do all the things that I would have wanted to do instead of sitting at home surrounded by bottles, nappies, boring routines and a list of “What If’s”.

Life never really turns out the way you expect it to. So you deal with it…. Read More

Filed Under: Family Matters, Featured, Parenting Tagged With: I Am Typecast, Nickie O'Hara, The Role Of The Modern Grandparent