PrimedForLife.co.uk

'Now, more than ever we need to be raising strong, healthy, well-balanced children capable of handling whatever life will throw at them in the future. However, unless we broaden our attention to the whole child- and not just the bit on top of their shoulders – we will be raising disembodied children.

[Today’s] children may find their instinctive biological drive for movement overruled by adults, teachers, learning environments, programmes and policies, actively missing out on the key fundamental developments for mind and body that can prime them for life.'

O’Connor & Daly (2016) Understanding Physical Development in the Early Years: Linking Bodies and Minds (Routledge)

Anne O’Connor is an independent consultant for Early Years. She is an experienced trainer, key note speaker and author on areas such as attachment, physical development, wellbeing and transitions. In partnership with Anna Daly she is also the co-founder of Primed for Life which advocates for a wider understanding of the body as a child’s first place of learning.

Diversity, Equality & Inclusion

I have been privileged to have spent the majority of my teaching career in schools in parts of the East End of London where anti-racist activism was very much a feature of both my personal and professional life. This work continues to be very important to me and in my consultancy.

I have been writing about and offering training on various aspects relating to equalities, diversity, inclusion, anti-bias and anti-racism for over twenty years.

Please get in touch to talk about how I can support your school or setting in this very important work.

'I See You' Project

Following on from some very stimulating and satisfying work on wellbeing with practitioners and EY advisers in Cumbria, Anna Daly and I were very fortunate to be asked to develop a project with 10 diverse settings across Cumberland/ Westmorland and Furness.

I SEE YOU: Mirroring Young Children’s Movement in Playful Ways, to Support their Development and Wellbeing Summer/Autumn 2023

This initiative used Covid Recovery Funding and was part of the wider project focusing on wellbeing for staff and children led by the Early Years Team within Cumbria. Further discussion led to the development of the I SEE YOU project in order to explore how mirroring and engaging playfully in children’s movement supports wellbeing and development, particularly neurophysiological development incorporating both the body and the brain.

One of the key aspects of the project was that it was open-ended and flexible with a child and practitioner focus, enabling us to match our interactions and interventions with the specific needs of each setting. It wasn’t based on ‘artistic performance’ or ‘session delivery’ although both children and adults experienced the ‘artistry’ of a movement /dance specialist and saw lots of movement activities in action through ‘playmating’ and mirroring.

A particularly innovative aspect of the project also provided ‘in the moment’ CPD for practitioners in response to whatever aspects of children’s Physical (and wider) development arose during the session. This was followed up in specific staff meetings for those settings who requested it. Every setting also received one or more short training video using clips and images from our sessions with them.

Not only was the project very successful it was also a joy to participate in! Hundreds of hours of clips and images took some time to process but it was well worth it for the positive impact both ‘in the moment’ and in later reflections from the settings. The evaluation report will be released soon and I will post a link to it here.

'I See You Too' Project

The exciting news is that we have received further funding from both Cumberland and Lancashire Early Years teams to develop the project further with a smaller number of settings. Plans are afoot to find extra funding streams so that we can continue to explore, develop and disseminate this valuable work further. Watch this space!

Nursery World

I have been a regular contributor to Nursery World since 2000 and have lost count of the number of articles, features and supplements I have written on a wide range of topics! Visit the Nursery World website Nursery World – Anne O’Connor and check me out.

Siren Films

It has been a great pleasure and privilege working with Siren Films over the years, and not least collaborating with them for the long running Practice in Pictures features. You can find these on the nursery world website but do also check out the Siren Films website for excellent resources, articles and film clips for training e.g. open-ended resources link well to children’s schemas — Siren Films

Early Education

As a member of Early Education from way back when it was known as BAECE – The British Association for Early Childhood Education, I am very privileged to be one of its founding Early Education Associates, offering support, training and consultancy to the sector.
Anne O’Connor – Early Education

I was particularly pleased to be one of the 100 early years specialists involved in the development of Birth to 5 Matters: non-statutory guidance for the EYFS – Early Education

I also contributed to the recommendations for supporting positive transition experiences following the pandemic for children within and beyond the EYFS. This was in collaboration with Helen Moylett, Nancy Stewart, Julie Fisher, Di Chilvers, Karen Boardman of TACTYC and Beatrice Merrick of Early Education.

“As schools and settings look towards welcoming young children back and making a ‘good start’, we need to plan a positive transition experience for all children and their families which will build confidence, resilience and positive relationships. Only a developmentally appropriate and nurturing return to school will support the strong foundations necessary for school readiness and progress in learning. A focus on well-being and supporting children’s whole development will consolidate prior learning and reignite children’s interest so they will ‘catch up’ and move on in their learning.”

I believe these recommendations still stand as we are only just uncovering the long-term impact of that time and settings are reporting concerns about children’s emotional and physical health and development – long after ‘normality’ has supposedly returned. Much of my work now is in response to these concerns, supporting families, settings, schools and other organisations to understand the impact of trauma on all children – and particularly those for whom life was already a challenge, made worse by the effects of the pandemic.

Towards Self-Regulation

Understanding the development of self-regulation demands an understanding of the process of co-regulation which children need to experience in order to one day be able to self regulate themselves. This means having an adult (or more experienced child) lend them ’their calm’ and help them with big feelings ( eg sadness, anger, frustration, overwhelm etc) until they are able to manage them for themselves.

Wellbeing and Collective Care

We hear a lot about the importance of well being both for children and the adults who parent, care for and educate them. As both a parent and teacher/practitioner I am well aware of just how difficult it can be to practise self care when in the midst of it all and when ‘long bubble baths’ are a stretch too far ! The more I have come to understand about the process and development of self-regulation in children, the more aware I have become of my own need for healthy strategies for self regulation.

This is one of the many reasons why any training I do about children’s development encourages adults to reach back to their own childhood, allowing them the chance not just to reflect on their own experiences and needs but also to find and practice useful strategies that will help them ‘find their calm’ so they are able to lend it to the children they work with. Which in turn, helps create empathic environments of nurturing care and relationship – the best and most effective places for priming children for life and love and learning.

Eden North

As a member of the Early Years, Primary and Special schools Group I continue to work with the Morecambe Bay Curriculum and all other organisations working towards the development of Eden North in Morecambe. Fingers crossed for further developments soon!