Deputy Paul Montague said that the first time he had attended such an event had been ‘a real eye-opener’ for him. ‘I’ve been through loads of education training in my time – but what I saw that day was just great, an absolute eye-opener,’ he said.
‘With young children, sometimes our culture’s attitude is just nursery, just “looking after” – but it’s not education. I spent most of my life teaching sixth form.
'You can do all you want there, but if you haven’t got the basics, that foundation, you’re spending loads of money down the line. We do need to focus on it.’
Ruth Sharp, head of Early Years for the States, said it was important to work across States’ committees to ensure each child was having all their key areas of development met.
Early Years focuses on three prime areas – physical development, which includes diet; social-emotional development, which involves positive attachment relationships and regulating emotions; and speech, language and communication.
‘The early years – up to the age of five – is the biggest time of rapid brain growth,’ she said.