Copyright BBC Well after a number of years (over 4 to be exact) I’ve made the decision to call it a day for The Male Practitioner. Although I’m still very much enthused and passionate about my work in Early Years I’m now in a place where I can leave work there and have my home life as just that. Work/life balance is so important and that’s where I’m focusing my energies when I’m not at work. To all of you who have followed me over the years and especially those I’ve met in person, thank you for being part of my journey ..read more

I can’t help myself, it’s true. Having only just finished a very intense year of degree level study I’m enrolled myself on another course – I’m a fool to myself, I really am! Having read the damming report on the decreasing levels of physical activity in the Early Years from Sport England, I began to show a increasing interest in how to make it better. First of all I shaped my knowledge by researching the subject as part of my dissertation, my finding were that the knowledge and training of staff didn’t necessarily match up to the guidance from the Chief Medical Officer’s of the UK. I wanted ..read more

I bet you’ve been wondering where I’ve been hiding of late, I have been rather quiet on here? Well, if you look back at this post from September last year, you’ll know I’ve been busy working on the final year of my degree. It’s been a real battle, emotionally as well as mentally. However with the help and support of my family and my amazing colleagues I have now finished – all bar the shouting as they say! I’ve been pretty lucky to study at University Centre Doncaster as the help and support given to us has been amazing. I’ve tried to finish degree study quite a few times and failed on each o ..read more

So I’m working on a new project for The Male Practitioner and I need your help and input. I’m planning on creating a fun book for either download or (costs depending) publishing, with profits going to a children’s charity. We’ve all be in that situation at nursery where we say something that ONLY makes sense to you and your colleagues (prime example is “no Jonny, we don’t put Lego up Jemima’s nose do we!”) So why not email your best moments of crazy talk to me so I can put them into the book.* Send them, along with your name to hello@themalepractitioner.com *Please don’t use real names for th ..read more

Welcome to the first in an ocassional series of FREE downloads from The Male Practitioners. This set of images can be used in the classrom to promote discussion on a variety of topics. Our first choice is Castles. Just download, print out and laminate to really get the children chatting. Talking Pictures – CastlesDownload ..read more

In this episode of the podcast Glenn talks to Rob Fox from Active Childhood UK about his new venture, The Cambridge Manny. If you would like to share aspects of your practice then please get in touch – hello@themalepractitioner.com ..read more

So, I have been thinking a lot recently about this as it’s very much in the news (good news for a change.) This year has been so strange for all of us in Early Years as we constantly change and adapt and are put under increasing pressure to serve the families that rely on us and the services we provide. The news that the first of the vaccinces are being rolled out was such a tremendous boost to the morale of the whole country. Quite rightly the elderly, vulnerable, NHS and social care staff (including care home staff) are in line to get theirs first I feel that, yet again, Early Years and edu ..read more

Here’s hoping you all have a safe, happy and enjoyable Christmas and that 2021 brings all you want and more. Lot’s more TMP adventures to come next year ..read more

So I’m hoping that you get this feeling too? That feeling that a new book you’ve been expecting arrives and it’s just brimming with inspiration. Today I got that feeling when Sally Wright’s latest edition to the “50” series, 50 Fantastic Ideas for Tuff Tray Mathematics. Now this isn’t a huge tome that requires your devoted attention (and that isn’t a criticism, it’s certainly an advantage), this is most definitely one to dip in and out of and be inspired each time that you do. If you compare this book to Sally’s previous book, 50 Fantastic Ideas for Tuff Trays, then you can see that she has ..read more

Rather than sashay away, I’ll be more Shantay, you stay (Drag Race reference for you there folks!) Now I’m about to start the final year of a degree I’ve got the mammoth (read gargantuan) task of choosing and then writing my dissertation. I roughly know my topic but will need to tidy it up to submit my proposal. What’s that? You want to know what it is? Oh, well ok! I’m looking at physical literacy in children and how we should focus on that to improve the children’s abilities for writing later. As I said it is very much in the embryonic stage of development but I’m wondering if my lovely TMP ..read more