Hello!
I’m so glad you’re here!
I’m Emily. I’ve been passionate about teaching and early child development for as long as I can remember.
My journey so far...
This began with playing teacher and bossing my poor siblings around! Then I began to help out in my Mum’s nursery and then Reception classes. I worked as a nanny during holidays and I chose to work in different schools for all my work experience weeks.
I took a gap year and did some further work experience with a Child Psychologist before starting a Psychology and Criminology degree at Keele University.
After completing my BSc Degree I went on to do my Teacher Training (PGCE) at EUA University in Norwich. That was such a demanding and exciting year! Once I completed my training I got my first teaching position and worked in a small village school as a Reception and Year 1 Class Teacher.
I later trained and became an accredited Special Educational Needs Coordinator. Once I had my own children, I decided to leave full-time teaching while my children are young but I’d like to go back to teaching in the future.
When I had my first daughter, Rosie, I realised for the first time just how different it is having your own children, to taking care of or teaching other people’s! It gave me a whole new perspective.
As my children got older and started at preschool then school I was able to see what it was like from a parent’s perspective.
“The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing him for school, but for life.
-Maria Montessori -
I felt very lucky to have a good understanding of what my children’s school day would be like, what phonics is all about, how we teach mathematical concepts now etc. I listened to parents on the playground all around me worrying, feeling puzzled or feeling incompetent or out of control of their child’s learning and life as soon as they started school. It was clear that for some, those feelings lead to them immediately taking a step back from their child’s learning and just letting the teacher get on with it! Of course, that’s the teacher’s job but I knew from my teaching experiences just how vital a parent’s support is and that there needs to be a partnership between parents/carers and school. Additionally, I could see that parents of course really wanted to support their child with their learning but didn’t want to bother the teacher with too many questions or didn’t want to sound silly for asking what they saw as overly basic questions. I feel strongly that all parents can support their child’s learning and it doesn’t need to involve ‘homework’ or worksheets or anything formal. We can learn through play with our children. Nor do parents need to be fully versed in all aspects of education but I’d love to help you understand enough that you feel confident and competent. You are the biggest influence and educator in your child’s life!
2020 Lockdown
In March 2020, the UK went in to lockdown and those of us with school-aged children began home learning. I set up an Instagram page and offered whatever support I could give parents as we all tried to work out how to homeschool our own children and occupy our babies and toddlers alongside that!
At that time, our oldest child Rosie was 6 and in Year 1. Our middle child, Lottie, was 3 (almost 4) and in a Preschool class and Poppy our youngest had just turned 1. I’ll write more about that time in the ‘Parenting Life’ Blog section. Needless to say, like so many other parents around the world, we had to quickly work out how we were going to keep all our family safe, happy, healthy and learning.
I received so many pleas for help and so many questions about the school work that was being sent home that I changed the direction of my little family Instagram account to a public one that aimed to support parents and give out simple, clear, useful information so that parents would hopefully feel empowered and confident that they could do this.
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They could lead their child’s learning and it could be mainly through play and by following their child’s interests.
That account became Little Learning Leaders and expanded quickly.
If you’re interested to know more about us and see a little of our daily lives you can find me there most days on Stories and you’re always welcome to drop me a message, say hello or ask any questions.
I hope that you find this website useful. I will constantly be adding new content here. If you came here looking for something specific and couldn’t find it please let me know and I’ll do my best to add that information in quickly.
“Notice what children are interested in and follow their lead.”
-Nicola Thompson
