I’m an early childhood consultant with 30 year’s experience of working with children, teachers and leaders. I provide consultancy, training, workshops and keynote speeches across the UK and overseas on a number of subjects related to early years and beyond.
I'm especially passionate about the impact that positive relationships, play-based learning and quality language support can have on a child's learning and life chances. I witnessed this first-hand when leading the early years team in Lewisham, an inner London Local Authority, where for 15 years I worked closely with many schools and early years settings in a variety of circumstances, helping them to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Lewisham gradually became a local authority with the highest outcomes for children at the end of the EYFS, and excellent inspection outcomes overall for early years, despite being an area with high levels of economic deprivation.
International schools
My extensive work with international schools means that I have also developed a strong understanding of this unique sector and have provided in-school consultancy support and training, organised conferences and provided keynote speeches in many countries - the USA, Shanghai, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Dubai, Kazakhstan, The Falkland Islands, The Netherlands, France and Switzerland. I've also spent time observing practice in Finland in order to develop my own professional understanding of the education system there. I have worked with a number of FOBISIA schools and am excited to become an Affiliate Member of this prestigious organisation.
You can find out more about my work by visiting my website here: https://www.kymscottconsultan
Online professional development platform:
In response to COVID-19 and the lack of opportunity to deliver training in-person, I have created my own international online early years professional development platform, called The Place to Learn. This is a subscription-based site, and annual membership of £895 provides access for a whole school to my on-demand training videos, live and recorded webinars and other content. Staff members can select particular modules to focus on, or can progress systematically through a 4-8 hour course. Content focuses heavily on child development, and developing strong professional knowledge in areas like language, literacy and maths. Courses also focus on key pedagogical elements such as improving adult interactions, providing challenge in play, developing effective learning environments indoors and out, as well as leading an early years team. New modules and courses are regularly uploaded. I also organise online conferences with other international experts and those who subscribe to the site will be able to access any live webinars I put on over the year for free as well as having long term access to the recordings of these.
You can find out more about The Place to Learn and subscribe here: https://www.kymscottconsultan
Taking play beyond early years
I have often supported schools to take play-based learning into KS1, and have been inspired by the effect it has on learning and outcomes. This year I am co-leading a new international project, called PressPlay, which is committed to developing deep, effective play-driven practice throughout the primary age phase, in order to cultivate highly engaged, creative learners. The programme will provide a carefully guided, bespoke journey to help whole school teams navigate the challenges and pitfalls of developing this approach in their school. It includes monthly access to co-created Q and A sessions with experts from around the world, along with fortnightly mastermind sessions for leaders and teachers separately, plus access to a vibrant curated online learning community. The beauty of Pressplay is that it is such a bespoke programme that it will be down to each school to decide what age ranges they focus on and what direction they take things in. The key thing is that the focus throughout will be on improving engagement and outcomes, not creating a free for all!
For further information or to book a call to discuss further please visit the PressPlay website here: https://www.letspressplay.co