Tracey Smith

The quality of the interaction always matters. A child may not remember every instruction we give, but they will remember how it felt to be with us. Adult behaviour is therefore not an additional part of early years practice, but the foundation on which learning, belonging and self-regulation are built. “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou From individual interactions to...

Climbing STAIRS The Education Endowment Foundation’s recently-published (2025) STAIRS model offers early years educators a simple and memorable framework for scaffolding children’s learning through high-quality interactions. It brings together six features of effective adult support: Sharing attention, Thriving together, Avoiding frustration, highlighting Important features, Reviewing progress and supporting Self-motivation. Its central message is that children learn best when adults provide...

The other evening, I was being interviewed for someone’s doctoral research, a hugely important area: Values-based Leadership. He asked some great questions which caused me to reflect in depth about some of the times when I have been fortunate to be a values-based leader in education. For some of his questions, I didn’t have a ready reply and had to think before answering. How about this great question: Q: How did being a values-led leader help to create trust between you and your colleagues