Nicola Brown

Hello my name is Nicola Brown. I have a passion for early education and have had the privilege of teaching within outstanding nursery schools for nearly 17 years, including work with 0-3 year olds, as well as 3-5 year olds. I believe every child has the right to a high quality, aspirational early education, where they are valued, respected and viewed by the adults around them as competent, curious, knowledgeable and full of potential. In September 2014 I started working as an Early Years Consultant; supporting the Derby City Early Years Quality Improvement team by mentoring and coaching early years teachers and practitioners, providing high quality CPD and project managing an early communication, language and literacy programme funded by the DFE. I have been leading the ECaM training in the city for both schools and the PVI sector for the last 2 years. I am also an SLE for Derbyshire; supporting schools to develop effective childcentred provision for 0- 5 year olds, with an affiliation to Ripley Nursery School, my teaching base for nearly 12 years. I am currently working alongside the Head, teachers and practitioners to develop a child led, process centred, experiential and creative curriculum inspired by the research of Professor Laevers and the educational philosophy of the Reggio Emilia approach. A quote that captures my philosophy on early education; ‘…each child is valued as infinitely capable, creative and intelligent. The job of the teacher is to support these qualities and to challenge children in appropriate ways.’ Carla Rinaldi