2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015

• 23-11-25 - A Lecturer’s Perspective: Why Scotland Needs A Kindergarten Stage
• 15-11-25 - In praise of Scottish education …
• 05-11-25 - THIS IS A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY
• 27-08-25 - NO TIME FOR WAITING!
• 21-06-25 - TUNNEL VISION
• 05-06-25 - Born to Play!

• 19-12-24 - Lies, damn lies, statistics … and CHILDREN
• 29-10-24 - Distracted by Data
• 15-07-24 - UN Convention on Children’s Rights Now Incorporated in Scots Law
• 09-06-24 - Letter from a teacher to an MSP
• 08-05-24 - Will ‘systems failure’ make a laughing stock of UNCRC?
• 08-04-24 - Time to RECLAIM PLAY
• 28-03-24 - KEEP IT REAL!
• 26-02-24 - What is Philosophy with Children?

• 09-12-23 - Education: how does Scotland get out of this fine mess?
• 02-11-23 - Parental perspectives: whose knowledge counts?
• 27-09-23 - Play and Health in Childhood: a Rights-Based Approach
• 14-06-23 - The myth of parental engagement
• 13-05-23 - Oops-A-Daisy! Play-based, place-based planning
• 17-02-23 - Striking for change

• 27-10-22 - Upstart Response to the National Discussion on Education Survey
• 13-09-22 - ‘Don’t worry – your child will survive!’
• 20-08-22 - What’s so special about the three-to-seven age group?
• 14-08-22 - Letter to the National, 14-8-22
• 05-08-22 - A Sense of Belonging: Our ‘Being Me Wall’
• 27-05-22 - Rabbit, Data and the Attainment Gap
• 29-04-22 - Why Play and Time are Essential for Pre-Writing Skills
• 26-02-22 - Call to Action from Maggie – Planning for Play!
• 26-01-22 - Ten reasons why the P1 tests should be scrapped

• 31-12-21 - Why ‘Play, NOT Tests, for P1’ is now more important than ever
• 24-11-21 - Catching up in a time of COVID: health, well-being and the future of Scottish education
• 29-10-21 - My son is learning to think ‘I can’t do it’
• 14-10-21 - Fighting the system
• 11-09-21 - DOES SCOTLAND CARE ABOUT EARLY YEARS CARE?
• 30-08-21 - A message from Give Them Time
• 10-07-21 -  “What do we want? Play! When do we want it? Now!”
• 27-05-21 - Learning from five-year-olds in Sweden
• 16-05-21 - Is it hard to be soft?
• 05-05-21 - Play and Parent Power
• 07-04-21 - Behind the ‘sun-seeking’ headlines
• 19-03-21 - Bold beginnings – why not more men in Early Level?
• 13-03-21 - How can we have a national conversation about education if teachers are gagged?
• 28-02-21 - Should we really be telling our children they are “behind” and need to “catch up”?
• 25-02-21 - Once Upon A Playground
• 14-02-21 - Early years matters. Stop taking us for granted!
• 10-02-21 - Best Interests of the Child … or the System?
• 07-02-21 - Play Not Tests for P1 Mark 2
• 28-01-21 - Build back upwards – you know it makes sense!
• 16-01-21 - STEM, FROM CRADLE TO UNIVERSITY

• 29-12-20 - Habits of a lifetime…
• 02-12-20 - Outdoors – All Day!
• 27-10-20 - Play is the Way
• 16-10-20 - Zooming in the Footsteps of Giants
• 16-09-20 - Child well-being and school transitions
• 02-09-20 - Why we need a Public Health Perspective on Early Years
• 13-08-20 - Assessment – should education be about trust or control?
• 27-07-20 - Hold fast to the ambition, Scotland!
• 10-06-20 - Managing tantrums in lockdown
• 12-05-20 - The Science of ‘Back to School’ in England and Scotland
• 22-04-20 - An Open Letter about Outdoor Play to the Minister for Children and Young People
• 11-04-20 - Action for outdoor play during lockdown
• 02-04-20 - How to get through the next few months
• 24-03-20 - Three guys and a dream
• 13-03-20 - What About The Children?
• 01-03-20 - Two Years On and Counting (+ Reading + Writing)
• 21-02-20 - Playing with Ella
• 14-01-20 - Girls just need to have fun

• 28-11-19 - Switching on to the dangers of WiFi
• 31-10-19 - There is Hope: thoughts on ‘The Divided Brain’
• 12-10-19 - A Powerful Partnership
• 25-09-19 - 1140 hours: Big Bang or Damp Squib?
• 14-09-19 - The Unattainable Triangle of the Scottish Government’s 2020 Expansion
• 16-08-19 - School’s back … but what’s the rush?
• 04-07-19 - Stigma, shame and the ACEs movement
• 16-06-19 - Assessing Self-regulation: A missed opportunity
• 30-05-19 - Assessment of five-year-olds: the ‘East Lothian question’
• 28-04-19 - The view from the long grass
• 10-04-19 - Adverse Childhood Experiences: more questions than answers?
• 22-03-19 - I Don’t Take My Kids to the Park Anymore
• 12-03-19 - Working Together for Early Years
• 25-02-19 - Outdoors in all weathers
• 25-01-19 - The Importance of Being Five
• 05-01-19 - Self-regulation – what you need to know

• 28-12-18 - Nurturing children’s mental health from the start
• 15-11-18 - Why ‘Give Them Time’ Now?
• 20-10-18 - A Tale of Two Systems: trust versus control
• 23-09-18 - Learning in the great outdoors
• 30-08-18 - Tears before test time
• 14-08-18 - Why I withdrew my child from the P1 tests
• 26-05-18 - Is Love Really That Scary?
• 14-04-18 - Assessment – yes!  Standardised tests – no!
• 02-04-18 - Campaign for ‘PLAY NOT TESTS’ in P1 – and how you can help!
• 24-02-18 - The Silence of the Weans
• 01-02-18 - Upstart and Children’s Rights
• 01-01-18 - Rules, rules, rules and we’re not allowed to skip

• 20-11-17 - A book about ECEC that will win hearts and minds
• 11-10-17 - Declutter the emotional environment!
• 09-09-17 - But my five-year-old IS ready for school…
• 04-08-17 - Ten reasons why national testing at P1 is WRONG!
• 01-06-17 - What is self-regulation?
• 30-04-17 - Music and Literacy
• 01-03-17 - Did Scotland have the world’s first kindergarten?
• 19-02-17 - I deferred my August-born son and a year on I’m so glad I did
• 01-02-17 - The Looming Trial of PISA
• 01-01-17 - 20 things Upstart wants for Scotland’s under-sevens…

• 02-12-16 - GETTING IT RIGHT BEFORE IT GOES WRONG!
• 21-11-16 - GROWING UP WILD
• 01-11-16 - Why ‘Too much too soon’ won’t close the attainment gap
• 02-10-16 - A new prescription for Health and Wellbeing
• 26-09-16 - Upstart: the best start in literacy for all children
• 28-08-16 - LITERACY, LEARNING … AND LUCK
• 01-07-16 - Kirsty (the Holyrood baby) and P1 assessment
• 02-06-16 - Why play makes grown-ups a bit nervous
• 28-05-16 - AN OPEN LETTER TO JOHN SWINNEY FROM UPSTART SCOTLAND
• 02-05-16 - Let’s all become upstarts!
• 15-04-16 - Fife Parliamentary Candidates come under fire for failing Early Years at Cupar hustings
• 02-04-16 - Playing for health’s sake
• 01-03-16 - Learning Through Play
• 31-01-16 - Living in Interesting Times
• 02-01-16 - To boldly go: OECD, CfE … and Upstart

• 28-11-15 - Unready at four, ready at seven
• 28-11-15 - RESPONSE TO THE NATIONAL IMPROVEMENT FRAMEWORK BY UPSTART SCOTLAND
• 30-10-15 - Schoolification isn’t working
• 04-10-15 - Let’s Hear It For Story and Song
• 04-10-15 - Pushing children at early ages likely to be unproductive
• 12-09-15 - Summerborns and winterborns
• 25-08-15 - Upstart in the news
• 10-08-15 - Upstart presentation to Angela Constance
• 31-07-15 - Play and Policy in Scotland