New guidance provides 15 hours of free childcare – Children & Young People Now.

The government has published statutory guidance requiring local authorities to provide 15 hours of flexible free childcare each week to parents of three- and four-year-olds.

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More music lessons – to improve memory, intelligence and behaviour

As the government launches the National Year of Music, a new report confirms that learning an instrument has many benefits for children

Learning a musical instrument at school improves children’s behaviour, memory and intelligence, a government-commissioned study has found, as ministers launch the first National Year of [Click here to continue reading]

Listen to the singing, the laughing, and the shouting; the jumping, stomping, and clapping; the exuberant thumping of drums, the rhythmic rattling of maracas, and the festive jingling of bells. Listen to children making music, and it’s easy to hear they’re having fun.

What’s not so obvious is that while children are singing and clapping, jumping [Click here to continue reading]

Children who take part in learning sessions designed to engage their parents as well, show improved communication, confidence and interpersonal skills, according to an Ofsted report.

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