News

Very many congratulations to the wonderful Jean Smith (aka Greensniff – it’s amazing what some young children say when they mispronounce a name and then it sticks!).  I met Jean just over 6 months ago when we joined together to co-facilitate the The Northamptonshire Baby Room Project* across Rutland, and I think I can confidently say that we’ve had great fun sharing ideas, resources and stories as we’ve co-trained and visited settings – not to mention the wine gums and travel sweets consumed while wending our way around the county.  Then, on Friday night, Jean was awarded the Nursery World Award 2012 for ‘Outstanding Contribution’ – if you’ve ever been in Oakham Library during one of Jean’s Rhyme Time sessions, you’ll see just one of the reasons why!  So well done Jean and really looking forward to working with you on our next project: ‘Beyond the Baby Room.’  Also looking forward to seeing the photographic evidence of Jean in a frock! 😯   [update – see here for Nursery World Awards pics, Jean’s is about half-way down the page and indeed wearing a frock.]

*(copyright Northamptonshire County Council)

Well, it has been a year now of self-employment and what a year it has been.  I’ve met lots of new people during training sessions, forged friendships at home and abroad and developed working relationships in a number of new local authorities and organisations that will continue in 2012/13.  I have really enjoyed branching out and the work related to ‘the baby brain’ has been so rewarding both in terms of how practitioners have changed their practice and gained greater confidence in their unique role.  I’ve also had great fun developing new resources – oh the joys of shopping and laminating!  So it’s full steam ahead for year 2 and I’m looking forward to meeting many more people to share the PB message and marvel in the wonders of babies and young children.  I’d also like to say a big ‘thank you’ to all those people who have helped me, especially Stevie for putting up with last minute requests to edit and copy various bits of music and video – training sessions would not have been anywhere near as animated without your help.  😆

It is wonderful for me to be able to say that Di Margetts, the person that brought and shared the Protective Behaviours Process with so many people, is visiting England later this year and will be attending the next PBPeople network meeting.  This is being held on 19th September in Northampton.  (Full venue details can be found on the PB People website).

For those of you who have not experienced the ‘whirlwind of energy’ that is Di, I can only say that for me this will be a fantastic opportunity to hear things straight from ‘the horses mouth’, and I mean that as a true compliment. I send my apologies to those who are not trainers or trainees and therefore not eligible to attend, but promise to share all that I learn via the PB People Forum and this blog.  So, once again, watch this space for feedback and if any of you have any questions or queries about the PB process feel free to let me have them and I can add them to our 20 questions slot.

So here’s my latest news.  Together with 2 PB colleagues we’ve launched a new website PBPeople.org.uk

The rationale behind this is to provide an opportunity for the PB community to stay in touch, share ideas, ask questions and develop a network that highlights the range of PB projects and programmes that currently exist and perhaps even facilitate the development of new ones.  It is a free PB community website developed and run by a group of volunteers and its purpose is to promote the Protective Behaviours process far and wide. So, why don’t you take a look and let me know what you think?  I think Kevin Costner was told in the film Field of Dreams, ‘build it and they will come.’  So that’s what we’ve done. 😀