But hold on a moment! A New Year is not the time to talk doom and gloom - there is enough of that when we look out our windows on a cold January morning. So let's think about the positives.
The Tickell review of the Early Years Foundation Stage is progressing and might have some quite positive things to say, such as: let's keep the basic format, let's see if we can pare down some of the jargon and the bureaucracy and try to address some of the assessment and transition issues, otherwise let's give it time to embed, after all it's only two years old. This, to me, seems eminently sensible and I am delighted that academics and practitioners alike are trying to ensure that the idea of a new, slimline version of EYFS is workable, by adopting a collaborative approach to achieve this.
I am also very hopeful that the work on early intervention being done in the Centre for Social Justice will see an improved level of support for the youngest in society. We are in an era where the research that details the difference good early years interventions can make to children's life chances is widely enough known to be part of the mainstream when considering national policies for early years.
The Munro Review of child protection is ongoing and offers hope for a less bureaucratic system for social workers and more frontline work in pro-active child protection. Child protection, however, must always stay very high on all our radars, as the recent case in Birmingham has shown once again. We can all be vigilant, but there will always be people who do not acquire the social skills to become members of our civilised society and who end up thinking it is all right to harm the vulnerable.
Yes, we have had an amazing period of plenty and yes, we are in straitened times, but that doesn't prevent us from looking at the future positively and attempting to share our expertise, support each other, and work collaboratively to bring the very best services to children.