And so the extent of the U-turn on the centralised, target-driven approach that has marked Labour's years in power may not be pored over quite as much as it would otherwise be in the absence of a pop star's tragic end.
As Nursery World went to press, the schools White Paper was still to appear, but plans to scrap National Strategies had been confirmed. Central oversight of literacy and numeracy hours is to cease from 2011, with schools gaining more freedom to use the teaching methods they prefer, with local support.
The implications for early years were not clear, though they may be more so by the time you read this. In theory, the removal of prescriptive, central control of literacy and numeracy approaches should lessen the top-down pressure on early years classes and settings.
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