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A Year 1 teacher writes in to say her school has never done continuous provision, she has been told she is doing it from September, and she is worried her children will not be where they should be by the end of the year. It is one of the most common worries in primary right now, and it deserves a proper answer rather than a slogan.

🧱 Continuous provision in Year 1, honestly
Dylan and Hayden start by validating the fear, because provision implemented badly, with no training and no plan, absolutely can leave children worse off. But they push back hard on the second half of the worry. Number bonds, fact families and phonics do not vanish because a child is learning at a sand tray. The bigger question is whether our idea of "behind" is just an old benchmark we never thought to question.

🍴 Knives, forks and where the line is
The conversation takes a turn into what schools should and should not be picking up. Sharing, turn taking, coats and shoelaces are one thing. Toilet training is another. Hayden draws a distinction that is worth hearing if you have ever felt guilty for saying no.

🎃 A question for Hayden about Halloween
Dylan quizzes him on Halloween, Bonfire Night, Christmas and Easter. Only some of those go well. A listener poll has been promised.

🎤 Assembly tips that actually work
Why 400 children feel harder than 30, why going in silly is a trap, and the thing their old headteacher did at the front of every single assembly for years without ever letting it slip. Strict is not the same as nasty.

🛠️ Burnham's technical routes, and who they really serve
The new prime minister's plan gives Year 10 pupils technical pathways shaped around local employers, rolling out from 2028. Dylan talks it through and both hosts genuinely want it to succeed. The worry is what happens when league tables meet a shiny new option, and which children quietly get steered towards it. Having been pushed towards university themselves, Hayden's story about the degree he never wanted is the part that might land hardest. There is also the arts question nobody is asking, and the small matter of paying for any of it.

Honest, funny, and exactly the conversation to have before September starts.

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