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Children must learn to play at home - nursery boss

Josh DayGuernsey
BBC This is an image of Karyn Merrien. She has cherry red shoulder-length straight hair, a nose ring, and is wearing a bright blue hoodie with a yellow logo on it. She is standing in front of a sign which says "Bright Beginnings".BBC
Karyn Merrien says part of her work at Bright Beginnings is teaching children to play

Children in Guernsey arrive at pre-school less capable than previous generations, according to a nursery boss.

Karyn Merrien, manager at Bright Beginnings, said learning opportunities were being missed and "children need to learn how to play".

She said screens were "having a massive impact", and the Covid pandemic had brought other challenges.

President for the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture Paul Montague has called for a "cultural change" in how young children interact with screens and their "social activity interaction with their peers".

Merrien said: "From Covid times, children didn't necessarily know how to play because they had been with their parents for the couple of months that we were in lockdown.

"I'm not saying that parents don't know how to play, not at all, but when you're having to work and teach your child and still be a parent, that is really challenging.

"When they come into the nursery setting then we have to start all over again."

She said: "Screens are having a massive impact on the children.

"Children literally walk around with an iPad or an iPhone in a playground, in a park, so those learning opportunities are missed."

This is a close-up image of Zara Betts. She has long straight blonde hair and is wearing a brown coat over a bright pink jumper.
Zara Betts said she had seen "children struggling with their speech, their language, their attention skills"

Zara Betts, speech and language therapist with the States' Early Years Team, said: "Our caseload for our speech language therapy service has increased in the nine years that I've been working in Guernsey."

The States Early Years Team launched the "Screens Away, Time to Play" campaign in March, which offers advice for parents to help them create "age-appropriate screen habits" for their children.

Betts said: "Excessive screen use can impact on a whole range of things from eyesight to posture to obesity, but we really see things around speech and language, their attention skills, fine motor skills."

She added: "It's a bigger picture. Screens are part of the picture - and there's a lot more going on - but it is one thing that we're trying to tackle at the moment."

This is a close-up image of Deputy Paul Montague. He has short grey hair and a short beard. He is wearing a brown sports jacket, with a blue checked shirt and green tie. There is a Remembrance poppy on his lapel.
Deputy Paul Montague wants action "to ensure that no young person in Guernsey is left behind"

Deputy Paul Montague said: "It's absolutely clear to me that those early years are the ones we've really got to concentrate on because some of the problems we've seen with young people.

"I think we've got a lot of work to do.

"Budgets are tight so we want to make sure that we use the taxpayers' money in the most efficient way possible and we believe that that's investing in early years."

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