New February 2006
DfES - SEAL - Excellence and Enjoyment: social and emotional aspects of learning - The SEAL resource provides a framework for explicitly promoting social, emotional and behavioural skills, with built-in progression for each year group within a school.
Sure Start - is the government programme to deliver the best start in life for every child. We bring together, early education, childcare, health and family support.

Directories and Gateways
BUBL - Special Education
Child Welfare Gateway to resources
NGfL (National Grid for Learning) - Search this huge resource for 100s of links to childcare related material. A portal that brings together a collection of sites that support education and lifelong learning.
Intute - Social Sciences - provides free access to high quality resources on the Internet for many topics related to Childcare including: Childcare, Education and Social Welfare

Educational Materials
4Learning - Channel 4 Education site.
BBC Learning - Many useful subsites.
Links to BBC Learning Zone and educational programmes.
DirectGov Parents Centre - This site tells you about your child's education and how you can help, includes an early years section.
DfES - SEAL - Excellence and Enjoyment: social and emotional aspects of learning - The SEAL resource provides a framework for explicitly promoting social, emotional and behavioural skills, with built-in progression for each year group within a school.

Electronic Books
Child Development. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. 487 pp. - this title covers issues related to human development from conception through adolescence.

Governmental Bodies
Department for Education - formerly: DfES Department for Education and Skills..

Information
ChildcareLink - National and Local Childcare information - part of the DirectGov information service.
Living Library - Thousands of reference articles, pictures and multimedia clips from the UK's most respected publishers, making Living Library an ideal resource for teachers and pupils.
Sure Start - is the government programme to deliver the best start in life for every child. We bring together, early education, childcare, health and family support.

Legislation
Children Act 1989

Journals / Magazines
Nursery World magazine
Baby World magazine - offers news, features and product information.

News
EducationGuardian.co.uk - The Guardian newspaper education site, with articles and resources linked to early years.
Times Educational Supplement - with news of current practice, policy and research affecting the early years.

Nutrition
Food Standards Agency: Diet and Healthy Living - The evidence suggests that changes in food habits can lead to significant improvements in health. A key function of the FSA is to help consumers become healthier through improving their diet.
Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition - SACN is an UK wide advisory committee set up to replace the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA). It advises the UK Health Departments as well as the Food Standards Agency, and is supported by a joint secretariat of the Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency.

Organisations / Societies
Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development, The - an international site covering early years policies and issues.
Early Years National Training Organisation, The - responsible for training strategy for the Early Years sector.
The Pre-school Learning Alliance - a national educational charity and umbrella body, linking 17,000 community-based pre-schools.

Qualifications
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, The (QCA) advises the government on issues affecting curriculum, assessment and qualifications.
Welsh Qualifications Authority, The

Links checked 26-08-09