2023 has been a year in which early years settings have had to cope with extraordinary amounts of change and development, on top of the wider pressures society is dealing with from the cost of living crisis and the legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic. As the year draws to a close, we ask key voices in the early years space what they would like to see in an Early Years Manifesto which would set the direction of the sector from next year; their hopes and aims for the sector, and what they think would help improve the existing crisis.

Caroline Wright, director of Early Childhood at Bright Horizons, explains why supporting adults is key to being able to effectively support children.

When forming their new curriculum, the team at Bright Horizons put their ethos at the centre of this process: ‘The child is at the very heart of everything that our teams do, and it's that relationship between a practitioner and a child that is the key to inspiring early childhood education’.

Overall mortality was higher in two groups of purchased calves born in March compared with those born in September. Total serum immunoglobulins showed a seasonal trend and were lower (11·9 ± 0·7 mg/ml), at approximately seven days of age, in March-born calves compared with calves born in September (24·5 ± 1·0 mg/ml). Low levels of serum immunoglobulins appeared to be a contributory factor in the death of March-born calves but not in the case of September-born calves. The age and cause of death in young calves were correlated. Low levels of nutrition, in particular when milk replacer was fed at a level of 0·3kg per day, reduced viability of the calves.