Lucy's blog

A friend forwarded me a really interesting article by journalist Simon Kuper in the FT magazine recently. It tells the story of how, in Jamaica in the 1980s, a group of community health workers began to make weekly visits to babies whose growth had been stunted by infection...

Here at Perform, we often get contacted by casting directors asking if we can provide them children for auditions. They are generally surprised when we tell them that we that this is not something we do and we don't have a theatrical agency attached to our...

Most parents of school-age children will have read (or at least scanned) an Ofsted Report and these undoubtedly play a major part in the choices we make about schools for our children. The best schools attract the most aspirational involved parents while the worst are...

My son starts primary school in September and he's incredibly excited about it. It feels like a real milestone moving from a nursery to a ?big school' especially as he hasn't been at the school's nursery. I've been asking around to find for tips to make...

My son's starting Reception class in September, so the ?Tiger Mother? in me contacted the school to ask when he could start learning an instrument. Apparently, his school has a policy of not starting children until Year 2, so if I want him to begin learning before then,...

So what do we all think about Michael Gove's phonics check? There's been a flurry of Twitter activity in the past few days and lots of arguments for and against. Whatever your view, this week all Year 1 pupils in maintained schools, academies and Free Schools will be...

Next week, my two-and-a-half year old daughter is going into hospital to have a minor procedure. Because she's so young, I spoke to a friend who works as a Hospital Play Specialist about the best way to prepare her for going into hospital and I thought I'd share her...

No parent wants to hear that their child is the victim of bullying. However, statistics show that one in every three children is bullied so unfortunately it is something that we need to be aware of. Bullying is a subject close to my heart because, in my early teenage years...

This post may be a little controversial (and I welcome your feedback) but I really don't agree with the concept of ?baby signing? which has become very fashionable these days. This is for one reason only - I genuinely think it delays children's speech...

Two years ago, I offered my friend a free place at Perform for her son who had just turned 4 years old. She thanked me but declined saying ?He's not a performing sort of a boy but I'm sure his sister will enjoy it when she's old enough, she's really confident...