Sally Featherstone has a wealth of experience as a teacher, head teacher and a local authority advisor and inspector. In recent years, alongside her activities in publishing, Sally has continued to build a national reputation as a trainer and consultant in the Primary and Early Years field. Stella Louis is an early years consultant and trainer for the London Borough of Southwark. While working as a nursery nurse in 1991, she attended a lecture on block play by Professor Tina Bruce. It was during this lecture that Stella was introduced to the concept of schemas as a tool to inform planning, provision and observations of babies and young children. Schemas fascinated Stella as she watched her own child, Hannah-Louise, grow explore and develop. In 2002 Stella completed an MA in Early Childhood Education. The introductory sections of this book have been based on Stella’s work, whose idea the book was.