The Early Years Podcast

The environment is never neutral. Before a child speaks a word in your classroom, the room is already telling their nervous system whether they're safe or whether they're not.In Episode 2 of The Early Years Academy Podcast, host Dana Al Qinneh sits down with Dr. Kathryn Murray creator of the Brain Set Environments Formula and founder of Future Strong Education to unpack how classroom design directly shapes a child's brain, behaviour, and capacity to learn.With over 40 years in education, Dr. Kathryn Murray shares the framework she built from a coffee-shop napkin into a global methodology now used by educators across the world. Together they explore why so many "beautifully designed" classrooms still don't work and what to change tomorrow morning to fix it.🧠 IN THIS EPISODE

• The three levels of the brain — Survival, Emotional, Thinking — and how each one needs a different thing from your space
• Why a "calm brain is a thinking brain" (and what kills the calm)
• The hidden design mistakes flooding kids with cortisol — sharp edges, long corridors, big open mats, clinical lighting
• Wayfinding: how to lay out a room like a meandering river instead of a running track
• "Small rooms within the room" — the homelike spaces that drop behaviour issues and lift language
• Why the educator's nervous system IS the environment
• Spatial predictability vs. routine predictability — and why trauma-informed practice needs both
• The Brain Set planning process and why it starts with "child appreciation," not assessment
• Small but significant changes you can make tomorrow

Every morning, a parent hands over the person they love most in the world, and walks away. What we do with that act of faith determines everything.

In Episode 1 of The Early Years Podcast, host Dana Al Qinneh (Head of Pedagogy at Parent App, former centre principal, master trainer in trauma-informed practice, and mother of three) sits down with Pamela Greene, owner of Amanda Montessori, parent-infant educator, consultant, and mentor with over 40 years of experience walking alongside families from birth onward.

Together, they unpack what trust in early childhood education really looks like beyond polished newsletters and parent satisfaction surveys. This is a candid, deeply human conversation for early years educators, centre directors, preschool owners, and parents who care about doing this work well.