The record
Dated, evidenced, and years earlier than you would expect.
This page exists for two reasons. So the work can be seen whole, and so the date it was made sits on the public record. Every entry carries its evidence, and where the only source is my own account it says so.
1996 to 2012
Children's rights, before anyone was asking children.
BA Honours, English Literature and Theatre Studies
University of North London, now London Metropolitan University. The reason the drama teaching and the LAMDA work exist at all.
Evidence: Degree certificate. A replacement was reissued in 2003, which is why a later date appears on some records.Residential social work, and learning the system from underneath
Children's homes, young offender institutions and educational settings, with highly traumatised children and young people. Long term support for two young women with complex neurological and physical conditions in supported living in Islington. Supervising contact in child protection cases in a contact centre.
Evidence: Employment record. This is the ground everything after it stands on.Children in Care Forum, Croydon
Set up with the borough's independent visitor for children in care, so that young people in care shaped the policies written about them.
Evidence: Project record, Action for Children, 2006 to 2007.First The first children's rights and participation service of its kind
Set up and run for Action for Children in Croydon, after the borough's poor experience with a previous provider. Advocacy in court, complaints to stage three and the ombudsman, six staff and the budgets, with a Children in Care Forum alongside it. Trustee of Children's Rights Officers and Advocates over the same period.
Evidence: Employment record and project documentation, 2006 to 2007.First Step Inside Their Shoes
My idea and my consultation paper. A national youth consultation on gun, knife and gang crime, which became the largest of its kind to that date. The charity carried it to national government, where it fed into the legislation and action plan that followed, and it became the launch piece for their rebrand from NCH to Action for Children, the biggest transition in the organisation's history. When they took it to Downing Street I had been hit by a car and was in hospital, then in a wheelchair for two years.
Evidence: The consultation paper, and a letter from Gordon Brown.Speak Out
A conference in Croydon where young asylum seekers told council staff what had happened to them, through poetry and song.
Evidence: Project record, April to October 2007.First Camden's first Challenge and Support service
Delivering the very policy I had helped bring about. The Youth Taskforce Action Plan and the Youth Crime Action Plan, with eight to eighteen year olds and their families, redesigned alongside central government. Idea, to legislation, to delivery, in four years.
Evidence: Employment record, 2008 to 2010.Fun-Key
Key workers in London had nowhere to meet, network or unwind after their shifts, so I built them a series of central London events. Nobody commissioned it. It ran because it was needed.
Evidence: Event record, 2008 to 2010.Wandsworth youth forum
Set up from nothing. Young people, many with offending histories, shaping the borough's children and young people's plan.
Evidence: Consultancy record, January to August 2010.Three Corners Trust, Clerkenwell
Director. Funding raised from Sport England, EC1 New Deal for Communities, Islington, London Basketball and Nike to build a multi use basketball pitch with free coaching and routes into work, and street artists commissioned to paint nature murals around it. Programme managed from research to launch.
Evidence: Directorship record and the five year business plan, 2010 to 2011.Each One Teach One
Founding board of the umbrella charity set up by Ben Drew, known as Plan B, to tackle the root causes behind the August 2011 riots. I then returned as its consultant to design and run the youth advisory board and the youth projects underneath it.
Evidence: Registered charity 1148697. Trusteeship 2012 to 2013, consultancy following it.PRINCE2 Foundation
Project management, qualified. It is the reason the frameworks carry version dates, revision histories and a delivery plan rather than only a good idea.
Evidence: PRINCE2 Foundation, 2010.Holistic Massage Therapist for Babies and Adults
Qualified through the International Therapy Examination Council. Touch, regulation and the body, twelve years before I had the language for interoception.
Evidence: My own record. The original certificate is lost, so this one is not evidenced by a scan.Centrepoint
The national youth homelessness charity. Speaking and advocacy on what happens to a young person when housing, care and education withdraw at the same time.
Evidence: Ambassador role, held alongside the youth work above.Where I see a need, I search and map for a solution. If it does not exist, I build it.Yasmin A Darling
2012 to 2021
Maisie Poppins. Four UK firsts in eight years.
Ofsted Outstanding
In all areas, at the first inspection.
Evidence: The original Ofsted certificate, signed by Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector.First Forest school, weekly, in a public park
The first childminding setting in the UK to run it. The borough then asked me to train other local nurseries and childminders, and worked with me to fundraise a dedicated forest school space for local providers.
Evidence: Level 3 Certificate in Forest School Programme Leadership, Open College Network West Midlands, 15 November 2016, and the borough's own training request. The UK first is my own record.First Certified by the Living Wage Foundation
The first childminding setting in the UK. Apprenticeships started the same year, and continued in Hackney from then on.
Evidence: Living Wage Foundation certification. The UK first is my own record, stated in my 2016 Nursery World Awards entry.Training delivered to Hackney's childminder network
My training delivery record starts here, not in 2021.
Evidence: Certificate signed by the then Mayor of Hackney.First Ofsted Outstanding, again
The first childminding setting in Hackney rated Outstanding in all areas at both its first and its second inspection.
Evidence: The second original Ofsted certificate, also signed by Sir Michael Wilshaw.Newcomer of the Year, Nursery World Awards
Joint winner. Also shortlisted for Childminder of the Year in the same year, and again in 2016. Shortlisted, not won, both times.
Evidence: Nursery World Awards, 27 September 2014, The Brewery, London, entered as Maisie Poppins Childcare.First The Maisie Poppins Way
The Holistic Ethos paper. The earliest dated document of my first pedagogy, later also called the Maisie Poppins Ecosystem.
Evidence: The Holistic Ethos paper, December 2015, and a further document dated 3 March 2017.First Food for Life, Soil Association
The first and only childminder in the UK ever to receive it. Every other holder is a nursery group, which is a corporate operation with an infrastructure behind it. This was one person. The Soil Association then invited me to judge their early years and baby food awards.
Evidence: Soil Association certificate, and the judging invitation that followed.First Intergenerational arts, in the hospice
Our preschoolers making art alongside people in the community living with terminal illness, inside the hospice, over months rather than as a visit. The children were not protected from it and the adults were not performed at. It is the piece of work I would keep if I could only keep one.
Evidence: Setting records and the hospice partnership. The same building appears again in Bones of Broadway, photographed on the daily walk to the nursery inside it.Tworiffic Times
A five session holistic parenting course, written by me and delivered free in Hackney, with written parent feedback collected within forty eight hours of every session.
Evidence: Course materials with the seven named sessions, and the parent feedback returns.PACEY filmed the setting
PACEY made a short film about the setting as a showcase of what home based childcare can be. Penny Tassoni visited. The film is still on PACEY's own channel.
Evidence: PACEY, The benefits of home-based childcare, on the Coram PACEY YouTube channel.Westminster Briefing, and ITV
Speaking at Westminster in April on what would actually change things for childminders, and interviewed by ITV in March on the funding of free hours.
Evidence: Westminster Briefing seminar programme, April 2016.Sugar Smart Hackney
Founding signatory, and the borough's first early years Sugar Smart ambassador.
Evidence: Certificate presented at the launch on 29 November 2017 at Urswick School.Trained as an Ofsted inspector
Applied successfully to Tribal and completed ten months of inspector training and shadow inspections. It is the reason a mock inspection from me is not guesswork.
Evidence: Tribal inspector training record, ten months, including shadow inspections.Total Respect trainer
Qualified as a Total Respect trainer, then commissioned as a lead trainer by a social work agency, training professionals to work with children and young people as rights holders rather than as cases.
Evidence: CROA Total Respect trainer qualification, 2007. Lead trainer commissioned by Sanctuary social work agency.Eight apprenticeships in one year
Two of them supporting professionals with additional needs, on a model and policy co-created with the council which the council has kept.
Evidence: Hackney Apprentice Employer Quality Award, and a nomination for Apprenticeship Employer of the Year at Hackney Town Hall in February 2020.Through the pandemic as a keyworker setting
Over thirty staff, up to seventy two children a day. Sold in November 2021.
Evidence: Company records for Maisie Poppins Ltd, 2013 to 2021.Where the work has appeared
Verified, and every one of them named.
Awards won and shortlistings, publications, broadcasters and organisations who have commissioned, featured or recognised the work. Each is dated and evidenced in the record above.
Sugar Smart Hackney, 2017
Founding signatory, and the borough's first early years ambassador.
2021 to 2026
The frameworks, each one dated.
Neuroverse begins
Incorporated on 3 February 2021, and run voluntarily and unpaid from then on.
Evidence: Companies House record for Neuroverse Community Interest Company, number 13178274.First The Early Years Ecosystem
Four layers: our environment, our people, our collaborators, our curriculum and pedagogy. Staff wellbeing structurally inside the model through supervision, three hundred and sixty degree feedback, permanent contracts and the London Living Wage. A whole setting model that measures the room and the adults rather than the child.
Evidence: Dated inset day document, 6 March 2021, and a further deck dated 21 February 2022.Famly
Named Early Years Expert. Commissioned articles and a webinar series that drew nine hundred and fifty three registrations and four hundred and sixty five people live.
Evidence: Signed presenter agreement, published author page, and the invoices for the commissioned articles.Royal College of General Practitioners
Conference speaker, on managing drug and alcohol problems in primary care.
Evidence: A thirty nine slide presentation with academic citations, delivered 16 and 17 March 2023.The Forward Trust
The M-PACT Neurodiversity Project. A full audit and redesign of a national family programme.
Evidence: The completed report, commissioned by Katherine Jenkins, Head of Families and Young People, with a social impact report attached.First The Neurodictionary
A plain language glossary of neurodivergence, written because no agreed definition of neuroinclusive practice exists anywhere in inspection. It still does not.
Evidence: Earliest evidenced file dated 6 June 2024. Designed edition, ten pages, with copyright on every page.Neuroverse opens its doors
First cohort of six young people.
Evidence: First cohort dated 12 September 2024. First venue invoice 10 October 2024, and an unbroken run of venue invoices since.Postgraduate Certificate in Autism, Distinction
Sheffield Hallam University with the National Autistic Society, supervised by Dr Luke Beardon.
Evidence: Certificate. Studied January 2024 to January 2025. Critical Reflections on Autism marked at 74 per cent. Tutor feedback from Professor Caroline Lear and Dr Luke Beardon: the MeMap and Neurodictionary were called excellent and a real strength of the work.First The Freedom Approach
A holistic pedagogy for disabled and neurodivergent children and young people who cannot attend school. Sixty five pages, in live use, with a book proposal of around sixty thousand words across twelve chapters behind it.
Evidence: First draft dated 4 July 2025. Designed edition published 1 September 2025. Essay segments verified at Distinction level by Dr Luke Beardon and Professor Caroline Lear.First The HILP
Goals in the person's own words, four dated check ins, and a section recording what the adults changed rather than what the child did.
Evidence: Dated eight page design, July 2025, with a revision in February 2026.First MeMap
A profile owned by the person it describes. The seven senses, glimmers, stress sparks, and a seven stage rumble guide.
Evidence: Created 5 August 2025, published 1 September 2025, twenty four pages with copyright on every page. Two strategy papers dated 21 June 2026.Understanding Neurodivergence
A four tier course built to CPD criteria. Two hundred and twenty nine pages of authored training across six courses in total.
Evidence: Four dated designs created 15 April 2026, plus the full day course created 18 August 2025.Purple Pioneer, Scope Awards
Won.
Evidence: Presented at the Kia Oval on 30 April 2026. Confirmed in writing by Scope's Interim Chief Executive on 1 May 2026. Shortlisting confirmed 11 December 2025.First Holding both
A living position. Disability is both the barriers society builds and the realities of impairment, illness, pain and high support needs, led by the people with the highest support needs.
Evidence: Position statement dated June 2026.First Too Hot To Be Safe, and Keeping Cool, Staying You
A free campaign on heat, schools and disabled people, with free guides and a heat risk assessment tool.
Evidence: Campaign pack dated 18 and 24 June 2026. Live on a campaign site.First A LAMDA examinations centre
Built as an equitable centre, designed around disabled and neurodivergent candidates from the start rather than adapted afterwards.
Evidence: LAMDA Private Centre Agreement signed 12 June 2026, countersigned for LAMDA on 16 June 2026. Centre code NEURUK.Mighty Roots Award
Shortlisted, not won.
Evidence: Confirmed by Curious Minds on 15 July 2026. From more than 250 submissions across ten categories, judged by twenty five judges. Ceremony 21 October 2026 at the Royal Northern College of Music.The pattern
Most of this is standard now, or close to policy. None of it was when I built it.
Scope called the work pioneering when they gave me the Purple Pioneer Award. The word is fair, and the reason it is fair is the dates above. The pattern is the same every time. Read what is needed, read what is coming, and build it before anyone is asking for it.
Asking children first
2006. Youth voice as the starting point rather than a consultation exercise at the end.
Outdoor learning as a weekly right
2013. Now an expectation in good practice guidance.
Food as pedagogy
2016. Early years food standards arrived after.
Staff wellbeing inside inclusion
2013, formalised 2021. Now in every inclusion conversation. It was in none of them then.
Measuring the room, not the child
2021. The February 2026 Schools White Paper, the Inclusive Early Years Fund and the national SEND and inclusion training programme all point the same way.
Education for the children already lost
2025. Written and in use while education otherwise than at school was still unclaimed ground with no named owner nationally.
None of it was a forecast. It came from being inside the system as a disabled and neurodivergent person and a parent carer, and noticing what was about to break.
Asked to judge, asked to serve, asked to speak
Judge, Soil Association
Their early years and baby food awards, after winning Food for Life.
Trustee, PDA Society
2017 to 2018. Featured in the 2018 annual report.
Trustee, Each One Teach One
2012 to 2013. Registered charity 1148697.
Trustee, Children's Rights Officers and Advocates
2006 to 2007.
Founding member, East End Trades Guild
Campaign work on fair rents for small traders in east London.
Founder of a national autism support group
Founded and led it to over 350 members. No longer involved.
Named Early Years Expert, Famly
Commissioned and paid.
Registered Head of Centre, LAMDA
Level 8 practitioner. Centre code NEURUK.
A letter from Gordon Brown
In response to Step Inside Their Shoes, after it reached Downing Street.
The Parliamentary Review
Speaker.
Channel 4, ITV and BBC News
Growing Up Queer for Channel 4. Childminder funding for Good Morning Britain. Medical menopause for the BBC in April 2021.
PACEY
Filmed the setting as a showcase example, and published in Childcare Professional.
Rated 5.0 out of 5 across 23 Google reviews. Read them on Google. Vesna Glavas of Resources for Autism left a detailed five star review of the PDA workshop.
Why the dates are here
Publication is protection.
Every framework on this site is dated, because the date is the protection. The Freedom Approach, The Maisie Poppins Way, The Early Years Ecosystem, The Neurodictionary and MeMap are the intellectual property of Yasmin A Darling Consultancy Ltd, and this page is the public record of when each one was made and what evidences it.
If you would like to use any of them inside your own organisation, the answer is very often yes. Ask, and it gets written down properly, so that both of us know exactly where we stand.