Over the last year, I have seen first hand your dedication to the children in your care and their families, and the profound impact you make on their lives. It’s your work that enables us to meet the upcoming milestone of the biggest early years entitlement expansion of 30-hours and giving every child the very best start in life.

I’d like to wish you all an enjoyable rest of the summer and I look forward to being back out visiting settings and working with you all as we continue the crucial work of giving every child the best start in life.”

This evaluation was commissioned as part of the Early Years Education Recovery Programme (EYER); to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the learning of children. The aim of this programme is to ensure the early years workforce is better equipped to deliver higher quality provision for young children (those directly affected by the pandemic and those in the future), to ultimately improve their outcomes and realise their potential. 

The EYITT evaluation resulted in several positive key findings. For take up, the number of funded EYITT places increased from 348 in 2019/20, up to 582 in 2023/24. EYITT trainees, managers of EYITT trainees and EYITT providers were very positive about the course; and they reported using many of the skills they learned on the course at their setting and often shared their learnings with other staff. Both trainees and managers also reported positive impacts on children within their settings. Key findings for the wider workforce included the majority of trainees reporting that the course helped their career development, and the majority of trainees stayed in the same setting they were in before the training. 

The evaluation also highlighted opportunities for further improvement, with themes around eligibility, awareness and capacity to release staff for training. Suggested solutions from participants included increasing pay, increasing employer funding and raising awareness of the course. 

The full evaluation was published on 26 June 2025 and can be found at early years initial teacher training programme evaluation - GOV.UK.

To sign up for future editions, to receive the latest announcements, information and news from the department on how we are reforming early years education and support childcare expansion: 

Please sign up through this link: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/provider-guidance-and-resources

The changes include:

·  Strengthened safeguarding requirements, following the early years safeguarding consultation in 2024.

·  New nutrition guidance which has been developed with nutrition and sector experts.

·  An update following the introduction of the Experience-Based Route (EBR), to allow staff who have successfully been through EBR to be included in staff:child ratios at level 3 should they meet other requirements.

·  An update to Annex B of the group and school-based provider EYFS, to reflect the inclusion of additional digital elements in the Reception Baseline Assessment, which will be introduced from academic year 2025/26 onwards.

• Build and strengthen your child development knowledge
• Get practical advice for supporting children in your setting
• Test your knowledge and reflect on your practice
• Watch practical training videos
• Access modules in any order at any time
• Pause and restart the training to suit you
• Download a certificate after completing each module

There are 8 modules available covering key areas of child development, including child and brain development and the EYFS, personal, social and emotional development, communication and language, physical development, effective curriculum and assessment, and supporting individual differences and needs.

Sign up and register by visiting early years child development training. If you have an account, sign in and visit the My modules page to access the training.

Ofsted will host live webinars for different types of education providers, setting out the key changes to inspection. For early years, separate webinars will be available for childminders and group-based provision. There will also be webinars for out-of-school-clubs. Recordings of each webinar will be available on our YouTube channel afterwards. You can find full details of the schedule and how to register here.   

• What is a nanny? 
• Caring for children from multiple families 
• Choosing to register as a nanny 
• Letting Ofsted know where you’re working 
• Existing childminders can also work as nannies   

For full details, please visit the Ofsted: early years blog. 

This recording discusses how providers can conduct difficult discussions openly and constructively, so we enhance relationships with parents and staff: https://childcareworks.org.uk/supporting-providers-to-have-courageous-conversations/

These engaging resources, based on the Skills for Life programmes, offer practical strategies to support children's transition into nursery or school. The activities are easy to implement, play based and provide clear guidance for practitioners and parents to share with their children.

From interactive games to storytelling prompts, these tools empower children to explore feelings and relationships in an engaging, structured way. Download the free early years activity cards today and enhance your approach to social-emotional learning.

Explore the resources at Partnership for Children.

https://www.partnershipforchildren.org.uk/what-we-do/wellbeing-activities/

Here are some helpful tips to guide the transition in NDNA’s transition to school blog post: 

https://ndna.org.uk/blog/transition-to-school/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=foundation_years_newsletter&utm_campaign=NDNA_blog_transition_to_school_06_08_25

This guidance promotes a child-centred, strengths-based approach to assessing needs, recognising that development may be non-linear. It offers a simple, practical method to help identify and meet needs as early as possible. Developed through consultation with early years professionals, the tools have been tested for effectiveness in real settings.

Suitable for school-based, group-based and home-based educators, this approach supports early identification without excessive paperwork, ensuring more time is spent with children.