Early Years
REACHOut Early Years Stronger Practice Hub
Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs provide advice, share good practice and offer evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners. The Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs programme launched in November 2022 as part of the early years education recovery support package. For more information about Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs, visit the DfE page here or the Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs page here.
The REACHout Early Years Stronger Practice Hub East of England covers the Saffron Teaching School Hub area.
November & December 2025 webinars & events
Upcoming webinars and events from the REACHOut Early Years Stronger Practice Hub.
Click/tap on the image for full event listings and to book.
Become a Maths Champion!
Free training programme for nurseries in the East of England. Express your interest here.
Click/tap on the image for full details of the programme.
DfE: Early Years Child development training
Early years child development training : Home page
This free online training provides an overview of child development and offers practical advice for supporting children in your setting, including reception years.
Each training module on this site covers an important area of child development and has been written by early years experts, working with the Department for Education.
This training for childminders and nurseries:
- Combines theory with practical tips and ideas to use in your setting
- Includes opportunities to reflect on your practice
- Reinforces your understanding through learning check questions and tests
- Links to additional resources
- Offers the opportunity to download certificates of completion
Training Modules (expand the heading to view)
Each module takes 1-2 hours:
- Module 1: Understanding child development and the EYFS
- Module 2: Brain development and how children learn
- Module 3: Supporting children’s personal, social and emotional development
- Module 4: Supporting language development in the early years
- Module 5: Supporting physical development in the early years
- Module 6: Mathematics
- Module 7: Effective curriculum and assessment
- Module 8: Supporting individual differences and needs
DfE: Help for Early Years Providers
Help for early years providers : Get help for your setting
Resources, activities and support articles for childminders and practitioners working with children aged 0-5 years (free).
Support for practitioners: access resources and advice to help improve practice in the early years, including SEND guidance.
Areas of learning: find out more about each area of learning, including activities you can do and guidance on meeting the needs of all children in your setting.
Health and wellbeing: discover resources to help you support children’s wellbeing and enrichment in your setting.
EEF: Early Years Evidence Store
Early Years Evidence Store | EEF
The Early Years Evidence Store is a summary of evidence-informed approaches to help educators to understand, reflect on and develop their practice.
The Evidence Store includes six key themes for young children’s learning and development:
- Communication and language
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Early literacy
- Early mathematics
- Self-Regulation and Executive Function
- Personal development
As a living resource, the store will be continually updated with additional evidence, written examples, and videos.
Spotlight on Early Years Evidence
Saffron Teaching School Hub's Spotlight on Early Years Evidence is a dedicated space to provide Early Years practitioners with access to key research and evidence on ‘what works’ to inform the development of evidence-led practice in the Early Years.