The Department for Education (DfE) has announced the first 13 settings in England that will be early years Stronger Practice Hubs.
Early years stronger practice hubs will provide advice, share good practice, and offer evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners. The hubs are part of the early years education recovery support package which also includes the early years experts and mentors programme. The DfE’s ambition is to fund two hubs in each region of England (a total of 18 once a further five are appointed next Spring).
The early years stronger practice hubs programme is supported by the Education Endowment Foundation and the National Children’s Bureau.
What will the hubs do?
Early years stronger practice hubs will be funded for two years until late 2024.
Stronger practice hubs will support other nurseries and childminders in their area to adopt evidence-based practice improvements, by:
- establishing local networks of early years educators to share knowledge and effective practice;
- proactively sharing information and advice on evidence-based approaches – for example, through newsletters, blogs and social media;
- acting as a point of contact for bespoke advice, and signposting to other funded support; and
- working with the Education Endowment Foundation to select evidence-based programmes to fund and make available to nurseries and childminders.
More information about stronger practice hubs is available here.
The Hubs
The first round of applications for hubs closed on 23 September 2022. Hubs are made up of a lead group-based setting and up to four additional partners. The successful hubs are listed below. Note that some hubs may add additional partners to their partnership so the list of partners is not exhaustive. Further details will be made available about how early years educators can access support from the hubs. The DfE plans to appoint remaining five hubs in Spring 2023.
| EAST MIDLANDS | LEAD | PARTNERS |
| Pen Green Centre | Kingswood Community Nursery | |
| Pen Green Centre (0-3s provision) | ||
| Leona Smith (Childminder) | ||
| Charnwood Nursery and Pre-school | ||
| EAST OF ENGLAND | LEAD | PARTNERS |
| Highfield Nursery School | Early Years @ Highfield | |
| Early Years @ Highfield, Whitehouse | ||
| Wigwams Nursery | ||
| The Oaks Primary school | ||
| LONDON | LEAD | PARTNERS |
| Sheringham Nursery School and Children’s Centre | St Barnabas Preschool | |
| Honey’s Childcare | ||
| NORTH EAST | LEAD | PARTNERS |
| Benedict Biscop CE Academy (Northern Lights Learning Trust) | Sunningdale Special school | |
| Wingate Community Nursery School | Wingate Childcare Community Interest Company | |
| Gemma’s Little Oakes Childminding | ||
| NORTH WEST | LEAD | PARTNERS |
| Lime Tree Primary Academy (Bright Futures Educational Trust) | Wellfield Infants & Nursery School | |
| Little Oaks | ||
| Stanley Grove Primary Academy (Bright Futures Educational Trust) | ||
| ESSA Primary Academy | ||
| SOUTH EAST | LEAD | PARTNERS |
| Blagdon Nursery School | Hungerford Nursery School Centre for Children and Families | |
| Victoria Park Nursery School and Family Hub | ||
| Maidenhead Nursery School | ||
| Dingley’s Promise | ||
| Discovery Day Nursery | Northfleet Nursery School | |
| Smarties Nursery | ||
| Oaks Day Nursery | ||
| Gemma MacLachlan (Childminder) | ||
| SOUTH WEST | LEAD | PARTNERS |
| St Pauls Nursery School & Children’s Centre | Redcliffe Nursery School | |
| Archfield House Nursery & Preschool | ||
| Millie’s Garden | ||
| Springboard Opportunity Group, Clevedon | ||
| Plym Bridge Nursery and Daycare | Ham Drive Nursery School and Daycare | |
| The Cabin | ||
| Becky’s Tiny Teddies | ||
| WEST MIDLANDS | LEAD | PARTNERS |
| Bloomsbury Nursery School | Castle Vale Nursery School | |
| Weoley Castle Nursery School | ||
| Adderley Nursery School | ||
| Norton Hall Children and Family Centre | ||
| Ryders Hayes School (Ryders Hayes Academy Trust) | Fullbrook Maintained Nursery School | |
| Abu Bakr Day Nursery | ||
| Kiddies Playhouse | ||
| YORKSHIRE & HUMBER | LEAD | PARTNERS |
| St Edmund’s Nursery School | Children’s Place Day Nursery, Dewsbury | |
| Dixons Allerton Academy | ||
| Belinda O’Hare (Childminder) | ||
| Co-op Academy Delius | ||
Contact us
Please email any questions you have about the programme to the National Children’s Bureau’s stronger practice hubs team at sph@ncb.org.uk.