Regional impact on Early Years’ Leadership

Regional impact on Early Years’ Leadership

“Cambridgeshire is a large county, with a diverse range of children to support including high numbers of SEND and EAL, so for early years’ practitioners there is far more to think about when delivering high-quality settings,” said Lucy Frain, Quality Improvement Co-ordinator for Early Years at Cambridgeshire County Council. “However, there is also a shortage of high-quality staff so developing leaders is a must. Everyone will say there has never been an early years’ leadership course at this level until now.”

Cambrigeshire and Peterborough Teaching School Hub (CPTSH) has offered a NPQ in Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL) since October 2022. The NPQEYL is designed for setting leaders who are or are aspiring to be a nursery manager, headteacher of school-based or maintained nurseries, or a registered childminder with leadership responsibilities. By the end of the 2023-24 academic year, 47 participants had successfully completed or were completing the programme, spanning four different cohorts.

Lucy, who is part of the Cambridgeshire Early Years, Childcare and School Readiness Service, has been a facilitator on the NPQEYL since it began. She was formerly a nursery manager, teacher and then college lecturer before taking up an initial post as Early Years Advisor at Cambridgeshire County Council in 2016.

“My present role at Cambridgeshire County Council enables me to add to my priorities for relevant work linked to my early years’ training, and background as a lecturer,” she said. “I wanted to pass that on and network with others in new ways. As a former nursery manager I felt I could bring empathy and understanding of the role, combined with my knowledge and skills to be a facilitator, and I saw value in the NPQEYL.”

NPQEYL: filling a professional development gap

With busy early years’ practitioners/teachers in mind, the 18-month programme is delivered using a blend of online seminars, flexible online learning and face-to-face conferences. Through the course, participants broaden their leadership knowledge and gain the specialist knowledge to tackle their organisation’s improvement priorities with content covering the breadth of knowledge needed as a leader.

“The NPQEYL brings an invaluable opportunity for participants to engage with like-minded people, share best practice, and through the modules reflect on high-quality childcare practice and use strategies to effect change and improve practice,” Lucy explained. “It provides support for leaders, which is a much changed role in further supporting children and their fundamental needs, especially in the areas of communication and language. There is also a wellbeing aspect, and as well as a really powerful peer network we continue to support them after the course through leadership network meetings.

“Already the course has good word-of-mouth and reputation for those who are eligible. Some managers are taking a whole leadership approach and are now putting forward their deputies on to the course. In one cohort we had a nursery owner and their manager, which has had a very positive impact for their organisation in expanding to open up a second setting based on the reflection of the course that they were delivering a high-quality setting with a strong and supportive leadership team.”

Multiple impacts within Cambridgeshire settings

Lucy has seen, at first-hand, the programme’s impact on early years’ settings – and in June 2024 undertook some evaluation of feedback from the first NPQEYL cohort, comprising managers from Cambridge, Peterborough and West Suffolk.

“The NPQEYL has opened the door to networking with other leaders in Cambridgeshire (and beyond), which has been beneficial, reassuring and supportive,” Lucy revealed. “In the early years’ workforce, managers are striving to want to improve and embed high-quality childcare and education. The implementation process through the NPQEYL enables programme members to introduce changes using guidance through four stages and reflect on the impact the changes had for the children, staff and setting overall.

“Visiting another setting also allows managers to observe practice and strategies with an opportunity to self-evaluate what may be a consideration to try in their setting. For example, one setting reviewed which benefitted the children most by either letting the children choosing when to eat their lunch in comparison to set lunch times, which brought about positive changes in improved behaviour. Our first conference on curriculum was also very helpful and supportive in designing a simpler and flexible curriculum to support children’s learning and development based on the setting’s ethos and vision.”

In summary, Lucy observed the following overall impacts:

NPQEYL impact for the staff

• Encouragement to keep learning (‘top down’ from leaders).
• Increased confidence in managers.
• Increase in decision-making, thoughtful and reflective practice.
• Supporting the team with changes in staffing for the better.
• Adding a video from a module for new staff to watch as part of their induction.
• Creating a balanced approach to learning as a team.
• Staff narrating with the children and not asking so many questions.
• Leaders offering more support and monitoring staff performances.

NPQEYL impact for the provision

• Offering a better service for families.
• New opportunities such as the provision involved in making a film on attendance with the Cambridgeshire Early Years, Childcare and School Readiness Service.
• More open and approachable with colleagues and parents.
• Calmer environment especially for children with SEN.
• A positive attitude in the workplace.

NPQEYL impact for the children

• Improved care, education and outcomes.
• Staff reviewing, reflecting and questioning professional practice in meeting the children’s needs.

Lucy added: “The first group really benefited from the NPQEYL. I didn’t know how big the impact would be, but they have fully embraced the training by Teach First and CPTSH. The support has continued after the course, with a WhatsApp group continuing to link programme members together after the NPQ, and we will also offer leadership network meetings in Cambridgeshire. Overall we have seen a strong model of implementation and hope that has improved practice/education.”

“Helping me plan and action areas for development”

Katie Draper, Preschool Manager for Duxford Preschool, was on the first NPQEYL cohort. The confidence that she gained has resulted in her being accepted as a PVI Lead Practitioner supporting the Cambridgeshire Early Years, Childcare and School Readiness Service.

“I signed up to the NPQEYL because I had taken a three-year break from my early years career and, when I returned, I realised how much I had changed from having children and how much the sector had changed in that time,” Katie said.

“I hoped that it would refresh my knowledge and give me the skills to take on my new role as manager with more confidence and know-how. The setting that I had taken on very suddenly was a ‘Good’ setting but had received welfare requirements notice before I took over, which meant that I had lots to do to, and work through. We have just received our ‘Outstanding’ title recently. The NPQEYL helped me to plan and action areas of development, support staffing and help families individually. It was invaluable.

“The course has allowed me to meet and network with other settings near me and we have been able to support one another and share skills. It has also helped me personally take on a voluntary position within the local early years’ team as a PVI Lead Practitioner. This has been so exciting and really helped with my confidence and opened my eyes to many new prospects.

“All of these things have ultimately benefitted the children and families in our care as the learning has been disseminated through the team and we have created an incredibly thought-out setting for all children. I feel the NPQEYL should be a mandatory part of management training moving forward, encouraging all leaders to update their knowledge and skills.”

“Enabling me to make a positive impact on my setting”

Lisa Gilbert, Nursery Manager at Little Hands Nursery School in Newton, Cambridgeshire, was another member of the first NPQEYL cohort.

“As a newly-appointed manager, I wanted to undertake further professional development that was going to support me in my role to deliver high-quality care and education for the children in my setting,” Lisa said. “Having researched the NPQEYL, I was keen to participate as the content of each module was very relevant to my role. I hoped that it would provide me with the expertise and skills to lead quality practice confidently and effectively in my setting. 

“The course offered a good balance of independent learning, group coaching and face-to-face sessions. Completing each module provided many learning opportunities, reflections/actions and it was beneficial to collaborate thoughts and ideas with other like-minded people from my cohort. Our course facilitators were very knowledgeable, inspirational and supportive.

“The NPQ exceeded my expectations and provided me with the knowledge and confidence to enable me to make a positive impact on my setting. I would absolutely recommend this course to any person in a leadership role in early years.”

Local provision as “the dangling carrot”

In July 2024, CPTSH published its Local Leadership, Local Impact mission for the next four years. Lucy agreed that “local” is an important point of distinction for the Hub, and for schools and early years’ settings seeking high-quality training and personalised support.

“Local is the dangling carrot,” she commented. “If training is national, a significant amount of travel can be involved impacting on time and capacity, and also who you network with. Networking locally, meeting peers and supporting each other in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, is so valuable. For example, we have members of the NPQEYL cohort now sharing a child who accesses both provisions, and everyone can speak to each other though our sector and practitioner network.

“Whilst the course materials are written by Teach First we are able to add some adaptions for local context. A real strength of the programme is working with each group and sharing lived experience bringing more relevant professional understanding for everyone. I now have stronger working relations with Catrina Storey, Co-facilitator on the NPE and Early Years Advisor for Peterborough City Council, and as a result we have a greater co-ordinated approach regionally.”

Funding covering the full NPQEYL course is currently available to teachers and leaders from the 50% of schools with the highest proportion of students who attract pupil premium funding, and highly disadvantaged early years settings.