Below is some training that is available for practitioners to book through our Professional Development Programme. To book, please follow the link Booking and reservations for Early Years Workforce Development.
We are committed to ensuring that every child experiences an inclusive, supportive, and high-quality learning environment. To achieve this, we recognise the vital role practitioners play in shaping provision that meets the needs of all children, including those with additional needs or requiring differentiated approaches.
For the 2025–26 academic year, we are continuing our free CPD offer for all practitioners: Understanding Children’s Behaviour and Interactions. This foundational training equips practitioners with strategies to foster positive relationships and create environments where every child can thrive.
Building on this, from September 2025, we will introduce a series of opportunities for practitioners who have completed the initial training to deepen their understanding of key themes. These sessions are designed to:
- Support providers in embedding inclusive practice across their settings.
- Strengthen alignment with the early years foundation stage statutory requirements.
- Promote approaches that value diversity and nurture the wellbeing and development of all children.
We aim to empower practitioners with practical tools, reflective strategies, and evidence-informed approaches that make inclusion a lived reality in every early year’s provision.
Understanding children’s behaviour and interactions – Full course
- Understand why behaviours occur in young children.
- Explore early brain development and its impact on behaviour.
- Reflect on inclusive practice and positive interactions.
- Recognise the adult’s role in creating supportive environments.
Understanding children’s behaviour and interactions – Refresher
Aims
This one-and-a-half-hour online refresher session offers a concise re-engagement with the core principles of the original course, while introducing attendees to the updated materials and approaches for 2025 - 2026.
Participants will:
- Revisit key concepts around behaviour and inclusion.
- Explore new resources and updates to 'Understanding children’s behaviour and interactions'.
- Reflect on how their practice has evolved since the original training.
- Gain practical strategies aligned with current guidance and priorities.
A series of five bite-sized online sessions, which are individually priced:
Creating an inclusive provision for all
Aims
To embed the principles of a basic provision to ensure all children and families are included in the provision.
- To understand what is meant by the term basic provision.
- To reflect on the strengths of the current offer of provision.
- To identify ways to improve the quality to ensure inclusion for all.
How play supports a therapeutic approach to inclusion
Aims
- To provide knowledge and understanding of the importance of play in practice.
- To support practitioners in recognising the impact of high-quality, playful interactions for children.
- To build on practitioners' understanding of inclusion in a broad sense, and how play fits into this.
Nurturing emotional literacy in the early years
Aims
- To understand the importance of emotional literacy for lifelong learning.
- Develop a deep understanding of emotional development.
- Explore the role adults play in developing emotional literacy.
- Identify effective strategies to foster emotional literacy inclusively.
Supporting neurodiversity
Aims
This session aims to develop supporting neurodiversity within the early years.
The session will:
- Look at the origins of the term neurodiversity and the neurodivergent umbrella.
- Consider neurotypical and neurodivergent development pathways.
- Explore our understanding of neurodivergent traits.
- Reflect on how provision can support the neurodivergent learner.
Let’s talk about self-regulation
Aims
- The course aims to encourage delegates to consider what is meant by self-regulation and co-regulation, and how these can be supported within provision.
- Delegates will look at the connection between brain development and self-regulation. The session will also consider the different domains of self-regulation and the underpinning skills children need to develop their self-regulation skills.
- By the end of the session, practitioners will understand more widely their role in supporting children's ongoing development of self-regulation.
