Early Years Hubs to Open in November
Early Years Hubs to Open in November
The Department for Education has named the National Children’s Bureau as its delivery partner for its Stronger Practice Hubs scheme. Starting from November, 18 hubs at locations across England will open to support early years settings in improving outcomes for children. The programme is expected to run for two years and is a response to the challenging post-Covid 19 early years environment.
The hubs themselves will be existing early years settings and can apply to the NCB for the status here. To be eligible, settings must be able to demonstrate they are a group-based setting offering pre-reception care, and having a good or outstanding Ofsted rating. Once set up, they will then be able to support other providers in their area, by sharing existing practices as well as building new approaches based on the latest research and evidence. The NCB says hubs will be responsible for:
- Establishing local networks of settings to share knowledge and effective practice.
- Proactively sharing information and advice on evidence-based approaches, for example, through newsletters, blogs, events and social media.
- Acting as a point of contact for bespoke advice, and signposting to other funded support.
- Working with the Education Endowment Foundation to select evidence-based programmes to fund and make available to settings.
Applications must be submitted by mid-September 2022. Further information can be found on the NCF Website here: https://www.ncb.org.uk/strongerpracticehubs