High-quality early childhood education can improve children’s development, while integrated family support can strengthen life chances, particularly for children living in poverty. Bringing these services together could significantly improve outcomes for young children and their families.

The problem is that early learning, childcare and wider family support still operates largely in parallel. This fragmentation limits opportunities to identify needs early and deliver coordinated care.

Early childhood education and care or early learning and care settings are uniquely placed to bridge this gap. They see families regularly, build trusted relationships with parents and are often the first port of call when help is needed.

But what does effective integration look like in practice? What prevents early years providers from playing a fuller role in local family support systems? How can national and local government enable sustainable approaches that reflect different local contexts rather than imposing a single model?

Join us online on Thursday 23 July, 12:00 - 13:00 (BST) to explore new Nesta-commissioned research from Isos Partnership into how early education, and family support services are currently integrated across England and Scotland, and how they can work more effectively together.

The session will be chaired by Simran Motiani, senior analyst at Nesta and will feature a presentation of the findings from Ben Bryant, director, Isos Partnership and one of the authors of the report. A panel of experts will then reflect on how these insights align with experiences at the frontline and explore practical ways to help teams and services work better together.

Who should attend?

This session is designed for national and devolved policymakers, local authority leaders, early years providers, family support professionals and researchers dedicated to improving outcomes for young families.

Register today to explore our findings and discover how these recommendations can help shape your local family support offer.