High-quality early childhood education can improve children’s development, while integrated family support can strengthen life chances, especially for children living in poverty. Yet early learning, childcare and wider family support still operate in parallel. This fragmentation makes it harder to identify needs early and provide joined-up care.

Early years settings are uniquely placed to bridge this gap. They see families regularly, build trusted relationships with parents and are often the first place families turn to for help.

So what does effective integration look like in practice? What holds providers back from playing a fuller role in local family support systems? And how can national and local government support approaches that work for different communities, rather than imposing a single model?

On Thursday 23 July we explored new Nesta-commissioned research from Isos Partnership on how early education and family support services are being integrated across England and Scotland, and how they can work more effectively together.

Chaired by Simran Motiani, senior analyst at Nesta, the session included a presentation of the findings from Ben Bryant, director, Isos Partnership, Rhona Cameron, parenting and family learning team lead, Perth and Kinross Council and Lisa Melloy, head of early years, Home Start Greenwich. A panel of experts then discussed how the research reflects frontline experiences and consider practical ways to help teams and services work better together.

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.