Sheffield City Council Early Years CPD Programme

This session will explore the vital and varied role of the supportive adult in early years settings, highlighting how practitioners can foster a nurturing, safe, stimulating and responsive environment that supports children’s learning and development.

As the EYFS Statutory Framework 2025, states ‘each child must be assigned a key person, their role is to ensure that every child’s care is tailored to meet their individual needs ...’, participants will consider how warm, sensitive interactions help to create a safe and secure atmosphere, where children feel valued, respected, and confident to engage. The session will provide opportunities to reflect on purposeful adult engagement, including how to offer encouragement, guidance, and responsive care through meaningful interactions that support children’s secure attachments and emotional development.

Drawing on observation and knowledge of each child’s unique needs and interests, practitioners will examine how to tailor provision through high-quality communication and interaction that promotes curiosity, exploration, and play-based learning. The training will also explore the adult’s role in modelling positive behaviour, including the use of co-regulation strategies, and creating inclusive environments that celebrate diversity.

By the end of the session, participants will have a clearer understanding of how effective adult practice underpins children’s learning, development, and well-being, laying strong foundations for future success.

Audience: All early years practitioners, childminders, managers, teachers, teaching assistants, year 1 teachers

Date/s and time, location:

Date/Time	Venue
Friday 16th October 2026 9.30-4.00pm	Moorfoot Learning Centre, S1 4PL	Book Here
Tuesday 2nd March 2027 9.30-4.00pm	The Hope Centre, S2 5BQ	Book Here

Locations: Moorfoot Learning Centre, Moorfoot, Level 1, West Wing 1, South Lane, Sheffield S1 4PL
The Hope Centre, Bernard Rd, Sheffield, S2 5BQ

Cost: 2 Tokens or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

This motivating and reflective half day session is all about the small changes that create big shifts. Designed to help people move from feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or constantly behind, Change Your Habits, Change Your Life explores the power of everyday habits and routines in shaping our energy, mindset, wellbeing, and success. Rather than focusing on dramatic overnight transformation, the session encourages sustainable, realistic change through awareness, consistency, and simple next steps.

Drawing on personal experience, practical strategies, and honest reflection, this session helps delegates identify the habits that may be holding them back and the ones that can move them forward. Whether the goal is better balance, improved wellbeing, stronger boundaries, or a greater sense of control, this workshop leaves people feeling empowered to make changes that actually last.

Audience: All early years practitioners, childminders, home-based early years practitioners, managers, teachers, teaching assistants, year 1 teachers.

Date/s and time, location:

Date/Time	Venue
Friday 25th September 2026 9.30-12.30pm	The Quadrant, S9 4WG	Book Here
Friday 22nd January 2027 9.30-12.30pm	The Quadrant, S9 4WG	Book Here
Friday 18th June 2027 9.30-12.30pm	The Quadrant, S9 4WG	Book Here

Location: The Quadrant, 99 Parkway Avenue, Sheffield, S9 4WG

Cost: 1 Token or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training delivered by: Dan McFarland, better known as Mr Mc, is an early years specialist, educator, consultant, speaker and content creator with a passion for helping teachers bring the joy, purpose and magic back into the classroom.

This transition workshop supporting children aged 0–3yrs, focuses on the importance of smooth and secure moves between environments, caregivers, and stages of development. These early transitions such as moving from home to nursery, between rooms, or starting new routines are significant milestones that can impact a child’s emotional wellbeing, attachment, and readiness to learn.

Effective transition practice for this age group prioritises strong relationships, consistency, and sensitive communication.

Key adults work closely with parents and carers to share information about the child’s routines, preferences, and needs, ensuring continuity of care. Gradual settling-in sessions, familiar objects from home, and predictable daily routines help children feel safe and supported.

Practitioners use observation and responsive interactions to recognise each child’s unique pace and cues, adjusting support accordingly. A key person approach is essential, providing a secure base from which the child can explore new environments. Transitions within the day are carefully managed with visual or verbal cues, calm environments, and plenty of reassurance.

Overall, positive transitions for the 0–3 phase is about building trust, reducing anxiety, and creating positive early experiences that lay the foundation for future learning and development.

Audience: Early Years Practitioners from PVI settings, Childminders, home-based early years practitioners and all who are supporting babies and young children under 3 years of age.

Date/s and time, location:

Date/Time	Venue
Friday 30th April 2027 1.00-4.00pm	The Quadrant, S9 4WG	Book Here
Wednesday 5th May 2027 9.30-12.30pm	The Quadrant, S9 4WG	Book Here

Location: The Quadrant, 99 Parkway Avenue, Sheffield, S9 4WG

Cost: Free to Sheffield schools and settings

Training Team: Early Years Quality Improvement and Early Years Quality and Access Teams

This training focuses on supporting children transitioning from Early Years Provision such nursery or homecare settings into school reception. It highlights that transition is a process, not a single event, and requires strong relationships, planning and collaboration.

Key aims of the session are to:

• Understand children’s emotional, social, and developmental needs.
• Promote continuity in learning between Early Years Provision and Reception.
• Support emotional wellbeing and confidence.
• Strengthen collaboration between practitioners and settings.
• Explore the meaning of school readiness for each child.

Feedback from practitioners:

• “This session supported me to view our children as a unique family rather than a unique child.”
• “I really valued sharing ideas to support children in being prepared for school and found the session really enjoyable.”
• “I gained more knowledge to pass onto parents and other ideas that I can add into my setting to help children with their transition into school.”

Audience: Early Years Practitioners from PVI settings, Childminders and Home-based early years practitioners.

Date/s and time, location:

Date/Time	Venue
Friday 30th April 2027 9.30-12.30pm	The Quadrant, S9 4WG	Book Here
Wednesday 5th May 2027 1.00-4.00pm	The Quadrant, S9 4WG	Book Here

Location: The Quadrant, 99 Parkway Avenue, Sheffield, S9 4WG

Cost: Free to Sheffield schools and settings

Training Team: Early Years Quality Improvement and Early Years Quality and Access Teams

This two-day programme explores the central role of relationships in supporting young children’s learning, development and well-being within the EYFS. Grounded in the Statutory Framework, it examines how secure, responsive relationships at home and in settings underpin effective practice and help children thrive.

Drawing on research such as attachment theory (Bowlby) and the work of Shonkoff and the ‘Center on the Developing Child’, participants will consider how early relationships shape brain development, emotional regulation, and long-term outcomes. The programme highlights the importance of warm, consistent, and attuned interactions, while recognising families as children’s primary attachments.

Participants will explore how EYFS principles—A Unique Child, Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments, and Learning and Development—place relationships at the heart of practice. There is a strong focus on partnerships with parents and carers as children’s first educators, emphasising effective communication, shared understanding, and continuity between home and setting.

Aligned with current Ofsted messages, the training also highlights how meaningful family engagement strengthens practitioners’ understanding of children’s needs and informs curriculum intent, particularly in PSED, helping children feel secure, understood, and ready to learn.

Across the two days, practitioners will:

• Develop a deeper understanding of the theory and research underpinning early relationships
• Reflect on the role of the key person in providing security, continuity, and connection between home and setting
• Explore practical strategies to build strong, respectful, and inclusive relationships with children and their families
• Examine approaches to engaging parents and carers as partners in learning
• Understand the role of co-regulation and emotional coaching in supporting behaviour and well-being
• Strengthen their use of high-quality interactions to extend learning
• Consider how relational practice aligns with EYFS statutory requirements and Ofsted expectations

By the end of the programme, participants will be equipped with practical approaches and a clear understanding of how strong relationships—between adults and children, and between settings and families—form the foundation for effective early years practice, ensuring every child feels safe, valued, and ready to learn.

There are two options to access this training-

• Option 1 – attend the training sessions only
• Option 2 – attend the training session and have an in house Belonging Audit carried out with the Early Years Team

Audience: All early years practitioners, managers, teachers, teaching assistants, senior leaders.

Date/s and time, location:

Date/Time	Venue
Thursday 1st October & Thursday 5th November 2026 9.30-4.00pm	St Mary’s Church, S2 4WG	Book Here
Monday 8th February & Monday 15th March 2027 9.30-4.00pm	The Quadrant, S9 4WG	Book Here

Locations: St Mary’s Church, Bramall Lane, Sheffield, S2 4QZ
The Quadrant, 99 Parkway Avenue, Sheffield, S9 4WG

Cost:
Option 1 (attend the training session only) – 2 Tokens or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk
Option 2 (attend the training session and access an in-house Sense of Belonging audit with the Early Years Team) 4 Tokens or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

“Pillars of Play: Strengthening Play Through Intentional Interaction and Inclusive Scaffolds” explores how purposeful adult engagement and equitable support strategies can enrich play experiences, ensuring every child is meaningfully included, challenged, and achieve their potential.

Day 1 deepens practitioners’ understanding of high-quality, purposeful play and its role in supporting children’s communicative, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Central to the day is the introduction of Plan, Play, Present—a practical, child-centred cycle inspired by HighScope’s Plan–Do–Review—designed to strengthen intentional interaction and inclusive scaffolds in everyday practice. Closely aligned with the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning, this approach supports children to play and explore, actively learn, and think critically, while providing adults with a clear structure for responsive, purposeful interactions that build language, metacognition, confidence, and inclusion. Attention is given to the use of inclusive scaffolds—such as communication mats, visual supports, and prompts—to ensure all children can access, engage in, and express their learning.

Participants conclude Day 1 by identifying elements of the approach to trial in their own settings, focusing on how intentional interactions and inclusive scaffolds enhance engagement, participation, and learning for all children.

Day 2 focuses on shared practice and action planning. Practitioners reconvene to reflect on experiences, explore successes and challenges, and agree practical next steps to strengthen provision, adult interactions, and inclusive practice.

Across both sessions, participants explore environment design, the adult role, observation, and interaction strategies that bring the Pillars of Play and the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning to life—equipping them with practical tools, confident knowledge, and a clear plan to strengthen play as a powerful and inclusive driver of early learning.

Audience: All early years practitioners, managers, teachers, teaching assistants, year 1 teachers, senior leaders.

Date/s and time, location:

Date/Time	Venue
Tuesday 13th October 2026 & Tuesday 24th November 2026 9.30-4.00pm	Westbourne School, S10 2QT	Book Here
Thursday 4th February 2027 & Thursday 4th March 2027 9.30-4.00pm	Mansel Primary School, S5 9QN	Book Here

Locations: Westbourne School, 60 Westbourne Road, Sheffield, S10 2QT
Mansel Primary School, 157 Chaucer Road, Parson Cross, Sheffield, S5 9QN

Cost: 2 Tokens or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

TBC

Audience: All early years practitioners.

Date/s and time, location:

Date/Time	Venue
Cohort 1 Tuesday 20th October 2026 9.30-4.00pm	Learn Sheffield	Book Here
Cohort 2 TWednesday 13th January 2027 9.30-4.00pm	Learn Sheffield	Book Here

Location: Learn Sheffield

Cost: Free to Sheffield schools and settings.

Training Team: Ruth Swales

Love and loving within early childhood is an approach and a professional pedagogical act. The Child in the NOW approach places the child at the centre of loving, responsive practice and positions the child where they belong: not as a project for the future, but as a person with value, agency, and rights today. It brings together our belief in love as pedagogy, the power of relationships, and a rights-based approach to early learning and care. Drawing upon child development theory and neuroscience, this training package explores relational practice and offers practical ideas of how to incorporate love and nurture into both policy and interactions within our settings.

Day 1 - Friday 6th November 2026, 9.30-4.00pm

Intended Outcomes -

To support practitioners in deeply understanding the Child in the NOW Model and embedding it into their daily pedagogy, environments, observations, and interactions, while ensuring high expectations are upheld through relational practice and play.

• Understand the four principles of the model (Being, Belonging, Becoming, Believing).
• Connect these principles to relational pedagogy, emotional wellbeing, child voice, and play.
• Explore how to uphold high expectations through a play-based, child-centred, rights-led approach.
• Apply the model to real case studies.
• Identify next steps for embedding the model across their setting.
• Introduce the self-evaluation tool task.

Day 2 - online session - Wednesday 2nd December 2026 (6.30-8pm)

Intended Outcomes -

This online session is an opportunity for Tamsin and Aaron to recap the key messages from training. We will ask for feedback from the self-evaluation tasks given during the previous training session and answer any questions raised so far.

Day 3 - Friday 29th January 2027, 9.30-4.00pm

Intended Outcomes -

To support practitioners in deeply understanding what love and nurture means in terms of adopting a loving pedagogy.

• Consider what constitutes a loving pedagogy and explore what is meant by love and pedagogy;
• Learn about speaking different love languages and explore them using case studies;
• Find out about the Love and Nurture Rating Scale and practice using it during the session;
• Review and evaluate your practice in the light of a loving pedagogy.

Day 4 - online session - Wednesday 24th February 2027 (6.30-8pm)

Intended Outcomes -

Recap key messages from day 3 to follow up from the training. There will be an opportunity to share experiences of using the rating scale in practice. We will apply a relational approach and what has been learned so far to other areas like behaviour and policy. We will also answer any additional questions.

Day 5 - online session - Wednesday 30th June 2027 (6.30-8pm)

Intended Outcomes -

Network meeting – drop-in session, to follow up from the project. This will be an opportunity for those who want to attend to share their experiences of using the rating scale and adopting the Child in the NOW approach. Aaron and Tamsin will also be available to answer any further questions etc.

Audience: All early years practitioners.

Date/s and time, location:

Date/Time	Venue
Friday 6th November 2026 9.30-4.00pm Session 1 of 5	The Quadrant, S9 4WG	Book Here
Wednesday 2nd December 2026 6.30-8.00pm Session 2 of 5	Online
Friday 29th January 2027 9.30-4.00pm Session 3 of 5	The Quadrant, S9 4WG
Wednesday 24th February 2027 6.30-8.00pm Session 4 of 5	Online
Wednesday 30th June 2027 6.30-8.00pm Session 2 of 5	Online

Locations: Days 1 and 3 at The Quadrant, 99 Parkway Avenue, Sheffield, S9 4WG
Days 2, 4 and 5 online via teams

Cost: 3 Tokens or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Dr Aaron Bradbury and Tamsin Grimmer