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The first 1001 days from conception to two years is widely acknowledged as being one of the most important stages in children's lives. During this period, babies’ brains are growing rapidly, laying down the foundations for future learning and development. It is therefore vital that high-quality provision for children under two provides opportunities for them to learn in a safe space, where babies feel cared for and nurtured by the adults around them.

The Alliance’s extensive baby room CPD training package celebrates the uniqueness of under-twos and embraces the role of educators in providing high-quality provision that meets their needs.

Our offer promotes inspirational practice when caring and teaching infants, helping you to create an environment where babies can flourish, inspiring their natural curiosity and awe and wonder of the world around them, as well considering how providers meet Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) requirements within under-two provision.

So, whether you are new to caring for children birth to two years or want to extend your knowledge and enhance your practice, the �黨Ӱ��can support your settings individual training needs with our suite of CPD resources.

Choose from a range of courses ranging from one hour to four hours long and create a bespoke package that meets the needs of your setting. Packages are available from three hours upwards and can be delivered virtually or face to face in your setting.

To find out more and to discuss your individual requirements, please fill out our .

Our bespoke CPD offer includes:

Insights

Progress check at age 2

2 hours

It is a statutory requirement that when a child is aged between two and three that educators must review their progress and provide parents and/ or carers with a short written summary of their child's learning in the prime areas of the EYFS.

This session will help you to understand the legal requirements around assessment for 2-year-olds. You will explore reviewing children's development and progress in the 3 prime areas of learning, completing the progress check, and effectively working with parents and other professionals to identify any areas of concern.

Baby brain development

1 hour 

This online session will discuss how babies’ brains develop and consider the role of attachment in promoting positive relationships and explain how educators can work with families at the earliest opportunity to support the settling-in process and future transitions.

The session will provide ideas about how early years educators can use these positive relationships to create an inspirational curriculum that positively influences brain development while meeting the unique needs of children.

Virtual Classrooms

Inspirational baby room practice

4 hours

Ensuring that educators are trained to specifically care for babies and children under two provides the foundations to give every child the best possible start in life that they deserve.   

We know that children from birth to five years develop quickly, and that the first 1001 critical days from pregnancy to aged two are vitally important as it this has the most impact in influencing lifelong development and learning.   

In this Virtual classroom we will:  

• identify and understand the statutory guidance around working with babies and toddlers age birth to two years 
• recognise the importance of secure attachments and how to develop secure relationships 
• be aware of how babies' brains develop in the first 1001 days of life 
• explore the important role of the responsive adult in supporting the prime areas of learning and development 
• consider ways to support the settling in period to ensure a smooth transition into the early years setting for children birth to two years 
• unlock the power of the enabling learning environment to embed inspirational practice 

Outdoor environments for 2-year olds

3 hours

Having access to nature and the outdoors has been shown to improve children’s development and love of learning.

So, how can you ensure that the outdoor play opportunities in your setting meet the needs of two-year-old's and provide a beneficial learning environment for them?

In this interactive Virtual Classroom, you will:

• Discuss the role of outdoor provision in meeting the learning and development needs of two-year-olds as defined by the EYFS
• Develop practical steps to achieve successful outdoor provision for two-year-olds that is flexible and responsive to their needs and support them to participate fully in their own learning choices

Supporting babies’ pre-verbal communication skills

3 hours

Babies are born with an innate drive to connect and interact with others – they are social beings. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) tells us that ‘children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development’. Babies need adults to respond sensitively to their attempts to interact with the world and to recognise how their ‘voice’ can be heard much earlier than learning to talk. These actions support young children to develop essential communication and language skills that they require to become effective communicators.  

Language is so much more than the words that we say. Babies use their faces, their bodies, their babbles and their cries to communicate their wants, needs and desires, and to interact with others around them. This session focuses on how early years educators can tune into the many ways that babies and young children communicate with us, prior to developing spoken language, and explores how adults can support children to become effective communicators through the interactions and experiences that they provide. 

Magic of outdoors for children aged birth to 2 years old

3 hours

We often think about the outdoors being a place for children to run around and be physically active but where does this leave our youngest children that are not yet as mobile? The outdoors has so much to offer children of all ages and we shouldn't forget about the babies and toddlers.

In this workshop we identify practical steps to providing valuable outdoor learning opportunities for children birth to two years.

This interactive session will: 

• Discuss statutory requirements and non-statutory guidance for providing children access to outdoor environments, and how this applies specifically to children birth to two years
• Describe a range of benefits of accessing outdoor learning opportunities for children birth to two years
• Identify challenges, barriers and potential risks for children birth to two years in accessing outdoor environments, and begin to describe ways to overcome them
• Determine positive ways to build partnerships with families and support them to access the outdoors as part of the Home Learning Envronment
• Plan next steps in providing valuable outdoor learning opportunities for children birth to two years

Understanding the needs of 2-year-olds

3 hours

As the number of eligible two-year-olds taking up funded places increases, how confident are you that your setting is ready and able to meet the unique needs of this age group?
The course will give you an in-depth understanding the learning and development needs of two-year-olds and how this knowledge can be used to enhance the environment and inform planning.

During this interactive Virtual Classroom, you will:

• Explore the development and needs of two-year-olds
• Examine the use of observations and the two-year progress check as tools to inform and support planning and learning

Spotlights

Power of play collection

Children ‘learning’ through play is a strong message within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and underpins everyday practice in early years settings. This collection aims to highlight the ‘power’ that play has for children’s learning and development, as well as their confidence, imagination and language.

We will be looking at the characteristics of play and what play should include to make it beneficial, things that children can connect with  through their play, identifying and facilitating schemas, how 'playful interactions' support children's learning and the role of adults in supporting imaginative play.

Spotlights included in this collection are:

• Characteristics of play
• Connecting through play
• Exploring schemas
• Rediscovering play
• Supporting imaginative play

Each of these 30- to 45-minute recorded presentations can be used individually or in groups, and are perfect for early educators who want to access CPD on the go. For those working in group settings, the Collections are also ideal for internal staff training sessions, as part of staff meetings, and new starter inductions.

Connecting through play

All Spotlights are available for three months from purchase, with unlimited access during this period.  Alongside the Spotlight sessions themselves, you will also gain access to:   

• a reflection sheet that can be used to take notes or reflect during the ‘pause for thought’ moments as part of the session  
• an impact evaluation sheet to allow you to reflect on and evaluate what you have learned from the recording, highlighting any aims and objectives you wish to focus on going forward or identify areas of further interest  
• an action plan to collate any identified objectives and next steps, either individually or as a team 

Children use their play to learn about the world, and to learn new skills and knowledge. However, play also provides children with opportunities to ‘connect’ in many ways; for example, to others around them, to nature and to their own emotions. This spotlight describes some of the things that children can connect with through their play, and considers the opportunities that play provides for learning and development.

In this spotlight we will:

• Discuss what play is and it’s role for children​
• Describe the importance of play​
• Outline a range of ‘connections’ that children can make during their play experiences​
• Identify ways to share key messages with families and support play within the home learning environment

 

Rediscovering play

All Spotlights are available for three months from purchase, with unlimited access during this period.  Alongside the Spotlight sessions themselves, you will also gain access to:   

• a reflection sheet that can be used to take notes or reflect during the ‘pause for thought’ moments as part of the session  
• an impact evaluation sheet to allow you to reflect on and evaluate what you have learned from the recording, highlighting any aims and objectives you wish to focus on going forward or identify areas of further interest  
• an action plan to collate any identified objectives and next steps, either individually or as a team 

Is play something just for children? Or should we, as adults, be more playful and engage in playful interactions with children? This spotlight explores how we, as adults, can ‘rediscover’ play and the impact this can have on children (and ourselves), and discusses how ‘playful interactions’ can support children’s learning through play.

In this spotlight we will :

• Discuss why play is important for everyone, not just for children ​

• Describe some of the benefits of play ​

• Outline ways that we, as adults, can ‘rediscover’ play and the impact this can have on children, and ourselves ​

• Discuss how ‘playful interactions’ can support children’s learning through play

Characteristics of play

All Spotlights are available for three months from purchase, with unlimited access during this period.  Alongside the Spotlight sessions themselves, you will also gain access to:   

• an impact evaluation sheet to allow you to reflect on and evaluate what you have learned from the recording, highlighting any aims and objectives you wish to focus on going forward or identify areas of further interest  
• an action plan to collate any identified objectives and next steps, either individually or as a team 
• a reflection sheet that can be used to take notes or reflect during the ‘pause for thought’ moments as part of the session  

What makes play something that children want to engage in and what makes it a positive way for children to learn about the world around them? This spotlight outlines the characteristics of play and what play should include to make it beneficial for learning, guided by research from the Lego Foundation.

In this spotlight we will discuss:

• the characteristics of play and what makes it beneficial for learning​ ​
• the different stages of play and how children progress through these stages​ ​
• different types of play and the link to areas of learning

 

Supporting imaginative play

All Spotlights are available for three months from purchase, with unlimited access during this period.  Alongside the Spotlight sessions themselves, you will also gain access to:   

• an impact evaluation sheet to allow you to reflect on and evaluate what you have learned from the recording, highlighting any aims and objectives you wish to focus on going forward or identify areas of further interest  
• an action plan to collate any identified objectives and next steps, either individually or as a team 
• a reflection sheet that can be used to take notes or reflect during the ‘pause for thought’ moments as part of the session  

“The world of pretend play is one in which children can be free to express themselves, their ideas, their emotions, and their fantastic visions of themselves, of other people, and of the world.” (Sandra Russ, Psychologist). This spotlight aims to describe what is meant by ‘imaginative play’ and identify the role of adults in supporting this type of play within the early years.

In this spotlight we will:

• Describe what is meant by ‘imaginative play’. ​
• Outline how imaginative play links to all seven areas of learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage ​
• Discuss a range of ways that children may participate in imaginative play ​
• Identify what the role of the adult is for supporting imaginative play and how this can be applied to practice within early years provision

To find out more and to discuss your individual requirements, please fill out our .