Sheffield City Council Early Years CPD Programme

This webpage brings together the training, professional development and support opportunities available to Sheffield's early years workforce through the Early Years Quality Team and a range of partner organisations. Our aim is to make it easier for practitioners, leaders, childminders and home-based early years practitioners to find and access high-quality development opportunities in one place.

The offer is organised into key areas of practice, including Curriculum, Teaching and Learning; Communication, Language, Literacy and School Readiness; Leadership and Professional Development; and Safeguarding, Inclusion and Children's Wellbeing. Alongside the city-wide training programme, the Early Years Quality Team also provides a range of bespoke support for settings and providers. This can include coaching, mentoring, quality improvement support and tailored training, designed around local priorities and individual needs.

This joined-up approach supports the ambitions of both the Sheffield Early Years Strategy and the Best Start in Life Strategy, recognising that a skilled, confident and well-supported workforce is fundamental to improving outcomes for children and reducing inequalities. Through professional development, networks, collaboration and communities of practice, we aim to strengthen professional knowledge, build leadership capacity and support continuous improvement across the sector.

By working together and sharing expertise, we can continue to nurture and develop the strong practice that exists across Sheffield, supporting providers to reflect, innovate and enhance outcomes for children and families. This collective approach helps ensure more children experience a positive start in life and are equipped with the foundations they need to thrive in learning and beyond.

For any queries or feedback about this new approach, please contact EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk or Vicky Carr, EYFS Quality, Access and Moderation Manager Vicky.Carr@sheffield.gov.uk / 07971 376801

Meet the Team

Welcome to the Sheffield City Council Early Years Quality Team. We work in partnership with schools, maintained nurseries, private, voluntary and independent settings, childminders, and home-based early years practitioners to champion high-quality, inclusive early education across Sheffield. Through a balanced approach of support and professional challenge, we provide quality assurance, professional development, coaching, moderation, and tailored guidance to strengthen practice, develop confident leaders and practitioners, and promote continuous improvement.

Working collaboratively across education, SEND, safeguarding, health and family hub services, we are committed to ensuring every child has the best possible start in life, is ready to learn, can thrive, achieve their full potential and secure their best possible outcomes.

This webpage provides access to information about our teams, and includes training and professional development opportunities, statutory guidance, quality improvement resources, assessment and moderation support, professional networks, and key updates for the early years sector.

Early Years Quality, Access and Moderation Manager
Vicky Carr – Vicky.Carr@sheffield.gov.uk 07971 376 801

Early Years Quality Improvement Team Manager
Denise Tunnicliffe – Denise.Tunnicliffe@sheffield.gov.uk 07770 702 500

Community Early Years Practitioners (CEYPs)

We are a team of qualified, knowledgeable and experienced practitioners committed to supporting the early years sector and the children and families of Sheffield. We offer support and advice to professionals ensuring early identification of need, supporting health and wellbeing and delivering training opportunities. The CEYP offer is available to all early years professionals.

Our offer:

• The Healthy Early Years Award (HEY)
  This is a quality assurance award*, accredited by the Director of Public Health. The training and award recognises and celebrates a whole setting holistic approach to healthy early years. The award covers seven key strands and promotes and supports key Public Health messages, demonstrating a commitment to supporting children, families, staff and the wider community in making informed choices supporting both physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing.
  
  To undertake the award, settings are required to:
  • Attend all training sessions
  • Work together as a whole team to complete a reflective toolkit
  • Complete and submit the toolkit, an action plan and a Healthy Early Years communication plan.

  *The HEY Award is suitable for providers where practice has been positively recognised by Ofsted or following discussions with the LA Quality Team Managers.

  For more information, please see Sheffield City Council Early Years Professional Development Training page or email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

   

• Nurturing Healthy Futures: Supporting Nutrition in Early Childhood
  For: Childminders and Home-Based Early Years Practitioners
  

  This is a positive, evidence-informed approach to food and nutrition within the early years. This Public Health endorsed certificate recognises good practice and celebrates the work home based practitioners undertake with children and families, ensuring every child has the best possible start in life. Achieving the certificate demonstrates a commitment to ongoing reflective practice, aligning with Ofsted and Department for Education expectations, and supporting continuous improvement within provision.

  The training will:

  • Provide insight into local and national public health priorities
  • Support reflection on current practice in relation to food and nutrition
  • Help to create an action plan to support the ongoing development of practice and provision

  To achieve certification childminders and home-based early years practitioners will need to:

  • Attend 2 training sessions
  • Complete and submit the reflective toolkit, with an action plan

  For more information, please see Sheffield City Council Early Years Professional Development Training page or email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

   

• Speak Up for Sheffield Introduction Module

  The ability to effectively support children’s speech, language, and communication (SLC) development is essential for everyone working with young children and families. This introduction course provides foundational knowledge and practical strategies to help practitioners promote SLC in everyday settings.

  The course was created in collaboration with Sheffield Speech and Language Therapists. It addresses key areas including brain development, the vital role of adults play in supporting communication, and evidence-based strategies to nurture speech and language skills in young children.

  This course is designed for all professionals working at the Universal Level - that is, anyone who works directly with young children and their families and wants to build confidence in supporting speech and language development.

  Course highlights:

  • Understand typical speech, language, and communication development
  • Learn how brain development impacts communication skills
  • Explore practical, everyday strategies to support children’s speech, language, and communication development
  • Gain knowledge to better engage and support children and families in communication activities

  Further Opportunities:

  Participants interested in advancing their expertise may express interest to the facilitator for future access to the Speak Up for Sheffield Language Champions course, which offers more in-depth training.

  For more information, please see Sheffield City Council Early Years Professional Development Training page or email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

   

• Play and Say

  Developed by expert Speech and Language Therapists from Sheffield, the Play and Say programme is designed to universally support speech and language development in young children, with a particular focus on vocabulary building. Primarily targeted at children under five years of age the programme is particularly beneficial in supporting language development of 2-year-olds. The programme equips early years practitioners with practical, evidence-based strategies to promote communication skills within everyday interactions.

  Programme Aims and Benefits:

  • Foster effective language development strategies for use with all children in early years settings.
  • Support the early identification of speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN).
  • Assist with the 2-year progress check and integrated review processes, including moderation.
  • Strengthen partnerships with parents by empowering them to use communication strategies at home, with access to additional resources such as the Curious Communicators online information session.
  • Provide engaging, enjoyable activities for children, parents, and practitioners alike, enhancing motivation and learning.

  Delivery and Support:

  The delivery of the programme will be tailored to meet the needs of each individual setting. A package of support will be discussed and agreed between the setting and the Early Years Quality Team. This will include the setting working closely with the Community Early Years Practitioners, who will offer hands-on training, modelling, and tailored guidance over a period of time. This ‘alongside’ approach ensures practitioners build confidence and competence in embedding Play and Say techniques seamlessly into daily practice.

Community Early Years Practitioners:

Lynsey Shaw – Lynsey.Shaw@sheffield.gov.uk 07557 564 355

Nicola Waller – Nicola.Waller@sheffield.gov.uk 07775 015 728

Early Years Quality and Access Team

The Early Years Quality and Access Team are a team of experienced Early Years specialists who work in partnership with schools, academies, nurseries, pre-schools, home-based practitioners and other early years providers to improve outcomes for children from birth to five.

Through guidance, support, training and coaching, we help leaders and practitioners build the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to deliver high-quality, inclusive provision that enables children to thrive.

Our work is grounded in Sheffield City Council's values of putting people at the heart of what we do, working collaboratively, listening to understand, promoting equity, equality and inclusion, and being open and honest in both our support and challenge. Through our high support, high challenge approach, we work alongside leaders and practitioners to identify strengths, address priorities and build sustainable capacity for improvement. We champion research-based, evidence-informed practice to support effective decision-making and drive positive outcomes for children.

We support settings to strengthen practice across curriculum, assessment, safeguarding, SEND and leadership, helping them meet statutory and Ofsted expectations while improving outcomes, including increasing the proportion of children achieving a Good Level of Development.

Working closely with education, health, SEND and other local authority services, we provide coordinated support that contributes to the ambitions of The Best Start in Life Sheffield Early Years Strategy, ensuring every child has the best possible start, reducing inequalities and fostering a strong sense of belonging. Through this work, we help create environments where children feel safe, valued, included and empowered to achieve their potential.

Early Years Quality and Access Officers:

Jayne Atkinson – Jayne.Atkinson@sheffield.gov.uk 07787 222 107

Lushane Davies-Maw – Lushane.Davies-maw@sheffield.go.uk 07768 722 441

Early Years Quality Improvement Officers

We are a team of highly qualified professionals with a wealth of experience, skills, and specialist interests across the early years sector. Together, we are dedicated to supporting excellence in early years education and care, helping practitioners create environments where every child can thrive.

The Early Years Quality Improvement Officers support and work in partnership with early years education and childcare providers across Sheffield, including nurseries, pre-schools, and childminders/home-based early years practitioners. Through quality reviews, evaluation, and assessment visits, we monitor and promote high-quality provision, helping settings to continuously improve outcomes for all children.

We believe that every child deserves the best start in life. High-quality early education, strong partnerships, and inclusive practice are fundamental to reducing inequalities, improving life chances, and ensuring children thrive from their earliest years. Our work aligns closely with Sheffield's Best Start for Life Strategy, recognising the crucial role that early experiences play in children's development, wellbeing, learning, and future success.

We play a key role in supporting providers to reflect on and evaluate their practice, strengthening leadership and developing a culture of continuous improvement. Through a balance of support and challenge, we help settings increase their knowledge, understanding and confidence in implementing evidence-informed approaches that improve outcomes for children and families.

Quality Improvement Officers plan, coordinate and evaluate a comprehensive programme of support for early years providers across the private, voluntary, and independent sectors. We design and deliver professional development opportunities, in response to identified local and national priorities.

We work collaboratively with colleagues across the early years sector, to ensure providers receive coherent, coordinated, and effective support.

Our offer:

We provide support, challenge, and professional development to settings to:

• Strengthen quality through review and improvement planning
• Enhance teaching, learning and pedagogical practice
• Strengthen leadership and management
• Meet statutory requirements and maintain compliance
• Improve outcomes for all children
• Prepare for and respond to Ofsted inspections
• Access evidence-informed research, resources, and best practice
• Networking events and briefings

Our support includes:

• Quality improvement reviews and action planning
• Training and workforce development
• Curriculum and pedagogical support
• Safeguarding, inclusion and SEND guidance
• Leadership development
• Ofsted preparation and post-inspection support

At the heart of our work is a commitment to improving outcomes for all children, supporting school readiness, and increasing the proportion of children achieving a Good Level of Development (GLD) by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Through collaborative, strengths-based approaches, we support practitioners to build on their existing expertise and implement sustainable improvements that have a lasting impact on children's learning, development, and wellbeing.

Early Years Quality Improvement Officers:

Michelle Richford – Michelle.Richford@sheffield.gov.uk 07748 055 893

Debbie Hindley – Debbie.Hindley@sheffield.gov.uk 07814 285 575

Karen Rees – Karen.Rees@sheffield.gov.uk 07876 034 118

Paula Burgin – Paula.Burgin@sheffield.gov.uk 07557 564 205

Lisa Bramhall – Lisa.Bramhall@sheffield.gov.uk 07969 192 700

Michelle Fox – Michelle.Fox@sheffield.gov.uk 07917 175 551

Heather Spray – Heather.Spray@sheffield.gov.uk 07715 700 139