Reaching the future workforce: Better Start Bradford
Charlotte Woodhouse, Early Years Facilitator at Better Start Bradford, shows how the partnership was able to provide bespoke training to support the needs of Level 2 and 3 students in local colleges.
Better Start Bradford has played a pivotal role in shaping the future workforce, emphasising the significance of prevention and early intervention in the early years from 2015-2025.
Over the course of the programme, we have developed a strong training offer for Nursing and Midwifery students, our future health professionals. This initiative aimed to deepen their understanding of early years development and highlight the importance of prevention within the first 1,001 days. By equipping them with essential knowledge and skills, we encouraged them to embed these principles into their practice. (Find out more about the Government’s vision for the early years here: The best start for life: a vision for the 1001 critical days.)
In October 2021, to further enhance our training offer we trialled a series of virtual live learning sessions. These gave students and practitioners from a variety of disciplines the opportunity to benefit from our partners’ extensive knowledge, ranging across infant mental health, adverse childhood experiences, communication and language, and community engagement.
These sessions were approximately 1.5 hours in duration and were delivered via Microsoft Teams. The sessions aimed to embed the message that we are all an essential part of the system for babies, children and young people, and that all services play an essential part in improving outcomes.
By 2024, these sessions had become an established and a regular feature, with two series of online learning opportunities delivered annually. Read more about this here.
Despite this progress, after speaking with local colleges, and early years practitioners, especially childminders, there remained a gap in reaching the wider early years workforce.
The Government's 2024 “Do Something Big” recruitment campaign further highlighted this need. The campaign aimed to boost recruitment across the early years sector and the planned roll-out of 30 hours free childcare for eligible families with children from 9 months in September 2025.
While the Stronger Practice Early Years Hub at St Edmunds offers extensive training for educators in settings, there appeared to be limited partnership working with colleges delivering Level 2 and 3 training programmes.
Recognising this, Better Start Bradford identified an opportunity to complement the early years curriculum by providing a bespoke training offer tailored for college students. Many of these students transitioned directly from school and required an interactive and engaging approach to support their learning and professional development.
Our approach
By working closely with the ambition hub at Bradford College and the childcare course leads at New College Bradford and Shipley College, a bespoke interactive training offer was developed that was relevant to students' experiences and linked to their course objectives. Building on previous collaborations, we also linked this work with our existing partnership with Bradford Museums (highlighted in this article).
The resulting programme was a three-hour, face-to-face training session delivered in colleges. The session aimed to:
- Share key messages about Better Start Bradford’s work.
- Signpost additional learning and development opportunities.
- Provide a focused, hands-on learning experience around play and communication.
Delivering the training in a familiar environment helped to maximize student engagement. Students felt more comfortable participating in discussions and activities in a setting they were already accustomed to.
Recognising the importance of relationship-building in this work, we contributed to Bradford College’s Ambition Hub’s prize giving event and their Ofsted inspection. Helen Rush (Better Start Bradford’s Early Years Specialist) also delivered a masterclass on using puppets in the early years, where 180 Bradford College’s Ambition Hub students received an overview of the critical role of speech, language, and communication in early childhood. These efforts helped establish trust and engagement among the students, which ultimately strengthened the final training delivery.
Training design and delivery
The training was designed to be engaging, relevant, and practical, incorporating diverse learning methods and comprised of:
- Presentations and videos: Short, impactful videos such as Molly Wright’s TED Talk on early brain development and serve and return interactions (responsive, back and forth exchanges between a young child and a caring adult).
- Facilitated discussions: Encouraging students to share their experiences and reflections on the importance of play for all and the advantages and disadvantages of child-led verses adult-led play.
- Hands-on play opportunities: Students explored resource boxes containing low-cost, free, and recycled materials from Bradford Scrap Stores.
- Activity planning and reflection: Students designed play-based activities using low-cost/ scrap materials for placements, linking them to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).
The practical nature of the training encouraged creativity and engagement where students presented their work, fostering confidence in speaking and teamwork. While some initially hesitated, peer support helped them actively participate in reflective discussions. Additionally, tidying up was incorporated as a learning point, reinforcing real-world responsibilities in early years settings.
Impact and feedback
As of May 2025, three-hour training sessions have been delivered to:
- 45 students at Bradford College
- 38 students at New College, Bradford
- 19 students at Shipley College
These numbers were similar in 2024 so over the past two years, nearly 200 students have participated in this training.
Shipley College and New College, Bradford students came together for a team building day at the Big Swing Adventure playground in May 2024 and continue to work closely with each other to deliver T-level childcare courses.
In Autumn 2025, during the last legacy phase of Better Start Bradford it is hoped that a further round of training sessions for the new cohort of students will be arranged.
A toolkit of resources is now being developed for childcare students as part of Better Start Bradford’s legacy to support the future workforce of early years professionals in childcare settings.
Key feedback highlights:
The information from the course evaluation questionnaire noted a significant shift in knowledge: Initially, 31% of students reported little prior knowledge of early years topics. By the end of the session, 93% felt more knowledgeable and confident.
Student feedback:
“Great to have loads of resources available to plan our activities.”
“I really enjoyed looking at the different ways things could be used.”
“It was a great and fun experience.”
“I learned a lot about communication, especially how important it is for us as well as for the children.”
“Great to see how much is available in Bradford. Loved seeing 'Talking Bradford' and can’t wait to share.”
Innovations in feedback collection:
To streamline evaluation, we introduced a QR code system for immediate feedback submission, achieving 90% completion rates. However, feedback from tutors highlighted accessibility barriers, as some students lacked smartphones. This was addressed by providing paper-based alternatives in subsequent sessions.
Conclusion
This training has enriched the learning experience for early years students, reinforcing the importance of early intervention, communication, and play as fundamental principles in early childhood education.
As Better Start Bradford moves forward with its legacy planning, we will continue to play a role in shaping the early years workforce by working closely with colleges to consolidate the student learning and training offer into a toolkit to be embedded in the ongoing T-level childcare curriculum.
References
About A Better Start
A Better Start is a ten-year project set up by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK.
Five A Better Start partnerships based in Blackpool, Bradford, Lambeth, Nottingham and Southend are supporting families to give their babies and very young children the best possible start in life. Working with local parents, the A Better Start partnerships are developing and testing ways to improve their children’s diet and nutrition, social and emotional development, and speech, language and communication.
The National Children’s Bureau is coordinating an ambitious programme of shared learning for A Better Start, disseminating the partnerships’ experiences in creating innovative services far and wide, so that others working in early childhood development or place-based systems change can benefit.
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