RISE | Early Years Offer
The East Midlands RISE team have set out their ambitious regional focus. Read on to see what support is available for your setting within Northamptonshire.
Reception Year Quality - regional focus
- Accelerate improvement towards the 75% national GLD target, closing the gap with England averages
- Close the widening disadvantage gap, with FSM GLD currently below 50% and falling further behind non-FSM pupils
- Reduce increasing variation within the region, with a focus on rural and coastal settings with small cohorts
- Improve very low GLD outcomes for children with SEND, particularly those with EHCPs.
Training and Development Offer
On 7 July 2025, DfE launched the Giving every child the best start in life strategy. This included a commitment to improve the quality of education that children receive in early years settings, including childminders and reception classes. To support this, we have introduced the following offers, designed specifically for early years educators:
- Additional reception year content in the Early years child development training
- Excellence in reception teaching , a new training course for reception class teachers
- Increased number of places on the Early years leadership national professional qualification
- Enhanced early years content in the Headship national professional qualification (NPQH) (NPQEYL)
The new excellence in reception teaching course forms part of the department’s wider, evidence-based ‘golden thread’ of teacher continuing professional development (CPD). This begins with the initial teacher training core content framework (ITTECF), through to national professional qualifications (NPQ) for more experienced education professionals.
Starts for the NPQ programmes and the excellence in reception teaching course will begin in Autumn 2026, with registrations opening on 23 June and 6 July respectively. Registrations for the early years child development training are open now.
National Professional Qualifications - Fully Funded for Autumn 2026
NPQEYL - Early Years Leadership
The Department for Education is funding the National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL). The programme is aimed at early years educators who want to develop their leadership expertise and potential. It is available to managers of PVIs, childminders with leadership responsibilities, headteachers/leaders of school-based and maintained nurseries, alongside other early years foundation stage leaders. Programmes start in Autumn 2026, with registrations opening on 23 June 2026.
Find out more and apply for your funded Autumn 2026 start: Northamptonshire Teaching School Hub - National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL)
NPQH - Increased Early Years content
Advance your leadership with the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH). Designed for headteachers and aspiring headteachers, including those overseeing early years provision within schools, the NPQH is a programme from the Department for Education that will help you develop the knowledge that underpins expert school leadership and apply it to support you to become an outstanding headteacher. Over 18 months, you will complete flexible study (1–2 hours weekly), combining expert guidance with practical application in your own setting. From Autumn 2026, the programme will be enhanced so relevant participants can access more early years specific content.
Find out more and apply for your funded Autumn 2026 start: Northamptonshire Teaching School Hub - National Professional Qualification in Headship (NPQH)
NPQSENCO
Learn how to become a strategic leader of SEND and enable all pupils to thrive.
Find out more and apply or your funded Autumn 2026 start: Northamptonshire Teaching School Hub - National Professional Qualification for Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinators (NPQ SENCO)
Excellence in Reception Teaching *NEW* DfE Funded for Autumn 2026
Northamptonshire Teaching School Hub is proud to offer this programme to regional schools in partnership with Ambition Institute.
Applications will open 6th July, but you can register your interest here in advance.
This national professional development (NPD) course is for Teachers who currently, or are shortly expecting to, teach the reception year group and who want to build on their existing reception-specific pedagogy but are not looking for CPD at a leadership level.
We know that the quality of teaching is the most important in-school factor in supporting pupil outcomes. This funded course will deepen your reception-specific pedagogical knowledge and strengthen your practice through practical, evidence-based approaches to support more children to achieve a good level of development. It will focus on the key areas of:
- Child development
- Classroom practice and teaching
- Inclusive practice
- Effective partnerships
You can read the full content framework. Providers use this framework to design their course.
Timeline
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| June 2026 | register your interest in the course |
| July 2026 | course registration opens |
| October 2026 | first course start date |
There  will be 2 further cohorts in 2027, starting in January and October. To receive an email notification when course registration opens, you can register your interest.
How the course will be delivered
The course is designed to fit around teaching commitments.
The course will:
- take around 2 school terms to complete
- combine online learning and self study (minimum 20 hours)
- include at least 4 hours of live online training
Your chosen training provider can give you full delivery details.
What you will be awarded
NPD courses are informed by the best available research and endorsed by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). On successful completion of the course, participants will be awarded a DfE accredited NPD certificate.
Funding eligibility
Funded places are available for participants working in most state funded settings, including academies. If you are not eligible for funding, you can self fund. You must still register with the DfE.
How to register your interest in this course
Enter your email using the Register interest in NPD course form to get an email notification when registration opens in July 2026.
Early Years Child Development Training
This free, online training gives participants a thorough understanding of key aspects of child development in the early years. The training includes 8 modules covering essential topics such as brain development; personal, social and emotional development; communication and language; and supporting individual differences and needs. Written by early years experts, the training enables participants to:
- Strengthen and build knowledge of child development
- Develop knowledge and understanding of strategies which will develop their practice
- Test knowledge and reflect on their own practice
- See examples of effective practice in videos filmed in a range of early years settings
- Complete online modules in any order, supporting them to develop their knowledge in the best way for them at a time which works for them
- Download a certificate of completion after each module
- Access links to additional resources
> Early years child development training : Home page
Who this training is for
This training is for practitioners working with children in any type of early years setting. This includes childminders, early years practitioners, reception teachers, and teaching assistants. The training is for anyone who is new to early years and is looking to build their child development knowledge. It is also useful for anyone looking to refresh their knowledge.
How long is the programme?
Participants can start and pause the training at any point, so you can complete each module at your own pace. There is no time limit for completing the training.
What is the time commitment and how will I learn?
The completion time for each module is approximately 2 hours. Modules are fully online and self-directed.
How to register:
> Register here: Early years child development training : Home page
Support from Hubs in Northamptonshire
Support for Early Years available in Northamptonshire through Hubs and Networks:
Access funded National Professional Qualifications:
Early Years Leadership
East Midlands South
Maths Hub:
*NEW* Mastering Number at Reception and KS1 Work Group
*NEW* SKTM Reception Teachers Programme.
Enigma Maths Hub:
*NEW* Mastering Number at Reception and KS1 Work Group
*NEW* SKTM Reception Teachers Programme.
Roade English Hub has developed new courses to improve early language and literacy in reception.
Available from September 2026.
Universal Support
Compare your good level of development report
The compare your GLD report is designed to help schools, trusts and local authorities better understand early years foundation stage (EYFS) profile outcomes and support evidence-based decision making.
It enables leaders to:
- view their GLD outcomes in context
- explore trends across pupil groups
- consider how cohort context may influence outcomes
- identify areas of strength and areas for improvement
Reception quality RISE webinars
Free reception quality webinars are available to support schools, trusts and local authority leads to increase the number of children who achieve a GLD at the end of their first year in school.
The webinars have been developed by the Department for Education (DfE) and sector experts, including:
- Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)
- English Hubs
- National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM)
- Ofsted
They cover:
- the importance of reception and the data available to support leaders
- strategic leadership of the early years in school
- key messages from Ofsted’s research on strong foundations
- embedding a language-rich environment and supporting early writing
- promoting good attendance routines in reception
- the importance of early maths
Reception transition guidance
Getting children ready for reception: supporting effective transition provides guidance on how schools and early years settings, including childminders, can work together with parents and carers to support children’s transition into reception.
Kindred Squared’s Starting Reception materials offer advice for parents, schools and early years professionals to support children starting reception
Early years foundation stage profile assessment support
Support is available for teachers completing the EYFS profile assessment.
EYFS profile assessment support focuses on improving assessment reliability and building confidence. It includes:
- training materials, including bite-sized videos on specific early learning goals
- EYFS profile assessment support through sessions led by local authorities
Speech and language development through NELI
The Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme targets reception-aged children who need extra support with their speech and language development.
On average, children who take part in the NELI programme make 4 months of additional progress in oral language skills. This increases to 7 months for children who receive free school meals.
The DfE-funded NELI programme is available to all state-funded schools with a reception class.
Education Endowment Fund (EEF) Early Years Toolkit
A summary of the best available evidence on key areas for learning and development
Level 3 Early Years SENCO
The Early years level 3 SENCO provides a summary of evidence on key is intended to support early years practitioners to gain accreditation for the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to perform the Early Years SENCO role effectively.
> Read more about the qualification and the role description here Early years level 3 SENCO - GOV.UK