London’s Deputy Mayor for Education and Childcare, Joanne McCartney, today visited Puddleducks Nursery in Barnet to celebrate the vital support it provides to local families.
The Hub, led by Barnet Early Years Alliance (BEYA), is one of three Early Years Hubs to receive £175,000 in funding from the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan when they launched in January 2018. The hubs operate in Barnet, Newham and Wandsworth and Merton and aim to improve the quality and take-up of free early education in their boroughs.
Through its involvement with the BEYA Early Years Hub, Puddleducks Nursery has benefitted from improved links with other local childcare facilities, increased referrals for families needing extra support and access to training opportunities to support practitioners and parents. Puddleducks Nursery is now also working towards joining the Mayor’s Healthy Early Years London award scheme which supports and celebrates the promotion of children’s health and wellbeing in early years centres.
The Deputy Mayor saw first-hand the impact the work of the hub is having on young families in the borough as she met with parents who have benefitted from funded places for two year olds. Joanne also spoke with one parent whose improved access to childcare means she is now able to attend university. The early years professionals spoke to Joanne about expanding their skills and experience through the training on offer through the hub.
Deputy Mayor for Education and Childcare, Joanne McCartney, said: “It is so important that our youngest Londoners are given every opportunity to succeed from an early age.
“The Early Years Hubs provide a vital resource for children, parents and early years professionals, enabling them to access quality education, training and support and connecting them with early years networks in their local area.
“Everyone at Puddleducks Nursery should be very proud of their hard work in improving access to quality early years provision in Barnet and I hope their example inspires more settings to engage with their local hub.”
Balal Arshad, Nursery Manager at Puddleducks Nursery said: “It’s been highly useful to be involved in the hub as I have been able to upskill my staff with varied avenues of training, including courses from Middlesex University. I’ve also been able to coach the children’s parents and service-users with literacy skills on a parent programme supported by the National Literacy Trust designed to help children to learn to read.
“We have also been able to use a specialist 0-19 Family Practitioner to help families struggling with fussy eating and night-time sleeping routines and behaviour management.
“Furthermore it’s been very useful to actually make real-life links and create relationships with a plethora of local professionals in various capacities, as these connections lead to greater possibilities, some of which we haven’t even discovered yet but the potential for further partnership working has now opened up”.
Notes to editors
Notes to editors
- The Mayor's first three Early Years Hubs launched in January 2018 and exist to improve access to high-quality early education for London’s less advantaged families.
The hubs provide an opportunity for schools, childminders, Private Voluntary and Independent (PVI) nurseries and others to work together over a three-year period
All three hubs are committed to achieving the Healthy Early Years London (HEYL) award and are working to improve routes into careers in early education.
Find out more about the Early Years Hubs here - https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/mayor-launches-early-years-hubs
- Puddleducks Nursery is part of the BEYA Early Years Hub, led by Barnet Early Years Alliance (BEYA)
- The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is supporting early years education and childcare providers to create healthier environments for the children they serve. His Healthy Early Years London award scheme gives Bronze, Silver and Gold status to centres which actively encourage children to learn about their health and empower them to develop lifelong healthy habits.