Early years network shortlisted for national award
23 Jul 2019 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news
The Northumberland Early Years Professionals Network has been shortlisted for a national award.
The annual Nursery World awards shine a light on best practice from across the UK and are open to everyone involved in early years education and childcare.
The Northumberland network is led by the county council’s early years team in partnership with the Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing at Northumbria University, Newcastle and has been shortlisted in the category of Team Development.
The Team Development Award is open to early years and childcare services who have built a high-quality staff team through good practice in recruitment and retention, training and career development.
The Northumberland network forms a community of practice which has grown since its inception two years ago.
During this time it has supported strong partnership working and staff recruitment, especially promoting men in early years and childcare. It has included a variety of training and professional development opportunities including beach school, inclusive practice, the learning environment and health and wellbeing for practitioners and children.
The network promotes best practice in early years across the council, with all of its activity aimed at promoting the best outcomes for children.
Theresa Iley from the Northumberland Early Years Team said: “This is brilliant news and fantastic recognition of the commitment and dedication shown by our members towards quality improvement and best practice; positively impacting on children and families in Northumberland. “
Kay Heslop from Northumbria University added: “We have built a hugely supportive network across Northumberland over the past two years. The awards provide a great opportunity to be recognised and celebrated so we are excited to share our celebration in reaching this stage.”
The awards team at the Nursery World said: “This is a tremendous achievement against extremely tough competition. This year we received an astounding number of entries from across the country, so being shortlisted is an incredible feat.”
Councillor Wayne Daley, cabinet member for children’s services at Northumberland County Council added: “I am delighted but not surprised to hear about the network’s shortlisting in these extremely prestigious awards. I know how hard the team works and how much support they give to early years practitioners through training and development of best practice - which all contributes to the high quality of services across Northumberland.”
Winners will be announced on 28 September 2019 at an awards ceremony in London.