London Institute of Early Years

The London Institute of Early Years provides high-quality continued professional development (CPD) and training to all those across the Early Years community.

Based within the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), the Institute is open to external learners and all LEYF employees. Whether you are looking to deepen your knowledge of child development or transform your life through career-boosting qualifications, we will be with you every step of your learning journey.

Through the Institute, we aim to share best practice, innovation and the latest research to drive real change across the Early Years sector. We aspire to create a community of practice where you can meet likeminded people while developing and inspiring others.

Our courses are informed by our practice-based action research which will help you discover new ways of working.

Why come to the London Institute of Early Years?

• All our courses are delivered by our in-house experts who have lived experience of working in nurseries and understand how quality, evidence-based practice delivers the best outcomes for our children.
• Our staff synthesise theory into the latest practice with clear pathways to enrich your skills development and practice to become a confident pedagogical leader.
• Our registered CACHE and ILM centre offers opportunities to obtain formal qualifications to broaden your skillset.
• Our degree in Early Years Education, which is validated by the University of Wolverhampton, allows you to carry on working while you study.
• LEYF has been at the heart of pioneering childcare reforms for over 120 years. Underpinning all we do is our social pedagogy that delivers the best outcomes for children now and in the future.

Awards

Our highly regarded Learning and Development team have won many awards including:

Children & Young People Now Awards 2021 – The Early Years Award

During the pandemic, LEYF supported parents to continue their child’s learning at home, by quickly developing a digital home learning service, including videos, activities and tips for parents to do during lockdown with their child at home.

Nursery World Awards 2020 – Team Development

This award recognised the effectiveness of the LEYF Pedagogy, our teaching and learning model, which supports all children to learn and engage to become future global citizens. LEYF prioritises its staff teams’ continuous professional development which underpins the delivery of the highest quality education.

Nursery World Awards – Health and Wellbeing Award

We launched the LEYF Early Years Chef Academy in 2019, the first of its kind in the county, to train chefs from all Early Years settings to be experts in child nutrition and to help children, staff and parents build healthy habits for life.

Meet the trainers

All of our trainers are highly skilled and respected experts in their fields. Find out more about our training team.

Research and Consultancy

LEYF is a learning organisation. Our courses are informed by the latest international research and our nursery-based action research which helps staff discover new ways of working with very young children.

Many of our trainers have also had work published in academic journals and are seen as leaders in their field.

We partner with other organisations across the sector that share our values to deliver research and consultancy as well as training.

Bespoke Training

All of our training courses can be delivered face to face or online by our highly trained experts at a date and time that suits you. We can work with you to tailor our courses to match your needs.

Please get in touch with institute@leyf.org.uk for a follow-up discussion.

Sign up to our mailing list

Sign up to our mailing list to stay up to date on all our training and events in our monthly bulletins.

Sign up now

Contact us

Please get in touch via email for more information.

Terms and conditions

Please read our terms and conditions including our cancellation policy before signing up to our courses.