How Peep programmes support Family Hubs to achieve the best start for life

The UK Government has committed to extending Best Start for Life Family Hubs to every local authority in England, with the key target of 75% of 5 year olds reaching a Good Level of Development (GLD) by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

Peep Learning Together is an evidence-based programme that directly supports this target. Already used by half of the 75 Family Hubs in receipt of the first round of Best Start funding, the Peep Learning Together Programme offers engaging content to share with parents, flexible delivery and sustainability – helping make the most of children’s earliest years so that they can thrive.

What is the Peep Learning Together Programme?

Peep supports practitioners, parents and carers to boost babies’ and young children’s development through everyday activities in the home learning environment. It has a strengths-based approach, valuing what parents already do, and building their confidence to do more.

The programme covers five key strands of development: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language, Early Literacy, Early Maths, and Health and Physical Development. It provides practitioners with 74 downloadable topics with related session plans and parent handouts. See below for a list of Peep Learning Together Programme topics mapped to the Early Learning Goals.

Learning Together uses the ORIM framework (Opportunities, Recognition, Interaction, Modelling) developed by Professors Cathy Nutbrown and Peter Hannon, to help strengthen relationships and build positive home learning environments.

How Peep helps Family Hubs

Improving children’s outcomes and school readiness:

Independent evaluations by the universities of Oxford, Queen’s Belfast and Warwick found significant improvements in children’s development and parental engagement for families attending Peep groups, with the greatest impact for children from less advantaged backgrounds.
The partnerships between Peep, parents and practitioners support more children to arrive at school keen to continue exploring, developing and learning, helping to narrow the attainment gap.

Supporting parents as first educators:

Peep sessions raise parents’ and carers' awareness of how everyday interactions support brain development.
Peep increases parental confidence and understanding in supporting their child's play and learning at home, in simple, low-cost or no-cost ways
Parents get to know and trust each other, developing peer support networks, reducing isolation and strengthening communities.

Workforce development:

Peep training works well cross-sector, for example for staff from education, health, social care and family support - anyone working with parents or young children. Peep sessions currently run in a variety of settings, from Forest Schools to prisons.
The key information and ideas in each of the 74 child development topics provide practitioners with reminders for familiar topics and build knowledge for less familiar subjects
Organisations highlight Peep’s role in engaging families, strengthening transitions into school and multi-agency collaboration.
On-going CPD is provided through accreditation, Peep Champions and peer support networks, online support, refresher training and resource updates.

Value for money:

Peep training is high quality and provides on-going online access to Peep programme resources.
Practitioners can use Peep programmes in universal and targeted approaches, encouraging early intervention that helps reduce later issues.
Peep can be delivered flexibly, across groups, drop-ins or one-to-ones; indoors, outdoors or online. The comprehensive content of the Learning Together Programme enables you to tailor it to the needs of your local families, with any number of sessions.

“Peep is fantastic for involving parents in their children’s learning. It gives parents more confidence to support their child’s learning and take it forward at their child’s pace and development level.” – Children’s Centre Family Support Worker