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We're delighted to be part of the Sutton Trust & Esme Fairbairn Foundation Parental Engagement Fund project, launched in March 2015.

Our part of the project is Peep into Pre-school - focusing on reaching and engaging local families with young children, to make the most of their funded pre-school place. Research has shown that the two main influences on children's later outcomes are what parents/carers do with their young children at home, and receiving high quality childcare.

Our work will focus on:

• working closely with our local children’s centre to identify eligible families
• carrying out a home visit to all eligible families (introducing them to pre-schools in the area)
• additional home visits if helpful, to spend more time on aspects such as enhancing children's communication and language, and sharing the benefits of pre-school
• supporting families with a smooth transition into pre-school - including the offer of an accredited 10-week Peep into Pre-school Programme for eligible families the term before they start 
• holding a series of events for parents about how they can support early literacy, early numeracy, communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, and health and physical development 
• identifying ‘parent champions’ to promote the value of pre-schools to families within the community.

We will share our experience and findings from the project with other interested organisations, as well as gathering and sharing experiences from practitioners in other areas who use the peep learning together programme in childcare settings. The project will be evaluated by the University of Oxford.

This page is in our log-in area for Peep-trained practitioners.

Please log in then try again, or visit our Training pages to find out about becoming a Peep practitioner.

OLD DRAFT

Peep Learning Ltd, the trading arm of Peeple, will invoice you within a few days of receiving this form, or you can pay by paypal (including credit card via Paypal). Delegate places will be confirmed on payment. Fees are refundable if cancelled up to three weeks before the course. For full details please see Booking and Cancellation Policy below.   
(Peep Learning Ltd VAT Registration no: 768 4173 94)

Booking and cancellation policy

This policy is intended to help organisations manage their training easily and efficiently. These terms and conditions are effective for all bookings, even if payment has not been received at the time of booking, and/or the delegate fails to attend the course.

Return of booking forms

1. Booking forms should be submitted as soon as possible, at least six weeks before the course start date. Forms sent after this date will still be subject to the conditions outlined in this policy.

Numbers for training courses

2. We run courses with a minimum of 8 delegates online or 8-14 face-to-face (depending on the course). Individuals can book single places on open courses, advertised on our website.

3. If you wish to arrange a local course but have fewer than 14 delegates then please contact us on [email protected] or t 01865  397970.

Payment

4. All booked places must be paid for within 30 days of the Invoice date or at least 4 weeks before the start date of the training course, whichever is sooner.

Refund and cancellation

5. We will offer a full refund if a cancellation is made up to 21 days before the training event.

6. Places cancelled less than 21 days before the start of the training course must be paid for in full.

7. Delegates can transfer their paid-for place to a colleague, as long as the individual is eligible to attend and Peeple have been informed.

8. Failure to attend will not entitle a delegate to a refund or a transfer.

9. Peeple reserve the right to cancel a course at any time without liability.  If we cancel, delegates will be given as much notice as possible and offered an alternative training date or a refund.

Our Peeple voucher scheme enables you to purchase a voucher for any sum of money and to spend it little-by-little or in one purchase on any of our training courses or resources. Alternatively, you can be pre-invoiced now for training in a few weeks' or months' time.

Your organisation may spend a Peeple voucher any time over a 2-year period from the date of purchase. The system has been running for several years, after requests from professionals in various organisations.  

All you need to do is fill out and return this downloadable voucher order form then email it to [email protected]

Please email or phone us on 01865 397978 with any questions.

Practitioners can book places on any of the open course dates below.

You can also:  Hold an online or face-to-face course in the UK or Ireland ~  Establish a Train the Trainer Agreement for your organisation or local authority   ~  Join a free online Information Session to find out about using Peep programmes  ~  Explore Peep Training in Australia

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Peep Antenatal Programme Training - find out more

Wed 16 September

>  Booking form for Peep Antenatal Training

Duration:  1 day (9.30 - 4.30pm)  |  Platform: Teams 

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Peep TALK (Talking and Listening Kit) Training - find out more

Wed 8 July
Tue 22 September

>  Booking form for Peep TALK Training

Training duration:  1 day (9.30 - 4.30pm)  |  Online platform: Teams

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Learning Together Programme (LTP) Training - find out more

Mon 13 - Tue 14 July
Wed 16 - Thur 17 September

Wed 24 - Thur 25 June - fully booked
Tue 07 - Wed 08 July - fully booked

>  Booking form for Learning Together Programme Training

Duration:  2 days (9.30 - 4.30pm)  |  Platform: Teams  

Find out about:  Practitioner Accreditation (optional) ​​​​​

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Peep Progression Pathway Training - find out more

Mon 13 July

>  Booking form for Peep Progression Pathway training 

Training duration:  1 day (9.30 - 3.30pm)  |  Platform: Teams 

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Other training info:

• Email:  [email protected]  or  tel: 01865 397970  with any questions
   
• Please book at least 14 days before the course date, so there's time for your training pack to reach you.
   
• Contact us to find out about:
  • arranging a course for your staff
  • Train the Trainer Agreement
  • free online Information Session
     
• Payment and Cancellation Terms and Conditions:  Peep Learning Ltd, the trading arm of Peeple, will invoice you after receiving this booking form. Payment is due within 30 days of invoice date. Fees are only refundable if cancelled more than two weeks before the course. (Peep Learning Ltd vat registration no: 768 4173 94)

Peeple has a board of proactive trustees with a strong background in education, family work and management at policy, academic and leadership levels.

David Bailey became our Chair of Trustees in April 2023, having been vice chair. He is a self-employed finance consultant, advising on Board development, financial management, competitive tenders and developing business cases, particularly in the health sector. He is a qualified chartered accountant with experience in marketing. David was Board Director of South West Environmental Parks Ltd, including Paignton Zoo, Newquay Zoo and Living Coasts and has been a trustee of Peeple since 2012.

Nancy Stimson joined the Board of Peeple in June 2019 and took up the position of Vice chair in 2023. She had previously been a volunteer consultant through the Cranfield Trust, reviewing and updating Peeple’s employment contracts and policies.  Having retired as Group HR Director for an IT organisation, Nancy supports various charities from an HR perspective, is a volunteer Adviser for Citizens Advice, and mentors women entrepreneurs through the Cherie Blair Foundation. She is completing a doctorate in Communication and Linguistics, and has a particular interest in early years language acquisition. 

Mark Harris is a business consultant with more than thirty years experience of international sales and marketing, most recently as global senior vice president of Quaker Chemical Corporation. Mark has been a trustee of Peeple since 2013 following completion of a project for the charity which he undertook as a volunteer with the Cranfield Trust, and was our chair of trustees from 2017 - 2023. He is also a trustee of Age UK Coventry & Warwickshire and the charity ZANE (Zimbabwe a National Emergency).

Kwasi Owusu-Asomaning joined the Board of Trustees in June 2024. He is founder and CEO of OAK Agility, a business consultancy firm operating across UK, Europe, US and Africa. Kwasi has worked with organisations in several business sectors to navigate significantly large business transformations. He leads several practitioner communities across Africa, UK, Europe and the US focusing on adult learning and personal growth. Kwasi is advising on business development, project management, technology strategy and some HR aspects connected to organisational culture.

Krystyna Grant is an expert in innovation and fundraising having worked in the charity and private sector in fundraising, marketing and innovation for over 15 years. Krystyna was Head of Innovation for the British Heart Foundation and is now at London Business School as Director of Innovation, where she is responsible for developing new products and services for the higher education sector. Krystyna is a proud mum of two young children and passionate about education, supporting families and early years learning.

Laura Barbour has 30 years of experience in the voluntary sector. As the first employee at the Sutton Trust social mobility charity, she had a wide ranging role. She then focused on developing the Trust’s Early Years strand, leading on research, policy initiatives and practical programme delivery. Laura developed a strong network across the early years community, which included working closely with Peeple. In June 2024 Laura joined Chimo Trust, supporting the creation of a community of best practice in social prescribing for young people’s mental health.

Marie McQuade is a lecturer in the School of Education, University of Glasgow, teaching across a range of courses including PGD/BA Childhood Practice, M.Ed Childhood Practice and M.Sc. Educational Studies. She has more than 18 years of experience in education and childcare leadership, policy development and professional learning. Her PhD and research interests focus on social policy design, development and articulation, and leadership development.

The starting point for Peep was a breakfast meeting in the early 1990s between Michael O’Regan and Tim Brighouse, who was then Oxfordshire’s Chief Education Officer. Mike had developed a deep interest in the education of very young children; Tim was nationally renowned and about to become Professor of Education at Keele University.

Mike had one vital question: “Would an early years parent-focused project be a good idea?” Tim’s answer was emphatic and positive. 

Mike started to develop a network of professional and academic supporters, and he became a governor of Peers School in Blackbird Leys, Oxford. He began to question the causes of underachievement and disaffection among some pupils, with the support of Bernard Clarke, the head teacher. His trail of questioning led down the age groups from secondary to middle to primary and then to pre-school children. First School teachers expressed their difficulty when children arrived with few social skills and little predisposition to read and learn.

Teresa Smith from Oxford University helped in setting up some mini-research, with two of her colleagues interviewing 19 local mothers. The response was consistent: they all desperately wanted to help their young children have a good start at school but didn’t know what they should do to support children’s early development; nor were they confident in their own abilities.

So, with backing and advice from experts in early literacy development, education and social policy, Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP) was established in 1995. It had a particular mission to work with families in the catchment area of Peers School. The project was led by Dr Rosemary Roberts, crucial in shaping what PEEP did, as the first Director. She and music specialist, Dr Alison Street, developed sessions for families which became the basis of the Peep Learning Together programme. Tim Brighouse remained hugely enthusiastic and supportive, becoming a PEEP trustee.

Additional to their local impact, the early Peep team helped affect national policy. They influenced the Department for Education’s definition of ‘early years’ changing to start at birth instead of age 3 as before, and the Treasury’s creation of Sure Start [later re-named Sure Start Children's Centres], which drew heavily on what they learned from Peep.

Over the following twenty years Peep was grounded in its Oxford base. This included leading one of the trailblazer Sure Start Local Programmes in the Rose Hill and Littlemore part of the local catchment area. The Peep vision was to transform a community by working with the students of the future by supporting their parents as first educators - and to do so from birth.

The project quickly established itself and drew attention; it grew beyond Oxford into a programme of national potential. Practitioner training and accreditation was developed. Since 2000 well over 10,000 practitioners, working in a wide variety of family support, education, health and community organisations, have been trained to deliver Peep programmes. The approach was clear from the outset: 'working with' rather than 'doing to' families. The replacement of ‘Peers’ with ‘Parents’ for the first initial of Peep reflected this change, while reinforcing the fundamental importance of ‘Partnership’.

Peep’s ideas were innovative, pre-dating and contributing to the Sure Start initiative and the now-accepted national focus on early intervention. As Mike O'Regan recalls: "Less helpful at that time were the Charity Commission: when we applied to be a charity, they rejected our charitable Object [aim] ‘to support the education and cognitive development of children from birth’. They said, ‘education of a 0-3-year-old is a contradiction in terms’. So we had to cheat, changing our Object to 3-5-year-olds but then ignoring that constraint as much as we could in what we did. Later, the Charity Commission did allow us to change our Object to ‘from birth’ ".  By 2011 Department of Education policy was stating: “Mothers and fathers are their children’s first and most important educators.”

A number of university studies have evaluated the effectiveness of the Peep programme on parents and children, including those who are sometimes considered ‘hard to reach’. The development of qualification units for parents as well as practitioners - known as the Peep Progression Pathway - extended the learning opportunities for parents, often acting as a first step into further learning, volunteering or employment.

With Mike O’Regan still involved and since 2012 under the leadership of Sally Smith and a distinguished board of trustees, Peep’s progress needed one further evolution of its name. To reflect its growing reach and distinguish between the organisation and the programmes, while remaining committed to its origins and humane principles, the organisation became known as Peeple in 2014. This was chosen to reflect that Peeple is a learning enterprise with an inclusive, human approach, focused on parents, carers and young children.

> Read more about the difference between Peep and Peeple.

Peeple is an independent charity, dedicated to helping practitioners, parents and carers support their children’s development and narrow the attainment gap, by making the most of everyday learning and play opportunities at home and in the community. 

Created with families and practitioners across the UK, this two-minute film captures the heart of Peeple’s work - the everyday interactions within and between families that make a lasting difference to learning, relationships and wellbeing:

Huge thanks to Media Trust, Tiny Studios, The Mercers' Company and to all the families and partners who contributed! 

Our work involves:

• developing flexible, evidence-based programmes which support parents as their children’s first educators
• training and supporting practitioners to use Peep programmes in their work with families
• helping parents to gain qualifications which can lead to further education or employment
• delivering services directly to families near the Peeple Centre
• contributing to research and policy development in early years education and family support.

Training practitioners

We train and support over a thousand practitioners every year, around the UK, Ireland, Australia and beyond. Our programmes - Peep Learning Together, Peep Antenatal and Peep TALK - are used by early years and family support professionals with families. They help parents create the best start for their children by listening, talking, playing, singing and sharing books and stories together. Research shows that this - known as the home learning environment - makes the biggest contribution to narrowing the gap in children's outcomes.  Practitioners come from a range of backgrounds including family work, education and childcare, and health. 

Programme delivery with families

We are also a delivery organisation based in Oxford, where we work directly with local families. Some of this work is commissioned by our partners in the area, and some is funded to develop innovative ways of supporting parents and children to learn together. In 2018 we opened our Little Peeple Nursery, next to the Peeple Centre in south-east Oxford. 

Development and collaborative projects

Our current projects include Families Learning Together, collaborating with professionals and families across 11 local authorities in Scotland; developing the Peep Exploring Together Programme and Training, exploring the foundations of STEM; and developing and delivering Growing Minds with local partners HomeStart Oxford and The Berin Centre. 

Find out more:

>  Peep training courses 

>  Evidence base: The Peep Learning Together Study RCT found that Peep made a positive difference to all  children but it made the greatest difference to those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. 

>  Case studies: how Peep programmes are delivered in many different places and contexts