Foundation Years Trust

Impact April 21-March 23

See attached report ‘Wirral’s First 1001 Days’, published in March 2023 for project activity between April 2021 to March 2023

Although this grant specifically funded services delivered by the Foundation Years Trust and Koala NW, it also facilitated a cross-agency service redesign to strengthen collective action, empowering parents to nurture and support their children to achieve their full potential. It targeted Wirral’s five most deprived wards; Bidston & St James, Birkenhead & Tranmere, Rock Ferry, Seacombe, and Leasowe & Moreton East.

Impact 2024

Fifteen schools delivered our Little Explorers programme in 2024. Our team also delivered 223 community groups that year, either Early Explorers, Peep groups, Grandparents groups, Early Readers or our Transition groups for parents with their children, so they meet school staff and find out more about what to expect when they start school.

One of the schools running Little Explorers provided EYFS data clearly demonstrating that children who attended these groups with their parents consistently over the year progressed two stages further across all areas of learning than those who did not attend. Another school provided anecdotal evidence that parents demonstrated more positive relationships with their children, were more likely to come to the school when issues arose and are more likely to volunteer at the school as a result of attending groups.

One area we measure is parental warmth and sensitivity. This is due to the vast array of evidence that this fosters security, attachment and emotional wellbeing, leading to better social, psychological and educational outcomes later in life. This chart demonstrates that parents identify themselves as being more sensitive towards their children.

Alongside this, FYT aims to support parents to do more with their children. This is a difficult area to measure as parents would not want to tell professionals that they don’t already do some of these things. Nevertheless, this chart shows that parents report either doing the same amount or more of these tasks.

These results sit alongside anecdotal evidence from observations made by school and nursery staff of parents and children, and of children’s behaviour in the classroom; parental feedback and comments all clearly demonstrate the positive impact made by the various programmes delivered by FYT over the year.

Comments from teachers

We found that, with children who started school in September, then Little Explorers in January, their confidence has really grown, they are building relationships with their peers, a lot more confident in play and their language is coming on. We’ve had some children who started with us when they were babbling but now because parents are extending the opportunity for language, they’re able to form sentences and use a lot more clear words in conversation.

I did a managing feelings and behaviour (topic) and quite a few parents came back to say they’re thinking about things differently now and a lot more empathetic with their children, and they’re helping them and supporting them to deal with their emotions.

Comments from parents

Since coming Noah’s social skills are much better. He chats a lot more, plays more and it also helped me with anxiety and meeting new people thank you.

We love coming to the FYT groups. They provide much needed connection and socialization whilst being fun, informative and compelling. I am growing in confidence with regards to playing at home and out and about.

Foundation Years Trust

Impact 2025

During the year, our team delivered 145 groups in the community, either Early Explorers, Grandparents groups, Transition groups, Early Readers or our Baby Club.

Eight schools also delivered Little Explorers groups, with more recruited who are gearing up to deliver at the start of 2026.

When schools deliver groups consistently, the impact is clear – improved learning outcomes for children, secure relationships with families and better engagement from parents in their child’s schooling.

From our own comprehensive evaluation, we can demonstrate an improvement across several areas of both parental warmth and sensitivity (crucial in supporting HLE) and in parental behaviour towards their child. The first graph demonstrates that parents report improvements in recognising developmental changes in their child (84.8%), being able to see the world through their child’s eyes (72%), able to explain things patiently (74.8%) and feeling confident to help with their child’s learning and development (77.6%). These are all important in developing attachment and secure relationships at home, forming the basis on which children learn and develop.

Significantly, there were also increases in parents doing more with their children on a regular basis. This is important to support children’s learning and development across various areas of learning.

Our data showed clear increases across all aspects of early learning. For example, ‘Talking about and playing with numbers, shapes and colours’, and ‘Pointing out letters and sounds’ showed an 80% increase in parental understanding and activity since attending our groups. Although ‘Listening and talking together’ had a lower percentage increase (54%) we recognise that parents subsequently identified that they were already doing lots of this at home prior to the groups, but attendance helped them understand the value to their child. ‘Pointing out signs and logos’ (73%) and ‘Making marks’ (74%), are both significant aspects of literacy development that had not occurred to most parents.

Finally, 63.7% of parents reported ‘Singing songs or rhymes’ more and 64% reported ‘sharing books and stories’ more often, both vital for communication and language development.

Impact

Impact April 21-March 23

Impact 2024

Comments from teachers

Comments from parents

Impact 2025

Comments from parents

Comments from parents & teachers

Early Explorers groups in the community