Nurture Families is a champion of quality early education and care from a child's very first moments
Our work focuses on early intervention that nurtures attachments between children and adults to improve outcomes for children and families. Our role as on-the-ground practitioners is the foundation of our expertise and source of innovation and leadership.
Our Mission
Nurture Families empowers families with children, before birth and throughout their early years, by supporting parent-child relationships and advancing quality early education and care to help improve life outcomes for children.
Our Vision
Our vision is for Worcestershire and Herefordshire to be the best place in the world for children to be born and grow up, where all children have a sensitive, nurturing relationship with a trusted adult to support them to live a safe, happy, healthy and prosperous life.
Nurture Families was founded in 2015 as Nurture Outdoor Kindergarten, a not-for-profit early years setting. Since the beginning we have delivered quality early childhood education and care to children aged 0 to 8 years old. We have also developed and delivered family support programmes, championed community partners, advocated for thoughtful policies and adequate early years funding, and brought research-informed approaches to practice. From our roots working directly with families and children across Herefordshire and Worcestershire, we have expanded our reach to impact early childhood programmes in Greater London, Birmingham, Scotland, Canada, Wales and the USA. Our role as on-the-ground practitioners continues to be the foundation of our expertise and source of innovation.
Our story centres around having the greatest impact for the greatest number of children to improve life outcomes. A long history of research has proven that quality early childhood programmes are the best investments. We firmly believe that empowering families means investing in the earliest days and creating intensive, long-term sustainable support for a developing child and their family.
Our story centres around having the greatest impact for the greatest number of children to improve life outcomes. A long history of research has proven that quality early childhood programmes are the best investments. We firmly believe that empowering families means investing in the earliest days and creating intensive, long-term sustainable support for a developing child and their family.
The Time is Now
Research tells us babies can't wait, and what's more, families in the UK, still reeling from the far-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, now face a spiraling cost of living crisis and widening social inequality. Social isolation, food insecurity and national funding cuts to family support services mean parent-infant relationships are coming under severe stress: the first 1001 days are in crisis. And yet significant gaps exist in current national infant mental health services and expertise, while research points to a “baby blind spot” in the government’s COVID-19 crisis response.
Worcestershire and Herefordshire children – all children – deserve urgent and ambitious system change: to a system that focuses resource on early intervention and prevention, on parent-infant relationships, on cross-agency collaboration and effective partnerships with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, to secure better and brighter long-term outcomes for all.
Worcestershire and Herefordshire children – all children – deserve urgent and ambitious system change: to a system that focuses resource on early intervention and prevention, on parent-infant relationships, on cross-agency collaboration and effective partnerships with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, to secure better and brighter long-term outcomes for all.
Strong partnerships that enable programmes to be delivered efficiently and cost-effectively.
In the coming years, we will maintain our presence in Worcestershire, focused on home visiting and pregnancy support services, early education provision and the research and policy efforts needed to validate and scale our impact. We will also continue to expand our reach, working with other early childhood practitioners, transforming the early childhood workforce through a programme of training, consultation, supervision and advisory services. Too often, organisations working with families in a community compete for scarce funding and don’t collaborate to enhance their services. This is a time to work together, to work collaboratively rather than competively. We are stronger together – working towards a joined-up early childhood workforce for our children and families.
OUR PARTNERS
Our Supporters
Since our founding in 2015 as an early childhood provider, Nurture Families has always believed that we have greater impact when we come together - across sectors and across communities.
Nurture Families is grateful for its donors who have committed to multi-year and single-time donations.
OUR PARTNERS
Connecting Communities
We bring community efforts and research-informed frameworks together to foster innovation and create a stronger early childhood movement.
