www.thebabyroom.blog

‘Achieving high-quality provision in the baby room of English nurseries’ centres on kickstarting the conversation of what quality looks and feels like for children under two years old in group-based provision. In 2025, we were able to take this forward in several exciting ways (see Reflections on the Baby Room Project 2025 – www.thebabyroom.blog ), and in 2026, we want to go even further. In this blog post, we share our vision for the project in 2026.

We will develop a sector-led vision for baby rooms in England

In February 2026, we’re hosting a series of vision building workshops for the sector. In these workshops, which build on our global evidence review and phase 2 report, we will dive into how baby room educators and nursery managers imagine their ideal baby room. Where our conferences were grounded in reality, vision building is a space for dreaming up an ideal. We’ll be engaging in utopian thinking, driven by reflective, critical dialogues to get to the heart of what we really want baby rooms across England to look and feel like. This offers a foundation for a shared sense of purpose that drives us as a sector towards achieving high-quality provision for babies. 

We will keep pushing for policy changes that support high-quality provision for babies

Everyone has a role to play in achieving high-quality baby room provision, from baby room educators to government bodies. Babies are nestled within an active and wide-ranging sphere of influences, with policy decisions directly impacting their lives. Take, for example, the expansion itself, which has ushered an increasing number of babies into group-based provision. With this in mind, we will continue pushing for policy change at a local and national level that respond directly to the experiences and needs of babies, families, and educators. Together with the government, we will examine the right policy levers to pull to support higher quality provision in the baby room. 

We will share inspiring stories of baby room provision from across the sector

In 2026, our team will continue to share stories of inspiring baby practice happening across the sector. From baby room educators to LAs to Stronger Practice Hubs and beyond, we will spotlight the joys, challenges, and growth surrounding the baby room. We hope to share these stories in new ways, not just through our ‘Learning from each other’ page and reports, but through more audio interviews and other innovative methods. Stories from the sector speak volumes to what quality looks and feels like for babies, and it is through sharing stories that we scaffold and grow the practice of others. If you have a story of inspiring baby practice that you would like to share with the sector, please reach out to us via the contact us details located at the bottom of the website homepage (https://thebabyroom.blog/).

We will explore what high-quality provision looks and feels like for babies with childminders

We are delighted to announce that we have received a project extension from the Nuffield Foundation to explore what high-quality provision looks and feels like for babies with childminders! In the second half of 2026, we will be diving into the world of childminders to ensure that their experienced, valuable, and inspiring voices are amplified in the conversations around the expansion of the entitlement. We’ll explore the unique experiences they offer babies and their families, as well as explore how themes of professionalism and professional learning feed into what they offer. We’ll have a separate blog post sharing the project in more detail shortly, so keep an eye on the website for updates.

Most importantly, over the coming year, we want to continue to build our knowledge and understanding about provision for babies in collaboration with the sector. We have been touched and honoured by the engagement we’ve seen with the project – from educators, managers, training providers, local government and central government. Our number one priority is to continue to build on these relationships so that we can improve the future for babies together.