There’s a huge focus on upskilling the early years workforce for 2026-27. With the new SEND national training due to be released and early years involved in an education initiative like this for the first time, nursery managers are looking to have two words underpin their CPD plans: intentional and impactful.
In this article, we share six steps for building a CPD plan that aligns with the wider strategic focus every nursery is working towards, whilst tailoring to your setting’s exact needs and budget.
Before we cover the simple 6-step process to creating your own CPD plan for your nursery, let’s clarify a few things when it comes to professional development in the early years.
Why is CPD important in early years?
When children join your setting, they experience many of their firsts: friendships, conflicts, and even their first steps. It’s where foundational skills are first experienced and embedded. But we don’t need to tell you that – you’re one of the practitioners or managers who make the difference every day.
Upskilling and developing talents and skills can often fall to the end of a continuously growing to-do list. But with the recent changes to the Ofsted framework, particularly how they inspect your leadership and governance provision, the expectations placed on your CPD plan have changed.
Everyone benefits from high-quality CPD in early years:
Practitioners:
- Improved confidence and a developed sense of professional identity
- Better career progression routes
- Stronger ability to identify and respond to children’s needs
- Feel prepared to share their development and its impact during an inspection
Nursery managers:
- A more adaptable workforce, better retention of quality staff
- Fewer safeguarding concerns and incidents as staff are well-trained
- EYFS statutory CPD requirements met as a baseline
- Evidence of a setting that proactively and strategically plans to meet changing needs
Children and their families
- Practitioners who understand child development and can meet a wide range of needs
- A more consistent, responsive nursery environment for their child
- Fewer frustrations for unmet needs going unnoticed
- Parents who feel heard and supported
6 steps to an exceptional CPD plan for your nursery
Your nursery CPD plan shouldn’t look the same as the nursery down the road. It should mirror your setting’s needs whilst hitting the broader targets and expectations for early years at a wider scale, too.
But how do you plan for effective CPD when you’re tackling recruitment challenges, have a limited CPD budget, and are navigating how to stay within ratio, even on a good day?
You’ll have to be creative (and follow the 6-step process below).
1. Meet requirements and establish your quality baseline
Start with the statutory CPD requirements for early years. The non-negotiables your team undertakes as mandatory, like annual safeguarding training and refreshers.
Don’t underestimate the importance of quality in the basics – they’re mandatory for a reason.
The September 2026 updates to the Early Years Inspection Toolkit introduce a new inspection evidence floor: the EYFS statutory framework must now be fully met before expected, and strong standard descriptors are considered.
What is the baseline for your nursery?
This is where strategic nurseries outshine those that see CPD as a tick-box exercise. Your setting should have its own baseline – the very basics every staff member needs to deliver the quality of care you expect.
Running a baseline skills audit with your team can highlight where your training gaps are before you start building and upskilling your practitioners. The basics (the mandatory ones and your own baseline) must be secure first.
Top tip
Start with the seven areas of learning and development and decide what baseline skills look like for your practitioners, levelled to their responsibilities.
Encourage your team to do a personal skills audit to highlight their own next CPD steps. For this to work honestly, your nursery needs an open and positive culture (we have a quiz to help you score your workplace culture).
2. Look at the bigger picture for early years
The last (and next) 12 months bring a huge amount of change. New frameworks, policies and expectations have led to education-wide shifts – the Schools White Paper and the SEND reform proposals are two of the big hitters.
There are historical trends that every nursery will experience, and new government strategies are aiming to tackle them.
Your CPD plan should mirror the larger priorities in early years:
- Strong, inclusive practice should be the foundation of every nursery
- Disadvantaged children are identified and supported to close the attainment and outcome gaps
- Children at risk of developing mental health challenges are supported from the beginning
- Practitioners are empowered to develop their early SEND identification
- Leaders demonstrate the impact of strategic decisions on the most vulnerable learners
When you build your CPD plan, the areas you focus on show your priorities for the year. Do they reflect the national priorities? If they’re different, why?
3. Get specific about your nursery’s needs
Now that you’re focused on the basics and the larger priorities, personalise the plan to your setting.
Your CPD should reflect your nursery’s specific context – a growing focus for Ofsted.
Think about:
- The context of the community you serve
- The dynamics of the children you support
- The skill and experience level of your nursery team
- The financial forecast of your nursery
If you’re regularly supporting frustrated or anxious parents, communication training belongs in your plan.
If you have more children with additional hearing needs than typical, BSL basics for your whole team could make a real difference.
If challenging behaviour is a recurring theme, evidence-based positive behaviour management training can be scheduled and shared across the team.
Close the feedback loop with parents, too. A short survey through your Parent App can surface needs you hadn’t identified and show families that their views shaped your CPD priorities.
4. Plan the practicalities
Even excellent CPD won’t happen if it hasn’t been properly resourced.
For time:
Think about when training can happen without disrupting ratios. Quieter periods, staff meeting slots, and arranged cross-cover can all create space.
For CPD budget:
Rather than a general training pot, align spending directly to the goals you’ve identified in steps 2 and 3.
One thing worth planning for now is the government’s new SEND CPD programme, announced in the Schools White Paper.
A new Early Years CPD programme aims to provide free, accessible training on inclusive practice, child development and practical strategies for supporting children with SEND, available to all early years practitioners.
The revised SEND Code of Practice (when that’s released) will also set an expectation that all nursery staff receive SEND and inclusion training. But this could take a while for the legislation to be passed through parliament. Act proactively – don’t wait for government-created SEND training to be published.
5. Choosing the right CPD type
Think about the outcome you want before you choose the format.
A practitioner attending a session on Makaton won’t come away confident using it with children straight away. They need the session to plant the seed, then time to implement it, adapt it to the setting, and use it regularly. Match the CPD type to what you’re trying to improve.
Paid courses and expert-led workshops can be really effective, but they’re not the only option.
When it comes to CPD in early years, nursery managers can think creatively:
- Visiting a specialist setting
- Team scenario discussions using real examples from your nursery
- A mentor pairing between a newer and an experienced practitioner
- Reading trusted articles and watching expert videos
- Spending time with a colleague to observe good practice in action
6. Making the impact visible
When you invest in CPD – budget, time away from ratio or a staff meeting slot – the impact on the quality of care and education must be visible.
Training that stays with the one practitioner who attended hasn’t fulfilled its purpose.
Introduce a simple culture shift: anyone who attends a paid-for course feeds back their learnings, with any resources, at the next staff meeting. After a set period, the impact on the targeted provision is evaluated.
A digital practitioner CPD record helps track what was learned, what changed, and the impact on children.
That’s how a list of courses becomes a cycle of improvement.
- Did the behaviour training reduce incidents?
- Has the communication CPD changed how practitioners interact with more reserved children?
CPD works best when it’s planned with intention and reviewed honestly. Think in academic year cycles or even a three-to-five-year arc, not term-by-term. That’s what an exceptional nursery CPD plan looks like in practice.
If you’re working through your nursery’s priorities and want a broader framework, the Ovivio Ultimate Nursery Manager Guide covers everything from inspection readiness to staff management in one free, downloadable resource.
It’s written by the same EYFS education experts behind this blog and pairs practical solutions and strategies with the planning work you’re doing here.
