Whether you employ others, or work alone, you are the leader and manager of your setting. We have a series of 20-minute CEY smart courses designed to help you to lead and manage your setting effectively.

Leadership and management
Leadership and management is fundamental to running a sustainable childcare business and inspectors will be judging the quality of leadership and management in all early years, childcare and education settings.

Leading and managing your setting: effective induction
Starting a new job can be daunting and it is a manager’s responsibility to implement an effective induction process which helps a new staff member to feel confident in their job and understand their role and responsibilities within the setting. Includes a Induction checklist download

Leading and managing your setting: effective supervision
Effective supervision is a development process designed to support and enhance an individual’s motivation, independence, and self-awareness. Includes a Record of staff supervision template download.

Leading and managing your setting: effective appraisal
An appraisal is an annual meeting where a staff member’s previous year’s performance is reviewed and recorded. Measurable targets and objectives are set and training needs identified. Includes a record of staff appraisal download.

These courses are currently only available to England Manager members.  PACEY Cymru are working hard to make them relevant and available for Managers in Wales.

CEY smart is PACEY’s online training, offering short, 10–20-minute courses that can be done on any device, at any time. It also provides practical help and expert advice to practitioners working throughout England and Wales.

We’ve worked with key organisations such as Loughborough University, Speech and Language UK, Relate, The Money Charity, The Wildlife Trusts, Autism Education Trust and more to develop high-quality, up-to-date courses that you can be confident give you and your team the knowledge and understanding to deliver quality childcare practice . You and your team will have access to over 50 bite-sized courses in CEY smart, organised into nine themes there is something for everyone. 

The communication station

Communication is key! Courses all about communication and language, listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Try a free course, developed in partnership with Speech and Language UK, An introduction to speech, language and communication (SLC) in the early years.

Fit and healthy!

Courses all about physical development, our bodies, and knowing what keeps us fit and healthy and safe! We have courses developed in partnership with Loughborough University and courses about handwashing, dental health and oral hygiene, mealtimes and safeguarding.

Transitions

A series of courses about supporting children and their parents through the hellos, the goodbyes, and some of the other challenges we all face when things change. We have courses developed in partnership with Relate, the relationship charity supporting separation and divorce and the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families supporting attachment difficulties.

The big wide world

It’s a big world out there! All about understanding the world around us, how it used to be, how it is now, and how we can look after it. Learn about connecting with nature developed with The Wildlife Trust and introducing pro-environmental behaviours developed with Natural Resources Wales.

You, me and us

Courses designed to help you to support children’s emotional literacy and development, wellbeing, feelings, behaviour, and the development of self-regulation skills.

Partnership working

A series of courses about working in partnership; with parents, families, fellow practitioners and other professionals. Including supporting children with additional needs and, developed in partnership with Autism Education Trust, understanding autism. There are also courses developed with Relate, to help you understand factors which may adversely affect relationships, support families under pressure and know how and when to intervene in parental conflict.

Let’s get creative

We can express ourselves in so many different ways, courses in this theme are designed to help you to support and nurture children’s creativity. There is a mini-series of seven courses developed in partnership with Earlyarts where you can learn about marking, drawing, malleable and modelling materials, movement and dance, role play, puppetry and story building, music and singing and more!

Try this free course, developed in partnership with Earlyarts An introduction to creativity and the arts in the early years

The numbers game

These courses are designed to help you to support all aspects of children’s mathematical development; numbers, shapes, patterns, measuring, time, money, and data and technology. From courses developed with Natural Resources Wales introducing maths development in the natural world to supporting children’s financial education with a course from The Money Charity.

Try this free course, developed with The Money Charity An introduction to financial education in the early years

The business end

This theme is all about supporting you, your role and your setting with running your childcare business, understanding the regulations and the law. In England we worked in partnership with Dr Julian Grenier CBE, author of Development Matters, to develop a mini-series of course about the seven key features of effective practice. We have a series of course designed to support you through inspections and another to ensure you know how to effectively lead and manage your setting. In Wales we have developed a series of courses that are designed to help you to understand and apply the principles of the curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings and an overview of the Wales safeguarding procedures: ensuring you know what is required. There are even courses designed to support your personal finances developed with The Money Charity.

Whether you just need a refresher and a quick update on changes to the curriculum and regulation or are new to the sector and just starting out in your career, CEY smart provides courses which will help you support children better. The content and structure of the training puts the child at the centre of the learning – so everything can be directly applied to your setting and the children in your care. We’ve filmed with practitioners, children and parents at a variety of real settings, to demonstrate examples from actual practice. Each course links theory and practice together in an accessible and meaningful way.

Every course gives you the space to reflect and record your learning with a downloadable Certificate of Reflection and there are introductory courses designed to support you to use CEY smart when working as part of a team which include a downloadable, editable log so you and your staff can keep a record of your CPD.

Manager members get PACEY’s Safeguarding children training course FREE!

The PACEY safeguarding course has been designed to help you fulfil your requirements and ensure you have the confidence to recognise, respond and refer if you should have any concerns. Our Safeguarding course has been reviewed by Cache and the content fully endorsed. Cache is the Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education and is the leading specialist awarding organisation for the care and education sector.

The course covers your duty of care and how it links to regulation, the different types of abuse and how you may recognise any signs, what actions to take if needed, the policies and procedures you will follow.

Resources designed especially to support your childcare practice. Our factsheets, practice guides and videos cover a huge range of topics and will inform and inspire.

Organised into themes, you can browse the topic or use key word searches to find all the resources you and your staff need to power your practice.

Child development

When it comes to planning the next steps for children’s learning, or supporting them to achieve a milestone, such as walking, talking or toilet training, it’s essential to have a thorough understanding of child development. Our resources offer practical tips, support and practice ideas across a wide range of topics relevant to child development.

Creating a safe and welcoming environment

Providing a warm, safe and welcoming environment ensures children feel safe and secure and have the confidence to actively learn and explore. This topic explores areas such as health and safety, food and drink and risk assessment.

Partnership with parents

Parents are a child’s first and most enduring educator. Working in partnership with parents and support the family as a whole is key to supporting a child’s learning and development in your setting.

Transitions

Transitions are a key part in all our lives, and for children, moving between childcare settings, meeting a new key worker, or starting school can be a significant change. You’re also likely to be helping children as they experience other transitions – a new sibling, moving home, or a separation or bereavement.

CPD, reflection and evaluation

Continuous professional development (CPD) is all about growing your knowledge in different areas of learning. Part of this is reflecting on your practice to give an invaluable understanding of what development and training you need to do, and also to congratulate yourself for the things that are going really well.

Inclusion

How do you ensure that all the children in your care are able to participate fully in their childcare experience? Making sure that your setting is inclusion is hugely important. We have a wealth of resources to support this.

Regulation and legislation

Childcare professionals are governed by legislation and regulation. These resources will help you navigate your way through the rules when it comes to regulatory bodies, the statutory frameworks and GDPR.

Safeguarding

All the children in your care need protecting from harm, and these resources on safeguarding will help you understand the role you play in this. You must ensure the protection and safety of the children in your care. These resources will help you meet your responsibilities and build your knowledge.

Working with others

Depending on the type of setting you work in, you’re likely to work with a number of different professionals. These resources will help you reflect on your practice as you work with others.

A collection of ideas, inspiration and tools to help new and existing childcare managers develop and maintain a sustainable business.

…and so much more!

Download our Business Smart Healthcheck free

Access guides and download legal documents to help with HR and legal matters including issues with conduct and discipline, grievance, redundancy and managing sickness and absence. There are template letters and employment contracts as well as a staff handbook with customisable policies.

There are many different reasons that you might be thinking about recruiting. There could be a vacancy through retirement or a resignation, a need for someone to cover maternity leave, or because you’re expanding your business and need more staff. Whatever the reasons, you’ll want to get the right candidate for the right position.

PACEY has your back with a series of resources designed to support you in your recruitment journey.  From advertising your vacancy right through shortlisting, interviewing, seeking references to appointing to your position. There are downloadable templates and letters.

Download our job description templates which help you to make your own job descriptions based on your needs the purpose of the role plus the responsibilities, experience and qualities of the person you want doing the role.

Job description (England)

Job description (Wales)

If in doubt, seek legal advice. Employee disputes can be stressful, time consuming and very costly to both the finances and reputation of a business. Eligible PACEY members have access to legal advice helplines and a legal services website to help them avoid potential legal disputes.

Legal, tax and HR helpline

Legal advice is available 24/7, and tax advice is available between 9am and 5pm on weekdays (except bank holidays). The advice covers professional and business-related legal matters within EU law and tax matters within the UK. Your query will be dealt with by a qualified specialist from ARAG experienced in handling legal and tax-related matters.

Counselling helpline – 24 hours per day, 7 days per week

Provided by ARAG, their counsellors will provide free confidential support and advice by phone to you, your employees or their family members who are suffering from emotional upset or feeling worried and anxious about a personal or work-related problem.

Practice Advice Service – 6.30-9pm Monday- Friday

PACEY Advisors Pat Tomlinson and Zara Smith both have a wealth of knowledge and experience in the childcare and early years sector; offering 1-2-1 support, advice and guidance if you are in need of reassurance, inspiration or just want to chat through an issue in your setting.

Member support helpline – 10am-3.30pm Monday- Friday

Natalie and her team are there to assist you with any member related queries from renewing memberships to guiding you round the members portal.

Your mental health

Anyone who works in childcare knows it’s an extremely challenging profession, from early starts and late finishes, to skyrocketing utility bills and food prices (that’s without thinking about the responsibility of caring for our children to give them the best start in life!). We are making it our mission to take care of our members and give them better physical and mental support.

As a registered setting you must have clear policies and procedures in place in accordance with the requirements of your national frameworks.

For Managers in England PACEY have sample policies, as required by the EYFS. These have been designed for you to use as a basis to create further policies and procedures relevant to your business and includes guidance on drafting your own policies.  For Managers in Wales PACEY Cymru have developed tips for writing and reviewing your policies and procedures and separate guidance for each individual policy.

Here are just some of policy resources available to PACEY Manager members:

Download a free resource now:

England – Understanding and Supporting Behaviour

Wales – Behaviour management policy guidance

Not only to PACEY members receive generous discounts on all PACEY Shop products, from paperwork to setting essentials, members also receive a range of exclusive discounts and offers.

Paediatric First Aid Training

Manager members in England receive discounted paediatric first aid training from Tigerlily.

Boogie Mites

Boogie Mites deliver Early years music workshops, practitioner training, song packs and self-paced online training packs to promote the development benefits of daily active music-making, and these are all linked to the EYFS.

Boogie Mites songs are upbeat, catchy and based on relevant themes such as jungles, dinosaurs, transport and fairy tales. They also deliver partnership webinars with notable people such as music educator and researcher Dr Anita Collins, Early Years consultant Sue Asquith, and Dr Mine Conkbayir to name just a few.

PACEY Manager members can get 20% off all practitioner products and webinars.

Routledge Education

Routledge Education publishes a wide range of early years resources combining research expertise with tried and tested classroom practice. Incorporating the highly respected David Fulton and Speechmark imprints, our books, resource packs and online products provide invaluable support and inspiration for early years professionals. From communication and language development, to anti-racist practice we have resources to help from expert authors you can trust.

Not only do PACEY members save 20% on all books they also can access free samples/chapters of leading books.

Cheeky Wipes

More and more childcare settings are making the switch to reusable wipes whether they provide wipes, or families provide wipes. Making the swap will have benefits for all:

One recent happy customer at a nursery chain has gone from buying 250,000 wipes a year across all their sites to now just buying top ups of the essential oil soaking solutions! Aside from the eco-benefits, that’s a cost saving of between £3,000 and £5,000 a year, depending on the wipes you use!

Cheeky Wipes are supporting childcare settings to make the switch to reusables by offering discounts ranging from 20% off when you spend up to £50, 35% when spending up to £100 and exclusively for PACEY members 38% off when spending over £100.

TOTUM student card

We know that the pursuit of a career in the early years sector can be pricey, from registering to studying and throughout your career we always look for ways to help you offset the costs. So as a PACEY member you are entitled to apply for a TOTUM PRO (formerly NUS Extra) card.

From just £14.99 a year the student discount card enables you to access 200+ discounts; ranging from clothing retailers to restaurants and more. Benefits include:

The cost of card is easily covered by the level of savings you can make, meaning it quickly pays for itself.

Digital Accident Forms

PACEY digital accident forms, which can be used to describe any accidents/incidents that have happened – alongside diagrams to record where on the body the injury occurred. Available to buy in quantities of ten. Please note forms are only available in English. Each purchase provides ten digital accident forms.

Digital Existing Injury Form

This form is used to record any injury, no matter how minor, sustained by a child when they were not in the care of their registered childcare practitioner. The practitioner can then send the completed document to the parent/guardian to sign and date. Each purchase provides ten forms.

Digital Short Term Medication Form

A digital version of the ‘permission to administer a short course of medication form’ now available to buy in packs of 20. This form is designed to be completed every time the practitioner is required to administer medicine or any other treatment on a short term, basis. This is a daily record that can be used per child, the parent/ guardian can be sent a copy of the completed record at the end of each day, signed, and dated to show that the practitioner has administered the medication or treatment according to the parent/guardians’ instructions.

All available to purchase at discounted member prices fromPACEY Shop. 

Childcare settings are busy places, and finding activities to keep everyone engaged and learning can be a challenge – but not anymore. Our activity and downloads hub is bursting with ideas and inspiration for your setting.

Members get free activity packs for heaps of ideas, all linked to the areas of learning and development in England and Wales:

Our Exploring books together series provides activity sheets to accompany some children’s book favourites. Each of the sheets has three extension activities that you might like to try with the children in your care. Each sheet has a space for you to reflect on any of the activities you have chosen, what went well, what you might do differently next time, note any particular observations of individual children.

Download The Very Hungry Caterpillar activity sheet now for FREE 

Simple templates to make everyday easier from planners, learning journeys to weekly menus, as well as a range of posters for your setting:

…and many more!

Welsh language and culture activities

PACEY Cymru have developed a range of Welsh language and culture development activity ideas on a range of topics.

We work with leading organisations and sector experts on a range of issues to bring PACEY members live webinars. With an impressive back catalogue of  webinar recordings for you to sit back and watch at a time it suits you. Here are some examples of the webinars you can expect from PACEY; all available for Manager members and their staff to watch:

Watch the PACEY Live webinar: DBS – Making recruitment safer for FREE now

Webinars with leading organisations such as ERIC The children’s bowel and bladder charity, Boogie Mites, Ofsted, CIW, Barnardo’s, and The Anna Freud Centre

Masterclasses with sector experts such as Penny Tassoni, Michael Rosen, and Jan Dubiel

Our regular e-newsletters round up the latest news, blogs and sector updates – keeping you up to date and in the know.

We’ll also share promotions, latest training and content, reminders for webinars and more – so you don’t miss out.

Childcare Professional magazine

Childcare Professional is PACEY’s official award-winning membership magazine, keeping childminder, nanny and nursery worker members across England and Wales up-to-date with the latest news, campaigns, ideas and innovations in childcare and early years.

PACEY blog

We bring together key influencers, practitioners and thought leaders to share their views on a wide range of subjects. Topics cover latest news and policy developments to best practice and inspirational ideas.

Member-exclusive blog

We curate blogs exclusive for PACEY members written by early years professionals, specialists and subject experts who share their knowledge, good practice and research to support your practice and business.

Read the latest from Dr Julian Grenier CBE ‘Conversation matters‘

Childcare policy is a rapidly changing and evolving environment, and here at PACEY, we’re committed to representing your voice at all levels of government and decision making.

We work with government to represent our members’ views and ensure children get the best start in life.

From campaigning on ratios and regulations, to responding to government consultations, PACEY works with national and local government in England and Wales to help shape and influence early years policy.

We’re also commissioned by local and national government to provide services to early years professionals, including training for childminders and promoting childcare as a profession.

Our News stories get the informtation you need, when you need it.  Join the conversation and stay up to date; like and follow us on your favourite social media channels.