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Early Skills for Life Pilot 2026-2027

Expressions of interest for this project are now closed - thank you to all those who applied.

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is funding Partnership for Children to pilot (try out) the Early Skills for Life (ESfL) programme with 20 early years settings between September 2026 and May 2027.

Early Skills for Life is a 20-week universal programme for three to four-year-olds (with additional targeted elements) to promote self-regulation and personal, social and emotional development (PSED) in children using storybooks and play-based activities.

The EEF have commissioned Oxford MeasurEd to independently evaluate the pilot. The evaluation team will assess the feasibility, perceived impact on children’s self-regulation and personal, social and emotional development and perceived changes in staff and families as well as potential scalability of Early Skills for Life. The evaluation will also explore how settings implemented the programme and their motivation to engage with the programme.

Early Skills for Life was previously funded through EEF’s Early-Stage Programme Development work, which supports the development of programmes in areas where there are gaps in the evidence. After showing evidence of promise in this earlier stage, this pilot will address the readiness of the programme for a larger scale trial.

What does the programme involve?

Each fortnight, practitioners deliver four core components:

  1. a whole-class circle time with a story and guided discussion (15-20 mins)
  2. ongoing story extension activities integrated into wider provision
  3. two adult-led small-group activities for targeted children (15-20 mins each)
  4. a repeat of the small-group activity in the second week.

There is also a family engagement element to the programme.

Settings will be asked to:

  • offer a minimum of two stay and play sessions to parents/carers of children taking part in the programme
  • encourage parents/carers to watch two online webinars

All continuous professional development (CPD) is delivered online and includes a pre-programme online onboarding session, two training sessions, and a mid-point CPD webinar. A senior member of staff (the Project Lead) also attends two network meetings to share best practice, alongside conducting two observations and two practitioner reflection meetings to support implementation and programme sustainability.

What are the benefits of participating?

By taking part, your setting will receive free of charge planning, resources and supporting materials for a play-based programme grounded in early years pedagogy and evidence. You will also receive training sessions and online support, reflecting key messages from the latest educational research. Importantly, this is a great opportunity to add to the developing evidence base and knowledge on what works well in early years PSED provision in England.

More information

My headteacher really liked the focus on vulnerable children in the Early Skills for Life PSED programme as there doesn't seem to be this focus elsewhere for the youngest children.