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“We need to… but we just don’t have time right now.”
Sound familiar?
If you’re a nursery leader or manager, chances are those words have come up recently, especially when it comes to CPD. With staffing gaps, looming inspections, piles of paperwork, and the daily juggle of nursery life, professional development can feel like something to push aside until things calm down.
But here’s the truth: waiting for the “right time” to prioritise CPD is exactly how we fall behind.
And while it might seem counterintuitive, investing in your team’s development during the busiest seasons can be the very thing that brings more calm, clarity, and confidence to your setting.
Let’s explore why.
It’s easy to tell ourselves we’ll get back to CPD when things settle, but those calm weeks? They rarely arrive.
In the meantime, small cracks in practice widen. Confidence dips. That constant feeling of being behind starts to feel normal. The longer we delay, the more distance there is between the quality we’re aiming for and the reality on the floor.
Prioritising CPD now is how we stop that gap from growing and how we start bridging it instead.
One of the things we hear most often in settings is that CPD feels like “just another pressure.” But when the training is relevant, focused, and built around the real challenges of nursery life, it can actually ease the pressure, not increase it.
When practitioners feel confident whether they’re managing behaviour, navigating safeguarding, or having a tricky chat with a parent they act with certainty instead of hesitation. That kind of clarity reduces second-guessing, lifts stress, and creates a calmer, more supportive atmosphere for everyone.
Put simply: the busier your nursery, the more vital it is that your team feels equipped, not overwhelmed.
We talk a lot about wellbeing, and rightly so, but real wellbeing is more than cake in the staffroom or the occasional early finish.
It’s about ensuring that your team feels capable, valued, and supported every single day.
When staff are given purposeful opportunities to develop, their self-belief grows. They feel invested in and that builds morale, loyalty, and a stronger connection to your setting’s values. CPD isn’t just a bonus; it’s one of the most powerful ways to support wellbeing in a lasting, meaningful way.
Great teams aren’t just a matter of luck, they’re built through shared learning, consistent support, and a culture that values growth.
Good CPD brings people together. It creates space for reflection, helps align expectations, and gives everyone a shared sense of purpose. When training is relevant to your team’s actual needs and not just a box-tick activity it strengthens communication, deepens relationships, and builds the kind of trust that underpins strong, resilient teams.
If we want to retain brilliant staff and raise the quality of provision, we have to make room for development, even when time feels tight.
Making time for training in the middle of chaos might seem unrealistic, but it doesn’t have to mean hours out of ratio or full days out of the setting.
Sometimes, a focused 20-minute conversation, a short online course, or a practical refresher can make all the difference. These small, well-planned moments of support can shift someone from feeling frazzled to feeling capable and calm.
And that shift? That’s what helps teams thrive, not just survive through the busiest seasons.
Pausing CPD might feel like a practical short-term fix. But in reality, it can leave staff feeling unsupported, uncertain, and more likely to burn out or move on.
If we want to keep brilliant people in early years, and help them flourish, we need to see CPD not as an extra, but as a crucial part of our people and quality strategy, and it’s even more vital when things are tough.
We know how busy nursery life can be, that’s why our CPD options are flexible, practical, and designed to fit around your team’s real day-to-day.
From bite-sized sessions to deeper development programmes, we offer bespoke training that supports wellbeing and long-term success.
Whether you prefer face-to-face or virtual delivery, we’ve got options to suit, including live, two-hour Zoom sessions on a wide range of key topics running right through to December. Perfect for INSET days, evenings, weekends, or whatever works best for your setting.
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Millennium House, High Street,
Studley, Warwickshire, B80 7HJ.
