The London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) is a British

charitable organisation A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

and

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ha ...

which works in the field of

early childhood education Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of Education sciences, education theory that relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is ...

. Founded in 1903 as the City of Westminster Health Society primarily focused on health visiting services for parents, the organisation today operates 42 nurseries and pre-schools across

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, primarily in disadvantaged areas. Since 2004, June O'Sullivan has been CEO of LEYF.

History

LEYF was founded in 1903 as the City of Westminster Health Society by Margaret Horn MBE along with a committee, with the aim of "combat ngthe continuing rise of

maternal A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestatio ...

and

infant mortality Infant mortality is the death of an infant before the infant's first birthday. The occurrence of infant mortality in a population can be described by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age ...

rates". Horn MBE was the secretary of the organisation from 1906 to 1912, then became the first organising secretary from 1912 to 1946. The organisation is credited with introducing the first health visiting programme to London, opening several clinics focused on improving the welfare of children and their parents in the city. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Society opened the first nurseries to support mothers who found themselves working to contribute to the war efforts. This led to a change in emphasis for the organisation, which began to focus more on early years education and care, and in 1977 it changed its name to the Westminster Children's Society (WCS). After expanding beyond the

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

area of London and increasing its work in other areas such as training and research, WCS was rebranded as the London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) in 2009.

Nurseries

According to the LEYF official website, the organisation currently runs 42 nurseries across London. At the time of the organisation's 2019/20 annual report, 97% of its nurseries were rated 'good' or 'outstanding' by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

, including 59% outstanding compared with the national average of 20%.

Teaching

LEYF's

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

, which directs the organisation's approach to teaching, is a seven-strand model which aims to "ensure that children from all communities, but especially those from poorer neighbourhoods, can and do access high-quality nurseries". The programme incorporates all the statutory requirements of the

Early Years Foundation Stage The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework for early years education in England, or, as stated on the UK government website: "The standards that school and childcare providers must meet for the learning, development and ca ...

(EYFS) framework.

References

{{reflist

External links

London Early Years Foundation official website
Children's charities based in England Early childhood educational organizations Educational organisations based in London Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the City of Westminster Organizations established in 1903 1903 establishments in England