Professor Christine Pascal OBE is Co-Director of CREC, an independent research centre, based in Birmingham. She was a teacher in primary schools before moving into the university sector and specialising in early childhood research and evaluation projects. She has written extensively on early childhood development and the quality of early education services and served as an Expert Advisor to Dame Tickell’s review of the EYFS in England. She has worked internationally to support numerous national early childhood policies and strategies and is the current President of EECERA. She was awarded an OBE in 2001 and Nursery World Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

Jonathan is responsible for NDNA’s UK-wide policy and engagement work, bringing the voice and experience of early years providers to key decision makers. He works with NDNA members and strategic Government contacts, policy advisers and the media to promote policies which support high quality early years education and care.

With a background in national and local government, he has experience in delivering real change through lobbying, engagement and media work. His role is responsible for supporting NDNA’s national policy committees as well as managing the work of NDNA Scotland and NDNA Cymru.

Following a career in finance which culminated in him chairing the Finance Industry Standards Association, Neil volunteered his skills to what was then the Pre-school Learning Alliance.

Finding its ethos and dedication to the lives of young children chimed deeply with his values, Neil came out of semi-retirement to join the Alliance full-time and in 2008, became its CEO.

He has been an unwavering leader of the largest early years membership organisation in the country, fronting campaigns on funding and the mental health of the workforce. He has provided evidence to multiple government inquiries, and was key in developing the two-year-old early entitlement offer.

Neil was recognised in the 2022 New Year Honours list, when he was awarded an OBE and more recently, received an Honorary Doctorate in Education from University of East London.

Sarah Ronan is Director of the Early Education and Childcare Coalition, a group that represents the interests of parents, children, providers, the early years workforce and the wider business community. The Coalition has been instrumental in building support for early education and childcare and recently published its joint manifesto calling for the rescue and reform of the sector. Sarah previously worked at the Women’s Budget Group, the UK’s leading feminist economics think tank, and led Pregnant Then Screwed’s pandemic response including its high-profile campaigns on childcare and the safety of pregnant women. She sits on the board of Parental Pay Equality, the campaign for equal parental leave for the self-employed.

As CEO and creator of the UK’s leading childcare social enterprise, June continues to break new ground in the development of LEYF’s scalable social business model. She remains a tireless campaigner, looking for new ways to influence policy and make society a better place for all children and families.  

June developed the LEYF Pedagogy for Social Justice and champions community-based, multi-generational early years education as the basis for greater social and cultural capital to deliver long-term social impact. She continues to advise Governments as well as a range of organisations, academics and services at home and overseas about how best to implement a social enterprise vision for Early Years.  

June is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Trustee of The Book Trust, and her local library, Upper Norwood Library Trust. She is currently a member of the London Mayor’s Advisory Group on Child Healthy Weight and the Mayor’s Skills Partnership Board. June was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours in 2013 for her services to London’s children, and on the 29th September 2023 was awarded an OBE by His Majesty the King for her services to Education. 

Following a career in finance which culminated in him chairing the Finance Industry Standards Association, Neil volunteered his skills to what was then the Pre-school Learning Alliance.

Finding its ethos and dedication to the lives of young children chimed deeply with his values, Neil came out of semi-retirement to join the Alliance full-time and in 2008, became its CEO.

He has been an unwavering leader of the largest early years membership organisation in the country, fronting campaigns on funding and the mental health of the workforce. He has provided evidence to multiple government inquiries, and was key in developing the two-year-old early entitlement offer.

Neil was recognised in the 2022 New Year Honours list, when he was awarded an OBE and more recently, received an Honorary Doctorate in Education from University of East London.

As CEO and creator of the UK’s leading childcare social enterprise, June continues to break new ground in the development of LEYF’s scalable social business model. She remains a tireless campaigner, looking for new ways to influence policy and make society a better place for all children and families.  

June developed the LEYF Pedagogy for Social Justice and champions community-based, multi-generational early years education as the basis for greater social and cultural capital to deliver long-term social impact. She continues to advise Governments as well as a range of organisations, academics and services at home and overseas about how best to implement a social enterprise vision for Early Years.  

June is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Trustee of The Book Trust, and her local library, Upper Norwood Library Trust. She is currently a member of the London Mayor’s Advisory Group on Child Healthy Weight and the Mayor’s Skills Partnership Board. June was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours in 2013 for her services to London’s children, and on the 29th September 2023 was awarded an OBE by His Majesty the King for her services to Education. 

Dr Sara Bonetti is an independent researcher with almost 20 years of experience advocating on behalf of children and families within government, non-profit and research institutions. Her work focuses on the early childhood education and care workforce, and the relationship between workforce characteristics and children’s outcomes. She has also done extensive research on leadership and systems integration. Previously, she was Director of Early Years at the Education Policy Institute and an international consultant on early childhood education programs for the Education Outcomes Fund, working on projects based in Rwanda and Sierra Leone. Before moving to the UK, she spent a decade working in the early childhood education and care sector in the United States, first as a teacher and then as a researcher for local government and research institutes.

Eleanor Ireland is a Programme Head, Education, at the Nuffield Foundation. She leads the development and management of the Foundation’s research portfolio in early years. Prior to joining the Foundation she worked as a Research Director at NatCen Social Research, where she designed and managed research projects in the areas of early years education, parental separation and family policy; and at NFER, where she worked on a range of mixed methods educational evaluations. 

Caroline is our Director of Early Childhood and leads Bright Horizons’ Early Childhood team.

Her team is responsible for developing and leading best practice in teaching and learning across all of our nurseries. They are continually making a positive contribution to national policy, representing Bright Horizons in discussions around Early Childhood development in the UK.

Caroline has a strong background in Early Years care and education, including previous experience as Director of Early Years Education for two nursery groups in the UK, and EYFS Manager with a Local Authority. Caroline was an Early Years inspector and RgNI (Registered Nursery Inspector) in Ofsted, and was the East of England lead for Early Years Teacher Training, working closely with universities and The National College of Teaching and Leadership. Prior to joining Bright Horizons, Caroline was a lecturer of Early Childhood Studies on graduate and post graduate programmes at Doncaster University College.

Her former research and publications include a focus on the importance of induction in Early Years to have a positive impact on practice, and how the foundations for a Professional Learning Community improve practice in nurseries across the UK.

Dr Aaron Bradbury, Principal Lecturer for Early Childhood Studies, Nottingham Trent University 

Aaron Bradbury is the Principal Lecturer for Early Childhood, Childhood and Early Years at Nottingham Trent University. Aaron is a member of the Coalition for Early Years on the Birth to Five Matters Non-Statutory Guidance for the EYFS and chaired and written the Equalities and Inclusion section with colleagues in the sector. Aaron is the Co-Chair of the Early Childhood Studies Degrees Network.   

Aaron is a published author on early childhood related literature. He sits on many national and early childhood groups and is also a consultant on many aspects of early years and child development. Aaron has a passion for making the voice of the child, nurturing through a diverse lens and pioneers of early childhood the foreground of practice.  

Louisa leads on Speech and Language UK’s policy and public affairs strategy. Working to ensure that politicians and senior decision makers know about the importance of talking and understanding words to children’s futures. She combines her experience as a speech and language therapist and her knowledge of the organisation to ensure that we talk about speech and language challenges and their solutions with authority and expertise to a wide range of influencers as well as partner organisations. She also leads on ensuring that we take an evaluative approach to all our work, making sure our tools and training are evidence informed and thoroughly evaluated.

My experience is varied with over 40 years of education teaching a range of children from 3 – 11 years as an early years, infant, and primary teacher. I have worked in HE for the last 18 years supporting students in understanding child development and teaching experiences with a strong education for sustainability focus, challenging students to become climate activists and give agency to young children.

I was involved with the DfE leading up to COP 26 and was personally invited to the launch of the DfE Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy. I was invited by the DfE to write a supporting document – Sustainability Matters in Early Childhood which is situated as an exemplar on the Government website. I have written and developed an early childhood resource that celebrates all 17 Sustainable Development Goals to support the EYFS, as well as the Northern Ireland Curriculum and the Australian early years curriculum.

I am currently promoting early childhood sustainability through the DfE Stronger Hub for the Northwest of England. In this role I try to inspire practitioners, managers, and childminders to make changes in their pedagogical practice and in their own thinking, challenging them to consider all aspects of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the 3 pillars of sustainability, not just environmental, supporting the idea of transformative and creative education. I am part of a team of academics in promoting / researching and championing sustainability through the Early Childhood Degree Network. 

Professor Christine Pascal OBE is Co-Director of CREC, an independent research centre, based in Birmingham. She was a teacher in primary schools before moving into the university sector and specialising in early childhood research and evaluation projects. She has written extensively on early childhood development and the quality of early education services and served as an Expert Advisor to Dame Tickell’s review of the EYFS in England. She has worked internationally to support numerous national early childhood policies and strategies and is the current President of EECERA. She was awarded an OBE in 2001 and Nursery World Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.