Early years insights

New research highlights the vital role nurseries play in supporting families

14 July 2026

As well as providing high-quality early education, our teams offer advice, share information and help parents access support.

Ark Start are pleased to have contributed evidence used in new research commissioned by Nesta and carried out by Isos Partnership, exploring how early years education and childcare can work more closely with wider family support services across England and Scotland.

The findings reinforce something we see every day across our Ark Start nurseries: high-quality early education is about much more than preparing children for school. The Building bridges report found that 89% of early years providers surveyed are already supporting families with issues including child development, inclusion and additional support needs, family wellbeing and financial hardship. It also highlights the growing need for stronger partnerships between early years settings and wider family support services, so families can access joined-up support when they need it most.

Supporting families every day at Ark Start

At Ark Start, supporting families is one of our central pillars. As well as providing high-quality early education, our teams work alongside families, offering advice, sharing information and helping parents access the support they need.

Our latest parent survey reflects this with over 4/5 (81%) of parents agreeing that they have received support, advice or information – including signposting to other services – when they needed it, and nine in ten saying that they received useful information about their child’s learning and development. We are extremely proud of the support our nursery teams provide which has led to 95% of families being satisfied with their child’s setting.

For many families, this support extends beyond the nursery day. Joanna, one of our Ark Start parents, shared how our team helped her navigate the school admissions process:

“As someone not from this country, the support from Ark Start staff with the school application process was invaluable. They helped me create an account and submit the application on time, which I couldn’t have done alone. Despite being a competent person and running my own business, the jargon and process were challenging, and their help made all the difference.”