BEARs Training Pilot in Wales, A Brilliant Result for Early Years Practice
We’ve loved seeing the BEARs, Building Early Attuned Relationships, pilot training come to life across Wales, and even more so, seeing the response to it.
In the final months of 2025, the Parent Infant Foundation team travelled to all seven regions in Wales, delivering the pilot to professionals across health, education, social care and the third sector. In total, 172 participants took part.
Parent Infant Foundation shared the feedback results from the pilot, and they’re genuinely encouraging. 99% of attendees said they would recommend the training to colleagues, and 99% left the training very or somewhat aware of the key things to consider when observing and supporting parent infant relationships.
One attendee summed up what so many people felt in the room,
“This training is so important. It provides time for reflection and discussion and the messages need to be rolled out to anyone working with children in the first 1000 days.”
At the heart of BEARs is something simple and powerful, babies grow through relationships. The first 1,000 days, from conception to age two, are a critical window, and the everyday interactions around a baby, the small moments of connection, comfort, play and care, can shape a child’s story for life.
Images from of Parent Infant Foundation Linkedin feed
What’s been especially positive about this pilot is how clearly it connected across different roles. Whether someone is supporting families in clinics, nurseries, community spaces, or services under real pressure, the training created space to step back, reflect, and return to the baby’s perspective.
We also joined Parent Infant Foundation’s free webinar with The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which explored how the Centre’s Explainer Series, launched in summer 2025 to bring the science of early social and emotional development to life, can be used in practice. It was especially interesting to hear how the Explainer Series resources supported the BEARs training pilot in Wales, with input from Sally Hogg at the Centre and reflections from Dr Elizabeth Gregory and Dr Nicola Canale on how the materials helped strengthen evidence based, practical support for early interactions.
Parent Infant Foundation have said there’s an appetite for more. They are now reviewing evaluations, refining the content, and developing a strategy for a wider rollout across Wales, and possibly beyond. We’re excited to see where it goes next, and proud to have supported the programme through the bilingual BEAR ARTH campaign work, including the practical resources used during training.
If you work with families in Wales, or you support the people who do, BEARs is one to keep an eye on.
Find out more about BEARs
https://parentinfantfoundation.org.uk/our-work/what-we-do/bear/
See explainer video we produced with The Parent Infant Foundation over on their Youtube channel
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