Why building strong relationships with families matters in the early years, and how to do it

You’ll find out why building positive relationships with families matters, what it looks like in practice, and how you can do it in your setting.

This article is part of a series exploring the four overarching principles of the early years foundation stage: the unique child, positive relationships, enabling environments, and learning and development.

Why family engagement matters in early years

Children thrive when they feel safe, valued and connected. In the early years, the relationships that children build with their families and practitioners shape their development, confidence and wellbeing. The early years foundation stage framework emphasises the role parents play as their child’s first educator and encourages practitioners to work alongside families every step of the way.

Family engagement is built on trust and partnership. When families are actively involved in their child’s early learning, children make stronger gains in communication, language and social development (Siraj, 2015; Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), 2020).

Parents who understand what happens in early years and feel welcomed by and connected to the setting are more confident in supporting their child’s learning and development. This collaboration is linked with better outcomes for children and greater emotional security (Ofsted, 2024). Simply put, positive relationships between families and practitioners lay the foundations for children to flourish in the early years.

What does family engagement look like in practice?

In early years settings where family engagement is woven into each day, you find a warm, relational culture. Sector research highlights several features that are particularly influential for children’s learning and development:

• Meaningful opportunities to participate in learning.
  Effective early years settings give families regular opportunities to see teaching and learning in action, whether through stay-and-play sessions, curriculum workshops or open-door events. The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education study found that when parents observe and engage in early learning activities, children make stronger cognitive and social progress (Sylva et al., 2004).
• Clear and consistent communication.
  Effective early years settings keep families in the loop and share updates about learning and routines in ways that work for everyone. The EEF highlights that consistent, personalised communication is a defining feature of strong home learning environments and helps families reinforce new words and ideas at home, supporting language development (EEF, 2020). Using clear language and accessible formats makes it easier for all families to be involved in their child’s learning.
• A welcoming, inclusive environment.
  Effective early years settings ensure that families feel at ease going into their child’s learning environment and see their identities reflected. Ofsted’s Best Start in Life review notes that settings with strong relational practice create a sense of belonging for families, which is associated with greater engagement and confidence (Ofsted, 2024). Whether it’s photos on display, carefully selected resources or books that represent the diverse families, language and lived experiences of the children in the setting, these small but intentional touches help everyone feel seen, valued and that they truly belong.
• A focus on emotional security and smooth transitions.
  Effective early years settings invest time in welcoming families through home visits, induction meetings or supported transition activities. Longitudinal research suggests that when families are involved in the transition process, children settle more quickly and show greater engagement and independence (Mathers et al., 2014).

All these practices help build coherent, trusting relationships between home and school. The research is clear: when families feel informed, included and respected, children gain the strongest possible foundations for learning.

Four ways to strengthen family engagement in your early years setting

As a leader, you can create an environment where families feel welcome and involved. You influence how consistently and confidently your team works with families and shape the culture of partnership in your setting. Here are four practical ways to embed meaningful engagement:

1. Make family engagement a core part of your approach.
   You can create the conditions for meaningful family engagement by ensuring events and activities are planned, protected and properly resourced. This means mapping opportunities such as stay-and-play sessions, curriculum workshops or open-door events into your annual calendar, allocating time for staff to plan and deliver them, and being explicit about their purpose. When your team understands why these moments matter and has the time and support to run them well, families are more likely to engage in low-pressure, welcoming ways that build understanding of early years pedagogy and strengthen trust over time.
   
2. Communicate in ways that work for every family
   You can support your team to communicate in accessible and respectful ways. Prioritise staff availability at the start and end of the day for informal, face-to-face conversations, alongside consistent use of notice boards, newsletters, class web page or digital tools. Encourage flexible approaches that respond to families’ needs, such as short videos, visual prompts, plain language or information shared in different formats. This helps all families feel informed, included and able to stay involved in their child’s learning, without placing unrealistic demands on staff.
   
3. Prioritise what matters most at home
   You play a key role in shaping clear, consistent messages about what matters most for young children at home. This means supporting your team to prioritise everyday talk and play. You can enable this by agreeing shared messages, providing simple prompts and examples staff can confidently pass on to families, and ensuring these are realistic and inclusive. This might include conversation starters linked to daily routines, ideas for playful interactions, or short video clips modelling talk-rich play.
   
4. Plan for collaboration from the start
   You can enable strong transitions by agreeing a shared approach to transitions, protecting staff time for activities such as home visits, induction meetings or personalised tours, and ensuring these moments are used to listen carefully to families’ insights about their child. Considered, inclusive transition processes set a positive tone for partnership and collaboration from the very start.

Case study: The power of positive parental engagement

Ashby Hill Top Primary School demonstrates how thoughtful, consistent engagement fosters a strong sense of belonging for families in the early years.

Transitions are seen as a whole-family experience, supported through home visits, personalised tours and opportunities for informal conversations. These approaches help families feel that school is happening with them rather than to them, strengthening trust and supporting children to feel happy, secure and ready to learn.

Read their story: Three ways to include parents in your early years setting

Questions for staff reflection

Research shows that leaders who intentionally create enabling conditions make
family engagement sustainable and impactful (Chartered College of Teaching, 2024).
Ask yourself:

• In what ways do we help families feel welcomed, informed and involved from the beginning?
• How do we offer meaningful opportunities for families to take part in learning?
• How well are we supporting children and families through transitions and new beginnings?
• What accessible ideas are we sharing with families to support learning at home?
• How do we ensure that our communication strategies are meeting the needs of all families?

Reflecting on these questions can help you identify strengths and next steps for strengthening partnership practice.

Summary

Family engagement is a cornerstone of positive relationships in early years settings, and you play a central role in making it meaningful. By providing families with opportunities to engage in learning, supporting staff to communicate effectively and fostering trust from the beginning, you create the conditions in which every child can thrive. When families and practitioners work together with shared purpose, children benefit from stronger learning foundations, emotional security and long-term success.

References

• Chartered College of Teaching (2024). Early years leadership: Creating the enabling conditions for effective professional development.
• Department for Education (2024). Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.
• Education Endowment Foundation (2020). Preparing for Literacy: Improving Communication, Language and Literacy.
• Mathers, S., Eisenstadt, N., Sylva, K., Soukakou, E., & Ereky-Stevens, K. (2014). Sound Foundations: A Review of the Research Evidence on Quality of Early Childhood Education and Care for Children Under Three.
• Ofsted (2024). Best start in life part 1: setting the scene.
• Siraj, I. (2015). Home learning environment and its impact on children’s development.
• Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I., & Taggart, B. (2004). The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education Project.