About us
The Early Years Alliance was started in 1961 by a young London mother called Belle Tutaev who set up a playgroup of her own when she couldn’t find a state nursery place for her daughter.
Within a year, Belle had rallied 150 other parents together to form the Pre-school Playgroups Association, as we used to be known, and a year after that we became a charity — and we’ve been educating and caring for children and championing the voice of the early years sector ever since.
Our vision is a society where children enjoy every opportunity to learn through play and where they and their families are placed at the heart of education policy.
We manage early years settings across the country, providing early education and care to thousands of children and their families whom we encourage to become fully involved in their child’s learning and development.
We are the largest and most representative early years membership organisation in England, representing 14,000 members and supporting them to deliver care and learning to more than 800,000 families every year.