Our evidence-based Learning Together programme supports all parents to create the best start for their children by making the most of everyday learning opportunities at home – listening, talking, playing, singing and sharing stories and books. Spending time with their parents and carers in these ways helps children become confident communicators and active learners.

PEEP is about valuing and building on what parents already do - sharing ideas from parents, practitioners, the PEEP programme and wider research - but also understanding why they help children's later development. One of the main predictors of how well children will do at school is the number of words they hear in their first two years of life - so talking and sharing books, stories and songs from birth help enormously. Playing with homemade playdough is fun but it also helps develop children's finger control, which makes it easier to write with a pencil later on. Understanding how they are helping their child in such simple ways makes it more likely that parents will do it more often.

Who do we work with?

• We work directly with families in our local communities: in the Leys area of south Oxford where PEEP began, and in the Thame area of Oxfordshire around our Red Kite Children's Centre. 
• We train practitioners from a wide range of professional backgrounds around the UK and Ireland.
• We collaborate with people in the voluntary, public and private sectors, local and central government, and research institutions.

Research and evaluation
Our work has been evaluated in five independent research studies by the Universities of Oxford, Sheffield and Warwick.  These show that PEEP:

• successfully reaches isolated families and engages them in their children’s learning;
• helps parents become more aware of their children’s development and how to foster it;
• helps children develop good foundations for literacy and strong self-esteem;
• enables practitioners from a wide range of professions develop new skills and fresh approaches to unlock parents’ potential rather than focus on their problems.

We have developed publications containing ideas and activities from the programme - Learning Together folders, DVDs and songbooks/CDs. Click here for further information about our publications, training or research.