Welcome to Deborah Udakis Early Years Consultancy,
Inspiring Confidence, Delivering Results
Telephone: 07983 231584
Early Years Training & Professional Development
High-quality, practical training that strengthens practice, develops confident leaders and improves outcomes for children.
My training and professional development programme is designed specifically for early years leaders, practitioners, childminders and organisations.
Training is available live online via Zoom and can also be commissioned for individual settings, groups of settings, organisations and Local Authorities. Sessions can be adapted to reflect your priorities, your team and your professional development needs.
Latest Training
Safer Sleep in Early Years
Protecting babies through safe practice and professional vigilance
A vital safeguarding session exploring current safer sleep guidance, the evidence behind recommended practice, expectations within the EYFS and what this means for everyday practice. The training considers sleep environments, risk assessment, supervision, monitoring, professional vigilance and working effectively with parents.
Continuous Provision Curriculum (CPC)
Creating environments, interactions and experiences where children can thrive
A practical and thought-provoking programme exploring how to develop high-quality continuous provision that is purposeful, ambitious and responsive to children.
We explore key questions including:
- What do we mean by an ambitious curriculum?
- What is continuous provision – and what should it achieve?
- What is pedagogy?
- What makes a curriculum inclusive?
- What is the role of the adult?
- How do observation, assessment and responsive teaching work together?
- How can leaders evaluate the quality and impact of provision?
The training complements my Continuous Provision Curriculum: A Practical Guide, providing settings with a strong foundation for developing, evaluating and leading high-quality practice.
Other Training & Development
My wider programme includes:
- Leading a Successful Inspection
- Creating a Magical Curriculum: Inspiring Awe & Wonder
- Strong and Effective Leadership
- Creating a Culture of Well-being
- STEM in the Early Years
- Managing Poor Performance
- Effective Learning Walks
- Outdoor Play and Learning
- Leading Improvement & Change, including SMART Action Planning
- Dealing with Significant Events
Bespoke Training for Your Setting or Organisation
All programmes can be adapted or combined to create training specifically for your team.
Whether you are looking for a single workshop, whole-team development, leadership support or a longer programme of professional development, please contact me to discuss your requirements.
Investing in professional development is an investment in children.
Every child. Every day. A curriculum that inspires.
Free Downloads from Deborah Udakis Consultancy Ltd
New Downloads for 2026
Leading with Professional Courage
Leadership isn’t just about guiding practice — it’s about having the courage to address the things that matter.
Leading with Professional Courage is a practical training workbook designed to help new and developing leaders approach difficult conversations with greater confidence, clarity and professionalism.
From challenging poor practice and managing conflict to addressing performance and safeguarding concerns, the workbook provides practical guidance, reflection and realistic scenarios to help leaders say what needs to be said — with kindness, integrity and courage.
Because strong leadership isn’t measured by the conversations we avoid, but by the conversations we are prepared to have.
Safer Sleep Guide
My Safer Sleep Guide is much more than a handout. It is a comprehensive professional resource designed to strengthen knowledge, confidence and practice around safer sleep — recognising that sleep arrangements are not simply a matter of routine care, but an important safeguarding responsibility.
The guide brings together current guidance from the Department for Education, the EYFS statutory framework and The Lullaby Trust, translating key expectations into clear, meaningful guidance for everyday practice.
Alongside essential safer sleep guidance, it includes inspection questions, reflective activities, audits, checklists, case studies and leadership guidance, as well as important learning from serious safeguarding reviews. It provides practical tools to help settings review their arrangements, identify potential risks, strengthen staff knowledge and ensure safer sleep practice is understood, implemented and consistently maintained.
Ultimately, the guide is designed to help leaders and practitioners move beyond simply knowing the guidance to being able to apply it confidently, challenge unsafe practice and protect every child in their care.
Training
I provide support to early years settings, organisations, and providers to develop and improve the quality of their early years provision.
Through training, advice, and good practice guidance and support, my early years consultant service provides bespoke, targeted and focused interventions to meet specific areas of practice.
Celebrating success
Most Instrumental Early Years Consulting Business Leader 2023 (West Midlands): Deborah Udakis
Child poverty - Slipping through the net
I was delighted to have an article published in the July edition of "Nursery World" Magazine.
"Child poverty - Slipping through the net"
In 2018, the UN published a statement on its visit to the UK, by Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
He was highly critical of the UK Government’s economic and welfare policies and pointed to ‘the immense growth in food banks and the queues waiting outside them, the people sleeping rough in the streets, the growth of homelessness, the sense of deep despair that leads even the Government to appoint a Minister for Suicide Prevention and Civil Society, to report in-depth on unheard of levels of loneliness and isolation.’ ...
... The number of families being referred to food banks is at an all-time high and continues to rise. For children, the impact on their chances of a decent education and life success is profound.
When children grow up poor, they miss out on the things most children take for granted: warm clothes, school trips, having friends over for tea. Poor children achieve less at school and this affects their future economic success, as well as their health and mental well-being.
You can read the full, thought provoking, article here
Reggio Emilia Approach
As an early years consultant I fully endorse the Reggio Emilia Approach to the learning, values and development of our young children.
I have attended the 'International Loris Malaguzzi Centre' in Italy on a number of occasions to keep up to date with techniques, innovations and core values of their approach.
I always come away feeling inspired.
Training Day Feedback
The Learning Journey Day Nursery
This morning I delivered my Education Inspection Framework seminar / workshop to these fantastic early years practitioners. Thank you Penny Virdee for inviting me to work with your wonderful team. Together you inspire me with your dedication, enthusiasm and passion for delivering high quality teaching, learning and care to the children who attend your settings. It was such a pleasure working with you all. Please invite me again.
"Hi thank you so much I’m sat at home looking more into it I want to make sure I’m fully prepared"
:-)
"was a brilliant training session best i've ever been to; very informative, thank you for visiting us"
:-)
(early years practitioner)
On our training evaluation feed back forms we ask for feedback on the following criteria and received either good and excellent rating on all of them
- Training was relevant to my needs
- Materials provided were helpful
- Content was well-organised
- Questions were encouraged
- Instructions were clear and understandable
- Training met my expectations
- The trainer was effective.
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We also received additional comments including:
- Really helpful, lovely ideas and presentation given. Highly recomended
- Always amazing to listen to, highly recommended
- Very informative
- Amazing!
- Training was very informative, showing to have more confidence when due for Ofsted. Giving clear information about new framework
- Very in-depth training. Thank your so much!
- It's been fab and Deborah is lovely :)
- Really good, informative interactive course.
- Training was very detailed and full of ideas.
Contact us
Deborah Udakis Consultancy Ltd
Inspiring Confidence, Delivering Results.
Telephone: 07983 231584
Email: deborah.udakis@btinternet.com
website: www.deborahudakis.co.uk
Address: 24 Shelton Gardens, Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury. SY3 5AG
Website Design
Vaikai Web Design
Deborah Udakis Consultancy Ltd has teamed up with Vaikai Web Design to offer a bespoke service especially for the early years market.
Whether you are a childminder, pre / after school club, a single setting nursery or manage a multi-centre nursery, we have a package to enable you to have an online presence.
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Dyslexia Awards
Founded in 2015 by Elizabeth Wilkinson MBE with the aim of raising dyslexia awareness and the positive aspects of dyslexia!
There are 9 awards open for nominations with the aim to showcase the diverse skills of local dyslexics.
Deborah Udakis Consultancy and Vaikai Web Design are proud to be award sponsors at the 2023 Dyslexia Awards.