Warm Hut UK established our Early Years programme in 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, to help close the achievement gap between the most disadvantaged children and their peers. We work with asylum seekers, refugees, and migrant families who face multiple, intersecting barriers—language, displacement, poverty, and isolation—that can profoundly affect their children’s early development. Our mission is to ensure that every child, regardless of background, has access to high-quality early education and the foundations to thrive.
Delivered through a culturally tailored, community-rooted approach, our activities include:
• Maternal education and peer support throughout every stage of pregnancy, including one-to-one mentoring from experienced Mentor Mothers for women who are pregnant or planning to have children.
• Pregnancy Journey Workshops, offering a safe, supportive space to explore pregnancy-related issues.
• Scavenger hunt activities in the park to introduce outdoors to them
• Songs, rhymes & movement: Action songs, parachute, dancing. Repetition in both languages builds vocabulary and the parent-child bond.
• Speech and language development, introducing shared reading and home book-lending with a dedicated buddy to nurture early literacy.
• Healthy eating and oral care guidance, promoting lifelong wellbeing from the earliest years.
• Physical activity sessions, supporting healthy growth and development.
• Our cultures: Bring/share a food, fabric, song, or object from home; children see their heritage celebrated
• Growing things: Plant a seed or bean in a cup together to take home and nurture—links growth, patience, care
Rooted in lived experience and cultural understanding, our programme empowers families to give their children the strongest possible start in life.
Case Study: Amara’s Journey
Names and identifying details have been changed to protect confidentiality.
Amara arrived in Salford as an asylum seeker in early pregnancy, having fled conflict in her home country. She spoke little English, knew no one in the area, and was navigating the asylum system alone while preparing to become a mother. Isolated and anxious, she had no access to antenatal information in a language or cultural framework she understood, and no support network to turn to.
Amara was referred to Warm Hut UK’s Early Years programme, where she was matched with a Mentor Mother who shared her cultural background and spoke her first language. Through one-to-one peer support and our Pregnancy Journey Workshops, Amara gained confidence in understanding her pregnancy, accessing maternity care, and preparing for her baby’s arrival.
After her son was born, the support continued. A literacy buddy visited regularly, bringing books into the home and modelling shared reading—something Amara had not experienced as achievable in a new language. She also took part in healthy eating, oral care, and physical activity sessions designed around her family’s needs and cultural preferences.
As her confidence grew, Amara began to engage more fully in her son’s early education. Where once she had felt too anxious and isolated to take part, she now feels able to attend his nursery trips and activities—becoming an active, present parent in his learning journey. Her son, meanwhile, has flourished. Despite Portuguese being the family’s first language, he has developed strong language skills in both Portuguese and English, a testament to the early literacy foundations built through shared reading at home.
Today, Amara’s son is meeting his developmental milestones and shows a love of books. Amara herself now volunteers as a peer supporter, welcoming other newly arrived mothers into the community that once welcomed her.
“When I came here, I had nothing and no one. Warm Hut gave me a family. Now I can give that to others.”
This is the kind of genuine difference we would like to make to all the parents and children under five in our settings. So far, we have helped 120 families with under 5 and still counting