Childcare & Education Expo

About this event

Childcare & Education Expo National (UK) — 2–3 October 2026

Childcare & Education Expo National is the UK’s leading, longest-running early years event. It brings together nursery owners, senior leaders, managers, and practitioners from across the country for two days of learning, networking, and practical solutions focused on early education settings.

Event snapshot (from the official event site)

• Event name: Childcare & Education Expo National
• Date: 2 - 3 October 2026
• Venue: Coventry Building Society Arena
• Location: Coventry (UK) (city name implied by the venue’s Coventry Building Society Arena branding on the official page)
• Event positioning: UK’s longest-running and award-winning early years event

1) Who attends (buyers / attendees)

This event is primarily an early years education community gathering. The audience is built around decision-makers and practitioners who can influence (directly or indirectly) what services, products, training, and support early years settings choose.

High-intent attendee groups highlighted by the event’s official description include:

• Nursery owners who make or approve operational and growth decisions.
• Senior leaders and managers focused on compliance, quality improvement, staffing effectiveness, and day-to-day implementation.
• Practitioners seeking practical CPD, classroom-ready approaches, and evidence-informed strategies.
• Specialist SEND in Early Years Conference delegates seeking knowledge and strategies to create more inclusive learning environments.
• Sector experts and speakers delivering CPD-accredited training, free workshops, and structured seminar sessions.
• Ofsted representatives appearing face-to-face via the event’s free advice sessions and the “Advice Corner,” enabling attendees to ask questions directly.

In other words, the strongest attendee value comes from the fact that the event is designed as a solutions-and-support marketplace for early years settings—not just a general networking occasion.

2) Where the show is happening + attendee geographic origin

Where: The expo takes place at Coventry Building Society Arena.
When: 2–3 October 2026.

Geographic origin: The event is explicitly described as bringing together early years professionals from across the country. That means we should treat audience origin as primarily UK-wide, drawing practitioners and leaders from multiple regions to a single national hub.

3) Audience reach (Local / National / Global)

This is a national reach event. The official event description positions it as a UK-leading early years event with participants from across the country. It also references the community connecting with an “international early years community,” which suggests that while the core attendee base is UK-focused, there may be additional international visibility depending on supplier participation and speaker interest.

Primary reach: National (UK-wide)
Secondary reach: Potential international presence (as referenced by the broader event brand community)

4) Sample buyer company names (buyers only) + websites

We can generate buyer-ready targeting for this show, but we must align “buyer companies” to your client requirements and product category. To do this accurately, we need your client details (website and product focus).

Requested from you (required): Please share your client website URL (and, if possible, the exact product/service categories we should prioritize).
Once we have that, we will recommend the best-fit buyer accounts and match them to relevant visitor intent at Childcare & Education Expo National.

Until that is provided, we are leaving the “sample buyer company names + websites” section blank to avoid inserting mismatched or inaccurate buyer profiles.

5) Job profiles, industries & event type

The event is tailored to early years settings, and the attendee roles align to education leadership, early years delivery, and operational decision-making.

Job profiles to target

• Nursery owner / proprietor
• Senior leader / manager
• Practitioner
• Inclusion / SEND-related leads (delegates attending the SEND in Early Years Conference)
• CPD decision-influencers (leaders selecting training pathways and improvement priorities)

Industries & event type fit (how the event is “consumed”)

The event should be treated as an intersection of early education leadership, child development, and setting improvement—with strong emphasis on recruitment/retention topics, curriculum development, and wellbeing.

• Event type: Education / Early Years Expo with CPD, workshops, supplier solutions, and compliance guidance
• Primary industries: Early education, childcare services, training & professional development, and early years learning support products
• Community anchor: Ofsted engagement via free sessions and advice corner

6) Estimated attendance (expected total footfall)

The official event page indicates an audience scale of:

• 3,000+ visitors
• 100+ suppliers
• 40+ speakers

Based on this official page data, the expected total attendance/footfall should be treated as 3,000+ over the full event duration (2 days).

7) Key focus areas & buyer engagement

The event is designed around practical, current challenges facing early years settings. It also includes content streams that turn “learning” into “implementation,” which increases engagement quality for suppliers and solution providers.

Key focus areas (what attendees come for)

• Recruitment and retention (explicitly referenced as a topic area attendees gain practical insights on)
• Curriculum development and early years learning approaches
• Wellbeing (for children and/or setting practice, as referenced)
• Professional development via CPD-accredited training
• Ofsted support and guidance through face-to-face engagement and the Advice Corner
• SEND in Early Years: specialist knowledge, strategies, and support for inclusive learning environments
• Community support sessions alongside practical solutions and free workshops

Buyer engagement approach (how to position our targeting)

For this expo, the best-performing engagement strategy is to align supplier/buyer messaging to the “why visit” intent:

• Compliance confidence: Ofsted-facing topics and inspection readiness.
• Operational improvement: recruitment, retention, leadership, and management support.
• Teaching outcomes: curriculum, play-based approaches, and child development content.
• Inclusion execution: practical SEND strategies and supportive tools.
• Training implementation: CPD-aligned solutions that help settings turn knowledge into practice.

8) Client-product fit note (we need your client details to shortlist the best buyers)

We can only recommend the best buyer profiles for your specific requirement after we review the client’s product/service. The event audience contains many relevant roles, but “best buyers” depends heavily on whether your client sells, for example, education resources, training, childcare technology, inclusion/SEND tools, staffing solutions, premises services, or compliance-related support.

Please share: your client website URL.
After reviewing it, we will respond with:

• Best buyer fit companies to target for this event
• Priority ranking of buyer roles
• Recommended job titles aligned to the decision makers most likely to evaluate solutions at an early years expo
• Buyer-company list including their websites

We will base these recommendations on event intent and your client’s offering—so the list is accurate and relevant, not generic.

9) Suggested industries to use (mapped to your provided industry taxonomy)

For Childcare & Education Expo National, we recommend focusing on industries from your taxonomy that align with early education services, training, professional coaching, and education management.

• Education Management
• Higher Education (only where suppliers/support services involve training, teacher development, or sector-wide education programs)
• Primary/Secondary Education (where early years education overlaps with broader education providers or training pathways)
• Professional Training & Coaching
• E-Learning (if your client offers digital learning content or CPD platforms)
• Program Development (for curriculum/program-based solutions)
• Health, Wellness & Fitness (only when products/services are explicitly wellbeing-focused in education settings)
• Nonprofit Organization Management (where SEND/inclusion initiatives are delivered through charities or sector bodies)
• Hospitality (only if a client offers services tied to childcare operations such as catering/venues—generally less core but possible depending on your offering)
• Events Services (if your client supports event logistics, CPD programme support, or conference production)

Once we receive your client website, we will narrow this down to the most precise industry filters and align them to buyer job roles that match the early years expo’s demand signals.

What we can deliver next (based on your client requirements)

After you share your client website, we will produce an optimized buyer targeting pack for Childcare & Education Expo National, including:

• Buyer-company shortlists (priority-ranked)
• Best job titles to target per company
• Company websites for validation and outreach
• How each buyer maps to the expo’s key focus areas (CPD, Ofsted support, SEND, recruitment/retention, curriculum and wellbeing)

Next step: please send your client website URL and a one-line description of what your client sells (or the primary categories). We will then return the best buyers for this expo based on your requirements.