Vision
Bold Start, Bright Futures: Our plan to improve child development and health outcomes from birth to five
Bold Start, Bright Futures is our commitment to ensuring that every child in Coventry begins life with the strongest possible foundations. Our vision is that every child will be safe, healthy, curious, confident and ready to thrive at school by age 5.
Together with families and local partners across health, education, social care, the voluntary/faith/community sector (VCFS), schools and early years providers, we will build a joined up ‘no wrong door’ system, one that identifies needs early, responds quickly and removes barriers, so that disadvantage does not determine destiny.
This Bold Start, Bright Futures plan sets out how, by 2028, we will reach our statutory target of at least 72.3% of children achieving a Good Level of Development (GLD) at the end of Reception, with a faster rate of improvement for disadvantaged children. This Strategy is aligned to the Governments ‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’ Strategy and includes the five underpinning principles; with the ambition to unite early years and family services, alongside the 10-year Health Plan which sets out a modernised, prevention‑first model of healthcare.
Connection
- Best Start Family Hubs (BSFHs) act as a gateway into wider services
- family navigators and consistent referral pathways connect families to the right help
Relationships
- Delivery is rooted in a whole-family, strengths based approach
- a confident and skilled workforce works as one team to identify needs early and support families well
Access and inclusion
- warm, welcoming spaces that every family can access and feel at ease in
- parent and carer participation is embedded so that every family feels understood and able to engage
Insights
- evidence, community insight and iterative testing (for example, test, learn and grow) helps build a culture of learning experimentation and continuous improvement
Data and digital
- accessible integrated digital tools and data foundations
- shared data standards, interoperable systems and user-centred design
Why do we need this plan now?
A vibrant and diverse city
- Coventry is one of the region’s fastest growing cities, enriched by families from many cultures, languages and backgrounds
- over half of Coventry’s children live in ethnically diverse communities, shaping a bright, global future. However, some families face greater challenges, poverty, limited opportunities and rising living costs mean some families need more support with essentials, routines and early learning at home
- the first 1,001 days shape a child’s future development and so a focus on health and wellbeing needs to begin early. Coventry continues to see variation in life chances across the city with disadvantage in some neighbourhoods continuing to affect children’s health, wellbeing and school readiness, so supporting parents’ wellbeing, relationships and confidence remain essential
This plan responds to:
Learning from COVID-19
- the impact of COVID-19 was significant for young children in Coventry. Whilst the acute phase of COVID-19 is in the past, its legacy effects remain visible in Coventry’s early years outcomes, particularly across the 2021 to 2024 cohorts who were born during or immediately after the pandemic. These children had reduced access to health visiting, fewer developmental checks, disrupted social experiences and higher family stress, all of which continue to shape EYFS patterns today. The Coventry trend GLD data clearly reflects this legacy. Communication & Language remains one of the city’s widest national gaps (4.0pp in 2025), consistent with well-documented post-COVID increases in SLCN and reduced early vocabulary exposure (4.0pp in 2025)
- parent and provider feedback calling for simpler access, quicker support and consistent quality of the help across partners
- achievement data over time, related to the ‘Good Level of Development’ (GLD), progress made to date and current inequalities
- local area data analysis and community insights
Coventry’s multi-agency approach
Bold Start, Bright Futures: A Coalition for Coventry’s Best Start in Life (2026 to 2029)
Bold Start, Bright Futures sets out Coventry’s shared vision, priorities and commitments for supporting every child from conception to age 5. It unites the early childhood system behind one purpose: ensuring every child grows up healthy, safe, nurtured and ready to learn, with strong foundations for a bright future.
Coventry’s ambition is built on a simple truth: no single service can improve early childhood outcomes alone. Children thrive when support is joined up, relationships are strong and families experience a seamless system around them. This Strategy strengthens that approach, bringing together health, education, early years providers, social care, family hubs and the voluntary, faith and community sector into a single, coordinated partnership.
The council’s role as a system leader underpins this collaboration, enabling aligned priorities, shared professional development and collective accountability. Bold Start, Bright Futures draws together the contributions of Health, Local Authority and VCFS partners into an integrated model of early childhood support, aligned to wider ambitions such as the One Coventry Council Plan 2021 to 2030.
Our shared purpose is clear:
- improve outcomes in communication, learning, health, and wellbeing
- reduce inequalities across communities and population groups
- strengthen long-term life chances by acting early and effectively
A coordinated citywide offer of universal, targeted and specialist support is fundamental to this. Families first, strong relationships, responsive caregiving and accessible services are the foundations of healthier communities and a more prosperous future for Coventry.
The universal pathway is aligned with the principles of the Child Friendly Cov initiative, which was launched in 2024. Through this initiative, Coventry is being shaped into a city where children and young people are valued, supported and enabled to achieve their potential. Working together with local children and young people, a set of key themes has been identified. These themes are being supported by all services, agencies, and businesses in Coventry.