Best Start In Life Strategy 2026 to 2029 - Print version

Glossary of terms and abbreviations

Glossary of terms and abbreviations

Term	Meaning
BSiL	Best Start in Life
BSFH	Best Start Family Hub
CLA	Children Looked After
CSA	Childcare Sufficiency Assessment
DfE	Department for Education
EAL	English as an Additional Language
EHCP	Education, Health and Care Plan
EYEC	OFSTED registered early education for children and a childcare solution for families. For example, self-employed childminders, private and voluntary sector day nurseries, preschool playgroups, school nurseries, nursery schools, and early years and childcare provision delivered by School
EYFS	Early Years Foundation Stage (Statutory framework)
EYS	Early Years Services: The range of services delivered for children in the early years, for example midwifery, health visiting, GP, children centres, parenting support, family support and early years and childcare provision
FNP	Family Nurse Partnership
GDPR	General Data Protection Regulation
GLD	Good Level of Development (measured at the end of Reception)
GP	General Practitioner
HLE	Home Learning Environment
ICB	Integrated Care Board
IMD	Index of Multiple Deprivation
LA	Local Authority
LAP	Local Area Plan
LGA	Local Government Association
MMR	Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccination
SEND	Special Educational Needs and Disability
SN	Statistical Neighbour
VCFS	Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector

 

Family and community voice

Families and parents

Throughout this Strategy, references to “families” and “parents” are intended to be inclusive of carers and other primary caregivers, including kinship carers, foster carers and adoptive parents.

Families are at the heart of the Best Start in Life offer. Listening to and acting on their voices will be central to how services are planned, delivered, and continuously improved. Families bring invaluable insight into what works, what needs to change and how support can be made more accessible, culturally competent, and responsive to diverse needs. Through ongoing co-production, including parent and carer forums, lived-experience panels and regular feedback mechanisms, families will play a key role in shaping priorities, influencing service design, and helping to test and refine new approaches.

Embedding family voice at every level, from strategic planning to frontline delivery, will ensure services remain relevant, trusted and rooted in the real experiences of the communities they serve.

Community

This Strategy has been co-developed with a wide range of stakeholders and voluntary, community, and faith sector partners. Our Best Start in Life coalition is committed to shared pathways, aligned planning and coordinated delivery, shaped by and with the communities it serves.

By collaborating collectively with local people and focusing resources where they will have the greatest impact, partners will deliver a graduated offer that supports families early, removes barriers swiftly and responds flexibly to differing levels of need.

In doing so, Coventry aims to ensure that every child receives a Bold Start to life and the foundations for a Bright Future.

Foreword

Coventry is committed to giving every child a Bold Start and a Bright Future, placing this ambition at the heart of our work to reduce inequalities and improve outcomes for families.

As Coventry continues to grow and change, with increasing diversity and ongoing social and economic pressures, it is more important than ever that we work together as one system to support children and families from pregnancy through to school entry.

The earliest years of life are critical in shaping lifelong health, learning and wellbeing, and while progress has been made, inequalities remain. Rising numbers of children with SEND and newly arrived families reinforce the need to maintain a strong focus on early communication, language, and socio-emotional development as the foundation for future success.

Coventry is well placed to respond. Our Best Start Family Hubs and strong partnership arrangements provide a solid foundation for an integrated early years system. By bringing together health, education, public health, SEND services, Families First partnerships and voluntary, community, and faith organisations, we can ensure families receive timely, coordinated, and effective support.

Our Marmot commitment further strengthens this work, keeping a clear focus on tackling inequalities and improving outcomes for all children.

This Best Start in Life Strategy sets out our shared ambition and approach. It places families at the heart of everything we do, recognising parents as partners and ensuring services are inclusive, responsive, and shaped by what matters most to them. It also recognises that improving early outcomes means addressing the wider factors that affect family life, including housing, income, and parental wellbeing.

This is a call for collective action. By working together with a shared purpose, we can deliver a more joined-up, proactive and effective system of support, ensuring every child in Coventry has a Bold Start and a Bright Future.

Sukriti Sen, Director of Children and Education Service, and Allison Duggal, Director of Public Health.

Executive summary

Bold Start, Bright Futures - giving every child the best start in life

Coventry’s Best Start in Life Strategy 2026 to 2029

Coventry’s Best Start in Life Strategy sets out a shared, system-wide ambition to ensure that every child in the city has the strongest possible foundations from pregnancy to age 5. It reflects a clear commitment to reducing inequalities, improving health and development, strengthening school readiness, and enabling all children, regardless of background, neighbourhood or need, to thrive.

Coventry is a young, rapidly growing and highly diverse city. While there have been encouraging improvements in early years outcomes, significant challenges remain.

Good Level of Development (GLD) outcomes continue to sit below national averages, and entrenched inequalities persist for disadvantaged children, specifically boys, children learning English as an Additional Language (EAL), and children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising cost of-living pressures, housing instability and increasing linguistic diversity have further shaped local needs, reinforcing the importance of acting early, intervening effectively and targeting resources where they will have the greatest impact.

The Best Start in Life Strategy responds to these challenges through a coordinated, whole-system approach. Coventry’s Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies Programme will form the backbone of this integrated model, providing a ‘no wrong door’ system where families receive timely, preventative and proportionate support from pregnancy onwards.

The Strategy is underpinned by Coventry’s long-standing commitment to the Marmot principles, placing equity, inclusion and belonging at its core. It recognises that improving early childhood outcomes depends not only on the quality of services, but also on addressing the wider determinants of family wellbeing, including income, parental mental health and access to high-quality early education.

Parents and carers are recognised as equal partners, shaping design and delivery through co-production, engagement and lived-experience insight. Building on this strategic framework, the Best Start in Life Local Area Plan sets out how improvement will be delivered in practice. It translates our ambition, generated through data analysis, local intelligence, and partnership co-production into action, responding to these key areas:

• reduce early inequalities in health, development and safety
• identify need early and strengthen SEND pathways
• increase access, engagement and inclusion in early education
• improve the quality of early education and practice
• strengthening the Home Learning Environment and family resilience
• use data and insights, as well as locality working to drive equity and impact

Delivery against these priorities is organised around seven commitments to children and families, describing what children and families should experience and how partners will work together to improve outcomes.

A strong focus on Communication and Language, high-quality adult–child interactions, early identification, and targeted work in priority localities underpins all commitments, recognising these as the strongest drivers of improved GLD.

Clear governance arrangements provide shared accountability across the system, with strategic oversight planned to be delivered through the Health and Wellbeing Board and operational delivery led by the Best Start in Life Partnership.

A shared outcomes framework, robust data and locality intelligence will support continuous learning, improvement and transparent reporting of impact.

Together, the Best Start in Life Strategy and Local Area Plan provides a clear roadmap for collective action over the next 3 years. By aligning leadership, resources and delivery around shared priorities, Coventry will create a more equitable, responsive and effective early years system, ensuring every child receives a Bold Start in Life and the foundations for a Bright Future.

Coventry's Best Start in Life Strategy 2026 to 2029

Bold Start, Bright Futures - Our Plan to Improve Child Development and Health Outcomes from Birth to 5 

The first 1,001 days are critical in shaping a child’s development, making early support for health and wellbeing essential. In Coventry, inequalities persist across neighbourhoods, with disadvantage continuing to impact children’s outcomes and school readiness. This highlights the importance of supporting parents’ well-being, relationships and confidence from the earliest stages.

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, community and faith sector, (VCFS) schools and early years providers we will build a joined up ‘no wrong door’ system 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 Government’s ‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’ Strategy 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.

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 GLD data trend clearly reflects this legacy. Communication & Language remains one of the city’s widest national gaps (4.0 pp in 2025), consistent with well documented post Covid increases in Speech, Communication and Language needs (SCLN) and reduced early vocabulary exposure

Parent and provider feedback:

• families have asked for simpler access to services, quicker support and consistent quality of help across partners
• families have asked for more support with emerging special educational needs

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 underpin the Strategy and Local Area Plan

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 which aims to:

• 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. Strong relational approaches, responsive caregiving and accessible services are the foundations of healthier communities and a more prosperous future for Coventry.

This strategy compliments the principles of the Child Friendly Cov initiative, 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 pledges have been made which are supported by all services, agencies, and businesses in Coventry. More information about the campaign can be found at Child Friendly Cov [https://www.childfriendlycov.co.uk/the-story-so-far].

We believe children and young people in Coventry should always:

• be and feel valued
• be and feel safe
• have opportunities
• be and feel healthy
• be and feel loved

Context

Bold Start, Bright Futures: a picture of Coventry’s children, families and communities

Coventry at a glance

• Population: 369,029 +16.4% since 2011
• Median age: 35 younger than national average
• Ethnic minority pupils: 61% up from 39.7% in 2012
• Residents from global majority: 44.7% England & Wales 25.6%
• What this means: Early support must be inclusive, culturally responsive and accessible

Inequality is place-based

• 20% of neighbourhoods are in the 10% most deprived nationally
• Coventry is in the top 30 most deprived Local Authorities
• Most affected areas include Foleshill, Hillfields, Tile Hill, Willenhall, Wood End
• What this means: Targeted action is essential alongside universal services

Health inequalities start early

• Breastfeeding: 60% National 55%
• Dental decay (age 5): 34.2% well above national average
• Obesity (Year 6): 40.8% England 35.8%
• MMR2 (age 5): below 95% below herd immunity
• Infant mortality: 6.4 per 1,000 England 3.8
• What this means: Early and joined up health, family and early years support is critical

Safety and vulnerability

• Children in care: 89.5 per 10,000 (national 70)
• Domestic abuse incidents: 5,737 (14.9% of all crime)
• What this means: Many children experience compounding risks before school age

Early education: strengths and pressures

• 97% of providers rated Good or Outstanding
• Pressures: 2 year old take up: 68% (below national average)
• Pressures: 3 to 4 year old take up: 84.5% (below national average)
• Pressures: Graduate led workforce: 21% (down from 34%)
• What this means: Quality is strong, but access, take up and a highly qualified workforce are risks

BSIL - the strategic response BSIL will:

• Intervene early where need is greatest
• Reduce health and development inequalities
• Strengthen access to high quality early education
• Support a sustainable, skilled workforce
• Deliver a joined up system around children and families
• The Goal: Every child in Coventry gets the best possible start in life

Growing up in Coventry in 2026

Bold Start, Bright Futures - Citywide picture of strengths, needs and inequalities

The city’s headline data provides a clear picture of both the strengths and the challenges that shape early childhood. This narrative draws on those insights to identify shared priorities for the local area to be owned by all stakeholders.

Coventry is a young, diverse and rapidly growing city. 44.7% of residents are from ethnically diverse groups compared with 25.6% in England and Wales. By mid-2024, its population reached 369,029, an increase of 16.4% since 2011, outpacing national growth. There is a median age of 35, supported by the draw of Coventry’s 2 universities which attract significant numbers of domestic and international students.

Coventry’s identity as a ‘City of Sanctuary’ continues to shape its demographic profile, with international migration, linguistic diversity and mixed cultural heritage enriching communities, while creating increased demand for accessible and culturally competent services. As a growing, youthful and diverse city, Coventry benefits from strong community assets, but faces unequal levels of need.

This underscores the value of a well-connected early years system that can respond with clarity, consistency and speed. Children in Coventry strongly reflect the city’s rich diversity, which is a significant strength. By January 2025, 61% of school-aged pupils were from ethnically diverse groups, rising from 39.7% in 2012, with the largest groups including Black African, Other White and Asian Indian communities.

Many children are growing up in multilingual households, bringing linguistic, cultural and social assets that enrich early years settings and schools. This diversity creates strong opportunities for inclusive practice, language-rich learning and community-based support, underpinned by Coventry’s established partnerships and community networks.

While Coventry benefits from vibrant and resilient communities, inequalities remain a defining feature of early childhood. Almost 20% of neighbourhoods fall within the 10% most deprived nationally, equating to 33 lower super output areas. Families in areas such as Foleshill, Hillfields, Tile Hill, Willenhall and Wood End experience the greatest pressures related to poverty, housing and wider social factors, which continue to shape children’s early development and outcomes, long before they start school.

Health outcomes tell a mixed story. Smoking in pregnancy has reached record lows, and breastfeeding rates at 6 to 8 weeks are above national levels. However, oral health outcomes for 5-year-olds are significantly worse than England’s average and childhood obesity in Year 6 continues to climb. Immunisation uptake, particularly MMR remains below the 95% herd immunity threshold. Coventry’s infant mortality rate, at 6.4 per 1,000 live births, is significantly higher than England’s (3.8), partly influenced by the city’s tertiary neonatal unit, but still signalling the depth of local inequality.

Safety and wellbeing pressures compound these challenges. Coventry’s Looked After Children rate remains above national levels with 685 children looked after (as of September 2025, equating to 82 per 10,000 compared to the most recent England rate (March 31, 2025) of 67 per 10,000, This is significantly above the England rate of around 70 per 10,000.

A higher proportion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children contribute to this pressure. Domestic abuse accounts for almost 15% of all recorded crimes and continues to affect many households. These adversities are not evenly distributed across the city, but they are more prevalent in disadvantaged neighbourhoods where GLD outcomes are also lowest.

Families are also navigating growing financial pressures. Although the city experienced some economic recovery following the pandemic, this rebound has been uneven; rising rents, house prices and the ongoing cost of living crisis are stretching household resilience. Between 2023 and 2024, average house prices rose by 6.4% and private rents increased by 9%. Even where employment is high, financial instability affects routines, nutrition, mental health, enrichment and engagement with early years services.

Coventry has a well-developed early years sector with 298 open providers. 217 providers are funded, offering more than 5,400 funded early education places, including 139 operating in IMD areas 1 to 3. Coventry’s early years sector is high quality overall, with 97% of providers rated Good or Outstanding.

Whilst Coventry demonstrated strong performance in relation to the take-up of early education places in 2022 to 2023, outperforming statistical neighbours and the West Midlands average while remaining close to the national figure, outcomes declined over the subsequent 2 years. This reflected wider regional and national challenges during the same period.

Encouragingly, Coventry's rate of decline in 2024 to 2025 was lower than both the West Midlands and England averages, narrowing the gap with regional and national benchmarks and demonstrating greater resilience than many comparable areas. Whilst take-up still remains below statistical neighbour and national averages, indicating that fewer children are accessing their entitlement than in similar areas, the data also demonstrates Coventry's ability to achieve strong outcomes and provides a solid foundation for improvement.

Through the BSiL Strategy, there is an opportunity to build on existing strengths, strengthen consistency of inclusive practice across the system, and address barriers to participation. This will support increased take-up of high-quality early education and accelerate progress towards, and beyond, statistical neighbour and national benchmarks.

Coventry as a Marmot City

Coventry has been a ‘Marmot City’ since 2013, committed to reducing health inequalities by addressing the social determinants of health. Through its long-standing partnership with the UCL Institute of Health Equity, the city has embedded Marmot principles across public services, strengthening early childhood experiences, promoting fair employment, reducing poverty, and improving local environments. This collaboration has supported a place-based, whole-system approach to tackling inequality.

Since adopting the Marmot framework, progress has been made in areas such as school readiness, employment, crime reduction in priority neighbourhoods, and wider wellbeing. However, the combined impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have slowed these improvements, reinforcing the need for sustained, coordinated action across early years, health, and community systems.

Giving children the Best Start in Life remains one of the key strategic priorities within the citywide Marmot Strategy.

Tackling Inequality: Access and Inclusion

The Coventry Health Inequalities Strategic Plan (2022 to 2027) also builds on this commitment by prioritising equity in maternity and neonatal outcomes particularly for Black, Asian and Mixed ethnicity families and improving access and outcomes for Core20PLUS5 groups.

The Integrated Care Board (ICB) continues to focus on equitable access to physical and mental health support for children and young people, especially those living in deprivation or from minority ethnic communities. These ambitions align closely with Coventry’s Marmot principles and the One Coventry Plan (2022 to 2030), which emphasises:

• ensuring all communities share in economic growth through strong partnerships with employers and education providers
• protecting children and supporting families by implementing the Families First Partnership Programme, adopting Family Valued approaches, and strengthening safeguarding
• narrowing education gaps for vulnerable groups, particularly those disproportionately affected by pandemic-related disruption
• together, these commitments reinforce Coventry’s determination to tackle inequality through a connected, multi-agency, universal system approach, ensuring every child has the foundations for a healthy, safe, and thriving future

Service provision: strong connections

Bold Start, Bright Futures - a system built on strong relationships and local connections

What is in place?

Coventry’s Best Start Family Hub (BSFH) network is a well-established and significant asset, recognised nationally for good practice. Eight Best Start Family Hubs across Coventry provide a consistent, locality-based offer of multi-agency support, including universal and targeted services, evidence based parenting programmes, early help, and clear, accessible pathways into health, SEND and family support services.

These BSFH hubs act as trusted community spaces where families can access help early, receive joined-up support and build strong relationships with professionals.

Coventry also places strong emphasis on strengthening the Home Learning Environment (HLE) through the ‘Playing and Learning Together’ approach. This recognises the critical role that everyday interactions at home play in supporting early language development, social-emotional wellbeing and longer-term educational outcomes.

Families are supported through a blended digital and face-to-face offer, with the Coventry Families digital platform providing accessible online information, guidance and resources, alongside in-person support delivered through Family. Hubs and community settings. This flexible approach enables families to engage in ways that best meet their needs.

Despite these strengths, persistent inequalities, reductions in participation in early education, and increasing financial pressures continue to limit access for some families.

Targeted outreach, culturally competent practice and consistent relationship-based engagement are, therefore essential to ensure that all children benefit fully from Coventry’s early years offer; particularly those living in the most disadvantaged communities.

Strengthening connections across the wider family support system will require continued collective effort. The Local Authority will lead this work, in close partnership with health services, public services, early education and childcare providers, schools and the voluntary, community and faith sector. Together, the aim is to further align services, pathways and resources to create a coherent, integrated local offer that builds on existing strengths and maximises local expertise and trusted relationships.

The voluntary and community sector remains a vital partner in this system, drawing on strong community connections and social infrastructure to engage families who may be less likely to access statutory services.

Opportunities within the wider impact economy, including social enterprises and purpose-driven organisations, will continue to complement public funding and support long-term sustainability.

Best Start Family Hubs and the Healthy Babies programme sit at the centre of this approach. Together, they strengthen end-to-end support from pregnancy to age five, embed prevention and early intervention, improve school readiness, and support SEND reforms. These services also contribute to the emerging Neighbourhood Health Service Plan, complement Families First Partnerships and support delivery of the Healthy Child Programme.

Through this coordinated and progressive approach, Coventry will continue to build on what already works well – reaching diverse communities, reducing inequalities and ensuring that more babies, children and families receive timely support that makes the greatest difference to their outcomes.

What will Coventry Best Start Family Hubs provide?

Best Start Family Hubs will offer:

• parenting and home learning environment support, including stay-and-play sessions
• early support for children with additional needs
• preventative and universal Healthy Babies provision including infant feeding, perinatal mental health, parent-infant relationships, health visiting, maternity, safeguarding and SEND support
• engagement activities that build connections and trust such as community events, creative sessions and wellbeing activities
• connections to wider services including health and wellbeing support, safeguarding, cost-of-living assistance, wider family support and services for children aged 5+ and young people
• help families to access support through on-site family navigators and community outreach activity

Each BSFH Hub will bring core services together, tailoring support to local needs and making it easier for families to find the right help at the right time.

What will the Healthy Babies Programme provide?

Healthy Babies services will be at the heart of BSFHs, and the wider Best Start Family Hub network. They will strengthen delivery and integration across health and family services and will form a key part of the emerging Neighbourhood Health architecture. Healthy Babies services encompass the full range of statutory and non-statutory support available to families from conception to age 2, including:

• infant feeding support
• Perinatal mental health
• Parent–infant relationship support
• Health visiting
• Maternity services
• Safeguarding
• SEND support

Our wider service offer will include:

Health and well-being:

• Health visit visiting 0 to 5
• Public Health 0 to 19
• Mental Health
• Maternity midwifery and neonatal
• Nutrition and healthy growth
• Oral health improvement
• Screen time
• Smoking cessation
• Substance misuse support
• Vaccinations
• New Birth Registration

Financial and Welfare assistance regarding:

• debt advice, money and welfare advice
• food support
• fuel poverty
• parental leave pay
• social welfare advice service

Wider family support services including support to:

• Armed forces families
• Children affected by parental imprisonment
• reducing parental conflict
• support for adoptive kinship and foster families
• support for separated and separating parents carers
• targeted family support
• Family help

Safeguarding:

• Domestic abuse support
• tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation
• Family Help
• Relational Approach
• Sector Workforce Development
• Trauma Informed practice

Planning the strategy

Bold Start, Bright Futures: our plan to improve Child Development and Health Outcomes (Birth to 5)

The Best Start in Life Strategy and Local Area Plan have been developed to provide a clear and aligned foundation for improving outcomes for babies, young children and their families across Coventry. Our delivery approach demonstrates strong alignment with the Best Start Family Hubs Framework, embedding key principles of connection, relational practice, inclusive access, insight-led development, and integrated data systems.

Connection

• Best Start Family Hubs act as a gateway into wider services return
• Family navigators and consistent referral pathways connect families to the right help

Relationships

• delivery is rooted in a whole family strength based approach.
• a confident and skilled workforce works as one team to identify needs early and support families effectively

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 ‘test learn and grow’ approaches help to build a culture of learning and continuous improvement 

Data and Digital

• easy to use shared digital tools, joined up systems and a commitment to data sharing helps to plan and target work efficiently

A robust evidence base has informed the development of the Strategy and will guide its delivery. Analysis of health, development, deprivation, SEND and early education data will be used to monitor progress, refine priorities and ensure resources are focused where they will have the greatest impact.

This supports a clear, adaptable and data-informed roadmap for 2026 to 2028, enabling partners to work as an integrated system to deliver a more joined-up and effective offer for families.

The Local Area Plan complements the Strategy by setting out how these ambitions will be delivered in practice. It defines key actions, clarifies roles and responsibilities, and establishes arrangements for monitoring progress and impact. The Local Area Plan is a living document, designed to evolve in response to emerging need, learning and evidence. In contrast, the Strategy will be reviewed annually to ensure it remains relevant and continues to reflect local priorities.

Strong governance and shared accountability underpin this approach, supporting coordinated and responsive delivery.

Learning and Development outcomes for children in Coventry

Bold Start, Bright Futures - our plan for strong foundations in the early years

Overview of current performance

Coventry has made steady progress in improving early years outcomes over recent years, with a clear upward trajectory in Good Level of Development (GLD) since 2022.

In 2025, 65.3% of children achieved GLD, representing a 4.2 percentage improvement since 2022. This progress has narrowed the gap with national performance to –3.0pp, the smallest gap achieved since 2022 and has almost closed the gap with Statistical Neighbours (–0.2pp).

While this represents meaningful system improvement, Coventry continues to achieve below national comparators overall. This reinforces the need to sustain and deepen a strong focus on high-quality early learning, particularly in areas of development critical to later attainment.

Areas of learning: strengths and persistent gaps

Across the seven Areas of Learning, Coventry has seen broad-based improvement since 2022, with particularly strong gains in:

• Literacy (+3.1pp)
• Mathematics (+2.3pp)
• Communication and Language (+1.2pp)

These improvements suggest that changes to curriculum, pedagogy and early language approaches are beginning to gain traction across the system.

Although Coventry performs more strongly relative to statistical neighbours, outperforming them in five areas in 2025 there are still significant gaps when compared to national outcomes in the areas below.

• Communication and Language
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World

Success in communication and language and literacy is the foundation to later educational success and closely linked to social and economic mobility.

Prime areas of learning

Coventry’s closest alignment to national performance is seen in:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Physical Development

Both Prime Areas perform well and provide a strong base on which to build further academic learning.

Outcome trends for key groups of children

Disadvantaged and Non-Disadvantaged Children

Outcomes for disadvantaged children have improved from 46.5% achieving GLD in 2022 to 50.1% in 2025. However:

• Coventry remains below national outcomes for disadvantaged children (–1.3pp)
• non disadvantaged outcomes increased by +5.0pp over the same period, leading to a widening internal disadvantage gap, from 17.0pp in 2022 to 18.4pp in 2025

The rate of improvement is slower than that for non-disadvantaged children. Whilst overall, outcomes are rising, they are not doing so equitably. Universal approaches are not yet closing entrenched disadvantage. Targeted early intervention, particularly around language, parental engagement and attendance in early years education is essential.

Gender differences

Both boys and girls in Coventry have shown improved GLD outcomes since 2022:

• boys: +3.7pp
• girls: +4.7pp

Despite this improvement, Coventry’s gender gap widened from 13.2pp in 2022 to 14.2pp in 2025, exceeding the national gender gap (13.7pp). Boys continue to underperform girls across all comparator groups.

Although Coventry girls now slightly outperform statistical neighbours, boys remain marginally below both national and statistical neighbour benchmarks. Improving outcomes for boys, particularly in communication, literacy and self regulation, is therefore a priority.

White Disadvantaged Boys (WDB)

White Disadvantaged Boys represent one of the most vulnerable cohorts within the system and include a significant number of pupils. Outcomes for this group have improved from 36.4% in 2023 to 41.2% in 2025.

Key points include:

• Coventry has reached parity with national outcomes for WDB
• the gap with Statistical Neighbours has more than halved since 2023

However, White Disadvantaged Boys outcomes remain significantly below those for boys overall (41.2% vs 58.3%). Given the relatively large size of this cohort compared to other ethnic groups, improving outcomes for White Disadvantaged Boys is critical to raising overall GLD performance and reducing long term inequality.

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

The proportion of children with EAL in Coventry has increased sharply, from 32.2% in 2022 to 39.2% in 2025. Over the same period:

• GLD outcomes for EAL children have declined slightly in 2025.
• the gap to national has widened to –4.5pp
• Coventry has shifted from outperforming statistical neighbours to underperforming them

This trend represents an emerging risk. Additionally, data shows differences in children who may be bi-lingual or multi-lingual who access early education at nursery compared to Reception.

In nursery (summer 2025), 7 out of every 10 children had English as their first language (70%), and 3 out of 10 were learning English as an additional language (30%). By Reception (autumn 2025), this changed to about 6 out of 10 children with English as a first language (just over 62%), and nearly 4 out of 10 learning English as an additional language (almost 38%).

Lower take-up of early education among some EAL and minority ethnic families, combined with barriers linked to language, mobility and access to services, requires a renewed focus on inclusive outreach, early nursery engagement and culturally competent provision. 

Children with SEND:

The SEND cohort has grown rapidly in recent years.

• cohort increased from 9.4% (2022) to 12.4% (2025)
• after declines in 2023 and 2024, outcomes recovered strongly in 2025
• Coventry now outperforms both national and Statistical Neighbours

Children with an education, health and care plan (EHCP):

• cohort tripled from 1.2% to 3.6% between 2022 and 2025
• GLD outcomes remain extremely low, with only minimal improvement in 2025
• the gap with national and neighbours has widened

This picture highlights the success of early identification and targeted support for children at SEND Support level, alongside persistent challenges for those with the highest levels of need. Strengthening early intervention, specialist input and inclusive practice at the earliest point remains essential, alongside a stronger universal offer of support for emerging needs.

Children Looked After (CLA)

The CLA cohort in Coventry is very small and fluctuates annually, making trends volatile. Despite this:

• Coventry has outperformed national and statistical neighbours in 3 of the last 4 years
• 2025 shows a strong recovery (+9.1pp), with outcomes above national and neighbour averages Performance varies significantly by gender, SEN status, and placement stability. Where outcomes are strong, they reflect effective Virtual School oversight, stable placements, and trauma informed practice. Embedding consistency of practice remains a key priority

Place based variation: Best Start Family Hubs and wards

Analysis by Best Start Family Hub and geographical ward demonstrates significant geographic variation in outcomes:

• every Family Hub area contains at least one ward below 65% GLD
• areas served by Families for All and Harmony hubs show persistently low or declining outcomes
• St Michael’s is a consistently low-performing ward across multiple hubs

Ward level analysis identifies St Michael’s, Foleshill, Holbrook, Binley & Willenhall as priority areas due to a combination of low GLD and large cohort sizes. Improving outcomes in these geographical wards would generate the greatest impact on citywide performance and equity. Targeted, locality-based investment, aligned to Best Start Family Hubs and partner services will be essential to reducing variation and improving outcomes for children at most risk of falling behind.

Strengths in achievement and progress to build on

• upward trajectory in overall GLD and across most Areas of Learning, demonstrating that system-wide improvement work is beginning to take effect
• narrowing gaps with national and SN comparators for several groups, including disadvantaged pupils, girls, and non-disadvantaged pupils
• outcomes for children receiving SEND Support now outperform national and Statistical Neighbours, reflecting effective early identification and targeted intervention
• White Disadvantaged Boys have made sustained gains, with the gap to national closing over 3 years
• some Best Start Family Hub areas have shown improvement, suggesting that locality-based approaches can drive change when well-targeted
• broad-based improvement across Areas of Learning since 2022, particularly in Literacy and Mathematics, suggests that curriculum and pedagogy improvements are having a positive impact

Governance

Bold Start, Bright Futures - our framework for strong leadership and joint accountability

As the ambitions of this Strategy and the local area action plan rely on the whole-system approach, strong multiagency governance and coordinated mobilisation are essential.

To ensure clear accountability, collective ownership and sustained focus on improvement, it is hoped that this programme of work will report to the integrated Health and Wellbeing Board. This will provide the strategic oversight needed to drive partnership action, strengthen leadership across agencies and ensure every child experiences a Bold Start and a Bright Future.

BSiL Partnership Programme Board

The Best Start in Life (BSiL) Leads and Programme Board will provide strategic leadership and system-wide accountability, overseeing joint commissioning, aligning budgets, and monitoring spend against agreed outcomes to ensure transparency, shared accountability, and the effective use of resources across the system. They will set the overall vision, priorities, and outcomes, ensuring alignment with the One Coventry Plan and statutory duties, while also monitoring key system indicators, including Good Level of Development (GLD) and child health outcomes.

BSiL Operational stakeholder group: co-chaired by the Best Start in Life Leads

This group ensures the operational implementation of the Best Start in Life Local Area Plan, agreign shared pathways, data flows and resource alignment.

• it will enable family and community voices to be actively engaged in and inform decision making as plans evolve
• this group will feedback on service delivery against the plan and collectively monitor progress and impact across the key performance indicators
• service area accountability: Each partner owns and delivers its actions to agreed timescales, with named strategic and operational leads
• crosscutting priorities (e.g., early communication, perinatal mental health, inclusion) have a clear lead and partner contributions, coordinated by leads for each commitment

Data, impact, and insights

Data

Coventry’s early years system is underpinned by a strong intelligence and data infrastructure. The citywide Intelligence Hub brings together datasets from sources including the ONS, LG Inform+, health, education and local surveys, providing a robust foundation for evidence-led decision-making. 

This is complemented by shared dashboards and aligned reporting, developed by Coventry City Council’s Data Team, which provide a single, system-wide view of children’s health, development, education and family wellbeing. Together, these enable the Best Start in Life partnership to monitor trends across population, health, deprivation and outcomes, and to respond proactively to emerging need while strengthening joint accountability for delivering Bold Start and Bright Futures.

At a service level, Best Start Family Hubs contribute high-quality performance data through well-established collection processes and dashboards. This information supports the planning, delivery and evaluation of services, ensuring they remain responsive and effective for families.

A shared approach to timely, lawful and transparent information sharing underpins an integrated ‘no wrong door’ offer. Families can tell their story once and receive coordinated support at the earliest opportunity, enabling quicker identification of need, smoother transitions between services and the development of joint plans across partners.

Impact

A Best Start in Life, Local Area Plan outcomes framework will underpin performance, evaluation, and targeted improvement, identifying inequalities, strengthening early identification and enabling rapid response to emerging needs.

Insights and research

The Best Start in Life Strategy is informed by learning from practice, evidence, and research. It builds on local delivery experience, robust data, and evaluation, alongside the best available national and international evidence on early childhood development. This is strengthened through collaboration with Coventry University and the NIHR-funded Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC), ensuring that both academic research and insight into the wider determinants of health inform priorities, commissioning, and service design.

By combining what the evidence tells us with what families and practitioners say works in practice, the Strategy commits to continuous learning, reflective improvement, and the scaling of approaches that have the greatest impact on outcomes for children and families. Over time, further system learning and improvement will be driven by population-level insight on outcomes, inequalities, and demand, alongside ongoing research and evaluation, to inform future commissioning and enable a more evidence based, responsive system.

Privacy, consent & trust

Partners will operate within existing information sharing agreements, GDPR/UK DPA, safeguarding and consent protocols, using data responsibly and proportionately. Where new arrangements are required to improve data sharing, this will be sought as a part of the Local Area Plan.

Funding

Bold Start, Bright Futures - a strategic approach to resourcing our priorities

Coventry LA received national and local funding to implement the BSIL actions plans as part of the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies programme and will support this work through existing resources. There is an expectation of movement towards joint arrangements across LA Early Years’ budgets, Public Health, NHS, Family Hubs, SEND & Inclusion, VCFS and national grants to help to deploy resources strategically across pathways rather than service silos.

The priorities for funding are:

• prevention first: Prioritise investment in early communication and language, social and emotional development, perinatal and parent mental health, outreach for families facing disadvantage, emerging SEND support and workforce development
• sustain the Best Start Family Hub model: Resource universal, targeted and specialist pathways; strengthen co-location and equitable access across neighbourhoods
• the BSiL Lead and Programme Board oversee joint commissioning, aligned budgets and monitoring of spend aligned to outcomes; ensure transparency and shared accountability

Strategy to action

Bold Start, Bright Futures - our approach to turning plans into impact

Local Area Plan Structure

Our Local Area Plan sets out how partners across Coventry will work together to improve outcomes for children from birth to five, translating strategic ambition into coordinated delivery. It provides a clear line of sight from vision to action and impact, ensuring that improvement activity is aligned, focused, and measurable.

For Children:

At the heart of the strategy are 3 core outcomes that describe what every child should experience:

• Safe and Nurtured: Children experience safe, stable and nurturing relationships in their homes, early years settings and communities. Safeguarding concerns are identified early and responded to through joined-up, relational approaches so children are protected and able to thrive
• Healthy and Thriving: Children have positive physical and emotional health, supported by secure relationships, responsive caregiving and timely access to high-quality health and early years services so they can develop and be ready to thrive at school
• SEND – Early Identification and Inclusion: Children’s needs are identified early and supported effectively, enabling them to participate, progress and achieve

These outcomes reflect our ambition that every child in Coventry has the strongest possible start in life, regardless of background or level of need.

Through our system:

To achieve these outcomes, we will work collectively across the system to strengthen the experiences children and families have every day. We will do this through three key areas of delivery:

• Access and Inclusion – Ensuring all families can access high-quality early education, Family Hubs and support services, with a particular focus on those who face more barriers to accessing services
• Supported Families, Strong Foundations (Home Learning Environment) – Supporting parents and carers to feel confident in their role and to provide rich, consistent early learning experiences at home
• Learning and Development – Ensuring children benefit from high-quality, inclusive early education, with a strong focus on communication, language and early learning at home (HLE)

These areas represent the day-to-day experiences that shape children’s development, and where the impact of our work will be most visible.

Enabled by:

Underpinning all of this is a strong system infrastructure that enables delivery and drives improvement.

• Workforce, Data and Locality Working – We will build and sustain a skilled, confident workforce and use data and local insight to identify need early, target support effectively and improve outcomes for children and families

This ensures that our approach is evidence-led, targeted and sustainable, with resources focused where they will make the greatest difference.

A joined-up system:

This structure reflects a whole-system approach:

• outcomes for children are clear and shared
• delivery is coordinated across partners and services
• workforce and data enable continuous improvement

Together, this creates a system where families experience joined-up support, practitioners work with clarity and purpose, and improvement is sustained over time. The Local Area Plan is structured around seven commitments to children and families. Each commitment describes what children and families should experience in practice and how services across the system will work together to deliver this.

For each commitment, there is the same consistent structure:

• our Commitment to Children and Families – what children and families should experience as a result of our work
• Linked Strategic Priorities – the data-led priorities that this commitment supports
• Delivery Pillars – the Best Start in Life pillars that guide how the work will be delivered. • What We Will Do – the key actions partners will take together
• Desired Outcomes – the measurable changes we expect to see by 2029
• How This Improves Good Level of Development (GLD) – how the commitment contributes to improved school readiness and reduced inequalities

This ensures that the Strategy is easy to follow, avoids duplication and supports shared accountability. It also makes clear how universal provision is strengthened while targeted support is provided where need is greatest. The associated local action plan is a living document. Progress will be reviewed regularly through partnership governance arrangements, using data, learning and feedback from families to refine delivery and strengthen impact over time.

Our commitments to children and families

Delivery of these priorities is organised around 7 clear commitments, which describe what children and families should experience in practice:

1. Safe and Nurtured

Children experience safe, stable and nurturing relationships in their homes, early years settings and communities. Safeguarding concerns are identified early and responded to through joined up, relational approaches so children are protected and able to thrive.

2. Healthy and Thriving

Children have positive physical and emotional health, supported by secure relationships, responsive caregiving and timely access to high-quality health and early years services so they can develop and be ready to learn at school.

3. Early identification and inclusion

Children’s needs are identified early and supported effectively, enabling them to participate, progress and achieve.

4. Included, Valued & Connected

Children and families feel welcomed, included and connected to early education, Best Start Family Hubs and community services, experiencing a sense of belonging regardless of background, culture or need.

5. Supported Families, Strong Foundations

Children benefit from confident, supported parents and carers who provide rich, consistent early learning experiences at home, supporting strong foundations for development and school readiness.

6. Learning, Communicating & Developing

Children develop strong early communication, language, social, emotional and cognitive skills through high-quality, inclusive early years practice that nurtures curiosity, builds confidence and enables every child to thrive by age five.

Enabled by: strong system infrastructure that enables delivery and drives improvement.

7. Workforce Development, system capability and use of data

This section brings together the system enablers that support delivery across all commitments, including workforce development, effective use of data, digital tools, governance and locality working.

Children benefit from a skilled, confident workforce, supported by strong data, intelligence and system leadership, which works together to identify need early, target support effectively and improve outcomes for children and families.

Commitment: 1. Safe and Nurtured

Children experience safe, stable and nurturing relationships in their homes, early years settings and communities. Safeguarding concerns are identified early and responded to through joined‑up, relational approaches so children are protected and able to thrive.

Linked Strategic Priorities

• 1.1 Ensure children are safe, nurtured and protected from harm
• 1.2 Use Data and Locality Working to Drive Equity and Impact

Best Start in Life Delivery Pillar

• Pillar 1: Best Support for Families

Desired outcomes (by 2029)

• increased proportion of children living in safe, stable and nurturing environments
• earlier identification and response to safeguarding and vulnerability concerns
• improved increased family engagement with early years and support services

What will we do

• strengthen early multi agency support for families experiencing adversity, including domestic abuse, parental mental health and financial pressures through Best Start Family Hubs, the Healthy Babies Programme and Families First Partnership Programme
• improve early identification of vulnerability from birth through aligned health and early education checks, information sharing and clear referral pathways
• embed relational, trauma-informed practice across early years, Best Start Family Hubs, health and community services
• reduce practical and stigma-related barriers to engagement by delivering support locally, early and in trusted settings
• use locality data to prioritise wards and families where safeguarding and vulnerability risks are highest

How this improves Good Level of Development (GLD)

• safe, stable environments enable children to develop secure relationships, regulate emotions and engage in learning
• early identification of vulnerability prevents risks escalating and reduces the impact of adversity on development
• increased family engagement supports consistent routines and participation in early learning experiences

Commitment: 2. Healthy and Thriving

Children have positive physical and emotional health, supported by secure relationships, responsive caregiving and timely access to high‑quality health and early years services so they can develop and be ready to learn at school.

Linked Strategic Priorities

• 2.1 Build upon early health pathways and child development support
• 2.2 Maintain a strong universal offer with targeted support where needed

Best Start in Life Delivery Pillar

• Pillar 1: Best Support for Families

Desired outcomes (by 2029)

• increased proportion of children meeting age-expected health and development milestones in priority wards
• improved early language, communication and social-emotional development
• increased participation in early years provision and health services
• reduced health-related barriers to engagement in early education

What will we do

• strengthen maternity, neonatal and early health pathways, including maternity and health visiting, to support children’s physical and emotional development from pregnancy onwards
• improve integrated developmental reviews and checks, ensuring children’s development is monitored consistently and concerns are identified early
• increase uptake of key health interventions, including immunisations, breastfeeding support and early nutrition programmes
• reduce health-related barriers to engagement in early education through targeted support for families facing disadvantage
• strengthen the link between health services, early years provision and Best Start Family Hubs to ensure children receive coordinated support

How this improves Good Level of Development (GLD)

• good physical and emotional health enables children to attend, engage and benefit from early learning
• strong early development, particularly in communication and language, underpins all areas of learning and school readiness
• early identification of developmental need ensures children receive timely support, preventing gaps from widening

Commitment: 3. Early Identification and Inclusion

Children’s needs are identified early and supported effectively through inclusive practice and coordinated SEND pathways, ensuring timely support and positive transitions for children with additional needs.

Linked Strategic Priorities

• 3.1 Identify need early and strengthen SEND pathways
• 3.2 Strengthen the quality of Inclusive practice

Best Start in Life Delivery Pillar

• Cross-cutting across all pillars

Desired outcomes (by 2029)

• increased proportion of children with SEND and developmental needs identified before age 3
• reduced waiting times for assessment and support services (including Speech and Language Therapy)
• improved outcomes for children with SEND, including progress in early learning and development
• increased inclusion and participation of children with SEND in early education and community provision

What will we do

• ensure early, accurate identification of developmental and SEND needs through aligned checks, screening tools (including Wellcomm) and shared pathways across health, early years and SEND services
• strengthen SEND pathways to ensure children and families receive timely access to assessment, advice and targeted support
• embed inclusive practice across early years settings, Best Start Family Hubs and community provision, including clear expectations of universal provision
• provide accessible support for families, including SEND navigation, information and community-based offers through Family Hubs
• increase access to specialist support, including Speech and Language Therapy, and reduce waiting times through locality-based delivery models
• use data and insight to identify children at risk of unmet need and proactively target support through Best Start inclusion practitioners

How this improves Good Level of Development (GLD)

• early identification and support for SEND reduces delays in communication, learning and development
• inclusive practice enables more children with additional needs to access and benefit from high-quality early education
• timely intervention supports children to make progress in areas most closely linked to school readiness

Commitment: 4. Included, Valued & Connected

Children and families feel welcomed, included and connected to early education, Best Start Family Hubs and community services, experiencing a sense of belonging regardless of background, culture or need.

Linked Strategic Priorities

• 4.1 Increase access, engagement and inclusion in Early Education
• 4.2 Build community connections and culturally competent practice

Best Start in Life Delivery Pillar

• Pillar 2: Accessible Early Years Provision

Desired outcomes (by 2029)

• increased take-up of early education for disadvantaged, EAL, mobile and global majority families
• increased engagement of families with Best Start Family Hubs and community based services
• improved continuity of engagement between community activity, Best Start Family Hubs and early years provision.
• reduced barriers to accessing early education and support

What will we do

• support the increased take-up of funded early education places, particularly in priority wards and among disadvantaged, EAL, newly arrived and mobile families
• deliver targeted outreach through Best Start Family Hubs, VCFS partners and trusted community settings to engage families do not routinely access services
• reduce language, cultural and practical barriers through culturally responsive and multilingual approaches.
• strengthen community connections, peer networks and locally delivered provision to build trust and sustained engagement
• support smooth transitions into early education, particularly for newly arrived families, children supported through FNP and those with limited prior engagement
• strengthen inclusive engagement approaches, including targeted work with fathers and under represented groups

How this improves Good Level of Development (GLD)

• earlier and sustained participation in early education improves communication, language, social development and learning routines.
• increased engagement enables children to benefit from high-quality provision and early support
• reducing barriers for priority groups supports more equitable outcomes and closes early gaps in development

Commitment: 5. Supported Families, Strong Foundations

Children benefit from confident, supported parents and carers who provide rich, consistent early learning experiences at home, supporting strong foundations for development and school readiness.

Linked Strategic Priorities

• 5.1 Strengthen the Home Learning Environment and family resilience
• 5.2 Increase engagement of families in early learning and support services

Best Start in Life Delivery Pillar

• Pillar 1: Best Support for Families

Desired outcomes (by 2029)

• increased parent confidence in supporting early communication, play and learning
• improved quality of the Home Learning Environment with families living in priority wards
• increased engagement of families in early learning activities and programmes
• improved early language, communication and school readiness outcomes

What will we do

• deliver consistent, evidence-based Home Learning Environment (HLE) programmes, including PEEP, REAL, MAST and 50 Things To Do Before You’re Five
• provide practical, accessible support for parents and carers to develop communication, early literacy, maths, self regulation and routines at home
• strengthen delivery through Best Start Family Hubs, community venues and early years settings to ensure support is high quality local, inclusive and accessible
• use digital tools, including the Coventry Families Portal, to extend reach and provide an accessible universal offer for families
• build parent confidence through modelling, coaching and peer support approaches, including Stay and Play, Parenting courses and outreach activity
• target support to priority families and communities, including those with greater barriers to engagement, ensuring equitable access to HLE support

How this improves Good Level of Development (GLD)

• a strong Home Learning Environment supports children’s early language, communication and cognitive development
• consistent routines, play and interaction at home strengthen self-regulation and readiness for learning
• increased parent confidence leads to more frequent and higher-quality learning interactions, improving outcomes across all areas of development

Commitment: 6. Learning, Communicating & Developing

Children develop strong early communication, language, social, emotional and cognitive skills through high‑quality, inclusive early years practice that nurtures curiosity, builds confidence and enables every child to thrive by age five.

Linked Strategic Priorities

• 6.1 Strengthen the quality of early education and practice
• 6.2 Maintain a strong universal offer with targeted support where needed

Best Start in Life Delivery Pillar

• Pillar 3: High Quality Early Education (0 to 5)

 Desired outcomes (by 2029)

• improved early language, communication and cognitive development
• increased proportion of children achieving a Good Level of Development (GLD)
• reduced gaps in outcomes for disadvantaged children, children with SEND and EAL learners
• improved quality and consistency of practice across early years settings

What will we do

• strengthen the quality of early education and practice across all settings, with a focus on the Prime Areas of learning, Literacy and Mathematics
• embed evidence-based approaches to improve adult–child interactions, curriculum and teaching practice
• support leadership and workforce development to ensure consistent, high-quality provision
• maintain a strong universal offer for all children, with targeted support for those who need additional help to make progress
• strengthen inclusive practice to support children with additional needs, aligned with SEND pathways

How this improves Good Level of Development (GLD)

• high-quality interactions and teaching are the strongest drivers of early communication and learning
• strong universal offer ensures all children access quality early education, while targeted support helps close gaps for those most at risk of falling behind
• consistent, inclusive practice supports more children to make progress across all areas of learning

Commitment: 7. Workforce Development, system capability and use of data

This section brings together the system enablers that support delivery across all commitments, including workforce development, effective use of data, digital tools, governance and locality working. Children benefit from a skilled, confident workforce, supported by strong data, intelligence and system leadership, which works together to identify need early, target support effectively and improve outcomes for children and families.

Linked Strategic Priorities

• 7.1 Strengthen workforce capability, leadership and professional development
• 7.2 Build data, intelligence and system insight

Best Start in Life Delivery Pillar

• supports all 3 pillars

Desired outcomes (by 2029)

• increased workforce capability, confidence and leadership across all services
• a shared, high-quality data and intelligence system that enables earlier identification of need and more effective targeting of support
• reduced inequalities between localities and priority groups through better use of data and coordinated delivery

What will we do

• build workforce capability through training, coaching, leadership development and targeted professional support
• develop and embed a shared data and intelligence system across partners to support early identification, targeting and performance monitoring
• strengthen the use of data at ward, cohort and service level to inform decision-making and drive equity
• improve data sharing, information governance and digital infrastructure to support joined-up working
• embed locality-based work, ensuring services are aligned, coordinated and responsive to local need
• strengthen governance, performance monitoring and accountability across the system
• improve multi-agency collaboration through shared planning, clear roles and integrated delivery models
• use data, insight and evaluation to drive continuous improvement and inform future service design

How this improves Good Level of Development (GLD)

• a skilled, confident workforce, supported by strong data, intelligence and system coordination, ensures that children’s needs are identified earlier and met more effectively. This leads to more targeted support, improved quality of provision and reduced inequalities, enabling more children to achieve a Good Level of Development and be ready for school

Delivering our shared ambition

Bold Start, Bright Futures - giving every child the best start in life

This strategy sets out a clear and ambitious framework for strengthening how we support babies, children and their families to thrive. It recognises that improving outcomes requires more than individual services or short-term initiatives; it depends on strong system leadership, effective partnerships and a shared commitment to consistent, evidence-informed practice across the local area.

Partners have agreed a common set of principles to guide decision-making, prioritisation and investment. These principles emphasise early support, inclusion and equity, alongside the importance of listening to children and families to shape services that truly meet local need.

Central to this approach is a commitment to transparency, accountability and continuous learning. Progress will be regularly reviewed, and improvement activity will remain responsive to both data and lived experience, ensuring that the system continues to evolve and adapt.

The Bold Start, Bright Futures Strategy provides clear direction and a shared sense of purpose. Its impact, however, will be realised through collective action shaping day-to-day practice, strengthening collaboration and driving a whole system responsibility for outcomes.

Stakeholders

Bold Start, Bright Futures - Giving every child the best start in life

Stakeholder	Lead Organisation	Website	Accountable officer
Adult Education and Family Learning	Coventry City Council	Family Learning – Coventry City Council [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/adult-education/family-learning]	Howard Croft, Senior Curriculum & Operations Manager
Coffee Tots	VSC provider	Parenting Support | Coffee Tots | England [https://www.coffeetots.co.uk/]	Three Spires Family Support Trust
Coventry Best Start Family Hubs	Coventry City Council	Coventry Families [http://www.coventryfamilies.co.uk/] Early help [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/earlyhelp]	Amanda Reynolds, Early Help Manager
Coventry Early Years Providers	Coventry City Council	Coventry Information Directory [https://cid.coventry.gov.uk/kb5/coventry/directory/home.page]	N/A
Coventry Early Years Service: Business, Sufficiency and Funding	Coventry City Council	Early Years and childcare – Coventry City Council [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/earlyyearschildcare]	Rebecca Smith, Team Leader
Coventry Early Years Service: Quality Improvement and Safeguarding	Coventry City Council	Early Years and childcare – Coventry City Council [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/earlyyearschildcare]	Amanda King, Team Leader
Coventry Families First (including Children’s Services, Children’s Disability Team and Early Support Service)	Coventry City Council	Early help – Coventry City Council [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/earlyhelp]	Chris Heeley, Strategic Lead, Help and Protection
Coventry Family Information Service	Coventry City Council	Coventry Information Directory [https://cid.coventry.gov.uk/kb5/coventry/directory/home.page]	N/A
Coventry Libraries & Information Services	Coventry City Council	Libraries [http://https://www.coventry.gov.uk/libraries]	Kim Mawby, Head of Skills, Employment & Libraries
Coventry Schools	Coventry City Council	Schools and their contact details – Coventry City Council [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/directory/10/schools-and-their-contact-details]	Rachael Sugars, Strategic Lead Education
Coventry SEND 0 to 5	Coventry City Council	SEND Early Years Team – Coventry City Council [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/coventry-send-support-service/send-early-years-team]	Debs Schindler, Team Leader
Family Health and Lifestyle Services	South Warwickshire Foundation Trust	Coventry Family Health and Lifestyle Service (0 to 19 years) [https://www.swft.nhs.uk/our-services/coventry-family-health-and-lifestyle-service-0-19-years]	Charlotte Finlayson, General Manager
Fatherhood Solutions	Commissioned provider	Fatherhood Solutions - iPiP [https://www.ipip.co.uk/fatherhood-solutions/]	Scott Mair, Director
MAMTA	Foleshill Women’s Training	MAMTA – FWT [https://www.fwt.org.uk/health/mamta-2/]	Christine McNaught, CEO
Maternity Services	University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW)	Maternity - University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire [https://www.uhcw.nhs.uk/maternity/]	Mara Tonks, Director of Midwifery
Perinatal Mental Health Transformation Team	Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust	Search | Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust [https://www.covwarkpt.nhs.uk/]	Natasha Lloyd Lucas
Speech and Language Therapy Services	Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust (CWPT)	Children's SSLT [https://www.coventrychildrensslt.co.uk/]	Julie Tregonning, Clinical Lead – Children’s Speech and Language Therapy
The Marmot Partnership	Coventry City Council	Marmot Monitoring Tool [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/marmot-monitoring-tool]	N/A
Virtual Schools	Coventry City Council	Virtual School – Coventry City Council [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/virtual-school]	Mikaela Carrasco