Give every child the best start in life

This priority focuses on

  1. Reducing inequalities in the early development of physical and emotional health, cognitive, linguistic, and social skills.
  2. Working with families to support language development, including children with EAL (English as an Additional Language).
  3. Maximising the take up of 2, 3, and 4-year-old funded places.
  4. Ensuring high-quality maternity services, parenting programmes, childcare and early years' provision to meet need across the social gradient including support for families from ethnic minority backgrounds.
  5. Building the resilience and well-being of young children across the social gradient.

Background

The Marmot Review summarised the importance of quality provision for under-5s as ‘crucial for securing health and reducing health inequalities across the life course. The foundations for virtually every aspect of human development – physical, intellectual, and emotional – are laid in early childhood. What happens during these early years, starting in the womb has life-long effects on many aspects of health and well-being.’

Legislation and government guidance to support the give every child the best start in life recommendation:

Links to service developments and strategies that support this recommendation:

Indicators

The indicators below will tell us how we are progressing:

  • School readiness
  • Parenting confidence

What we know

There are a number of programmes of work and interventions evidenced to positively support the aim to give every child the best start in life. These include:

  1. Integrated universal, targeted and specialist support to families from the antenatal period up to adolescence across the social gradient.
  2. Targeted high-quality family learning interventions to maximise children’s learning in the home environment for families across the social gradient.
  3. Interventions at the earliest opportunity for the multiple and complex problems families face.
  4. Early years provision to maximise children’s learning, development, and school readiness.
  5. General information and advice to parents and carers to support positive parenting and nurturing home environments.
  6. Programmes to help ensure that babies and toddlers stay safe in and around the home to reduce the number of unintentional injuries.

Our services and activities:

Our delivery partners:

  • Coventry City Council Adult Education Service
  • Coventry City Council Children and Education Service
  • Coventry City Council Ethnic Minority Achievement Service
  • Coventry City Council SEND Early Years Team
  • Coventry City Council Housing and Homelessness Team
  • Coventry City Council Library Service
  • Coventry City Council Migration Team
  • Coventry City Council Public Health Team
  • Coventry Family Health and Lifestyle Service (0-19 years)
  • Coventry Safeguarding Children Partnership
  • Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System
  • Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust
  • Early Years Providers
  • Healthcare Practitioners
  • Pharmacists
  • Perinatal Mental Health Team
  • Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise Sector

How we will measure progress

  • % of children achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception compared to national
  • % of disadvantaged children achieving a Good Level of Development at the end of reception, compared to the national percentage gap between disadvantaged children and ALL other children
  • % schools where early years is judged Good and Outstanding by Ofsted
  • % Early Years providers graded as Good or Outstanding
  • % uptake of places for eligible 2 years olds
  • % children accessing 3 & 4 year old funded places
  • % of parents taking up provision to increase their skills
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