Early years strategy 2023 to 2025

The early years is a critical period of time for building the foundations for healthy development. If babies and children have the best possible start in life, this has the potential for life-long benefits for their emotional wellbeing and physical health throughout childhood and into adulthood.

It is vital that all children in Cumberland are supported to have the best start in life.

The Early Years Strategy group for Cumberland is a multi-agency partnership that identifies priorities and actions in order to secure improved outcomes for babies and children throughout the early years.

Objectives

Here we outline our objectives for 2023 to 2025.

Development of the Start for Life Offer

This includes:

• developing the Start for Life Offer and an empowered start for life workforce
• promoting key early play, development and health messages across pregnancy to two years
• developing and implement further support to strengthen infant and maternal mental health
• improving data sharing across the First 1001 days

Quality and outcomes in educational settings

This includes:

• strengthening cluster-based school support offer, targeting needs identified via data
• supporting the development and implementation of a rich and stimulating curriculum
• offering a comprehensive CPD programme, including needs led and bespoke training, and innovative partnerships including an antiracist practice network

Childcare sufficiency

This includes:

• rolling out the expansion of Free Entitlement funding
• promoting the take up of childcare places across Cumberland
• supporting the development of wraparound childcare
• exploring possible solutions to recruitment and retention issues across the sector

Partnerships, collaboration and innovation

This includes:

• exploring emotional health and wellbeing models of support for families young children
• developing Cumberland’s Healthy Happy Foundations Early Years Pledge
• enhancing home learning environments by creating collaborative partnerships with parks, community centres and arts organisations

Equality and child poverty

This includes:

• building parental engagement via Start for Life Champions, including Fathers, and link families with volunteering and employment opportunities via Family Hubs
• refreshing support and advice for best practice for children with EAL and for welcoming refugee families
• promoting of help with childcare costs especially in targeted areas, ensuring that materials are accessible
• expanding the Early Years ‘A Fairer Start’ toolkit, through training and examples to enhance targeted support
• working in partnership to ensure affordable and nutritious food is available to all early years children
• supporting the roll out of the safeguarding partnership neglect tools across Early Years providers

SEND and inclusive practice

This includes:

• coproduce Cumberland’s new Speech and Language pathway with the sector and strengthen speech, language and communication support in the home and community
• refreshing the early years SEND support pathway and strengthen inclusive practice further through embedding resources, training and good practice, and the effective use of intervention funding
• ensuring sufficiency of childcare for families of children with SEND

Environmental awareness

This includes:

• developing sustainable resources and practice across the early years sector, exploring partnerships that increase the availability of materials to recycle and reuse as enhancements to play and to reduce waste in early years
• promoting the use of natural and sensory resources for play and learning, including enhancing outdoor experiences