Early Years Development

“How we treat 0-2 year-olds shapes their lives – and ultimately our society.” (Wavetrust.org) 

If our 21st century society is to be of any value, it will be necessary to transform the provision of support for young families, regardless of their ability or circumstance. The Early Years Healthy Development Review highlights this issue, and details how giving infants the best start in life can safeguard a better future. 

During the first two years of life, new brains are fashioned by experience. Of particular importance are human interactions with parents and caregivers. This early development sets the foundations for all future development. Re-launched in 2015, the 1001 Critical Days manifesto is a cross-political party pledge to provide all babies the best possible start in life. 

Pregnancy and early parenthood presents a critical ‘window of opportunity’, a time when parents are especially receptive to offers of advice and support. The Lincolnshire Better Births strategy is the local antenatal and post-natal offer. The strategy is a systems approach to supporting families bringing together professionals from all agencies at the earliest opportunity. 

Parents and care givers lay the foundations for emotional regulation, communication, and problem solving, which leads to a strengthening of their own, and their child’s, self-esteem. Young children thrive in environments that are predictable and responsive to their needs. Conversely, where environments are neglectful, unpredictable or overwhelming, the child may well struggle as opportunities for progressive development pass by. It is equally important, then, that the health and wellbeing of parents and carers is considered when looking to improve outcomes for young children, and not just during pregnancy (Source: Early Intervention Foundation 2016). 

Access to quality early years education is the cornerstone of improving social mobility and is the focus of the first life-stage ambition. The early years present the opportunity for children to develop the strong cognitive, social and emotional skills on which future success is built. Evidence shows, attending high quality early education has a lasting impact on the social and behavioural outcomes for young children. Quality early years settings provide proof that prevention is better than cure, putting children on the right track from the very beginning, enables them to begin school in a position to thrive (Source: Department for Education). For parents, Early Years Entitlement funding (for 2, 3- and 4-year-olds) makes childcare more accessible and affordable, enabling parents/carers some freedom to access training, to find work, or to increase their working hours. 

• The Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days. The government’s vision to ensure the best start in life. It details a Start for Life offer, Family Hubs, and the design of digital/virtual offers. 
• Healthy Child Programme 0-19. Details the commissioning of health visitors and school nursing services, for the delivery of public health interventions to 0-19 year olds. 
• The government’s 2019 manifesto included a commitment to champion family hubs – a place-based solution to joining up, planning, and delivering family services. Lincolnshire is one of 75 local authorities taking part in the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. A Family Hubs Transformation Fund will support local authorities with associated costs. 
• Childcare Choices. Webinars to increase affordable access to childcare.  
• Ofsted Strategy 2022-27. A corporate strategy; a summary of core values, strategic approaches, areas of work and evaluation metrics. 

Breastfeeding, pregnancy, and maternal health are discussed in associated JSNA topics. 

Comparing local indicators with England averages, the health and wellbeing of children in Lincolnshire is mixed: 

• Infant mortality rates have been lower than the national average since 2013 
• Breastfeeding rates in Lincolnshire are below the national average  

In a range of measures, Lincolnshire performs below the national average: 

• Measles, Mumps & Rubella (MMR) immunisation level does not meet recommended coverage of 95% 
• 1 in 4 5-year-olds in Lincolnshire display dental decay (at least one decayed, missing or filled tooth). There is significant variation across the county but children in Boston display worse dental decay than other Districts.  
• The prevalence of excess weight amongst children in Lincolnshire is higher than the national average 

Assessed at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the measure of “Good Level of Development” (GLD), is 1% below the England average (Source: Department for Education). School readiness is often an issue if learners have not accessed Early Years Entitlements at a pre-school age. Consequently, children starting school often lack basic speech and language skills, as well as having limited physical wellbeing and motor development compared to their peers. This impacts on longer-term development, alienating and separating the affected child from more capable peers. In very recent history, spotlighted in Lincolnshire’s Director of public health Annual Report 2021, and in evidence gathered by Ofsted, there are ongoing implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on children, particularly on all three prime areas of development: communication & language; personal social & emotional development; and physical development. 

Locally available EYFS data for 2022 shows that: 

• Children in Lincolnshire slightly outperformed national and regional averages in six of the Prime Area Goals, but slightly underperformed against national averages for “self-regulation”. 
• Children in Lincolnshire have lower levels of achievement against national goals in writing and numeracy, but perform above national average in reading (both comprehension and word reading). 
• Both genders in Lincolnshire underperform national GLD; A gap between gender achievements does exist – but is narrower locally than nationally. 
• Gaps in outcomes for children eligible for Free School Meals and Children with English as an Additional Language are wider than that reported nationally. Prior to the pandemic, the countywide approach used by the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Education Team (EMTET) had narrowed this gap. These data will help to sharpen the focus on that approach again. (Source: National Consortium for Examination Results). 

Local Maternity Systems (LMS) are an alliance of organisations responsible for commissioning and delivering maternity services. The benefit of the systems approach is demonstrated by Lincolnshire’s community hub model. 

An integrated two-year review is now evidenced in the mandated, two-year assessment showing a positive working relationship with the 0-19 Children’s Health Service and Early Years Locality Teams. 

Early Years Locality Teams provide support and challenge to ensure the most vulnerable children are supported to be able to access early years, and educational services, to narrow the attainment gap. 

To ensure the educational progress of Children in Care is closely monitored, and that monitoring informs appropriate intervention, there is close collaboration between the Virtual School, Early Years Locality Teams and the Specialist Teaching Team. 

The re-integration team provide support for children at risk of exclusion, assisting the smooth transition into school, for children showing significant delay in managing feelings and behaviours. 

Early Years and Childcare (EYCC) teams put support and improvement programmes into place to ensure all children are able to take up their free hours in a high quality setting. Evidence shows that higher quality provision has greater developmental benefits, particularly for the most disadvantaged children, leading to better outcomes (Source: EPPE Project 2004). 

EYCC support the development of the early years & childcare workforce across Lincolnshire allowing managers and leaders to drive continual improvement, improving outcomes for children in readiness for school. For Lincolnshire, growing and retaining a highly skilled workforce is a priority. This means upskilling the current workforce to be able to support communication and language development by early identification and early intervention. 

Inclusion support for Early Years Settings is provided by Early Years Locality Teams. Guidance and support from the School Readiness Hub provides consistency, and quality assurance. EYCC provides continuing professional development opportunities for Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) allowing them discharge duties under the SEND Code of Practice 2014. This includes investing in the delivery of Level 3 early years SENCo training. Early years service providers can apply for funding to secure enhanced support for registered SEND children from the Early Years Inclusion Fund.  

A suite of informative marketing materials is being disseminated throughout Lincolnshire to inform families of Government offers available that will support them to access childcare. An outreach programme is being delivered to professionals to make sure parents are encouraged to access childcare provision as early as possible. 

An annual Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) cycle is in operation for Lincolnshire to determine whether childcare available currently meets the needs of children and families. The EYCC service maintain accurate data to better respond to the childcare market. 

Key partners for Early Years include; parent and career representatives, Maternity Voices Partnership, Lincolnshire County Council, the Integrated Care Board, local NHS Trusts (e.g. Maternity Services, Paediatrics, Perinatal Mental Health Services, Better Births), the Voluntary and Community Sector (e.g. Children’s Links), Early Years Providers, and Schools. 

The Family Hubs Transformation Programme has 8 work packages, which identify the following local gaps and needs: 

• Certain families and communities find it harder to access the help they need, when they need it. Their voices are seldom heard in the design or delivery of services. 
• A comprehensive virtual service offer is required. Families’ require easy access to help when, and how they need it; and it should assist families to help themselves, whenever possible. 
• There are gaps in analysis and understanding of what works, for whom, and why. 
• Robust, co-ordinated, and accessible support for perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationships is required. This reflects the increasing number of families experiencing challenges since the Covid-19 pandemic, 
• A focus on parenting support and home learning environments is needed, particularly for families affected by national lockdowns.  
• Improve multiagency working to facilitate early access to support, thus preventing families having to move to statutory services. 
• Increased focus on the first 1,001 days in the workforce development programme; support for staff recruitment and retention for early years and childcare settings. 
• Develop a Parent Carer Panel to ensure family perspectives are better understood and used to inform the design and delivery of services. ‘The Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days’ report states that services are often disjointed and difficult to navigate. 

To deliver the Start for Life, and the Family Hubs Transformation Programme through the 8 working Groups of the Family Hub Steering Group. These groups will focus on: 

• Access and welcoming hub for everyone 
• Communication and Virtual offer 
• Data, evidence, and evaluation 
• Start for Life and parent carer panels 
• Parenting support, home learning environment, and early language 
• Peri-natal mental health and parent-infant relationships 
• Recruitment, retention, and workforce 
• Pathways, development, and early identification of need.