My newsletter Early Years High 5 is out now 1 Half of children on FSM aren’t ‘school ready’ 2 Teaching assistants feel undervalued 3 Age matters in EYFS data 4 What can England learn from global SEND policy? 5 Where should the next 400 Family Hubs go? 📩 Read more: www.linkedin.com/newsletters/...

We are pleased to share Funding Futures, a project commissioned by Collective Futures, Henry Smith Foundation and the Ethos Foundation, and delivered with EPI, Mime and Isos Partnership. It identifies the most effective ways to target early years investment and reduce local disadvantage gaps.

📣𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝟱 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 Check out the lastest edition of my free monthly newsletter on Linkedin www.linkedin.com/build-relati...

The 30 hour policy extension is the continuation of a huge shift in government funding in the early years, from what had been a much greater focus on supporting lower income children's development, to money going to better off families for childcare. www.theguardian.com/money/2025/s...

Some great analysis by my colleagues at Nesta looking at where new Best Start Family Hubs should be located in order to improve outcomes for children in the early years. It's important to look deeper than local authority level data! www.nesta.org.uk/data-visuali...

With the release of the Explainer Series of short animations/videos by The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, read Voices blog by Sarah Cartner as she shares her experience of being one of the practitioners who helped co-produce these films. ihv.org.uk/news-and-vie... #HealthVisiting

Spending on the new childcare entitlements next year could be £1bn higher than initially forecast in March 2023 - a 25% increase. So what's going on? I break down the numbers that @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social and @maxwarner.bsky.social set out in @theifs.bsky.social post-Spending Review briefing.

May research update! Each month, I put together a list of new research about early childhood and policy, including benefits policy, ECEC, parenting support and services. After being told many times to share it beyond the Nesta team, I've finally gotten around to it. First edition here:

My colleague @rachelwilcock.bsky.social is organising an excellent event for anyone interested in how we use data to improve services for children and families in the early years. Sign up now! www.nesta.org.uk/event/using-...

A few weeks ago 250 people join us for our online event - sharing learning on 'how to support early years innovation in local authorities'. Catch up now with the recording on youtube to hear from leaders from local authorities, DfE and funders! www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Np...

More than 250 people joined our launch event for the A Fairer Start Local report last week. Watch on youtube to hear what we learned by working with three local authorities to support innovation in early years services. www.youtube.com/live/H_Np9ET...

🚨 We’re hiring! My team at @nestauk.bsky.social are looking for a Quantitative Analyst 📊 If you’re interested in generating data-led insights which can have a real world impact, this may be the role for you. More information in the job advert, but happy to answer any queries about the role!

Our innovation in the early years report shares what we've learned about how to innovate effectively in early years services www.nesta.org.uk/report/innov.... Read the report to see how we used a 'test and learn' approach to increase integration of health visiting and midwifery teams in Stockport

Today we launched the final report for A Fairer Start Local - innovation partnerships with the brilliant Leeds, York, Stockport & GMCA. I wrote this for the LGC on the lessons we learnt on innovating well, hopefully useful for the emerging Opportunity Mission! www.lgcplus.com/services/chi...

Want to learn more? 🎟️ Join our lunchtime webinar on 24 April to hear from those who delivered the programme – from Nesta analysts and designers to early years leaders and practitioners in local authorities. Register to attend: bit.ly/41j24ZN

This report is the culmination of some incredible partnership working between nesta and local authorities. Take a look to see what innovation in the early years can achieve!

A highlight of my time at Nesta so far is bringing colleagues from York, Stockport & Leeds councils together to reflect on the difference they've made through 'A Fairer Start Local'. We've distilled all that wisdom into a report launching soon. Sign up to hear more! www.nesta.org.uk/event/a-fair...

🧵 My team @nestauk.bsky.social recently did a really interesting piece of analysis comparing borrowing rates of library books to speech & language therapy referral rates in Leeds, showing that areas with high levels of re-referrals to SLT correspond with low borrowing of books 1/2

This report from Better Purpose was commissioned by a collaborative group of early years funders. It addresses 'what works to improve children's outcomes'. Definitely worth reading! www.betterpurpose.co/early-childh...

The government is putting integrated EY support at the top of the policy agenda in England, but getting the infrastructure for data collection and sharing right from the start is crucial. I wrote a blog for @nestauk.bsky.social on lessons we can learn from Wales' Flying Start programme 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

I'm a bit late to the party but have finally got a copy of the book and signed up for the next book club event in March! Looking forward to it :)

Our @ihealthvisiting.bsky.social annual HV survey published‼️ A call to get the basics right, with action to rebuild the HV workforce that has been cut beyond the bone in too many areas🚨 The needs of babies, children & families must lie at the heart of all service transformation👶🏾👶🏼👶🏿👇

Our Manifesto for Childminders sets out 9 actions to address plummeting childminder numbers, ensuring children have the very best start in life. Let's make 2025 the year for childminding! www.pacey.org.uk/wp-content/u...

The UK AI Opportunity Plan and Gov's response is now live... There's lots to comb through, but a few first thoughts below 🧵(1/8). www.gov.uk/government/p... @adalovelaceinst.bsky.social

The largest early years program, the "free entitlement" to funded childcare, grew from £1bn in 2001 to £4bn by 2023 (in today’s prices). Planned spending will double in the next 4 years, marking the fastest and largest expansion on record. [THREAD 1/4]

The phrase 'AI slop' describes uses of AI where it adds no value and no-one asked for it. It's exactly what we're trying to avoid in our project exploring AI in the early years. Instead we aim to understand real challenges & see how AI might or might not help www.nesta.org.uk/report/unloc...

Such a huge amount of money going into the early years - with so little going to children from poorer families who stand to benefit the most from high quality early education.

To govern is to choose, so what choices face the government in the upcoming 2025 spending review? A thread based on our new @theifs.bsky.social annual report on education spending in England ifs.org.uk/publications... [1/6]

Thought BlueSky could do with a fatherhood starter pack! Message me if youd like an add! go.bsky.app/4YTr8om

Interested in keeping up with research in early years? This month my free newsletter on LinkedIn covers research into digital media and its impact on early language development, rising rates of SEND, the decline in numbers of childminders and more ⤵️ www.linkedin.com/build-relati...

I was lucky enough to write one of nesta's 2025 Signals - had a lot of fun writing about how this could/should be the year policymakers in England take heed of the grassroots social movement in children's play and with a policy commitment to good play in childhood www.nesta.org.uk/feature/futu...

Researchers at the NIHR Children Policy Research Unit have published their latest paper “What do parents, professionals and policy colleagues want from a universal assessment of child development in the early years? A qualitative study in England” https://buff.ly/4gHfGDc #HealthVisiting

No matter how many times I see it illustrated, I’ll never stop marveling at the miracle of early development. Think about it… (Thread 🧵)

Could AI empower early years professionals, to give them more time to spend directly with children or make that time even more effective? See what we learned and how you can get involved as we move to testing ideas: www.nesta.org.uk/project-upda... Thanks to everyone who helped shape this work!

A great opportunity for a psychology / SLT phd student or postdoc to apply their skills in an exciting startup for a 6 months placement, exploring AI for children's SLT read more: drive.google.com/file/d/1RsNi...

Fairer Start Local: we've partnered with Leeds City Council to launch Play Together, Talk Together This series of playful learning installations is designed for parents & young children to enjoy together, created by artists & play practitioners, with feedback from families in Leeds. bit.ly/4izdzmn

Colleagues at @nestauk.bsky.social and Leeds City Council launched 'Play Together, Talk Together' last week - 7 playful learning installations designed to encourage moments of connection and support early speech and language www.nesta.org.uk/project-upda...

📢New All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Babies launched!👶The new Group's purpose is to champion the needs of vulnerable babies & will be led by the elected officers @mayaellismp.bsky.social @elsieblundellmp.bsky.social Patrick Spencer MP & Freddie van Mierlo MP. More details 👉bit.ly/4f8Ved6

This is really positive news. While most of government action has been focused on rolling out childcare entitlements for working families, great to see something focused on improving early education for the poorest.

NEW: The current system for funding special educational needs in England is broken. Our new report, funded by @nuffieldfoundation.org, shows how recent big funding increases haven’t been sufficient to cover rising need, and why the system needs urgent change: [THREAD: 1/9]

Interesting new report out from @ippr.bsky.social and @savechildrenuk.bsky.social - "Amongst the poorest fifth of parents with young children, only a third (36 per cent) use formal childcare, compared to double that (73 per cent) of the highest earning households." www.ippr.org/articles/the...

It's time to get serious about scaling up effective parenting support! Great blog from Nesta's @loubazalgette.bsky.social and Donna Molloy from @foundationsww.bsky.social foundations.org.uk/now-is-the-t...

What a thrill to watch your child take their first steps. But I want to spotlight something else about this video (shared on IG by sean.nicol): the sheer perfection of the support system created by its adults. (Thread 🧵)

Info on Government’s school readiness commitments is here: www.gov.uk/missions/opp... It does mention parents, health visiting, start for life etc. so is broader than education. (Babies are there!) But it also, at this point, mainly about the goal. The strategy/policy/spending will follow.

It's great to see a focus from govt on improving school readiness, and giving “every child, whatever their background, a fair chance to succeed” But that rhetoric just isn't currently being met by actual policy - the huge early years expansion being rolled out excludes many low income children ⬇️

How can we support pupils on free school meals to reach a good level of development? Colleagues from @nestauk.bsky.social worked with ACER on 7 case studies from Bexley to Warrington describing early-years delivery models that are particularly successful www.nesta.org.uk/feature/case...

Quick ask for LA/NHS people 🙏 If you work with ASQ-3 data or early years funding data and know which data system either of them sit on (e.g. SystmOne, EMIS, Synergy, Capita One) would you mind filling out this very very short form? forms.gle/jL7wranPu8Ko... Thank you!! 🌟

New research from @unicef.org UK and @nspcc.bsky.social sets out how families experiencing poverty face barriers accessing early childhood services and how the UK Government can reform and rebuild these services so that they work for every child. Full report here: www.unicef.org.uk/policy/openi...

I attended last year and it was one of the most inspirational and uplifting days of 2023 - surrounded by a group of highly dedicated and expert health professionals united by a common goal of supporting children and families and reducing health inequalities. Highly recommend joining an iHV event!