Better Start

– Dr Matt Price, Director of Research and Grants, 1001 Critical Days Foundation
– Sally Hogg, Associate Director, Programme and Impact, The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood

With more speakers to be announced soon…

𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞:
– Tim Hobbs, CEO, Dartington Service Design Lab
– Louise Bazalgette, Deputy Director of A Fairer Start Mission, Nesta
– Dr Beverley Barnett Jones MBE, Associate Director (Practice and Impact), Nuffield Family Justice Observatory

🔸 How can we better measure long-term outcomes for children and families, beyond school readiness?
🔹 What does true systems change look like in the early years – and how do we know when we’re achieving it?

𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐞’𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:
🔸 How do we build a compelling case for investment in the early years that resonates with policymakers and the public?
🔹 Can place-based approaches deliver better outcomes at scale – or are they always bespoke?

Join us for our full day conference where real conversations, powerful connections and shared ideas will drive meaningful change for the early years sector.

𝐓𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔!

🗓️ Thursday March 5, 2026
🕘 9am – 5pm
📍 Blackpool Football Club, FY1 6JJ
🎟️ 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐝: £75 (until 31 Dec 2025)
🔗 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞: betterstart.org.uk/conference/

We can't wait to welcome you all!

𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞: 24th October, 2025

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: betterstart.org.uk/call-for-abs...

𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬:
Short oral presentations
Poster presentations

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞:
Speech, Language and Communication ~ Diet and Nutrition ~ Social and Emotional Development ~ Co-production ~ Child Poverty ~ Equality, Diversity and Inclusion ~ Infant Voice ~ Systems Change

This is your chance to share your innovative, impactful, thought-provoking research, projects or services with a national audience of early years professionals, policymakers, researchers, and charity/government leaders.

📣 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧!
We’re inviting submissions for 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 in Blackpool, 5th March 2026 – a full-day event spotlighting health and social inequalities and, crucially, ways we can all improve the wellbeing of babies, children, families, and communities across the UK.

JOB ALERT!

A new exciting opportunity for a new 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿 to join our existing Blackpool Early Years Team at Better Start.

For more information: lnkd.in/epZbzBqR

Welcome from Clare Clare Law, Director of Better Start Welcome to the first edition of our quarterly newsletter, a national resource where we highlight our latest news and feature analysis of some of the most current to...

Check out our first ever edition of The Better Start Briefing! Our new newsletter features the latest about what we've been up to in the world of #EarlyYears, as well as a welcome message from our Director Clare Law.
You can subscribe here>> www.linkedin.com/pulse/welcom...

Our speech and language and early years strategy and services have always had play at their heart.

We’re always happy to champion play as part of healthy child development, and help make real change for childhoods. #EverythingToPlayFor #NationalPlayStrategy #PlaySufficiency #ItAllStartsWithPlay

The report urges the Government to restore play to the heart of childhood in England. Play is so important for children’s mental and physical health and helps them develop social and emotional skills.

Ban 'no ball games' signs to get children off devices, play experts say Experts say outdoor play in England has declined by 50% and are calling for urgent change.

We invited BBC News to one of our outdoor events and provided expert comment on a report published today by Centre for Young Lives, ‘𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘍𝘰𝘳: 𝘈 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺’. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Community Connectors then manage the relationship with the parent and support through to their appointment, lowering fail to attend numbers and short notice cancellations.

It has meant that children under 5 that aren’t currently registered with a dentist have been able to access preventative treatment with linked local dentists.
We developed the ‘𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐡’ referral process inviting parents to text our number to register an interest in accessing the dentist.

One highlight of our oral health strategy is our collaborative work with NHS England that has secured funding to support increased access to a dentist for our youngest children.

Between 2015 and 2021 there has been a 11.3% decrease in the number of 5 year olds with dental decay in Blackpool. Nationally there has been a 1% increase. Additionally, over 5750 children 2-4 have benefited from supervised toothbrushing in their early years setting.

🦷Supervised Toothbrushing in Early Years Settings
🦷HENRY infant feeding service
🦷Early Dental Access and preventative support

Better Start, working collaboratively with partners, parents, early years settings, dental practices and NHS England, has coproduced with parents consistent oral health messaging for professionals and established three key services:

We were frustrated to see a recent article on tooth decay in #Blackpool not include the work being done locally to tackle early years oral health improvement.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Education Secretary is absolutely right that '𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬'; we look forward to working with everyone to make that a reality.

Our Better Start Systems Building approach in Blackpool has shown beyond any doubt that integrating services properly can have real impact, and that there are things we can do differently within the same funding envelope.

While we hope the imminent Spending Review will unlock vital new resources to meet these challenges, budget alone won’t see lasting change. 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘀.

@unicefmedia.bsky.social's timely report, 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥’ confirms that too many children across the UK do not have access to the conditions they need to thrive - poverty and deprivation are negatively impacting their chances in life.

Clare Law, Director at Better Start providing expert early years comment today at one of our outdoor literacy events. Can't wait to share when the piece goes live #EarlyYears #RealChangeForChildhoods #Media

👉 Train the Trainer for the Brain Architecture Game (Monday 30th 09:30-12:30) 🧵 4/4

👉 Adversity & Trauma: The Impact, Coping Strategies, & Protective Factors for our Blackpool Clients & Workforce (Tuesday 10th 09:30-12:30 and Tuesday 24th 09:30-12:30) 🧵 3/4

👉 Brain Architecture Game (Monday 2nd 10am-12 and Tuesday 17th 13:30-15:30) 🧵 2/4