The Knowledge Hub

Establishing a collective vision for babies, young children and their families across professionals and with communities is critical to make long lasting generational change. Developing a ‘guiding star’ which cuts across individual priorities and is collectively developed increases agency and drive, but also the likelihood of success.

Bringing together communities and professionals to develop this shared vision builds trust, strengthens relationships and creates a sense of ownership. Visioning should include not only what the future should be for every child but also how collectively is the vision going to be achieved.

This vision and purpose will drive and keep on track the goal of creating stronger systems, any decision on services impacting on early years families across the system should link back to this vision.

REPORTS:

> Defining a collective strategy: Model of Change
> Investing in Early Years Literacy

A shared understanding of strengths and challenges within systems across all stakeholders builds on the shared vision and enables the development of a meaningful strategy and action. Considering child and family outcomes and across a place and insight from practitioners and families on issues which are preventing babies and young children from having the best start is critical to truly transform a system.

Data informed decision making and effective monitoring of data, evidence and insight across the course of implementing new systems will keep focus on the priority areas for action. Collective sensemaking of what is working well and where there are opportunities to do things better, being responsive to emerging challenges, and identification of gaps in provision keeps the ‘guiding star’ in focus.

REPORTS:

> Data informed decision making in Early Years Systems
> Good practice guide: Evaluation of parent-infant services
> Service transformation: Enhanced Health Visiting Service
> Individualised targeted support: Early Parenthood Service
> Community-led consultation and co-production
> Learning from Parent-Infant Relationship Services

Strategy development is critical in the building of stronger systems. Bringing together communities, professionals and evidence to define how the vision and purpose are going to be realised.

Blackpool Better Start has been based on a simple Model of Change which focuses on two critical components. Building capabilities of parents and reducing the pressures that families face.

The Model of Change guides the development of pathways of support for all parents from universal provision, early help supporting prevention and early identification of need, to targeted and specialist support. Providing more support universally supports the principle of progressive universalism and this enables foundations of strong universal provision with evidence-based services providing targeted support for families with increased need.

REPORTS:

> Accessible green spaces: Early Years Park Rangers
> Working together to support ‘School Readiness’
> Whole system approach to improving infant feeding

Building strong early years systems required visible, committed and determined leadership. Developing a shared vision and purpose which is communicated from senior leaders through organisations gives a powerful signal that babies and childhoods matter and drives forward a commitment to be brave and shift culture and behaviour towards integrated, place-based, family focused ways of working.

Strong multi-agency governance structures which hold this vision and decision-making ensures that partners are accountable. Through strong governance there is the potential to be innovative in system transformation, bringing together both decision makers and budget holders to collectively bring about change.

REPORTS:

> Establishing a Good Governance Structure
> Making change through co-production
> Born into Care: co-designed mapping of pre-birth pathways
> Developing a Speech, Language and Communication Triage Panel

We know that Family involvement underpins system building at three main levels.

First and most fundamentally, empowering parents and fostering social support networks creates strength and resilience and is therefore at the heart of our preventative approach.​

Secondly, parental engagement is essential for service improvement and reducing inequalities.​Ensuring meaningful involvement of families through inclusion of lived experience, in consultation, co-design and co-productive process increases acceptability, takeup, and the likelihood of effectiveness.

Thirdly, active inclusion of local families and community members in shaping local vision and strategy and developing committed local champions is likely to ensure sustainability of new approaches and systems.

REPORTS:

> Community Connectors: bridging the gap
> Increasing uptake of the Healthy Start Scheme
> Design of oral health programmes for 0-4s
> Community Budgeting Approaches with Early Years Parents
> Supporting Early Years Families with the Cost of Living

The early years workforce is diverse and wide reaching across public, voluntary and private sectors. Engaging the whole workforce in the collective vision for early years requires a strategic approach to consistently sharing the knowledge of the first 1001 days, child development and the impact of early childhood adversity on children and families.

Ensuring this foundational knowledge is widely shared and the workforce is engaged with the shared vision will motivate practitioners with a collective purpose to support families. This supports professionals to hold each other across professional boundaries and reduce silo working.

Involvement of the workforce in either the design or implementation of services for families adds another layer to the commitment as they truly feel part of the service design and the outcome for those receiving support.

REPORTS:

> Creating inclusive early years support for every dad in Blackpool
> Guidelines for becoming a trauma-informed school
> Strategies to support Early Years communication