Best Start Plan

Getting the BEST START

We are pleased to introduce the reviewed North Lincolnshire plan for improving outcomes for young children and their families: Getting the BEST START Plan – a One FamilyApproach to improving outcomes for children in their early years.

The plan sets out our shared ambitions for young children from conception to five, within the framework of the One Family Approach, describing how we will work together as partnerships across community and voluntary and as statutory services and settings to improve outcomes for babies and young children right from the start, articulating measures for success and sharing accountability structures.

Through ensuring all families are enabled to participate in richly diverse opportunities for high-quality activities in their local area, excellent childcare and early years education, and effective specialist support to meet the needs of the most vulnerable, we want all children to make the best start, so that they make successful transitions into school and are well placed to achieve their full potential throughout that learning journey

Early Year population

• There are about 8,500 children under 5 in North Lincolnshire, with approximately 1,600 births a year.
• Almost 30% of children in primary schools are eligible for free school meals and around 30% of funded three- and four-year-olds are in receipt of Early Years pupil premium.
• 64.8% of five-year-olds attained a 'Good Level of Development' in 2024. Children in North Lincolnshire attain above the national average in Personal, Social and Emotional and Physical Development.
• 71 children under school age had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) agreed from 01/09/2023-31/08/2024; approximately 320 children under five have identified Speech, Language and Communication Needs.
• Just over 200 referrals for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities were discussed at the Early Years Triage for specialist support during 2023-24.
• Nearly a fifth of young children are from ethnic minority backgrounds compared to around a third in England, with approximately 13% speaking English as an additional language.
• All Early Years settings are judged to be good or outstanding by Ofsted.
• 76% of disadvantaged children (summer 2024) accessed 2-year-old funded early education and childcare, compared to around 74% nationally. Approximately 40% of children between 9 months and 2 years, rising to 50% at 3 and 4 years are taking up a funded early education childcare place.
• Under 50 children under four years old need protection and we have approximately 35 early years children in care.
• Public Health information can be found at Public health in North Lincolnshire/

Strategic and 'place' context

The 'Getting the BEST START' Plan is one of a suite of documents which link to the commissioning intent and associated priorities for children and families from the Integrated Children's Trust:

• Through surveys and feedback, young people and families have identified some areas of focus to challenge local partners to work together and have also identified challenges for themselves. These are articulated in the Children's Challenge. Young people and families are part of the solution and together, taking a One Family Approach, all stakeholders can work together to further improve the lives and experiences of children, young people and families.
• Helping Children and Families in North Lincolnshire provides clear guidance to professionals as to how they should, in the first instance, offer help and encouragement to children and families to find their own solutions, including online information, advice, guidance and sources of self-help. It describes the services available for supporting children and families to stay independent and resilient, in their families, schools, and communities. It sets out statutory thresholds for intervention, and the locally agreed levels of need used to inform decision-making.
• The NHS Long Term Plan articulates a new service model for the 21st century and sets out how pressures that NHS staff face will be tackled, as well as how the redesign of patient care will future-proof the NHS for the decade ahead.
• The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme sets out the vision for providing families with the integrated support they need to care for their children from conception, throughout the early years, and into the start of adulthood.

Achievements so far

Since the first Best Start Strategy in 2020, significant progress has been made in our place-based approach to supporting children and families. This work has been underpinned by increasingly effective partnership working across the Council, NHS and Voluntary and Community sector partners.

Improving children's healthy development, including early mental health and emotional well-being, from conception to 5

• Over 100 families with babies have been supported by the new Parent and Infant Emotional Well-being Service (PIEWs) which provides targeted support for mild to moderate perinatal mental health and supports parent infant relationship.
• Close partnership working with the voluntary and community sector facilitates focused peer support.
• New workforce training offer including early years emotional health and well-being developed, including training in national evidence-based interventions.
• 0-19 health and well-being service successfully recommissioned (RDaSH), with new initiatives to support parent – infant relationships such as the 'Me and My Baby' assessment and 'Coping with Crying' support.

Developing parental readiness and resilience

• Accessible Family Hubs are now open across North Lincolnshire.
• A digital offer, including virtual support for parents e.g. Easy Peasy app and Solihull online courses for parents have been positively received and accessed by over 1000 families.
• Midwifery teams have relocated to Family Hub buildings, which has increased partnership working and early identification of need.
• A new Dad's group operates at the local football club near to West Street Family Hub.

Increasing children's communication and language skills

• A revised screening and integrated 2-year assessment across early years education and health, including the new Early Language Identification Measure (ELIM) is in place.
• New graduated, integrated support at age 2 for children's speech, language and communication needs, with specialist speech and language therapy, advice and consultation from NHS partners (NLaG).
• Improvement in workforce understanding of how to support children and families through assessment triage system, coaching and training.
• New Time to Talk group run by 0-19 Health and Well-being (health visiting) team.
• Over 40 children have benefitted from evidence-based PEEP Learning Together groups within Family Hubs, providing targeted speech and language support for families.
• Additional guidance for the workforce and parents has been produced with a focus on the use of dummies, bottles and screen time.
• Continuation of the Imagination Library scheme.
• Increased attendance by childminders at training and CPD events, because of a new hybrid approach to delivery.

Improving children's readiness to start school

• A local definition of school readiness has been consulted and agreed upon, to facilitate a consistent approach across families, early years settings and schools about starting school.
• An annual questionnaire for early years settings and schools highlights strengths and areas of development.
• All families with children starting their reception year receive a copy of the 'Let's Get Ready for School' leaflet sharing key information and top tips about starting school. Weekly social media messages offer support and advice. A dedicated digital School Readiness page on the North Lincolnshire council website is now available and can be accessed in additional languages.
• The well attended, annual multi-professional 'Let's Get Ready for School' community event provides an opportunity for families to speak with Early Years and Health professionals about any questions or concerns they may have about their child starting school.
• Early years settings and 0 - 19 Health and Well-Being service have increased partnership working to support families with toilet training.

Closing the learning gap between the most and least advantaged

• A weekly Early Years triage has been introduced to discuss the integrated two-year-old assessment, along with revised monitoring and tracking of children's progress from age two.
• Over 200 children have been discussed this year (2023–2024) at the fortnightly multi-agency early years triage, to determine appropriate specialist support for early years children with additional needs.
• Early Years Personal Education Plan (PEP) guidance for children in care has been revised and standardised.
• All children access their funded early education entitlement in a good or better Ofsted inspected early years setting or school.
• Children of working parents are now eligible for 15 funded hours of early education and childcare.
• Increased support for 2-year-olds not in early education has been developed such as the 'Time to Talk' group run by the 0 – 19 Health and Well-being Service (RDaSH).
• Early years settings have benefitted from Covid-19 recovery funded training, including Early Maths, Personal Social and Emotional development and a Level 3 Early Years SENCO qualification, as well as peer mentoring, which have impacted on quality of practice.

Improving transitions

• A new transition tool kit, assessment templates and guidance has been produced for early years settings and schools.
• Early years cluster meetings (established between settings and schools) strengthen children's transitions between early years settings and school.
• Transition network meetings are held between Scunthorpe settings and schools.
• Revised systems for supporting and monitoring transition of the most vulnerable children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, children in care and those with social care support.
• A free training session has been offered to all schools to meet the needs of early years children with social communication differences.

Voice of parents, families and partners

I think this is a great way for children to interact with adults that will be present in their schools when they move up. Everyone is so friendly; with a shy child they really made an effort with her and before long she was joining in and having fun. It's an amazing thing to do, thank you for the opportunity to bring my daughter along. - Family feedback from the Let's Get Ready Community Event 2024

The PIEW team really listened and took my feelings on board. They always worked hard to find ways to support me and my family and improving my bond with my baby and partner. - Family feedback from the parent – Infant Emotional Well-being (PIEWS) service

Joining the PEEP (Parents as Early Education Partners) group at our school has been a transformative experience, not only for our children but for us as parents. This unique program stands as a beacon of how early education can be a collaborative and enriching journey. - Family feedback from the PEEP group at Oasis Academy, Henderson Avenue

Working in partnership with all agencies under one roof has provided the pregnant people in this catchment area the chance to have, not only continuity in their obstetric care but the opportunity to liaise and link in with other community-based services to help improve their lives. Therefore, this improves health outcomes and equality in the care offered. Community based services are essential to provide safe health care to all. Feedback from the patients has been excellent - Community Midwifery Manager – NLaG NHS Trust

Feedback from parents/carers to the Portage Team:

• We want to say a huge thank you, you've been beyond amazing. We will really miss you. Thank you for all your support.
• The team worked with us and she was amazing. We are incredibly grateful for your kindness, patience and guidance.
• The Portage Service has been wonderful and a huge support over the last 2 years. Thank you so much.
• We can only thank X for all the support she gave us and our son. She was always tireless and always looked for alternatives to accommodate X at every possible level over the last 3 years. She is an excellent professional.

Feedback for First Steps Forward, run by Community Vision, our voluntary and community sector partners:

• I refer to First Steps Forward because I know I can rely on them to provide the support my clients need. They are so friendly and very knowledgeable and the feedback I get from my clients is always very positive and that is why I am a repeat referrer! As a Social Prescriber it is often difficult to signpost to somewhere that will help with a variety of needs all in one place but the team at First Steps Forward are very versatile in their approach to support and care
• First Steps Forward have provided my families with intensive support and helped in so many ways from supporting with isolation and anxiety issues to helping one of my families relocate to a more suitable home for her and her baby. We have built up a sound relationship with the team at First Steps Forward and I am confident that when I refer a family for help that the support will be there and will be delivered in a kind, non-judgmental and reliable way. The team at First Steps go over and above what is expected.
• I was at rock bottom when I was introduced to First Steps Forward. With their patience and understanding I have gained confidence in so many areas I have started volunteering at my local Community Centre and I am now looking for a job.

Feedback from Parent / Carer Family Hub panel:

• It's a safe space and I got support when I needed it.
• Within the Parent Carer Panel meetings, I can have input into all the sessions that happen
• I cannot find fault because the staff and parents all care about the children, it's like a family.
• There has not been a bad day anytime in any of the sessions, because we're all together as one.

Feedback from school professionals attending the training to support the transition of children into school: Supporting Early Years Children with Social Communication Differences:

• Great to have different services delivering the course, lots of strategies shared. Thank you.
• Really informative and reassuring. Thank you!
• Great examples of resources to support children's communication and interactions.
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Our priorities

Our shared priorities are to

• Ensure accessible universal and targeted, high-quality provision through the development of Family Hubs
• Continue to improve children's healthy development, including early mental health and emotional well-being, from conception to age 5
• Increase children's communication and language skills
• Further strengthen children's readiness to start school
• Close the learning gap between the most and least advantaged
• Improve transitions in their broadest sense for the most vulnerable children

We will achieve this through

• Integrated working and data sharing, including strengthened partnership with the voluntary sector
• Developing parental readiness, resilience and ability to support an effective home learning environment
• Ensuring sufficiency of high-quality early years care and education
• Strategic planning for workforce development
• A commitment from leaders at all levels and clear lines of accountability
• An enabling children and family offer which is accessible to all
• Targeting and engaging the most vulnerable

In North Lincolnshire everyone is focused on making a real difference to children's lives.

We have passionate and committed staff across the Early Years sector who are clear about their purpose and the people they serve.

We are focused on delivering high-quality accessible education and childcare, working towards 30-hours funded provision for children over 9 months and wraparound care in all primary and infant schools close to home, which meet children's and families' needs and circumstances, so that parents can go to work knowing their children are safe, cared for and having their emotional and learning needs met.

We want to ensure the most vulnerable receive the support they need so they can thrive.

One Family Approach

In North Lincolnshire we believe that support and services should be inclusive and enabling.

We want children to feel and be safe in their families, in their schools and in their communities.

We want children and families to be able to help themselves, to participate in and be supported by their communities, to access local information, advice, and support and remain resilient and independent.

We improve families and children's lives through a whole-family approach to Family Help. We listen to children and families and enable them to lead: 'nothing done about me, without me'.

We offer support when things get tough.

Ambition

We all want to live in a place we call home, with the people and things that we love, in communities where we look out for one another, doing things that matter to us. This is at the heart of the One Family Approach.

As children, young people and families, we want to be:

Resilient, Happy Positive, Interested, Ambitious, Informed, Individual, Empowered and Enabled.

Early Years Outcomes Framework

Universal Framework

Safe

All children are born into and grow up in families and communities that know how to, and do, provide safe care and prevent injuries.

Parents and carers access information and guidance, including online, and from their local Family or Community Hub when needed.

Parents and carers seek help and support from their families, friends, and communities, when they experience challenges. They turn to their trusted early years or health professional when needed.

Children and families stay safe by participating in accessible, enabling activities and experiences in their local areas.

Well

All babies and children benefit from good health and are cared for in healthy households and communities, and so develop a sense of a healthy lifestyle.

Midwives support parents to care for and meet the needs of very young babies.

Parents, carers and families have access to health information and guidance online or directly through their local community hub, early years or health professional.

All children and families access 0-19 universal health visiting service, which promotes full take up of vaccinations.

All children have a joined up integrated assessment between 2 and 2 ½ years, including the Early Language Identification Measure.

Prosperous

All children receive the universal local offer, including Imagination Library and Family Hub information about what's on locally.

Parents and carers access welfare rights advice, and take up opportunities to learn, volunteer, develop skills and employment.

All children start school with their needs assessed and understood and with a learning offer that matches their needs.

Full take up of childhood inoculations means that no children miss school with key illnesses.

Full take up of early years funded education and childcare by disadvantaged children means they are ready for their next stage of education.

Effective early years education and childcare enables parents to work, knowing their children are accessing high quality care and education and have their needs met.

Connected

All children access high quality funded early education and childcare places in their local communities.

All children have local early years settings and schools which are graded good or outstanding by Ofsted.

0 to 5-year-olds and their families live in good quality accommodation.

All children and their families have local, accessible outdoor places to play.

All children and families have opportunities to share their views and experiences and shape services in North Lincolnshire.

All children and parents can access a range of information and guidance.

Families have equality of access to the online and digital world.

Targeted Framework

Safe

The most vulnerable babies are identified early by midwives and health visitors, so that specialist help enables families to protect them and reduce escalation of needs.

The most vulnerable babies and children swiftly access specialist assessment, support and protection when needed so they can remain with their families in their communities.

Children are kept safe by ensuring consistent multiagency approaches to ensuring safety are standard. (MARS)

Well

Parents with adverse childhood experiences are supported to understand their child and create secure attachments.

The most vulnerable children receive timely specialist support via the 0-19 Service's Intensive Family Team.

Children's health and development needs are identified early, and specialist help enables families to care for children at home.

Prosperous

There are fewer households where children live experiencing parental domestic abuse, substance misuse and mental health.

The most vulnerable families have access to information, advice and guidance that enables opportunities into volunteering, training, and employment.

Parents who are most disadvantaged access inclusive, confidence building routes to education, training and employment accessing relevant support.

Connected

Children of care leavers have childcare and early education places that support their needs and those of their parents.

Children with disabilities and SEND have high quality specialist provision that meets individual needs and access relevant support.

New and young parents are enabled to access peer support and opportunities to meet other parents in their community.

What will the Early Years offer look like?

Universal High-Quality Provision

• Which meets the needs of all children close to home
• A comprehensive workforce development offer focusing on pedagogy and practice, early identification of need, SEND and child development, improving knowledge and skills across the sector
• Joined up planning and delivery linked with community partners to meet local need
• A One Family Approach, enabling support for vulnerable families
• Overarching statutory universal provision i.e. sufficiency of early education and childcare places, health visitors and midwifery services

Integrated Working

• Partnership approach ensures accessible and integrated services to families.
• Community offer, including Family Hubs, which meets the needs of parents and children through a face to face, virtual and digital offer
• Support for parents' mental health and resilience, understands the impact of adverse childhood experiences on parenting and intergenerational behaviours
• Accessible Family Help offer
• Staff with high levels of expertise across all services
• Partnership working with voluntary sector strengthens understanding of barriers for families who don't access mainstream services

Developing the workforce

A strategic plan for workforce development improves outcomes in the broadest sense and includes

• Training on evidence-based family support interventions
• Comprehensive hybrid training and CPD for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) workforce
• Peer support for EYFS colleagues in schools.
• Joint planning and delivery of early years training with local further and higher education settings.
• Accessible training, tools and progression starting from introductory level, through T-Levels and on to degrees in Early Childhood Studies. Affordable routes to Early Years qualifications through apprenticeships at levels 2, 3, 5 and 6
• Local School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) programme includes specific inputs on EYFS, including from practising EYFS teachers.
• Commissioned CPD programmes target identified sector needs e.g. supporting social communication, enabling environments and progression with phonics.
• Focus on key priority areas e.g. communication and language, emotional development and well-being.
• Increased partnership delivery of training and CPD across the council and NHS colleagues e.g. support for toilet training,
• Tiered communication and language training, delivered by the council and NLaG NHS trust.
• Continued partnership working with the voluntary sector, in particular First Steps Forward (Community Vision) who offer valued Family Support for families with children 0-5.

How will we achieve this?

Systems Leadership

• A single strategic plan which sets out our shared ambitions for children
• Established system to develop, evaluate and improve practice, provision and outcomes
• Collaborative approaches with a common understanding of how everyone contributes
• Strong and effective settings and practitioners support others to improve (peer to peer support)

Transitions

• Well understood principles and agreed transition documentation to ensure effective transitions
• Intelligence led partnership approaches, support and enable settings and schools to share high-quality information pre and post transitions
• Embedded joint working: council, health, settings, schools, community groups and Family Hubs share information, effective strategies and models of support
• Midwifery and health visiting services are key in early identification, enabling vulnerable families to access help right from the start
• Specific focused work improves transitions for vulnerable groups
• Agreed priorities for 'readiness for school' are shared between partners, schools, settings and families. Families receive key information and advice to support their child's transition into reception.

Developing an Enabling Children's Offer

• A universal, accessible, comprehensive health, care, education, leisure and culture offer is complemented by targeted and specialist Family Help for those that need it most.
• A professional understanding underpins work with parents, recognising their role as children's first educators, as well as their views and experiences. Support for families is enabling, giving parents the tools they need.
• Families access the information and guidance they need online and from family and friends

Communication and Language

• A local, shared 'Communication Counts' approach sets out information and support ranging from universal to specialist including Imagination Library, Words Count, Family Hubs, Early Years settings and schools and SEND
• Improved early identification through the integrated 2-year-old assessment between early years settings and health, including the Early Language Identification Measure (ELIM), and co-ordinated support to improve outcomes.
• Solution focused enabling approaches, removing barriers to accessing services
• Signposting and promotion to families of universal enabling services such as Imagination Library, Family Hubs, Family Learning and Words Count

What will it look like?

Reach to the Most Vulnerable

• Low level consistent support builds confidence and resilience; the One Family Approach ensures a trusted worker provides consistent relationships over time
• Needs are met at the lowest level - Health Visitors, Midwifery, Family Hubs, Family Help, early years settings and schools work together to wrap services around family and support children to stay in their home, their school and their community
• Effective identification and early help supports vulnerable children in their families from before birth
• Support for parents' mental health and resilience seeks to mitigate the impact of adverse childhood experiences on parenting and intergenerational behaviours.

Information Sharing

• Public health and other analytical intelligence informs strategic planning and approaches including community specific issues
• Data sharing systems and protocols support improved outcomes
• Working together differently to build on successes and maximise impact - people, community, organisational
• Consistent information sharing informs targeted improvement work, transitions and family support to improve outcomes for children

How will we know whether it's working?

We will know this by:

• Ongoing engagement with children, young people and families in the local area
• Understanding what has and has not worked before, evaluating projects, workstreams, strategies and plans
• Understanding what performance information and data is telling us
• Understanding what voice and practice wisdom is telling us

Working together (taking a One Family Approach) we will listen, learn, review and adapt, leading to improved outcomes and experiences where children, young people and families are

Voice

North Lincolnshire has an enduring commitment to seeking and acting on the views of stakeholders, with recognised excellence in enabling the voice of children, young people and their families. Partnership working across council, health, education and early years sector, community and voluntary organisations has been key to developing the shared ambitions and approaches set out in the Best Start plan.

We will continue to engage with: Partners across the sector and agencies that touch on the lives of children including:

• Parents and families, including through the parent and carer panels
• Youth council / school councils
• Voluntary partners

We will also continue to ensure wide engagement with children and families, ensuring that their lived experiences shape our priorities.

We will work together to make a difference to all young children's lives in North Lincolnshire, and to get feedback on how we're doing.

In North Lincolnshire, our One Family Approach aims to create a system that works for all children, young people and families, where we work together to provide and commission integrated services for children and young people

The Getting the BEST START Plan sets out how services support very young children and their families to participate and achieve; to access learning and childcare, support and activities in their local communities; to find help online and in their networks and communities; to be resilient and stay independent. Impact and success is monitored and measured through the Integrated Children's Trust, the Education Standards Board and the Health and Wellbeing Board.

Measures of success

The principles of Outcomes Based Accountability underpin our approach to monitoring success, evaluating impact and planning next steps. These are universal outcomes; however, we will deliver services at the right time in the right communities. There will be many more qualitative ways in which we gather evidence of impact and measure improvements in outcomes for children and their families, however some key comparable measures of success will include:

• Increase the take-up of disadvantaged two-year olds accessing funded early education
• Improve the proportion of children achieving a healthy weight by the reception year
• Reduce the percentage of mothers smoking at time of birth
• Increase the percentage of children, including disadvantaged children, who achieve a good level of development at 5 years old
• Increase in parents accessing support for their own mental health and well-being
• Increase the proportion of mothers initiating breastfeeding, and continuing to breastfeed at 6 weeks
• Improve the proportion of children achieving their milestones at 2 years old
• Increase the percentage of good and outstanding early years settings and schools
• Increase the proportion of mothers attending maternity appointments in key communities
• Embed trauma informed approach across the workforce with evidence of increased understanding and skills
• Increase engagement and impact of workforce training and CPD
• Reduce the percentage of teenage pregnancies
• Increase the recruitment and retention of qualified staff in early years
• Increase the percentage take up of ante-natal and early years vaccinations

Contact Details

Cerys Townend – Assistant Director, Education

StandardsandEffectiveness@northlincs.gov.uk

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