Giving Children the Best Start in Life

#NottsBestStart

Giving children the best start Nottinghamshire Health and Wellbeing Board An infographic with three colourful blocks in orange, pink and blue. Wording reads: Best Start in Life.

Giving children the best start in life is a fundamental part of improving health and reducing inequalities. The earliest years of a child’s life have a significant impact on their long-term development and their life chances. If we get the early years right, we pave the way for a lifetime of achievement.

Giving a child the ‘best start’ begins before birth, with good pre-conception and maternity care. Pregnancy and the early years offer a unique opportunity to shape the lives of our children: if a child receives appropriate support during their early years, they have a real chance of maximising their potential.

To help families  understand what support and services are available from early pregnancy until two years old, we have developed the Nottinghamshire Best Start for Life offer.

 

Nottinghamshire Best Start Strategy "Having a Family Nurse gave me the knowledge and confidence to be the best parent I could possibly be. We grew a bond over the two years I had Dawn as my Family Nurse and she will never know how much she helped me." Charlotte Collison, Mansfield

The first 1001 days - from conception to the age of 2 - are a critical period of development. This is because the earliest experiences, starting in pregnancy, shape a baby’s brain development and have a lifelong impact: during the first two years of life the brain develops a remarkable capacity to absorb information and adapt to its surroundings. From birth to 18 months, connections in the brain are created at a rate of one million per second.

Giving every child the best start in life - a loving, secure and reliable relationship with a parent or carer, supports a child's emotional wellbeing, brain development, language development and ability to learn, and capacity to form and maintain positive relationships with others.

Nottinghamshire launched their partnership Best Start Strategy 2025-2030 [PDF] in November 2025 which aims to help every child in Nottinghamshire to have the best possible start in life. It will play a key role in delivering the government’s national commitment to improve early child development and reduce inequalities at a local level.

The strategy brings together key organisations to improve the life chances of all children in Nottinghamshire; working as a multi-agency Best Start Partnership to engage and support families prior to conception, in pregnancy and across the early years.   

We have developed five priorities for Nottinghamshire informed by the evidence base and our engagement with partners and families.

The five priorities for Nottinghamshire are as follows:

  1. Building blocks of health and wellbeing
  2. Parents mental health
  3. Preparing to be parents and healthy beginnings
  4. Building strong relationships
  5. Early experiences: chat, play, read and learn

The strategy builds on successful work already being delivered in Nottinghamshire and will be developing and evaluating activities and services which help to achieve the five priorities.

Find out more

Further information, evidence and local data can be found in the 1001 Days and Early Years and School Readiness joint strategic needs assessment chapters.

You can also email earlychildhoodservices@nottscc.gov.uk

This strategy has been created for Nottinghamshire county residents, but we recognise that we share many parts of our early years system with Nottingham City residents. Despite having two separate strategies we have the same vision for our 0-5s and have a joined-up approach where the needs of our 0- 5s and families are similar

Local services and support for families

National Websites