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Nottinghamshire County Council is working hard with partners to ensure that all children have the best start in life.  

A good start helps children and families to stay healthy and thrive, as well as reducing inequalities, and creates a solid foundation for young children to successfully develop.

The council works with parents, communities and local services to create the right conditions for children and families to grow and develop interpersonal skills. The family hubs are central to the approach, and offer a wide range of sessions, groups and activities designed to support families and those expecting a baby. The first 1001 days of a child’s life, from the start of pregnancy to their second birthday, is the time when their brain develops the most and they grow the quickest. Having the right start makes a big difference to their future. Parents and parents-to-be can find out about the support and services available through our best start offer, including home learning programmes and parenting programmes, strengthening parent and child relationships to help both parent and child be ready for school.  

Councillor Dawn Justice, Cabinet Member for Communities and Public Health, said: “In Nottinghamshire we want all our children to have the best start in life. When children have a great start, it sets them up for success later in life."

“Alongside partners, we are working tirelessly to achieve this through a variety of services and support on offer for local families. I’m delighted to see the success that has already been achieved for families, from the support we have on offer.”

Councillor Hana John, Cabinet Member for Education, and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) says: “We want to provide our children with the best start by equipping them to enter education. In Nottinghamshire, we are ensuring appropriate strategies are in place to support their aspirations and achieve their success in life as they grow."

One family which is benefiting from the support on offer is Oliver and his mum Sarah. Sarah wanted to help Oliver build confidence and social skills and was feeling overwhelmed and isolated with her partner working long hours. After Oliver’s two-year developmental review, they were referred to their local family hub and joined the ‘Now I am 2’ programme and this has had a life-changing impact on the family.

Initially, Oliver was reserved but week by week small changes emerged as his confidence grew and he began getting involved with more activities, while Sarah attended parenting courses that gave her practical strategies for supporting Oliver at home.

The early intervention from the family hub and close partnership working meant that Oliver is now more prepared for starting nursery. Talking about the support the family received Sarah said, “(It) has helped our son improve his focus, exploration, language and knowledge of the outdoors. The facilitators are lovely, friendly and great at encouraging the children.”

Partners are working together to improve and build on child developments, so that, by age five children have a good level of development. This will help prepare them for school so that they can communicate with others, make friends, play and explore confidently.

Leo is another child who has seen changes in his development thanks to support from his local family hub. His mum, Sophie, was worried about Leo’s delayed speech and language development, late walking and how he would cope with nursery and school.

A practitioner listened to Sophie’s concerns and identified that home-based support would be better for Leo, instead of a group session. He then started the Let’s Play programme, where activities were tailored to Leo’s interests to help build familiarity and engagement. Sophie was also supported with resources and advice to build her confidence and understanding of child development. 

The support has given Leo more independence, helped him manage emotions better, and he has started to socialise with other children, all of which are key skills preparing him for school and life beyond. It has also empowered Sophie to see her role as Leo’s primary influence in development. Sophie said: “I do think there has been an overall improvement in his development. It has improved our relationship.”

Access to high quality early years childcare and early education is crucial to supporting young children to be equipped with the skills they need to flourish at school. The council continues to work with Early Education Providers to ensure that there are sufficient, affordable and accessible early education and childcare options available that best suit the needs of the family. Nottinghamshire has over 1,000 childcare and early education providers who support children to develop and learn in their earliest years and provide high quality early years experiences.

The 2025 Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) is published on 5 November, and details that in alignment with previous years’ CSAs, Nottinghamshire has sufficient Early Years places overall to meet parental demand and 87% of the inspected Early Years provision in Nottinghamshire is currently classed as Good or Outstanding by Ofsted.

Early years settings can also access additional funding to support children with special education needs and disabilities in their transition to school. The funding is used to provide additional staff to allow familiar nursery key workers to attend school visits. A worker from a from a Nottinghamshire nursery said: “A member of the nursery staff accompanied the little boy to the school Stay and Play so that mum could participate in the parents’ meeting and the child was accompanied by a familiar adult. A member of the nursery staff accompanied him on school visits to provide reassurance and to support his first lunch time at school.  The new school teacher met the nursery key worker in the nursery setting so that she could observe him and talk to us about his needs.”

The Nottinghamshire Best Start for Life Strategy 2025 – 2030 builds on the earlier strategy and supports the Government’s new national strategy ‘Giving every child the best start in life.’ The refreshed strategy, was approved at Cabinet and identifies five key priorities which will be the focus over the next five years.

• Building blocks of health and wellbeing
• Parent’s mental health
• Preparing to be parents and healthy beginnings
• Building strong relationships
• Early experiences, chat, play, read and learn.