Best Start in Life plan - Darlington
1. Executive summary
1.1 Early childhood shapes children’s future health, happiness and success. In Darlington, our data shows a similar pattern that is seen across the country: some children start school, less ready to learn, than others. This means that some children are placed at a disadvantage from the very beginning.
This plan sets out how local organisations will work together to make sure every child in Darlington has the best start in life. It brings together national priorities from Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life [external link] and the 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future [external link]. Local priorities to address inequalities are included in the Council Plan, the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy [external link], and will underpin the Darlington Family Hub Best Start in Life plan, which is also in development.
In Darlington, we will take a “Think Family” approach. This means services will look at the whole family and their strengths and needs, step in early when help is required, and make sure professionals work together to support families.
1.2 Vision statement
‘Darlington will be a place where families are valued, included, and supported from the very start, with seamless, high-quality services working together, to give every child the foundations for lifelong wellbeing, learning and success.’
1.3 The Best Start in Life plan will focus on delivery across five key service aims.
Best Start in Life Service aims:
- Maternal and early years health services
- Home learning environment and parental interventions
- Early childhood education and care access and quality
- Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Support
- Transition to school and reception year.
2. Local target outcomes
2.1 Based on local data in the Nesta Best Start in Life data profiles [external link] we have identified the local targets to tackle inequalities in health and opportunity. We have set these local target outcomes below:
- Reduce the number of pregnant women who are recorded as smoking at the time of delivery
- Reduce the number of mothers who return to smoking after they have had their baby
- Reduce the impact of second hand or passive smoking on babies and children, by supporting families and cares to stop smoking
- Reduce the rate of premature births
- Increase the rates of breastfeeding, focusing particularly on the areas with the lowest rates
- Increase uptake of the Healthy Start scheme
- Increase the quality and uptake of early years provision for all children, with a focus on children under Child in Need and Child Protection Plans
- Improve speech and language via the implementation of support plans where required
- Reduce the rates of tooth decay in children, targeting support to areas with the most need
- Increase the proportion of children who reach a good level of development by the end of the reception year
- Increase the proportion of children eligible for free school meals who reach a good level of development by the end of the reception year
- Increase the proportion of children who are a healthy weight, targeting support for this to areas with the most need
- To support school readiness, we will aim to improve access to groups and activities to improve bonding, home learning, health and wellbeing in areas with the most need.
3. Case for Action
3.1 National Context:
3.1.1 As part of the Plan for Change [external link] the UK government set out a long-term plan to provide strong foundations, addressing the inequalities that some children face, due to the situation they are born into. UK government policy describes how children’s experiences in early years affect their health, education and future earning potential. A key target of the Plan for Change is to increase the proportion of children who are school ready by 2028.
3.1.2 The policy paper ‘Giving every child the best start in life’ sets out objectives to build on local resources and develop a Best Start in Life Family Service. This will be centred around the Best Start in Life Family Hub. The model will bring together health and education providers, schools, faith groups, libraries and local voluntary and community groups, to make best use of resources, prevent gaps in provision and give the best chances for children and families.
3.1. The 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future pledges health visitor support for children’s development, this is part of the government’s plan to give children the best start in life.
3.2 Local context:
3.2.1 Darlington is a borough located in the North East of England with a population of around 107,800 people, according to the 2021 Census [external link]. The residents of Darlington face inequalities in income, housing, access to nutritious food and access to health and social care services. The inequalities reduce the opportunities, life expectancy and healthy life expectancy for some residents from the start of life.
- There are approximately 6,713 children aged 0-5, 7,741 children aged 6-11, 7,978 young people aged 12-17, and 2,111 young people aged 18-19, giving a total of 24,543 children and young people aged 0-19
- There was a rate of 82.0 premature births per 1000 (2020/22)
- 8.4% of mothers were recorded as smoking at the time of delivery (2024/25)
- 46.7% of babies were breastfed at 6 to 8 weeks (2024/25)
- Currently 64% of children reach a good level of development (2024/25)
- 44.7% of children who are eligible for free school meals reach a good level of development (2024/25)
- A gender divide similar to the national picture is clear in Darlington, with 73.4% of girls and 56.1% of boys reaching a good level of development (2024/25)
- The Ages and Stages questionnaire third edition [external link] is a screening tool used to assess children’s development. It measures across 5 areas, including communication, physical abilities, social skills, problem solving and emotional development. Children in Darlington scored above the England average at 2 to 2.5 years old (2024/25)
- 72.2% of children were a healthy weight at age 4 to 5 years (2024/25)
- 25.3% of 5-year-olds had dental decay (2023/24)
- 3,288 pupils in Darlington were identified as having Special Educational Needs (SEN), of these pupils Speech, Language and Communication needs was the most common primary need (2024/25)
- In the 2021 census, 4.2% of Darlington residents reported that they spoke languages other than English at home
4. Existing services
4.1 McNay Street Family Hub within the town offers a 'one stop shop', delivering accessible, universal and targeted services for families. Onsite there is an activity room, breastfeeding space and sensory room, with the following services for children and their families:
- Preparing children for school
- Parenting skills
- Integrated child and family health services
- Targeted early interventions
- Information, advice, support and activities for families
- Adult learning and employment support
4.2 Currently in development is a clinical room, which will increase the opportunity to work in partnership with clinical services, such as midwifery and health visiting.
4.3 Midwifery services in Darlington are provided by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT). The service ensures that women, babies and families have the care and support that they need from pre-conception to post-natal home visits, before moving to the care of the Health Visitor service.
4.4 The Growing Healthy service offers health visitor and school nursing provision provided by Harrogate and District Foundation Trust (HDFT). The service offers universal and targeted support in addition to the Great Start in Life Pathway for babies and children with an identified vulnerability. Support can begin in pregnancy, and the pathway continues for the first two years of a child's life. It aims to create a safer, more nurturing start for infants to enable brain development and prevent escalation of needs.
4.5 McNay Street Family Hub is part of the Darlington Breastfeeding Friendly scheme [external link]. Mothers are welcome to feed their babies anywhere in McNay Street Family Hub, but an area has been set up, should a mother prefer to use this. The area is currently being improved.
4.6 Support for families is available by accessing a one-point Children’s Front Door. This includes access to the Early Help team, who can provide help and advice of services.
4.7 An outdoor learning space is in development at McNay Street Family Hub to provide more opportunities for children and families.
5. Best Start in Life delivery model
5.1 McNay Street Family Hub will be rebranded as a Best Start Family Hub. This makes good use of existing facilities; we will use the Family Hub and Start in Life programme [external link] to improve the approach.
5.2 McNay Street Family Hub will be the main location with outreach activity to best meet the needs of families and improve access to services. The offer will be developed following engagement with families and stakeholders.
5.3 In line with the 10-Year Plan, the Healthy Child Programme and Best Start in Life Family Hub Planning Framework services will be delivered in one place where possible. This provides better opportunity for joined-up working. Midwifery services are currently developing a home birth offer, in line with national guidance and local needs.
5.4 Support for parents and carers of children with additional needs or special educational needs will be embedded into the McNay Street Family Hub services, so that families can get the right support in place as early as possible.
5.5 We will ensure that stay and play sessions include opportunities for: play, speech and language, fine and gross motor skills and access to books and stories. Working with the Inclusion Health Nurse, we will remove barriers to accessing services.
5.6 We will bring together support from the voluntary and community sector, helping to connect families with food banks, baby banks, clothing banks and benefits advice, to help families get out of poverty.
5.7 We will embed services supporting healthier behaviours and the wider determinants of health, including:
- Stop smoking services
- Domestic abuse
- Drug and alcohol
- Sexual health, contraception advice focusing on young parents
- Debt and welfare advice
- Housing support
6. Digital offer
6.1 We will promote the UK Government Best Start in Life website [external link] which has sections on early learning and development and starting reception. As part of the digital offer, Darlington Borough Council offer free premium access to the parent support app. EasyPeasy. Darlington Borough Council is currently reviewing options to commission a parenting programme.
6.2 The Growing Healthy Service (0-19 provider) [external link] have a digital offer and website.
6.3 There is also an app for the Growing Healthy Service, both include a single point contact telephone number and a live chat function. These provide links to reliable information for parents and carers on a range of topics.
6.4 We will embed a robust case management system. This system will provide efficiency and enhance collaboration between services, to improve the experience of families.
6.5 The Best Start in Life Family Hub will provide support for families to access digital offers to protect against digital exclusion.
7. Best Start in Life service objectives
7.1 Maternal and early years health services
- Joint contacts in McNay Street Family Hub between Maternity and Health Visitor services
- Multi-disciplinary professionals will support at stay-and-play sessions. This will support better identification of need and remove the need for referrals in some cases.
- The Infant feeding coordinator will work with McNay Street Family Hub, to improve the support for breastfeeding mums.
- McNay Street Family Hub will aim to work with Perinatal Mental Health services to improve access.
7.2 Home learning environment and parental interventions
- We will use existing digital resources from the Growing Healthy 0-19 Team within McNay Street Family Hub sessions and library sessions.
- We will use the National Year of Reading and other local assets including libraries, to improve access to books and promotion of language and communications skills.
- We will ensure that our practitioners have the skills to model and support play and learning in sessions.
- We will increase access to home learning environment support and tools. This will include the Best Start in Life [external link] and EasyPeasy [external link] resources for parents and carers.
7.3 Early Childhood Education and Childcare Access
- We will ensure that the views of parents and carers are heard and present in our annual childcare sufficiency assessment and will identify any gaps in childcare provision in Darlington.
- Promote inclusion and high-quality provision for all children in early years settings.
- Promote early years entitlements and schemes to support families with the cost of childcare, such as Tax-Free Childcare Entitlements.
- Launch a parental engagement campaign to support parents with school readiness.
7.4 SEND Support
- Specialist Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Practitioner role will be recruited and in place by the end of 2026.
- This role seeks to offer advice and support to families of children. This will ensure families receive early support and access to services.
- This role will work with the Special Educational Needs Team, Education Teams, Social Care and Health services. This will help ensure timely, appropriate and targeted advice to families.
- McNay Street Family Hub will offer speech and language development support through their programmes to families.
- Regular review of early years social care offer to support children with additional needs (SEND and social-emotional challenges).
- A data review of the Early Notification cohort will be carried out, alongside a review of those children in receipt of the Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund and Disability Access Fund to inform the expected needs of families whose children have some delays in development.
- The EasyPeasy App will be in use for families; this will include the module for families to better understand the ways they can support their child’s development.
7.5 Transition to School and Reception Year
- Working with early years settings, we will support school readiness, through the curriculum with parental engagement, signposting to services, where required.
- Promote the Darlington Transition Programme to offer transition support for children with special educational needs.
- The Education Strategy Group and Early Years Education Strategy Group will work together to make starting school easier for children and families
- Use the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessment, carried out at the end of the reception year to support regional improvement
- Promote school readiness by increasing knowledge of key child development milestones and support towards achievement.
8. System enablers
- Holistic and relational Think Family approach. This will ensure that the family voice is an important part of plans to engage parents, carers and families to shape services.
- Co-design and produce accessible services, which facilitate inclusive, early intervention preventative approaches. This will allow us to best meet the needs of families.
- Support pathways that are tailored to each family’s needs, whilst also making sure extra help is available to those who need it most. This will help reduce differences in opportunities and health of children and young people.
- Working together to address key high impact issues, such as communication and language development, parental mental health and bonding and improved access to early years provision.
- Work with stakeholders in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, particularly those with specialist subject knowledge to best meet the needs of families.
- Workforce development will ensure that staff have the right skills and knowledge, to ensure delivery of consistent messaging and evidence-based approaches.
- Use data and case reviews to gain an understanding of the family experience. This will allow us to improve services and transitions.
- Effective governance and accountability for delivery of the Best Start in Life Plan. This will include clear communication lines and defined roles and responsibilities.
9. Workforce capacity
- We will carry out a workforce capacity and skills audit. This will help to identify opportunities to build the workforce capacity and help integrated working.
- Using the workforce capacity and skills audit, we will develop a training programme to ensure consistent, evidence-based approaches.
- System leaders will promote and facilitate joined up working between services, this includes, where possible, embedded co-locations.
- Maintain oversight of the upcoming SEND Reforms. This will ensure all new systems and existing ones will be in-line with changes. This includes ensuring appropriate additional training is available, when details are confirmed.
10. Monitoring, evaluating and learning
10.1 We will establish shared outcomes for the Best Start in Life workstream. This will include key reporting using surveys, parental and family engagement activities. Delivery of the plan will involve the establishment of working groups for key themes.
10.2 The governance and delivery of the plan will be part of the Growing Healthy Board, which brings together key partners from health, education and family hubs for the purpose of working together to achieve the best outcomes for children and families. There will be a quarterly reporting framework established which will be reviewed at the Board, ensuring a focus on outcomes and the efficient use of resources.
10.3 The Best Start in Life Plan will also report into the Education Strategy Group and the Early Years Education Strategy Group.
10.4 The development and delivery of the Best Start in Life Plan for Darlington is led by the Director of Public Health. The Health and Wellbeing Board for Darlington will provide the strategic oversight for the Best Start in Life Plan, providing governance from leaders across the system with a focus on reducing health inequalities, in line with the Darlington Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2025 - 29. Giving our children the best start in life is a key ambition in the Strategy, including priorities for pregnancy and early years and mental health and resilience.
10.5 This plan will be reviewed and updated regularly, as we work with stakeholders, including local families, to develop the offer.