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Focussing on the early years is about making sure all children have the best start in life. Children’s rights include the right to education and play, to be safe, healthy, have a say and not live in poverty. Support at this time can have lifelong benefits and is a smart place to invest if we want to prevent future harm. There’s a complex policy environment in Wales setting out what we want to see happen in the early years, including around childcare, parenting support, education, speech and language, health, and emotional well-being.
The pack was designed to inform discussions with the North Wales Children’s Regional Partnership Board about working together to improve the support available across the region. It was first published in May 2024.
Key messages
- The youngest children told the Children’s Commissioner for Wales that they want to spend time with family and friends, playing outside, do things that keep them healthy and be kept safe by the adults around them. To make life better they wanted to see children’s basic needs (food and water) are met, make sure people are kind, increase opportunities for play and make sure everyone has housing.
- Parents told us that they wanted more pre-natal classes, more affordable childcare including Welsh medium options, more accessible information, support for their mental health and well-being and that of their children, better communication between services to help people get the right support when they need it, support for fathers, and opportunities for their children to play.
- In North Wales there is an Early Years Integration and Transformation Steering Group who work together to pilot new ways of working and share learning to transform services and improve outcomes for children in line with the Nyth/Nest framework. The priorities are speech and language, mental health, workforce strategy, childcare, parenting support and relationships and sharing how important early years are in a child’s development using the Oxford Brain Story (University of Oxford) and the importance of positive adult child relationships and childhood experiences.
Downloads
Related pages
Blog post about the ‘focus on…’ session
North Wales Population Needs Assessment
Children’s Regional Partnership Board
Contact us
North Wales Regional Innovation Coordination Hub
Email: nwrich@denbighshire.gov.uk
Phone: 01824 712432