Agenda item

“We know the quality of a child’s development up to the age of five has a huge bearing on all aspects of the rest of their life, therefore we owe it to every child to do all we can to ensure they have the best start possible.

Most parents do a good job taking care of their children and do not need our assistance beyond help accessing the right information to make positive choices for their families. However, despite intensive effort and investment by many different agencies in recent years, we have not been reaching all the young families who need us most.

This new approach to early years, including how we work with schools and other partners, involves providing the right information and advice, refocusing our resources on those in need and reconfiguring how we use our Children’s Centres in future.

This will change the philosophy of how we deliver services for maximum impact to benefit those most in need of support and to ensure every Staffordshire child is safe, healthy and ready to take advantage of all that a good education has to offer.”

Mike Lawrence, Cabinet Member for Children and Community Safety.