Southampton City Council is pleased to announce the launch of the Best Start in Life programme which marks a significant step in supporting children and households from pregnancy through to starting school.

The change reflects the government’s strategy to give every child the best start in life, with a national ambition that 75.6% of five-year-olds achieve a good level of development by 2028. In 2025, the national percentage of children achieving a good level of development was 68.3% and in Southampton the figure was 68.1%.

As part of the launch, Southampton parents and carers recently co-produced the Best Start in Life vision for the city, “Our vision is for families to thrive in their local communities by ensuring support is available earlier, works seamlessly across services, and is inclusive, local, welcoming and easy to access.”

Southampton’s Best Start in Life programme focuses on the crucial first five years of life, when children grow and learn the fastest. It aims to ensure households can get the right help, at the right time, in the right place. The programme will be co-designed by childcare, education settings, local parents and carers, and a wide range of stakeholders from health, faith, community groups and the voluntary sector.

Southampton’s Best Start in Life programme sets out a clear cycle of developing, sharing and publishing delivery priorities based on local data and community feedback. It will focus on earlier identification of additional needs, improving access to SEND support, and ensuring services work better together. Parents and carers will have improved access to advice on behaviour, sleep, communication, childcare and preparing for school.

The programme will also expand support in the community, ensuring families who cannot visit a Best Start Family Hub can still access services close to home. A shared data system across partners will allow concerns to be identified earlier, provide targeted support, and continuously improve outcomes for children.

Councillor Amanda Barnes-Andrews, Cabinet Member for Children and Families, said “The recent change to the name Best Start Family Hub reflects the government’s strategy to give every child the very best start in life. Southampton’s seven Best Start Family Hubs, together with our schools and early years settings are at the heart of this programme which will build on the vital support we have always offered to parents and carers across the city.”

Dr Debbie Chase, Director of Public Health at Southampton City Council said, “The Best Start in Life programme will strengthen our partnership working across childcare, education and health organisations. I look forward to seeing how it will transform services and enable better support for families no matter where they live. We will all be working towards more healthy and happy children set up for the best possible start in life.

The Best Start in Life programme is also directly linked to our new Health and Wellbeing Strategy for the next ten years. One of the key priority themes in the strategy is ‘Starting Well’ to ensure every child has the best start in life and adopt a whole system approach to childhood obesity.”

Donna Tandy, Director of Education at Southampton City Council said, “We are committed to ensuring as many children as possible are achieving a good level of development by the time they have completed the reception year at school. We recognise this work starts before they enter formal education and also want to work with parents and carers to support them in helping their children to be ready for starting school. The Best Start in Life offer is designed to support a holistic approach for our youngest children to ensure they achieve and thrive as they make their way through education.”

Find out more by visiting the Southampton City Council website and searching for “Best Start in Life’ or ‘Best Start Family Hub’.