Priority outcomes

Our key outcomes have been shaped through a comprehensive needs analysis developed collaboratively with partners. This shared understanding of local strengths and challenges has enabled us to prioritise the actions that will make the greatest difference for children and families through the BSIL plan.

Toddler Standing Up

Outcome 1: Families are empowered to support their children’s early development 

Key objectives 

  • Most families are skilled and able to meet their child’s early development needs - to support them we'll provide timely and accessible information, advice and guidance

  • We'll work with communities to empower local resilient community action and peer support that supports children’s early development

  • Provide outreach support is focused and effective in reaching families who need extra help

  • Where families need extra help we will:
    • Ensure BSIL family hubs are located in the areas of highest need
    • Ensure these hubs offer accessible support from a range of partners
    • Offer parenting and home learning environment (HLE) programmes and ensure that they meet the needs of the community and are consistently adapted to do so
    • Provide outreach support that is is focused and effective in reaching families who need extra help

Priority actions

  • Prioritise delivery for families in areas identified through EYPP, GLD, and deprivation data 

  • Work collaboratively with communities, families and the voluntary sector to understand and co-produce support for families

  • Commission HLE programmes such as Early Talk Boost, Peep, and Early Words Together, with a strong emphasis on developing early communication skills 

  • Adopt inclusive and targeted engagement approaches to ensure that fathers and male carers feel engaged

  • Implement check-in data systems for everyone entering the BSIL family hub to identify whether the support is reaching targeted families

  • Collaborate with local partners, including volunteer-led committees, to develop outreach support for communities where it's most needed

  • Establish SEND professionals in BSIL family hubs, to ensure that families are supported and empowered to access the right support for their child with additional needs 

Measures of progress 

  • Disadvantaged communities feel better supported at an earlier stage

  • More families from disadvantaged and underserved communities access BSIL services through targeted outreach and increased availability of family hubs

  • Fewer children enter care or require 'child in need' or 'child protection' plans as a result of earlier preventative support

  • Children’s additional needs are identified more accurately, with improved access to inclusive support that strengthens school readiness and learning outcomes 

  • There's a reduction in inappropriate or delayed referrals for SEND or education, health and care plans due to increased awareness and clearer pathways

  • Staff have stronger knowledge and understanding of SEND, enabling them to support families more effectively and connect them to the right services 

  • More children from the most disadvantaged communities achieve a 'good level of development' GLD 

Outcome 2: Strengthened partnership working to ensure families access the right support at the right time

Key objectives 

  • Develop multi-disciplinary teams who are skilled at meeting the needs of children at the earliest point

  • Implement timely and effective family help in the earliest years to ensure that needs are identified early and addressed

  • Review and strengthen antenatal support to improve access for all families

  • Build a shared ambition to improve 'good level of develeopment' (GLD) outcomes by working collaboratively with partners 

  • Align Best Start in Life delivery with wider transformation and change to ensure a whole system approach

  • Use the support of multi-disciplinary teams in the family hubs to provide consistent, ongoing support for families stepping down from early help

  • Through multi-disciplinary teams, children with SEND are supported to access wider services efficiently and quickly to support early identification 

  • Embed family safeguarding as a consistent, multi-agency practice model that enables earlier identification of risk, reduces escalation, and improves outcomes for vulnerable families 

Priority actions 

  • Ensure that children identified with developmental delays at the two-year integrated review receive timely support to help them make progress

  • Improve data sharing systems with early years settings so that children accessing outreach support are clearly identified to key partners to continue ongoing support for their development 

  • Create consistent, shared messaging between health, education, and early help partners around school readiness, with a focus on independence, routines, resilience, and physical development

  • Strengthen collaboration with the voluntary sector to enhance support for families in local communities 

  • Promote oral hygiene and raise awareness of its links to early communication development

  • Review current digital support and develop the use of delivery.gov to share key messaging from key partners to families supporting child development

Measure of progress

  • More parents and care-givers—especially those from disadvantaged communities—can find, understand, and access timely support from conception

  • A wider range of communities are engaging in home learning environment (HLE) or parenting groups through strengthened partnership working with the voluntary sector

  • Professionals supporting families from pregnancy to age two can identify needs early and provide support that strengthens parent–carer relationships and improves perinatal mental health, preventing concerns from escalating into statutory intervention

  • Vulnerable families receive earlier support, helping to prevent family breakdown, reduce the number of children entering care, and decrease child in need or child protection involvement

  • Parents and care-givers report improved confidence and wellbeing 

  • Increase in update of 24U entitlement for children who qualify, due to effective partnership signposting/messaging

Outcome 3: Children benefit from high-quality, inclusive EY provision and are supported to take up all their early education entitlements to strengthen their early development. 

Key objectives

  • Ensure all EY settings understand the important role they play in contributing to a child’s 'good level of development' (GLD) 

  • Strengthen the workforce knowledge and understanding, so that they have the skills, confidence and ability to deliver high impact interventions and support 

  • Increase access to training in communication and language—identified as a key local area of need

  • Maximise outcomes for children with SEND and those eligible for free shcool meals (FSM) 

  • Embed a consistent, system-wide approach for children transitioning into reception

  • Develop communication strategy to promote take up of early years entitlements

Priority actions 

  • Develop and deliver targeted communication and language workforce training, informed by GLD data and focused on areas of highest need

  • Work collaboratively with wider partners—including health, libraries, and parenting teams—to ensure that consistent communication and language messaging is shared with families. 

  • Review and refine the workforce development offer to ensure that it's clearly aligned with supporting early years settings to improve the GLD

  • Review take up of entitlements in our most disadvantaged areas, including 24U funding, to map out a communication strategy to increase take up

  • Establish SEND champion settings to model and share effective practice with other local settings 

  • Establish a shared, system-wide definition of ‘school readiness’ and integrate this into a coordinated package of support that strengthens transition practice across all early years settings 

  • Review and expand the digital local inclusion support offer so that settings and families can easily access high-quality resources to support their child’s development 

  • Strengthen support for early years settings to secure, align, and effectively deploy funding—particularly EYPP and SEND funding—to drive improved outcomes for priority groups

Measuring progress 

  • Increased take up of funded entitlements so that all children can access high-quality provision  

  • Increase in appropriate referrals and timely support for children identified with development delays 

  • Reduction in children deferring statutory education or accessing reception on a part-time timetable 

  • Increase in children making significant progress in communication and language through the use of Early TalkBoost and early communication screening tools 

  • Increase in the number of children achieving the GLD 

  • High-quality early years provision is demonstrated through strong Ofsted inspection outcomes

  • Shropshire offers sustainable, high-quality childcare that improves children’s outcomes and supports progress toward GLD targets 

  • The Early Years Team training offer receives positive feedback and strengthens the skills and confidence of staff across settings

  • Consistently strong attendance at the forum reflects its value to the early years workforce 

  • There is increased and a shared understanding of the GLD criteria and greater consistency in how it's applied across all settings, including childminders