About Flying StartAbout Flying Start
Flying Start is Luton’s pregnancy to five strategy. We aim to improve outcomes for children from pregnancy to their 5th birthday as a foundation to a healthy future. Flying Start interventions build on both national and international evidence. They focus on the very earliest years of a child’s life, starting in pregnancy with the aim of early intervention improving children’s outcomes and future life chances.
Flying Start aims to ensure that young children in Luton have a Flying Start. It has a particular focus on those babies and children who are born in areas of the town with the highest levels of disadvantage and poorer outcomes, as we know these families could suffer health inequalities. Flying Start, as a partnership of agencies, will work to ensure these babies are given the very best start in life, reducing the impact of disadvantage on their future life chances. With the introduction of Family Hubs in Luton we will embed the Flying Start services as part of the offer for families, particularly in the 1001 critical days which we know are the most important time for a child’s development. We will support easy access to services for our families. Outreach will form a key part of our delivery, working with our communities in Luton to make it easy to understand how to get support early.
Getting fathers involved is also a focus with Flying Start. Fathers today spend much more time with their young children than they did 30 years ago. Research shows that fathers play a crucial role in young children’s development and that the early years are particularly important.
The Early years Alliance/Flying Start programme is a beneficiary of generous funding from Luton Rising and The National Lottery Community Fund.
Flying Start seeks to improve outcomes for children by intervening early when help and support is needed. Flying Start is delivering services that will:
1. Improve babies’ and young children’s communication and language skills
…so that significantly more children, by their 5th birthday, will have age-appropriate communication skills, will interact effectively with adults and children, resulting in better educational outcomes and improved employment opportunities.
2. Support healthy bonding between parents and their babies and young children
…so that more children are securely attached and emotionally resilient, with improved school readiness. In the longer term the impact of poor maternal mental health & associated risk factors on children’s outcomes will be reduced.
3. Support improved birth outcomes and encourage healthy diet and lifestyles for babies, young children and their families
… so that babies will have improved birth outcomes; with fewer women obese in pregnancy, improved understanding of nutrition and healthy behaviours, breastfeeding will be increased and fewer children are obese or have dental decay, with improved health and wellbeing into adulthood.
4) Within 5 years, parent and community-led decision making will positively and systematically change the lives and life chances of 0-5 year olds for future generation
Find out about Luton’s Family Hubs and Parent/Carer Panel here
