Item 13 Appendix 1
West Dunbartonshire Council · 24 June 2026
Back to Educational Services Committee — 24 June 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Page 1
An Introduction to Thrive at Five & West Dunbartonshire’s Joint Early Years Programme May 2026 Appendix 1
Page 2
1. Introduction to Thrive at Five
Page 3
Our vision is… a society where all children in their early years have the strong foundations they need for life and learning Our mission is… to bring together local communities, families and partners, and to join- up and strengthen early years systems to support children to thrive from pregnancy to five
Page 4
By age two a child’s brain is around 80% of its adult weight Almost 50% of the attainment gap at age 16 is already in place before children start school Why the early years? There is strong evidence that babies and children are shaped in their early years by the relationships, experiences and environment around them… …and that this a profound impact on their development and their future. Early spoken language is the most important factor affecting literacy at 11
Page 5
Strong parent or carer-child relationships Good parental wellbeing Rich home learning environments Improved early communications and language development Quality early education and childcare Ultimate goal: Improved child development Interm ediate outcom es Our Theory of Change Parent outreach Strengthening the system Improving practiceEnabling work-stream s
Page 6
Existing programmes 32% lower super output areas (LSOA) in 10% most deprived nationally 24% LSOAs in 10% most deprived nationally Stoke-on-Trent Redcar & Cleveland RELATIVE LOW INCOME 40% 30% Middlesbrough We work with councils to identify local areas, aiming to reach ~2,500 children 40%49% LSOAs in 10% most deprived nationally
Page 7
Our approach in practice 5+year commitment supported by inward investment Cross system leadership and support, with local councils as our first partner A local “backbone” and parental outreach team (see next slide) Co-designing solutions and embedding evidence-based approaches Access to expertise and support through our Advisory Council and Impact team Evaluating our approach and consolidating learning into a “playbook” “Thrive at Five is the super glue.” Marie Proctor, Reception Teacher, Eaton Park (Stoke)
Page 8
Our local team Scotland Director Parent Engagement & Outreach Lead Parent Connector Parent Connector Parent Connector Parent Connector Early Years Development Lead 0-2 Development Lead Programme Support Officer Snr. Communications Officer We recruit a skilled local team of up to 10 people to deliver our programmes with our partners. We aim to recruit the post- holders shaded in green within 3-4 months so that we can co-design and start implementing local plans quickly. Local teams are supported by Thrive at Five’s central team, trustees and Advisory Council, bringing together specialist expertise, national insight and access to the latest research and best practice.
Page 9
The three step process In each place we work, Thrive at Five’s local team supports partners and stakeholders through a three-stage process that we test and adapt. Identifying the assets in a local community, what matters to local families and where there are gaps in support that need to be filled. We are designing our approach to ensure the voices of infants and children are heard. DISCOVER CO-DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT IMPROVE AND EMBED Using the data & insights from DISCOVERY to co-design local strategies. Supporting implementation with additional capacity, including expertise and funding. Partnering with an internal and external evaluation team to test, learn and refine our approach. Identifying sustainable ways to embed things that work. 1 2 3
Page 10
Measuring Impact Our ultimate goal is to reduce the number of children starting school with developmental concerns. In West Dunbartonshire, we will rely on health visitor data to measure this impact over time. We assess impact across our five intermediate outcomes using a range of measures, including administrative datasets, our own quantitative measures and rich qualitative data. Our overall approach is being externally evaluated by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI).
Page 11
2. Overview of our joint West Dunbartonshire programme
Page 12
Why West Dunbartonshire & why now? 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Percentage of Children with Developm ental Concern (%) Developmental Concerns 4-5 Years West Dunbartonshire Scotland • Teenage pregnancy rate 36 per 1000 (Scotland 27.1%) • 13% of pregnant women reported smoking in 2024 (Scotland 8%) • 19% of babies exclusively breastfed at 6-8 weeks (Scotland 32%) • Highest level of looked after children in Scotland aged 0-4 years (2%) (Scotland 0.9%) • 21.4% of children aged 27-30m in West Dunbartonshire reported as having at least one developmental concern (Scotland 16.5%) 24/25
Page 13
WDC - Further Context West Dunbartonshire Scotland Working age adults with low or no educational qualifications, 2019 16.3% 11.6% Drug crimes recorded, 2023-2024 (crude rates per 10,000) 23/24 75.7 46.2 Deaths from suicide 16+, 2020-2024, 5 year rolling average (rate per 100, 000) 44.9 16.8 Children looked after by the authority, 2024 (crude rates per 1,000) 27.9 11.6 Domestic Abuse, 2023-2024 (crude rates per 10,000) 152.9 116.3 The Scottish Public Health Observatory
Page 14
Local opportunities and strengths There are many strengths to build on locally, including a network of dedicated family hubs and high up-take of targeted Early Learning and Childcare for two year olds relative to the national average. West Dunbartonshire Council led the way as the first Scottish local authority to set up a multi-agency working group to support the National Early Language and Communication Project. In West Dunbartonshire, we think there is an opportunity to go further, bringingfamilies, local partners and services together to join up and strengthen early years systems to make a measurable and sustainable difference in children’s outcomes from pregnancy to five.
Page 15
Next Steps for WDC to support Early Language and Communication ● Work in partnership with Thrive at Five with a continued focus on Language and Communication. ● Share good practice across the authority and provide relevant CLPL for staff. ● Prioritise Parental Engagement within the WDC Early Years Strategic Delivery Plan and as part of the Thrive at Five focus. ● Roll out 0-3 Trackers across all WDC ELCCs and analyse the data to measure the impact and shape further improvement priorities.
Page 16
Tackling loneliness and supporting the home learning environment During Discovery we have often found that parents and carers are feeling isolated, have few places to go and want easier access to professionals. If we find similar issues in West Dunbartonshire, our local team could: • Help to grow the number of Parent, Baby and Toddler Groups (we have 5x the number of groups in our Stoke wards than when we started out) • Provide parents with access to trusted peers through our Parent Connectors, complementing wider family outreach work and providing ‘warm connections’ to other services where families need extra help • Support delivery of evidence-based interventions in the community like PEEP or Video Interactive Guidance Case StudyExample: what more could we do?
Page 17
Strengthening early language & communication Innovative practice (in Stoke) • Develop a cohesive local strategy for improving children’s speech and language • Rigorous implementation of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) for children in P1 who needed language support (from 2022) • Piloted bringing in undergraduate education students and two peripatetic teachers to work across the seven schools, providing additional capacity and support. • Introduction of Talking Time into nurseries since 2023 (including twilight training & coaching) • Introduced PEEP to support improvements in a family’s home learning environment and SLC (from 2024) Results • The proportion of children with severe language delay fell from 39% in 2024 to 19% in 2025 • There was a 62% increase in children starting reception in 2025 where language was not a concern. • More than 100 organisations and 600 professionals became part of a shared early language network Example: What more could we do? SLC will be a priority for action in West Dunbartonshire and we will determine through this partnership what else we might test, learn and adapt within this area of focus.
Page 18
Creating space for shared learning • Bring partners together to align and act collectively - Creating space for collaboration and shared problem-solving • Connect local work to national insight and evidence - Bringing learning and best practice from across Thrive at Five places • Support ongoing facilitation and coordination - Ensuring shared priorities translate into action and sustained progress Example: what more could we do? During Discovery we often see services working hard but not always connected. If we find similar challenges in West Dunbartonshire, our local team could: Happy, Healthy and Ready to Learn Conference, Redcar & Cleveland We brought together over 100 partners across health, education and the community to focus on improving children’s speech, language and communication. Impact • Created a shared understanding of the scale of early language challenges locally and evidence on what works • Strengthened a shared early language agenda across organisations and how partners can act together to improve outcomes • Expanded a multi-agency network (100+ organisations / 600+ professionals) • Built momentum for coordinated action and more consistent support for children
Page 19
3. Next steps and our partnership
Page 20
Next steps – plan on a page Mar-26 Apr-26 May-26 Jun-26 Jul-26 Aug-26 Sep-26 Stakeholder engagement and governance Introductory meetings Establish Strategic Leadership Group – programme oversight and key decisions Presentation to Education Committee (tbc) 24/06 Communications planning & announcement TBC week commencing 24 June Discovery process Draws together local data, interviews with service-leads, VCS organisations and families to understand local strengths, assets, gaps and opportunities to inform co-design of local programme plan. Initial findings Prep final report Local team recruitment Recruit 3x key posts to local programme team Recruit Appoint Induction and programme set-up, aligned with end of discovery phase Fundraising (led by Thrive at Five) Finalise fundraising strategy Major funder deadlines
Page 21
What discovery involves Discovery is a collaborative process to build a shared understanding of the local early years system and develop a clear, evidence-based plan for action. Bringing together data, professional insight and lived experience 1 Mapping the current system of support for children and families 2 Identifying strengths, gaps and opportunities for improvement 3 Ensuring the voices of children (0–5) and families shape priorities 4 Producing a shared evidence base to inform co-design of local plans 5
Page 22
Contact details and further information • Eleanor Passmore, Scotland Director eleanor.passmore@thriveatfive.org.uk • Dr Chloe Rayner, Senior Research Manager chloe.rayner@thriveatfive.org.uk • Gillian Hamilton, Chief Education Officer (Programme SRO) • Alison Bowers, Senior Education officer Alison.Bowers@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Thrive at Five West Dunbartonshire Council Further information can also be found on Thrive at Five’s website: • Year 1 external evaluation from Stoke: Year 1 Evaluation Report Stoke-on-Trent - Thrive At Five • Internal evaluations: Early learning isn’t just about what we deliver, it’s how we deliver it - Thrive At Five • Scotland Advisory Group: Thrive at Five establishes Scotland Startup Group to guide first year of programme - Thrive At Five