NEW Early Years and Childcare charter promises to improve outcomes for every Essex child

Ensuring every Essex child gets the best start in life and goes on to fulfil their potential is the aim of Essex County Council’s new Early Years and Childcare charter.

A new charter aimed at improving outcomes for young children in Essex has been launched by Essex County Council (ECC).

The Early Years and Childcare charter outlines a set of shared principles that Early Years and Childcare settings, reception classes in schools and Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service Hubs across the county are being encouraged to sign-up to and help deliver.

The aim is to unify providers, improve access to Early Years and Childcare provision across Essex and to support working families.

The charter principles are based on best practice in Early Years and Childcare and themed under four key commitments:

• Having high aspirations for every unique child
• Respecting families as equal partners
• Contributing to the wider Early Years system
• Working collaboratively with Early Years partners and providers

Several early years settings, schools and the Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service Family Hubs have already signed up to the charter. In return, ECC will support them to achieve best practice across the principles.

Cllr Beverley Egan, ECC’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Early Years, said: “We have high aspirations for every child in Essex. We also know that helping them to achieve their aspirations requires a collaborative effort from the people and organisations around them.

“The new charter reflects a shared desire from the County Council, providers, partners and families to help every child benefit from positive early learning experiences. It is more than words on a page. It is a joint commitment to giving children the best start in life.”

By working collaboratively in line with the charter principles, settings will also enable children living in priority areas to enjoy the same opportunities as their peers. 

Cllr Louise McKinlay, ECC’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Member for Community, Equality, Partnership and Performance, said: “I welcome the publication of our Early Years and Childcare charter. The charter demonstrates our ongoing commitment to supporting children and their parents, both at home and in the workplace. It looks to address some of the most challenging issues faced by working parents around access to good quality childcare. This is part of our Levelling Up Programme that seeks to widen opportunities for families.”

The launch of the new charter follows the publication of ECC’s Early Years and Childcare strategy in February. This set out ECC’s five-year plan for the Early Years sector in Essex.

Since the launch of the strategy, there has been a lot of work undertaken to develop support packages for the early years sector to help provide additional support for children.

Signing up to the new charter is voluntary. Early Years and Childcare settings that have signed-up will receive a digital membership badge and a family information pack to share with parents and carers. ECC will also provide resources, information and support on the key themes linked to the shared principles.

Parents and carers will be provided with more information about the charter by their child’s setting after they have signed-up. This will outline what the charter means for their child and how they will continue to promote positive outcomes for all children.