I am delighted to introduce Dorset’s Best Start Local Plan - our shared commitment to ensuring that every baby and young child in our county has the strongest possible start in life. The early years are a time of extraordinary growth, possibility and vulnerability. What happens in a child’s first 1,001 days shapes their development, their wellbeing and, ultimately, their life chances. This plan reflects our belief that every child, regardless of their family circumstances or where they live, deserves to thrive.
Dorset is a beautiful county with strong, resilient and caring communities. But some families face some additional challenges, whether linked to rurality, transport, cost-of-living pressures or access to services. There are concentrations of disadvantage within our county and pockets of disadvantage within otherwise affluent areas, and some families find themselves without the local support networks they need. Our plan is honest about these realities - and ambitious in its determination to address them.
The Best Start Local Plan brings together health, education, Family Hubs, early years providers and the voluntary and community sector to create a more coordinated, responsive and accessible system of support. It has been shaped by what families tell us matter most: joined-up services, early identification of need, practical support in local communities, and professionals who listen and act quickly.
I am particularly proud of the way this plan focuses on reducing inequalities and improving outcomes for children who may face additional barriers. By directing resources where they are needed most and using shared data and insight, we can make sure that every child, especially those who need us most, develops well, play, learns and flourishes.
Our Family Hubs are central to this mission, providing a clear and trusted front door for families across Dorset. By strengthening early years pathways, supporting early language and home learning, and improving access to health and SEND support, we can make a meaningful and lasting difference.
This plan represents the best of partnership working in Dorset. I thank our dedicated workforce and all our partners for their commitment to our children and families. Together, we can give every child in Dorset the very best start.
I am incredibly proud of the work happening across Dorset to give every child the strongest start in life. Families are at the heart of this, and everything we do begins with recognising the vital role they play in a child’s early development. By bringing together education, health, Family Hubs, early years settings, and the voluntary and community sector, we are building a system that is accessible, joined‑up and shaped by what families tell us matters most. Using shared data and real‑time insight helps us design support around their experiences and the difference they want to see.
Dorset’s rural and coastal character brings real strengths but also unique pressures. Our dispersed geography can mean that some families struggle to reach timely support, childcare or transport. We also know that pockets of need can be hidden within otherwise affluent communities, and that an ageing population can leave young families without nearby support networks. Living costs, rural isolation, limited housing options and public transport challenges can all make early help harder to access. This plan sets out how we will respond to those realities with practical, coordinated solutions.
Our approach aligns closely with national reforms, including the 2026 Schools White Paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving. Its emphasis on early identification, inclusive practice from birth to five, and integrated working across Family Hubs, health visiting and SEND services reflects the work we are already strengthening here in Dorset. This alignment reinforces our ambition to reach families early, especially those facing barriers due to location or circumstance.
Recruiting and retaining early years and health practitioners in rural areas is challenging, but we are fortunate to have committed teams and strong community networks. By building on these strengths, and by continuing to work alongside families and partners, we can create a more connected and responsive early years system.
This foundation shapes our ambition for the future and underpins our vision for Dorset’s children.
Currently in Dorset at the end of the early years foundation stage in Reception:
A Good Level of Development is the national measure used at the end of Reception to assess whether children have the essential skills in communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, literacy, and maths that help them thrive in school and life.
Our goal is to meet the Department for Education targets to increase this to 76.4% overall, and to raise the levels of development for children eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) to 55%, helping to close the attainment gap and enable all children to thrive.
By 2028, our vision is to narrow the ‘Good Level of Development’ gap by 6.7%, focusing equity‑weighted effort on early language, home learning, and perinatal and relational support.
We will focus additional support in communities where children face the greatest barriers to achieving a Good Level of Development, ensuring every child can thrive regardless of their family’s circumstances.
Achieving this vision requires funding and workforce to be distributed where it is most needed, with additional support directed to areas where children face the greatest barriers to early development
The Best Start Local Plan aligns to the overarching outcomes of the Strategic Alliance's Babies, Children, Young People and Families Plan 2023–2033, and the ambitions of Best Start Family Hubs to connect families early with the right services, focusing the system on early years development.
Through the Best Start Local Plan, babies and young children experience improved early development outcomes, with inequalities reduced across communities.
Babies and children are supported to grow, learn and progress, achieving developmental milestones at a pace that is right for them.
Families are confident, connected and supported within their communities to meet the needs of their youngest children.
Partnership governance:
We will align our people, time and resources to the areas that have the greatest impact on improving early development and reducing inequalities. This includes:
This approach enables Dorset to direct effort where it makes the biggest difference, even where funding streams sit within business‑as‑usual budgets across the partnership.
Working with others is embedded across our partnership system. The Best Start Local Plan is co-produced through the leadership of the Best Start in Life Steering Group, early help partnerships, voluntary and community-led projects and multi-agency planning all shared directly with partners and families.
What we do well:
We gain a rich perspective and family voice through:
We also make effective use of the V‑SEND tool, which supports collaborative planning with families of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, creating a clearer shared language across services and strengthening trust and confidence among parents and carers.
How we do it:
Where we can go further:
Strategic content for Best Start:
Dorset’s Best Start Local Plan supports the national reforms set out in Every Child Achieving and Thriving and the SEND Reform Consultation, preparing the local system for new expectations across early identification, inclusion, and specialist support. Dorset’s Best Start Local Plan is aligned to these national reforms through:
How Dorset is already aligned:
What we are strengthening to meet DfE expectations:
We already do:
We need to strengthen:
We already do:
We need to strengthen:
We already do:
We need to strengthen:
We already do:
We need to strengthen:
We already do:
We need to strengthen:
We already do:
We need to strengthen:
Our Best Start Family Hub Network delivers the nationally required core offer for families, bringing together early years, health, and SEND support so families can access joined‑up help early and locally.
Our Best Start Family Hubs provide the nationally required core early years offer, ensuring families can access joined‑up, high‑quality support early and locally.
Each Best Start Family Hub will include access to a dedicated SEND role focused on early identification, supporting families to understand their child’s needs, and enabling quicker access to information, services and early interventions. Strong links with the Best Start in Life Advisors, early years providers, health and SEND services will strengthen coordinated responses for families.
Health services will be co‑located and connected with Best Start Family Hubs wherever possible, enabling families to access midwifery, health visiting and wider early years health support in one place. Clear pathways will guide families from universal support to more targeted or specialist help, based on assessed need.
Our Best Start system brings together Family Hubs, early years settings, Health Visiting, maternity services, SEND teams and community partners to deliver the national Best Start core offer and ensure every family receives coordinated support early and locally.
Our safe data helps us identify children who may need earlier help, strengthen safeguarding pathways and support DfE expectations for timely early identification and coordinated support across Health Visiting, early years settings, Family Hubs and SEND.
Our health data helps us understand variation in early childhood health outcomes and informs how we target early prevention, family support and health pathways across Best Start Family Hubs to the families who need them most:
Data shows variation across Dorset, with some communities experiencing greater barriers to healthy development.
Although Dorset’s emergency admission rate for 0 to 4s is higher than England, current analysis shows this is mainly due to viral illness rather than accidents, with no single cause identified. Public Health and system partners (Integrated Neighbourhood Team and Integrated Care Board cluster) continue to explore admission patterns, rurality factors and pathway variation to better understand and reduce avoidable admissions.
Our early years learning data provides a clear picture of development across Dorset and supports DfE expectations for early identification, reducing inequalities, and improving Good Level of Development (GLD) outcomes:
We use this data to target support, strengthen transitions and shape joint planning to align the system with national expectations for improving early development and reducing inequalities.
We are developing a Best Start Workforce Development Strategy to ensure practitioners have the skills, confidence and qualifications they need to keep children safe and recognise early signs of need, with partners making the best use of shared training and funding.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Through the Best Start Family Hub network, we will provide outreach to families in rural and isolated communities so they can access support without barriers.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will work with partners to better understand emergency admissions for babies and young children so we can reduce risk and offer earlier help. We will continue providing universal accident‑prevention messages and support families to feel confident managing minor illness and safety at home.
Measurable:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will support improved immunisation uptake in lower‑coverage areas, working with Primary Care Networks and the School Immunisation Team to offer clear information, better pathways and shared data.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
We will improve access to integrated infant‑feeding and child‑nutrition support, aligned with the IFCN and Breastfeeding Network (BFN) strategies. This will ensure all caregivers receive consistent breastfeeding support, responsive‑feeding advice and guidance for healthy growth and weight.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will expand access to evidence‑based infant‑feeding and nutrition programmes, particularly in communities with the greatest health inequalities, enabling families to benefit from structured and proven interventions.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will strengthen emotional‑wellbeing pathways to ensure caregivers receive timely, high‑quality support from pregnancy onwards.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will expand dedicated support for dads and male caregivers during pregnancy and the early years, recognising their crucial contribution to bonding, emotional wellbeing and early learning.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Better data flows will allow earlier identification of health needs and more coordinated support.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will promote vaccinations and public‑health messaging through PCNs, School Immunisation Teams and voluntary organisations.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will improve continuity of care across maternity, Health Visiting and Family Hubs.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will improve developmental review processes and support pathways for SEND, young carers and children facing health inequalities.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will prioritise communities where children are more likely to face barriers to good health.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they
will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Infant mental health and early relationships are central to children’s learning and longer‑term outcomes. We will strengthen practice across the system by ensuring Family Hubs, early years settings, Health Visiting and voluntary‑sector partners offer consistent, evidence‑informed approaches that support early bonding, interaction and parent–infant connection. This includes expanding access to baby groups, early interaction sessions, infant‑feeding support groups and other activities that promote early relationships.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will ensure families have clear, accessible, and trusted information about early education options and the financial support available (including funded entitlements, childcare pathways, and local provision). This will help parents and carers make informed choices that support their child’s early learning, reduc anxiety, and strengthen take‑up of early education places, especially among disadvantaged families.
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
Measures:
How we will monitor this:
Developmental measures: these indicators matter to partners but are not yet consistently measurable. As data systems strengthen, they will be incorporated into the Delivery Plan:
We will strengthen our shared approach to monitoring, evaluation and learning so partners can understand what is working, where progress is being made, and where further support is needed across Dorset’s early years system. Our approach will guide equitable resource allocation by identifying which localities benefit most from additional funding, outreach or evidence‑based programmes. Insight will feed directly into quarterly funding and workforce deployment decisions.
This will include:
Dorset Council and our partners are committed to building an integrated early years system that ensures every baby and child has the best start in life.
Aligning with local and national priorities, this plan will be reviewed regularly to respond to emerging needs and evidence, we aim to reduce inequalities, raise attainment, and improve early language and social-emotional development, giving every child the foundations for lifelong health, learning, and wellbeing.
Progress will be tracked through shared indicators, live dashboards, and quarterly reporting to the Strategic Alliance Board and the Department for Education.
Our next steps focus on strengthening collaboration across health, education, and community services, scaling evidence-based interventions, and embedding inclusive practice from birth to school entry.
