Who we are
Early years is a specialist area for NCB. We develop research, policy, programmes and campaigns to tackle specific issues such as early literacy and mental health, equipping partners to improve outcomes for children.
Four wards in South London form the heart of NCB’s work to boost children’s early development. Here, our LEAP team is focused on uniting local services and shaping the local early years system. One of the five ‘A Better Start’ partnerships established by the National Lottery Community Fund, LEAP delivers a better childhood for local families and provides insight to shape wider changes in policy and practice.
LEAP's primary aims are to:
- Give thousands of children aged 0-3 years a better start in Coldharbour, Stockwell, Tulse Hill, and Vassall.
- Use LEAP’s learning and evidence to positively influence early years services across Lambeth and beyond.
LEAP aims to do this by demonstrating how children’s life chances can be improved through a combination of enhanced early years investment and from knitting local services together through a multi-agency partnership.
What we do
LEAP services support families at every step through pregnancy and the early stages of a child’s life.
Given that many different aspects of children’s development are related, we work across three strands encompassing children’s:
- diet and nutrition,
- social and emotional well-being,
- communication and language.
These strands are important because services focused on just one of these strands could be undermined by challenges from one of the other strands (for instance, a child’s poor emotional well-being could impact on their language and communication). Working simultaneously across all three strands gives us a greater chance of making a positive and lasting impact on children and families.