Children growing up in disadvantaged areas often leave school with fewer qualifications and we want to change this so that we create a fair and healthy future for all children wherever they live and wherever they go to school.
In the Healthy Learning theme we are working on a range of projects to improve opportunities for young people growing up in Bradford and Tower Hamlets.
In Bradford the healthy learning work is implemented though the Centre for Applied Education Research. Perusal of the CAER website will provide more details on the Healthy Learning research happening across the Bradford District.
In Bradford we are supporting children with undiagnosed autism and have pioneered early identification which will mean children can get the support needed at an earlier age. We are also developing a ground-breaking Digital Makers programme which aims to help every child prosper in our increasingly digitised society, and to support our business community and the wider economy with ‘tech-savvy’ talented professionals. With Evidence Active Schools and the Centre for Applied Education Research (CAER), we have started to describe, test and refine the processes, tools and skills needed to link services (such as health and education) across the Bradford District. This will support research and provide real-time linked information for on the ground practitioners working across health, social, education and local services.
In Tower Hamlets we are developing our work based on the priorities of our local partners and communities. We are reviewing families’ take up of the Early Learning at 2 offer which has declined as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also looking at school exclusion and are piloting a SWERL-SP (Supporting Wellbeing, Emotional Resilience and Learning & Social Pedagogy) approach to avoiding exclusion. We will be scoping an evaluation of the free school meals policy and we will be working with Tower Hamlets Council colleagues to identify where evidence is needed to drive better outcomes in mental health and for those with special educational needs.
Want to find out more about Act Early and our work? Email us to ask questions, find out about volunteering or share your ideas.
The UK Prevention Research Partnership is a £50 million multi-funder initiative that supports novel research into the primary prevention of non-communicable diseases to improve population health and reduce health inequalities.