First Best Start Family Hub launches in Hampshire

On Saturday 21 March, local families were invited to an open day at the county’s first hub, based in Leigh Park Library. It marks the start of a wider rollout which will see Hampshire County Council introduce around 30 hubs across the county by 2029.  

It follows the Government’s launch last summer of a new strategy to help every child get the best start in life and develop the skills needed to be fully ready for school. Best Start Family Hubs are set to play a key role, enabling families to access friendly, practical support from across health, education, social care, and the voluntary sector – from an early stage and in a welcoming, inclusive and accessible place.  

Councillor Roz Chadd, Cabinet Lead Member for Children’s Services, said: “There’s an old saying that it takes a village to raise a child, and that remains as true today as it ever has done. We have always recognised and championed the importance of working together with families and partners across the county to improve outcomes for children. Best Start Family Hubs are about making these connections even earlier and even more closely to provide a cohesive, seamless offer that meets the full range of families’ needs from the very beginning. As well as existing partners, there are many fantastic voluntary organisations working with families at the grass-roots level and who truly know their communities best, and we know that leveraging those relationships will be essential to the overall success of our hubs.  

 “Thank you and a huge well done to everyone involved in establishing our first hub at Leigh Park. This marks a key moment in our work to further strengthen how we come together as partners in the most critical, early chapters of families’ lives.” 

In total, the County Council is set to receive £6.57 million to support the delivery of Best Start Family Hubs, to be based in areas with the highest levels of deprivation and where there is the greatest need. Hubs will provide a range of targeted services, both in-person and online, to support children’s early development, tackle inequality, and help families to face life’s challenges with greater resilience. Services will include parenting help, early learning advice, health visiting, infant feeding support, and signposting to other services in the wider local area. The hubs will also support the delivery of ‘Neighbourhood Working’, a developing approach to bring health and care services, community partners and residents together at the most local level. 

The hubs will focus on providing support as early as possible, allowing children’s and families’ needs to be identified and met much sooner. This will greatly improve their longer-term outcomes and reduce the need for costly special needs or social care support. As part of this, each hub is set to include a dedicated practitioner to work with children who have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) from an early age.  

Every hub will also provide parenting and home learning programmes, to encourage positive parenting and early child development. These will include two brand new initiatives for the County Council – the Peep Learning Together programme, to help parents promote their children’s development in literacy, numeracy, and social skills; and Early Words Together, designed to strengthen children’s speech, language and communication. It builds on the County Council’s already successful First Words Together programme for babies, extending this to children aged three to four.  

These programmes will now start to be delivered in Leigh Park alongside existing initiatives in both the library and other local organisations including the community centre and the Motiv8 hub, which works with young people to improve their life chances. A new Best Start Family Hub Connector will be based in Leigh Park Library to provide information, advice and signpost families to relevant activities and support.    

Following the launch in Leigh Park, a further 10 hubs are set to be delivered in the coming year with the first three to arrive in Gosport, followed by Alton and then Andover.  

Visit the County Council’s website for more information about Hampshire’s Best Start in Life offer and for a full timetable of activities available in Leigh Park.